Is this an aberration? What can I do?

Consolation
Sun, 12 Dec 2010 15:02:38 +0000

I would ask your GC to call D and ask for feedback. Do it right away, before they are dealing with the flood of RD applications.

I’m going to give you the same advice a professional college counselor gave my S when he was deferred from his SCEA school:

1) You have a lot of ECs. Do a resume that enables you to present them more effectively that the little slots on the Common App.
2) Send the resume to the D admission dept with a BRIEF cover letter expressing your interest in the school and mentioning any additional honors that you may have gotten since applying ED.
3) Send the resume with a BRIEF cover letter to all other colleges to which you apply.You can wait to mail this until the RD deadline, or even a little later if you are waiting to hear about an award.
4) Get an addition recommendation from someone who knows you well in a non-academic context: a coach, an employer, a supervisor in a volunteer position, et al. If at all possible, pick someone from the EC/job/service activity that means the most to you. It is perfectly acceptable to have TWO of these as long as they reveal you in a different context and the person really knows you. Send these recs to D and to all other schools to which you apply. (Ignore nay-sayers who haul out the old saw about “the thicker the application, the thinner the candidate.” Up to two WELL CHOSEN additional recs are fine.)

Have someone else look at your essay (or essays). Your cousin may or may not be the best judge of a) good writing, and b) what appeals to a committee. If you PM me, I will look at it. (I’m a former professional writer and editor, and obviously a college admissions junkie ) Other CC parents will do the same.

You are highly qualified, and you should have good acceptances.