What decision? The app is in and the interview is done, yes?
He was FIVE. If you were a shoemaker he would have seen you making shoes. Kids see what their parents do. I went to my parent’s workplaces growing up, but a) it wouldn’t have given me a meaningful boost for college/grad school and b) I still chose a very different career. This made me wonder if you aren’t over-thinking this a bit. On the other hand, this:
got my attention. Why is there a connection in this story? is that part of why he has already had been seen by an interview panel?
LIKED?! I have been an interviewer and if I ‘liked’ an applicant I wouldn’t hand them months of anxiety by telling them that they are good but that there is another who is in a very specific way more qualified than they are. I wouldn’t even do that to a job applicant until the decision was made.
Then clearly he’s not the only one with an advantage!
I am genuinely shocked that an official uni interviewer would tell a student that there is another applicant who is more qualified in that field - and equally astonished that a uni would tell a HS student that their prep is insufficient for their planned major.* @MITPhysicsAlum does this seem plausible to you? could it be that the student have misinterpreted the interview panel?
*unless it is something like CalTech and the student hasn’t done Calc BC / MIT and the student is in Algebra I as a senior / etc.