justkeepswimming Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Have any of your dcs (this year or in the past) been surprised by a rejection from a university you'd felt was a safe bet? DD applied to a couple schools with 40-50% acceptance ratings - and will be applying to one with a 25% rating and another with something like 15%. So, obviously, the 25% and 15% are high possibilities of rejections, even if she's "on paper" qualified... But - what about schools in the 40-50% range? Anyone applied there, fully expecting an acceptance, but been surprised by a denial? Just trying to gauge expectations before the acceptance/denials start coming in. She's above the average stats for the 40-50% schools, so we feel fairly safe... but... wondering *how* safe we should feel at this point? :001_unsure: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 We have the same situation with a 50% school. I really don't know what to think. I'm trying to keep focus on the others. We're supposed to know EA acceptances in January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 I have not been surprised and it's rare that kids from school are surprised (it can happen though), BUT this is also why I liked having at least one rolling admissions school we liked. It took the pressure off considerably. Middle son used Pitt and U Alabama as rolling admission "safeties." Pitt even ended up being his second choice. (Alabama wasn't a top choice due to the major he really wanted. It was just a safety "just in case" since he would have had free tuition there.) Rolling admission schools can be downright good schools on top of that "phew, they're in" factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 We were surprised last year with a wait list offer from a 40-50% accp school, with stats in top 25%. That's what I keep thinking about. I know it happens from looking at statistics. I'll be a bit nervous until January. In hindsight, do you have any guess as to why it happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 ...do you have any guess as to why it happened? I'm not Heigh-Ho, just a random responder ;), but FWIW, my *guess* is that most reasons would have nothing to do with your student and the student's stats. It may simply be the number of students applying for a specific program vs. openings in that program. Or, some schools have quotas -- number of students from in-state vs. out-of-state. Or they may even have quotas as far as % of male/female, or % of various race/ethnic groups so they can maintain a diversity mix that is important to them. Also, with students typically applying to 6-10 schools, some schools may have so many students using them as a safety, they won't *really* know how many openings they have for offering acceptances until some of the students start declining them in favor of their first choice schools. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Not yet but my ds applied to one school with about that acceptance rate and is in the top 25% and I am kind of expecting a rejection. The reason is that this school asked for the CSS PROFILE by Dec 1 and EA notifications come out late January. I am expecting that once they see how much need he has they will reject him. His scores are just barely in the top 25%. Accepting him won't help their stats enough for them to want to bring alot of aid and they can see by looking at our info he won't be able to come without alot of aid. So, I expect them to reject him rather than accept him knowing that he is unlikely to come. Call me a skeptic but I feel like if we said we would not be applying for financial aid he would have a much better chance of acceptance. That all doesn't bother me at all. They might as well reject him as well as accept him without necessary aid. He has plenty of other viable and affordable options. I am curious to see how it goes, though. By all stats he should make it but who knows? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 I'm following. I don't have any btdt experience, as my first DD is applying to university this year. She already has acceptances/scholarship offers from her two safeties with rolling admission. The others range from a 6% acceptance rate (the specific program she is applying to has about 500 applicants for 30 seats) up to about 50%. Our state flagship school (my top choice for her - and hers, too, I think) has about a 30% acceptance rate, but she is around 75th percentile in terms of ACT/GPA. Time will tell... But none of us are very patient! It's a good thing life is very busy otherwise, or we might all obsess over this too much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justkeepswimming Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 I was just talking to a friend about this very thing today! In any of the applications, when it asked the "Will you be seeking financial aid?" question, we said yes. Because... why wouldn't we say yes? lol Are there people who don't at least apply for financial aid and just see what happens? (I honestly thought everyone would say yes to that question... some merit scholarships even require that you fill out the FAFSA or CSS Profile...) But, she told me pretty much what you've said here... and my mouth just sort of gaped open. Didn't even occur to me that would make any amount of difference. :svengo: Of course, I should have known better - everything seems to make a difference! Ugh! Not yet but my ds applied to one school with about that acceptance rate and is in the top 25% and I am kind of expecting a rejection. The reason is that this school asked for the CSS PROFILE by Dec 1 and EA notifications come out late January. I am expecting that once they see how much need he has they will reject him. His scores are just barely in the top 25%. Accepting him won't help their stats enough for them to want to bring alot of aid and they can see by looking at our info he won't be able to come without alot of aid. So, I expect them to reject him rather than accept him knowing that he is unlikely to come. Call me a skeptic but I feel like if we said we would not be applying for financial aid he would have a much better chance of acceptance. That all doesn't bother me at all. They might as well reject him as well as accept him without necessary aid. He has plenty of other viable and affordable options. I am curious to see how it goes, though. By all stats he should make it but who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justkeepswimming Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 Thanks for the input - so helpful, as always!!! :cheers2: It's humbled us - made us a little wary - and I think both of us will be much more appreciative of any early, "safety" school admissions when they (hopefully) come in! If anything, dd is now less resistant to applying to a local, very-safety, high scholarship-potential school now. Just in case those 40-50% schools fall on the wrong side of admittance and/or scholarship money. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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