What Red Flags Can Kill Your College Application?

The Wall Street Journal presents "Inside The Admissions Office." Students across America sent in their questions expert Deans of Admissions from eight top colleges provide the real answers. In this clip, our panelusts reveal some of the mistakes that can put your application directly in the "reject" pile.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• admissions
• wsj
• on
• campus
• wsjoncampus
• unigo
• college
• applications

[gounc93]

@JillStrif you probably couldn't get into williams anyway

[JillStrif]

Because of how Richard L. Nesbitt reacted to the woman's answer before him, I would NEVER consider going to his school.

He gave me, a student, an immediate red flag about how SNOOTY that school probably is ;D

[PrUnEJuIcEtHeThIrD]

@JillStrif What he said had nothing to do with snootiness. In fact, I have to respect him for having the guts to call out a bullshit answer. The point of this video report was to have admissions office give as honest and specific answers as they can to questions about the admissions process. Instead, the Wesleyan lady essentially said, "I'm an optimist ... so don't ask me about red flags." Well, guess what? That's a complete bullshit answer, and obviously avoided the question.

[TheTroyes1]

not an Ivy and not hard to get into, my bud with a 3.3 gpa (weighted) got in

[floatinroundmytincan]

"my son"? why, why, WHY would you write an essay for your son? oh my god.

[iMattGoesCamping]

@JillStrif Yeah, doesn't it just really suck when somebody answers the question they were asked...

[redshark618]

The second guy, Allen, really made my day. I always though Ivies were reserved for valedictorian, 2400 SAT kids. Now at least i have a bit of hope...

[06jburt]

@JillStrif ... he answered the question that was asked rather than rambling on like the lady did.

[liquidpersuasion]

@JillStrif lol really. Williams? never even heard of it. this snootiness is typical of these small private liberal arts colleges. i'd rather see that kind of attitude from an ivy league school. but they're above that. :P

[mkscfan]

Nesbitt was definitely not that bad. His answer was fairly earnest - I don't know how you could see snooty in what he said at all.

[EinstenNJ]

About what Mr. Allen said, I could see a case where you could have 170+ hours a week on your college application if you neglected to specify that you do different things at different times of the year. When I was in high school I was in drama, which at minimum took like 2 hours every week. But normal rehearsal was maybe 10 hours a week, and the week before a show we rehearsed from 2pm to 9pm maybe four days a week. But it would be kind of silly to write down the average or something like that.