Admissions Brochures

Admissions Brochures July 17 If you receive an admission brochure from Duke, its no indication that Duke has any intention of admitting you. Its no indication they dont have intention of admitting you either (photo credit: Luke6040). We burst a lot of bubbles at Ivy Coach. Its not like were frequent bubble gum chewers. Its that there are a number of folks who reach out to us who have unreasonable expectations about their chances or their childs chances for admission. When the parent of a student with C grades and a 21 ACT score reaches out to us to see what we can do to help her daughter gain admission to Harvard, we  let her know that there is absolutely nothing we can do. We cant help her and neither can anyone else. Her daughter is not getting into Harvard. It might be tough for her to hear, but we long ago accepted that some parents and students are going to be upset by what we have to say. Its part of the nature of college admissions. Some months ago, we heard from a student who had been receiving brochures from a highly selective college. Well henceforth say that it was Yale even though it wasnt Yale. This student was convinced that Yale so very much wanted her, that she was going to earn admission. We corrected her that Yale did indeed very much want her. They wanted her to apply. But with her SAT score and grades, she did not have any reasonable shot of gaining admission to Yale. We discussed with her how many highly selective colleges send out brochures those glossy booklets you get in the mailbox to all sorts of students, even unqualified students. And why? Simply because they want to boost their application numbers and improve their ranking in US News World Report. Its sometimes very difficult to hear that a school that you thought loved you is just, well, using you. Its kind of like dating a bad person in a way, if you think about it in this respect. These schools can be bad dates. So dont be fooled if a highly selective college sends you brochures. Maybe you can get in. Or maybe you cant. What were saying is that receiving a college brochure is no indication of either.