OK to call Admissions office after rejection?

madbean
Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:39:57 +0000

Adcoms expect to get such calls from GCs. Part of the job. And if the GCs understand better what the college is looking for, he/she will steer the right applicants to them and steer the others away. Works to make life easier for everyone.

In addition, some essays may inadvertently send a red flag. That may come up in a GC conversation and the student would happily rewrite the essay before sending it out to a dozen more universities.

Some bit of info might have been misentered and could be fixed in future apps.

And the question of financial aid is also pertinent. If OP’s D indicated the need for FA, it may impact the decision. Future apps should be looked at in this light.

Perhaps there is a reason to explain the drop in grades junior year and perhaps the GC didn’t really do an effective job explaining. This is another area that could be strengthened for future apps.

Finally, as mentioned, there could be a negative cast to one of the rec letters. That could also be removed from future apps.

College adcoms are people who want kids to get into college, for goodness sakes. Just sometimes not theirs.

Good luck to the OP. Ideally the GC should call. The OP sounds professional in all posts here and I respect her desire to improve the applications to come.