A Missed Deadline Provides a Costly Lesson
Posted: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:33 AM - 11,675 Readers
By: Brett Ferdinand
Applying to college has been nerve-wracking enough, but I
inadvertently made my own admissions process even worse. On my very
first application I missed an important deadline — to the school I
considered my safety, the University of
Texas at Austin. And now I worry I may not get in anywhere else.
Allow me to explain.
Earlier this month, I received my first and only college decision
letter. It was from U.T. Austin, informing me that since my complete
application had not been received by the deadline, I could not be
admitted into the fall semester. This was not the response I had been
hoping for. The reason they gave? While I sent in the actual application
on time, I forgot to submit my SAT and ACT test scores by the deadline.
As soon as I realized this omission I had those scores sent, but it
was too late.
I even filed a letter of appeal to the board of admissions, asking
them to please accept my application as on time, but it was denied. All
of this means that since I had relied on Texas as my safety school, I
essentially don’t have one now, at least not if I want to attend school
this fall. (One note: In its letter, U.T. Austin did say I was
guaranteed admission, in spring 2011, to its schools of liberal arts,
natural sciences or undergraduate studies. However, I had applied to the
university’s McCombs School of
Business, and if I wish to pursue that further I was told I will
have to reapply.)
As to the other colleges to which I applied, each is considered
pretty elite. In other words, I’m not assured admittance into any of
them. Considering that I was fifth in my class, U.T. should have been a
slam dunk. Under the “Top 10 Percent Rule,” the state guarantees
admission to any of its public universities to high school students
ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class.
So, basically, now it’s time to play the waiting game with my other
schools. I await letters from Rice
University, the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill, Duke University,
the University of Virginia, Princeton University, and Stanford University, my six schools
remaining.
This may seem like a pretty crazy mix, but these are all schools I
could see myself at for one reason or another. I honestly do not have a
front-runner at this point. All l I know so far is that I plan to major
in business or economics, and even that is shaky.
Now that I’ve swamped you with all this drama, I’d like to take a
quick second to tell you a bit more about myself. I was born in New
Jersey where I spent the first seven years of my life. From there my
family moved to Virginia, where we lived close to Richmond until my
eighth grade year. My last move brought me to where I currently reside
in Cedar Park, Tex., right outside of Austin.
I attend Cedar Park High School,
where I’ve spent a lot of my time the last four years on the varsity
wrestling team. I also enjoy doing outdoor activities with friends,
especially on Lake
Travis, a great recreational lake about 10 minutes away.
It’s really hard to look at the bright side of my admissions
situation, but at least my college decision is made that much easier
with one less school to consider.