You Are a Qualified Applicant...But Here's Why You May Have Been Denied

Congratulations to my seniors who have been admitted to your ED and EA colleges!

As Early Decision admission decisions roll in, the understandable confusion from parents, counselors, and students rolls in behind them. Few are questioning acceptances; it’s the denials (imprecisely called “rejections” by students and families) that cause the stress.

We’re talking about the most highly selective colleges everyone talks about. Those of us who sit on stage at high school events where stressed parents (and by osmosis, their stressed children) ask, “What do colleges want?” or “Why is it so hard to get into <insert most selective college name>?”

At these colleges, your ability to control things is less than you think:

• Who reads your file: The admissions office may have dozens (or more) first readers. That person is subject to all the biases and random events that affect attitude on any day. The day your file pops up, they could have gotten praise from a boss, or their dog might have died. They might love your sarcastic and ironic tone, or it might cause them to stop reading your file before finishing your essay.

  
  

• When your file gets read: Your file might pop up after the application of a brilliant researcher or the one who submitted the worst essay of the year. It might get read at 10 am on a Tuesday, or 4pm on a Friday, with dozens more to read before the reader can knock off for the weekend.

  
  

• What other people say about you: Your letter of recommendation might not be glowing, even though the teacher who submitted it loved you. When I worked at Grinnell, an Iowan student’s teacher wrote “She’s not afraid to ask questions if she doesn’t understand the content.” Any Iowan would recognize that as a compliment. But one faculty member from Brooklyn, New York) read this and said, “Clearly, this student is slow on the uptake."

  
  

• Whether your grandparents’ have their name on a campus building: If your name is Barney Rubble VI, and the library is named “The Betty and Barney Rubble IV Memorial Library,” your file will get more attention, even before the Advancement Office signs the deal on the Pebbles and Bam-Bam Rubble Recreation Center. (Yes, Bam-Bam was actually named Barney Rubble V, and he and Pebbles did marry after the series ended.) These days, a nine figure donation definitely moves the needle.

• It's usually not about your application at all.

  
  

The lesson here is that you will never know why you were not admitted; it’s almost never one factor. And you won’t know if you missed it by a hair or a mile. It is perhaps a cruel but poignant lesson that will be repeated many times in your life. Sometimes things don’t go your way. And even when they don’t, they usually turn out just fine because of who you are.

This has been edited/rewritten for length and clarity from a post of Jon Boeckenstedt, a respected university admissions professional.