Qualified Applicant Rejected from All Schools

CentralFC · July 22, 2012, 9:04pm

After reading the initial posts, I felt compelled to respond, however pessimistic and brutally honest my response may be.

First:

In my UChicago application I wrote a spectacular creative essay for the supplement (I tackled the Plato/Play-Doh question by comparing it to some specific mythological stories and alluded to the Nietzschean Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy)

The point of the essay went completely over your head. These essays are based on creativity rather than your desire to rattle off complicated philosophical theories. It comes off as being incredibly elitist.

Second:

*SAT I: 2140

Reading: 800
Math: 670
Writing: 670,

3.85 GPA

AP scores of 1, 2, 3 *

This SAT score falls behind the average of nearly every school on your list. Further affecting your chances is your lack of any sustainable extracurricular that emits any sense of dedication or motivation. You played soccer for a year? Alright, but why is that important? You were class president in 8th grade? Congratulations, but how does this affect you as a student and how will this come into play when youre surrounded by brilliant students? You may be qualified for some schools, but the Ivies, Northwestern and Chicago are schools that expect both academic and personal brilliance. I dont see either being evident here.

Next:

*I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to be in a position where I have to compete with students who have perfect applications and have had their whole lives tailored around getting accepted to an elite college.

I dont have some national science award and I havent spent my life doing humanitarian missions and teaching English to children living in war-torn nations, though those are things I would dearly have wanted to participate in.

much of which is still predicated on students being able to have the opportunity to participate in those kinds of experiences which are more readily accessible to students from families of greater means.

colleges would not bother to read my essays thoroughly or that they would misinterpret them.

I wonder what percentage of incoming college students going to elite colleges know anything about Dodd-Frank, the Volcker Rule, or the Simpson-Bowles commission, or any other important economic policy decisions that have been debated over the last few years?

they were overwhelmed by a woefully underachieving administration from the principal on down to the security guards. *

Again, this elitist tone is naturally sickening for some of us and wouldnt go over well in any admissions office. A large percentage of qualified applicants work incredibly hard, sometimes with mitigating circumstances, and make their own way in life. What Ive seen with you, to this point, is an unwillingness to take initiative, relying on, and blaming, several others when things do not go your way (I.e. your father, the admissions committees, your counselor, your psychiatrist, your school, other students/families).

Moreover, you constantly berate others (specifically your high school) for being under qualified and, somehow, this affects you. Im not quite sure I understand this. Qualified applicants can succeed in tumultuous environments, while you use it as an excuse for disappointing academic performance.

Further, those who have success are naturally RECEIVING this success rather than working and striving for it. Come on. You can’t be serious.

*Unfortunately, my mentor seemed to be more of a proselytizer for the Libertarian Party than anything else. I reluctantly agreed to try to work with him after the program director agreed to have a word with my mentor. Long story short, my mentor would not or could not let his libertarianism lie and our conversations were strained and uncomfortable. I felt that the only way I could make it end was to quit the organization, so I did. Yet another opportunity lost. *

You talk about your depth of character, but you feel the need to quit an organization because your mentor has conflicting interests?

*The tutor was a college student majoring in elementary education and, to be honest, I found that he did not know as much about my subjects as I did and he did little but check my work for completion. *

Again, an elitist stance. Your blame lies on the tutor who is sacrificing his/her time for your assistance. Whether he can help or not is beyond the point; its your refusal to take any sort of blame in not being able to perform to your standards, undercutting any sense of initiative you may or may not have.

*Most of my interim counseling was taken up by a series of counselors I believe there were five or six over the next 18 months. Some were helpful. Some, frankly, were terrible. However, the constant change of personnel made progress difficult. In reality, the only meetings I looked forward to were those with my psychiatrist. *

Here, you blame your psychiatrists because they werent up to your standards. It seems as if youre placing blame entirely on their inability to walk you through your problems and your refusal to help yourself or seek help elsewhere.

*So by May I was exhausted and crushed by the college applications process and I didnt have the energy to pursue the matter further at that point. *

Youre upset because Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Northwestern, and Chicago denied you. I understand that. But do you actually expect to succeed in any of those environments if youre unable to find the motivation and initiative to pursue your undergraduate education? This is unbelievable.

*Even though I cant prove my rejections are due to the omission of my story about depression, I am absolutely sure that it is reason why I was rejected.

I suppose another possible reason *

You dont sound too sure.

Even then, with no evidence, how can you justify that thought process?

*When I apply to colleges and pay them excessive fees to even have my application considered, I expect the highest standards of professionalism, and quite frankly, colleges dont live up to them. *

You had most of your fees waived. What are you exactly complaining about financially?

Again, youre placing blame on an external source.

I know colleges cant chase down information from everyone that applies to them, but cant they even bother to consult me when they notice that somethings conspicuously missing from my application?

You answered your own question here. It isnt their job to theorize why a student has some missing information. When theyre receiving 30,000+ applications in a year, it shouldnt be their job to complete them for the applicant as well.

*It seems like colleges take every shortcut that they can to make their jobs easier and dont have any concern for the integrity of the applications process. *

This is not true by any means and further cements your elitist and narcissistic nature. This is their job; the university attempts to field the best possible class every year, and failure to do otherwise is a slight not only to the applicants, but the faculty, reputation of the university and the alumni.

*One final explanation would be that colleges are not really needs-blind. A student like me who has no means at all to pay for any part of his education (hence why I applied to full-needs schools) would be the least likely to be accepted if colleges didnt swear that they were needs-blind. But who has the oversight to determine whether colleges actually follow through with this policy? *

I believe there would be legal repercussions if a university uses need-blind as a form of advertisement and attraction of more applicants rather than a belief they live by.

Ultimately, it’s evident that, despite your financial and family hardships, you don’t possess the initiative or character qualities that these universities seek. Instead, you emit qualities possessed by ignorance and pretentiousness.

Qualified Applicant Rejected from All Schools

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