I received a rejection letter from a Big Name School’s summer program. I have seen several other student’s letters as well. It looks like some were offered more help towards the admissions process than other students. For example, one letter said “You have been denied, if you want to learn more about us, visit our website and campus.” Another student’s letter said “You have been denied but we are having an online info session with the admissions counselor and several current students. Here is a link to register, please join us.” A third letter shows “You have been denied. However, please come to the online info session and we are giving you a fee waiver for your application. We hope you will apply.” There was also a fourth letter, at the very least, for students who were accepted into the summer fly in program. Is admissions a level playing field? Do all students have an equal chance, based on merit? Thanks for your thoughts.
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Thank you. I am trying to figure out how the admissions process works. This is my first time applying to colleges. I was surprised to see so many different letters. The school I am asking about is MIT. The summer program for the reject letters was called WISE. It is a fly in weekend.
I am guessing that yes, students who were encouraged to apply and were offered more help are possibly more attractive applicant material. Maybe they are URM, or offer something else that the college might want to see during regular college application time.
Is it level? In so far as “this person is of future interest, and that one isn’t”, I think it’s level. Presumably, they would have seen a lot of your stats and details for the summer program. During that process, they probably identified students who will be of interest to them during the regular admissions cycle. The more interested they are in that student, the more likely they would be to try and encourage that student to try again.
Does that mean you have no hope? Maybe, or maybe not. But I think the kid who was offered a fee waiver has a better shot than the kid who wasn’t.
If you are URM or female and were rejected for WISE, I’d suggest taking MIT off the application list. On the other hand, if you are a non-URM male, rejection from WISE won’t matter for admission purposes.
Lindagaf I was thinking the same thing. I am a low income student and was not offered a fee waiver. Yet others middle income and above were given a fee waiver. So I wonder if they are recruiting a certain set of criteria like first gen or something else? Many of the applicants have similar stats, test scores, first in class etc. All look qualified, all have probably worked their butts off, just like me. Mit is a great school. I have wanted to go as long as I have been in STEM. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Thank you dropbox77177. You seem to have a better understanding of the admissions process than I do. I appreciate it.
I researched a bit more. It seems schools have “recruitment goals”. Good if you are included in what they want, bad if not.