upsetting and unexpected college decision

brantly
Thu, 02 Apr 2015 15:25:40 +0000

@lb43823 Unfortunately, it doesn’t go “in order.” Wouldn’t college admissions offices have a much easier time if they just ranked every applicant 1-38,000 based on their scores and points for leadership, and then sent acceptances to numbers 1-4,000. Numbers 4,001-5,000 are WL, and 5,001-38,000 are rejected.

You know that’s not the way it works. It’s not as orderly as that. Here are some reasons you might have received WL instead of accepted:
1.They had a disproportionate number of applicants from Long Island, and needed to round out the geographic diversity. (You know, Cornell gets too many applicants from NYS. Being from NYS works against you.)
2. They had a disproportionate number of Indian applicants.
3. Whoever read your essay didn’t love it as much as you do.
4. They like to round out the class with kids who are smart but not tippy-top like you. (How boring it would be if every single COE student had 35 and 36 ACTs.)
5. The most likely reason: You didn’t show them enough love. If you don’t apply ED, they have to be relatively certain that you are going to attend. In the RD round they are looking for applicants who are in the sweet spot: Unlikely to get into MIT or CalTech, but just in the sweet spot for Cornell. They like to “protect their yield.” If you are above the sweet spot, you have to tell them why Cornell is your first choice (be specific) and that you will attend if accepted.

One more thing: Did you apply for financial aid? Not sure if they are need-blind when it comes to selecting students from the wait list.