<p>brandeis has been offering some form of special application for a few years â it used to be called a blue ribbon application (i wouldnât know if there have been any changes over time as the name changed). and official information regarding why people received it was never really forthcoming at least from what i saw.</p>
<p>iâve heard a lot of people speculate why they got one, but there just never seemed to be much consistency among their theories. and one personâs theory sometimes conflicted with another personâs situation. (some of the theories â prior demonstrated interest, under represented groups, simply a marketing tool to increase applications)</p>
<p>unless someone from brandeis is willing to say what the criteria are, i think anything anyone else posts is pure speculation.</p>
<p>be glad your son got it and donât worry about why. (and donât assume it gives him a guarantee in terms of the admissions decision or merit aid â i think i recall one poster here a year or two ago getting really upset that even though their son was admitted he didnât get merit money since they assumed the special application meant he was a desired candidate.)</p>
<p>if you do a search for âblue ribbonâ in the brandeis forum you may find prior threads â but again, i have no idea whether what used to be called the blue ribbon is in fact the same as what you refer to as the special invitation (either in terms of the nature of the application itself or the criteria used for sending it).</p>
<p>good luck to your son!</p>