<p>Just wondering if there is a trend this year given the economy, for middle of the road schools to not admit exceptional students to avoid having to entice them to come by offering significant merit money? My son is salutatorian of his class, 102.4 GPA, 9 AP classes, all 5’s, editor in chief of newspaper, tennis team captain, honor society president, accomplished musician, many extracurriculars, community service, etc, etc. Encouraged by guidance to apply to Ivies and other top tier schools but chose 2 mid levels as safety schools. He was placed on the waiting list of a school that he was more than qualified for even their honors program. The only thing that makes sense to me is that they assume that 1. he is over qualified & not likely to come or 2. to get him there they would have to offer big money & this economy is just not conducive to that. Any comments/feedback is welcome. I’m perplexed as is my son’s very seasoned guidance counsellor</p>
<p>If you’re talking about WUSTL, then they’re well known for that (although they are by no means “mid-tier”).</p>
<p>Why is this on the Brown 2015 board, though?</p>
<p>The mid tier school has correctly guessed that they are not among your son’s top choices and they think he’ll be admitted to the higher ranked school that he would rather attend.</p>
<p>I know of someone who just got rejected from Middlebury, who has a super resume.</p>
<ol>
<li>99th plus percentile SAT scores/ 5 subject tests all above 760</li>
<li>Top 15%, of a highly competitive class from a top New England Prep School</li>
<li>National Merit Scholar</li>
<li>AP Scholar With Distinction</li>
<li>Talented musician</li>
<li>Published author
7 All League in a sport</li>
<li>Many leadership positions</li>
<li>Passed the AMC 12</li>
<li>3 college courses taken during 2 summers</li>
</ol>
<p>Thoughts anyone?</p>
<p>I think that sometimes, even in mid-tier schools, admissions officers look for personalities that they feel would fit in well at their school. As exceptional as the two people described above appear, maybe they just didn’t fit in the mold that the admissions staff was looking for.</p>
<p>April620419: My D is a sophomore in college, and I remember how disappointed we/she was with the small amount of acceptances she got. She was 3rd in her class and took all the AP classes that were offered, was an accomplished musician and skater, and she didn’t get into several schools where her stats were almost out of range. The guidance dept. at her school told her she would most likely get into a few ivy league schools which did not happen although she was waitlisted. College admissions/acceptances is a tricky and sometimes misleading process because of many issues. What you/your child thinks is a great accomplishment may not be to that school or maybe they don’t think your child will fit in. My D is very happy where she is at college and would pick it over any she previously applied to. In fact if she had gotten into any of her top 3 choices, I don’t think she would have been happy at any of them. Alot of D’s college friends are international students, and they were so much more prepared for college than she was even though she took the hardest curriculum in high school. Also our D was told at several college interviews was although she had excellent grades and took the hardest of classes she could, she was competing with students who took more AP classes than her because their school system was better. Unfortunately, these are things guidance departments never discuss which makes for a sometimes very sad April 1st. Good luck with your son’s college acceptance and decision.</p>
<p>Middlebury is a very hard college to get into. Plus it’s small so they give fewer acceptances.</p>
<p>april, did your son happen to visit the school where he got waitlisted? What size was it? My son actually had a similar experience - waitlisted at a college where I thought he might compete for a full ride! But we didn’t visit. I never know if it’s a rationalization, but I wondered if they thought he might go elsewhere.</p>