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Well, I agree with this. Selective colleges are building a class in each admissions cycle. They don’t necessarily want “well-rounded” individuals (remember those halcyon days when that was the ultimate compliment?) - or perhaps I should say they want a certain number of those to go with a certain number of cross-country runners, bass-baritones, people to edit the newspaper, and those much-prized oboe players. They need a certain number of Virginians (from all areas of the state, meaning that it’s more selective for someone from NOVA than someone from East Gibroo). They need a certain number of full-paying students, because it’s a state school and there isn’t an endless supply of financial aid money. To maintain W & M’s reputation as a world-class university that offers its students and faculty an engaging atmosphere, they want people from big square states and little teeny states and a whole lotta other countries. (If the entire student body consisted of highly accomplished OOS females, it wouldn’t be W & M.)</p>
<p>I don’t think I understand this:
One eye? Cochlear implant? </p>
<p>If by suggesting these as attributes that are likely to engage an adcom’s support - well, maybe, but the kid would have to have written a killer essay about the situation, because how else would the adcom know? (Just scanned the Common App and saw no question related to physical limitations.) If there are one-eyed students with cochlear implants walking around the W & M campus, I suggest that their writing skills and demonstrated ability to deal with some serious stuff got them there. Merely being “odd” or “different” won’t do it for you. </p>
<p>I truly sympathize with the parents of waitlisted students who are bewildered about it. My middle d was waitlisted at Duke when she reallyreally wanted to be admitted. She had better SATs and a better GPA than the two guys who were admitted from her hs, depth in two time-consuming ECs, and a more winning smile. But she wasn’t an All-State violin player, as one was, or a math prodigy, like the other one. Wasn’t a double legacy applicant like one of them, and couldn’t apply ED, like the other. She was disappointed, but after a short while, it made sense to us. They had already admitted their share of white female valedictorians from NY who play the flute pretty well, so she wound up on the waitlist instead. She’s graduating from Vanderbilt next month and, to my knowledge, hasn’t thought much about Duke since April, 2005 (she didn’t accept her place on the waitlist, btw). Duke was looking for something she wasn’t, and that’s perfectly reasonable.</p>