The white board that tracks my senior students’ application progress takes up an entire wall of my office. During the final weeks of March I can’t wait to add another school to the “good news” list.
Of course, not every notice is the hoped for good news. Here’s a shout out to Emily Moscol, Assistant Dean of Admission at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, for a fabulous blog post regarding unwelcome college news. Portions are excerpted here, and you can read the whole text at http://blogs.olin.edu/olinformer/2011/03/
“I am not going to write a blog post about how sorry we are that we couldn't take you, we had a lot of great applicants, etc. You have that letter. I know, I helped stuff the envelopes. I know what it says. I know that it stinks…
What makes me able to do this job is that I know for a fact that you are amazing. We didn't turn down anyone who wasn't. You are going to go somewhere else in September, you are going to do extremely well there, and you aren't even going to be thinking of Olin. You are going to make friends, and go to parties, and love your classes. You are going to find a club to join with likeminded people and it's going to be perfect…
You will have everything you ever wanted somewhere else. You will be living a present that is wonderful. Perfect. Like you.”
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