It’s that time of year.  A time of exaltation and a time of heavy sighs, albeit tears.  This year, as the weeks unfold, is like no other year I have experienced in my 3 decades as an educator and counselor.  In all my years in working with students and their families, even with the current budgetary constraints, students who worked hard, achieved high standards were not able to access mid tier schools.  We are not talking about the schools that have traditionally been rigorous, for we can all,  most certainly agree, that these schools are difficult in the best of circumstances.

But, the good news is that the students Buckley has worked with are getting in to the colleges of their choice.  Without naming names of schools, we are so very glad that admission readers ‘heard’ the stories of applicants and I’m so very glad that the human element is alive and well in the reading process.  As a long time undergraduate admission reader for the University of California at Berkeley, I understand the daunting task of admission reading and hold in high regard the job that each reader holds.

And, as admission decision and the statistics come through, we will share it.  Difficult?  Yes. Students who should have been admitted? Yes.  But, I’m a firm believer that everythign does happen for a reason and we, as eductors and counselors are here to buoy the students through the process of decisions.

Some numbers to date:
Harvard – 5.9 percent acceptance
Cornell – 16.2 percent accepannce (down from 18 percent last year)
Johns Hopkins  – 17.7 percent acceptance (down from 18.3)
U. of Pennyslvania  – (12.3 percentance acceptance (down from 12.4)

More to come tomorrow….