The rejection oscar

[bomgeedad]

<p>“most obsequious while maintaining utter insincerity” category </p>

<p>“least number of words you need to read before you know you are being rejected category.” </p>

<p>“most emphatic rejection” prize </p>

<p>“shortest rejection” winner </p>

<p>grand prize for “total insensitivity” </p>

<p>see</p>

<p><a href=“Colleges should show more tact when rejecting students – The Mercury News”>Colleges should show more tact when rejecting students – The Mercury News;

[mootmom]

<p>Excellent use of “deny” letters. I can’t believe the bit about that 3-word email…</p>

<p>If you have trouble getting to the article, try this link instead:</p>

<p><a href=“Colleges should show more tact when rejecting students – The Mercury News”>Colleges should show more tact when rejecting students – The Mercury News;

[mini]

<p>“You’re too dumb.” ;)</p>

[doubleplay]

<p>Son applied to a reach that did not accept online credit card for fee payment, then forgot to tell me to send a check in later on. In MARCH, we received a letter telling us they had not received the app fee and needed it to finish up the decision process.</p>

<p>I got on the phone and basically asked the guy, “OK, I’m not going to send you this $70 check and then find a rejection letter in the mailbox 3 days later, am I?” We didn’t, but looking back now, that would have been the absolute tackiest rejection ever!</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>

Plans to institute a therapy for “waiting list,” also known as slow rejection letters, are in the works for next year.

“I think of you as a good friend…”</p>

[swimcatsmom]

<p>

The grand prize for “total insensitivity” is presented to Reed College. When the college failed to notify a student that it had received his materials, the student sent a polite follow-up letter inquiring about his status. Reed sent him back what was apparently intended to be an inter-office memo that read “he’s a deny.” Reed’s selection as biggest overall loser precludes it from “shortest rejection” contention.</p>

<p>The student who received the errant “he’s a deny” e-mail sent five pages of suggestions (of more sensitive ways to handle rejections) to Reed. He concluded his letter by letting Reed know it should feel free to send him an apology or a “he’s an admit” letter. He got the apology only.

</p>

<p>Love this guys way of handling it. Reed missed out on a good one!</p>

[mini]

<p>“I am sorry, dear mortal one, that you are not about to be blessed to join our heavenly company. Although our heaven is better than any place on earth, I’m sure you’ll find a place in some muddy place appropriate to your decidedly inferior intellect and upbringing.”</p>

<p>“There are, after all, only so many places in heaven for the elect. We tend to reserve quite a few of those places for those whose parents got here before, as we believe in uniting families, as well as for those who ensure there are continuing offerings of fat-wrapped sheep thighs upon the golden altar.”</p>

<p>“Next time, we suggest that you choose your parents better. Until then, have a nice life.”</p>

<p>“Sincerely yours…”</p>

[Hanna]

<p>I’ve shared this before, but I have to credit Columbia College for this one.</p>

<p>They sent me a giant package, bigger than any acceptance I’d received. I got home and my mother was literally dancing with the envelope: “Look what came for you from Columbia!”</p>

<p>It was a rejection letter and a catalog for their night school.</p>

[bethievt]

<p>OMG Hanna!</p>

<p>That’s just wrong!!</p>

[NJres]

<p>Hanna, that is unbelievable! </p>

<p>Well, since you started this thread (bomgeedad) , my son got a rejection letter that bugged me! I thought it was rude and arrogant. </p>

<p>Here are the highlights:</p>

<p>Dear (son of NJres)</p>

<p>blah blah we are unable to offer you admission…</p>

<p>blah blah… The thorough nature of our review process means that this decision is final.</p>

<p>I imagine that you may be disappointed by this letter. Please realize that nearly 49bazillion students applied for the first year class, which numbers (9 percent of 49bazillion) As a result, we were forced to make very discerning distinctions among talented applicants. Competition for admission has never been keener.</p>

<p>So, my problem? Don’t tell me your decision is final! Were you afraid I was going to call and beg for a reversal? And what I expect (and got elsewhere) is a statement about the difficulty of choosing from a pool of highly qualified candidates, not the “discerning distinctions” that you were forced to make so that you could weed out the applicants that were, well, just not quite good enough. It’s as if they are saying admissions is not a crapshoot, it is a science, and we are Dr. Einstein.</p>

[Hanna]

<p>“So, my problem? Don’t tell me your decision is final! Were you afraid I was going to call and beg for a reversal?”</p>

<p>NJRes, believe me, I’ve gotten that letter myself and I feel your pain…but speaking as someone who used to have a job answering the phone at an undergrad admissions office, people (parents) really DO call to beg for reversals, demand explanations, cry, scream that the school will be sorry when Junior wins the Nobel prize, etc. I don’t know whether it would be even worse if the letter didn’t include the finality statement, but I understand where the schools are coming from.</p>

[cameliasinensis]

<p>I actually know someone (a friend of a friend) who sent a letter of appeal to a certain institution with a 9% acceptance rate that rejected her last Thursday. I don’t know why she thought that would accomplish anything, but apparently she was confident she could persuade them to reconsider. :rolleyes:</p>

[caligali]

<p>“49 bazillion applicants just made for so many rejects this year. You’re one.”</p>

[NJres]

<p>Their acceptance rate is probably 25% to 30%. They have to accept 3 or 4 students to fill each seat in the freshman class. My son had very little interest in this school to begin with, and I had none, but the letter still annoyed me! (Don’t ask me why he applied - I don’t have a good answer)</p>

[calmom]

<p>My favorite piece from the article was this:

Lots of schools are vying for the “most emphatic rejection” prize. Cornell is leading the race, informing students in consecutive sentences that the electronic rejection they are reading will be confirmed in a follow-up letter which will make the rejection official. We don’t want you. Get it. We really don’t want you. What tipped the scale in Cornell’s favor, is that it even includes an invitation for you to visit its Web site to get information about applying to transfer to Cornell after your freshman year, so it can reject you again.

</p>

[LurkNessMonster]

<p>^^^^ What’s Northwestern’s phone number? :D</p>

<p>I loved the article, by the way. Thanks for posting!</p>

[xiggi]

<p>Dear Al,</p>

<p>We regret to inform you that, despite your effort in collecting more popular votes than your opponent, we have decided to give your spot to Georgie. </p>

<p>As you are probably aware, a career in politics is extremely competitive. While there were many good points in your presentation and campaign, the member holding the final vote did not believe you were deserving of our confidence.</p>

<p>I would encourage you to consider a career change, if you have not done so already. May I suggest to seek a new direction in the film industry? </p>

<p>We wish you the best in your future endeavors. </p>

<p>K. Harris
The United States Electoral College</p>

[midmo]

<p>The rejection letter from Famous Institute of Technology gets my vote for Most Arrogant:</p>

<p>

Please understand that this is in no way a judgment of you as a…person.

</p>

<p>It also gets my vote for Hardest to Understand:</p>

<p>

Despite what you might think, the admissions process is not an exact science.

</p>

<p>Is that an apology for maybe missing the mark?</p>

<p>I thought the whole thing was condescending.</p>

[mathmom]

<p>Hanna, you win the prize!</p>

<p>The amazing thing is that some places actually *do *listen to appeals. Apparently USC has taken 8 or 9 students in the past, and I heard of a kid doing the same at University of Delaware. I would have thought that there would be no possibility of leap frogging over the wait list.</p>

[latetoschool]

<p>Hanna, you totally win the prize regardless of whatever else is out there, but, this has to be second place: following a deferral from Harvard (EA) my daughter sent out several applications, including one to Cornell.</p>

<p>Cornell didn’t wait for April, the rejection letter arrived in January, informing her that her application arrived exactly two days past the deadline, and therefore would not be accepted for consideration. But they still cashed my check…it cleared the bank a week or so AFTER the “rejection” letter arrived.</p>