College Admission Officers Share Ridiculous Things People Did To Get In (AskReddit) F*ck

people working in college admissions what are the most ridiculous things people have done to try to better their chances I had a kid once send in his own sneaker along with a note that read hope this helps get my shoe in the door it didn't I worked in College Admissions briefly one kid sent in 15 letters of recommendation one of whom was from a congressman the kid was apparently rich and well-connected and mistakenly believed that the letters alone would seal the deal sorry kiddo that many letters will not cover up the fact that you had a 1:9 GPA under the UI on your record edit we did not do criminal background checks applicants were asked to voluntarily disclose their criminal backgrounds this student came from a high profile family and it was in his best interest to disclose it as failing to do so would have meant automatic rejection had we found out we generally Google searched most students anyway and that he UI records came up for him anyway I'm a senior and in my second year interning in my school's office we get phone calls and emails out the wazoo mostly from parents though they are definitely worse than the kids two examples come to mind we got a bunch of emails from a fake account giving us a list of a dozen students that go to clubs and drink and smoked marijuana could have been another student or a parent but [ __ ] up regardless a mother called pretending to be her son to tell us about his selection to his county's old County football team I was on the phone with this lady while she was trying to tell me how she made it at Lynn Ibaka and she gave me her stats kid had a pretty good year and I told her to tell him congratulations before hanging up we literally had a kid in my grade Google best application essay and changed the name before submitting it the college found out pretty quickly that he didn't own his own business or do a tour in Greenpeace so it was rejections from everyone a friend of mine taught a student who wrote about a love of baking in her application essay she was wait-listed so she scheduled an appointment with the Dean of Admissions and brought cupcakes to the appointment decorated in the school's colors to back up her essay she got him well there aren't a ton of firsthand stories in this thread so here's to hoping I don't get too buried I work at an admission office of a top 40 liberal arts college although I'm a student I read applications conduct interviews and vote on the incoming class it's a pretty excellent job in my 50-something interviews that I've done thus far the hands down most ridiculous was the mother who kept insisting that her daughter and I would make such an amazing couple when she gets to campus and who tried to give me her daughter's cell phone number I'm 21 I'm not about that life I've heard parents ask straight up how much do I have to donate I've gotten three-page handwritten thank-you notes from interviewees people send chocolates and treats to the office on a fairly regular basis always with first and last names attached thanks for the great Tauron visit sincerely John Doe dubbed the first of January 1996 we are more likely to put that in your file as a red flag than as a bump just FYI babysitting your little brother is not community service especially when your family has no demonstrated need for financial aid we get to see all of that information when you put homecoming queen as your only activity you've failed at doing anything interesting with your teens feel free to message me any questions about higher ed I'm planning on doing an AMA before essays at you in December when I was in university my college would get applicants in for an interview and after that a current student would take the applicant on a tour of the college I was one of those current students two years the tour wasn't technically part of the application process but the interview panel would always ask how the applicant acted in the more informal setting of the tour at least a quarter of the girls would offer me sex I never accepted but I always gave these ones a particularly good recommendation because if there's one thing college needs its more [ __ ] girls we see a lot of applications from homeschooled students that have a high school GPA of four zero or three I can't make it seem too perfect but then have terrible test scores act is the big test here and sometimes the students will have a 15 or 16 out of 36 and expect to get in based on GPA and extracurriculars which are all church based volunteering at places I've almost never heard of when they get rejected the mother will call and explain how great her child is at learning and how it would kill her to see her child not get in redditors his wife here not sure if this is what you are looking for but I worked in graduate admissions office masters and PhDs at a major canadian university here are a few random admissions to bits that i encountered it's been a few years so i'm paraphrasing a bit an applicant for the LLB masters of law submitted a number of photographs of himself posing with every dignitary ambassador etc that he had ever met the same guy also included a letter of reference that stated i'm not sure why xxxxX asked me to write him a letter of reference he has been brought before the magistrate more than once for assaulting other returners and there is honestly nothing good that i can say about it students had to submit the letters in sealed envelopes and were expected to not have seen the content of the letter to ensure that the referee was unbiased needless to say his photos didn't work in neither did his reference letter for the mba applicants were asked to write a personal statement her international applicant started her letter with I'm a very beautiful shameful young woman another applicants letter of reference indicated that he would be best sweeted to living in the medieval time and often criticized other students for their modern lifestyles it also went on to detail how the applicant had carved his own wooden bed frame based on medieval practices I don't recall what he was applying to we did not have a medieval Studies program at the graduate level but likely history or philosophy I have worked in college admissions for seven years and I can tell you the worst thing I have ever seen at my previous school we would accept screenshots of transcripts for the purpose of initial acceptance it was a shady for-profit school a young man sent us a screenshot but didn't close the windows that were open behind the transcripts one window was of Zam ster common V and the headline read milf loves [ __ ] I was able to actually look it up afterward and it was some dirty stuff hey I can answer this one a cake sent in the mail actually if you do spend a lot of time with someone on the phone after the admission cycle is over something to show your appreciate is awesome we got so many awful CDs I never worked for a school with a strong art presence but we would always get CD recordings of students playing whatever instrument if you are applying to join a band call the director slash instructor you want to work with and see what the procedure is if they arrive at general admissions at least at my school they were stuck in the file but we never listen to them so many dumb essays if the prompt is described or biggest risk in life don't write this and then think you are smart or unique we have seen them all we will recognize if it came from a website we also got some with drawings we actually got a lot of paper apps in the early 2000s I don't know if that still happens today a bunch of pressed flowers I think it was a hobby not a death threat but we could never be sure things written in Latin that were actually hyped some lorem copy / paste s-- and then the usual other things mentioned parents calling and pretending to be their children although generally it was to ask questions and express their desire to attend X school and I never heard of a switch gender lots of letters from Congress people to overcome poor grades or legal and character issues and parents calling to ask about donations which is so obviously fake to someone who does this for a living I was in no way connected with college admissions but I ran my University's Club equestrian team website I would get high school students asking me to put in a good word for them to admissions or they would try to send me videos of them riding so I would recruit them club team same level of importance to the university is like and in club or that one club that tried to make everyone go vegan nobody cares how good you jumping your pony over the fence I do Q under in various forms for a two-year institution we are reasonably lacs about many things but we don't make exceptions for deadlines on the eve of registration closing this woman calls and says she really really needs to get in for the next term I tell her I'm sorry that she hasn't sent us an application so there was no way she'd get in on time she waits a few seconds and then asks if we make exceptions for medical reasons we do if it can be backed up by hospital documentation and an application had already been submitted on time she mumbles something under her breath in hangs up before I can ask her if she understands the next day I get a call from a woman who claims she needs to register and she couldn't yesterday because she was in the hospital I pass her on to my supervisor because that's policy for exceptions seconds after I transfer the call I realize it was the same woman from yesterday two hours later I find out that the woman had accidentally overdosed on insulin injections and went to the ER she had faxed over discharge papers and all before we could even accuse her of gaming the system we had to say we couldn't make an exception because she never submitted an application I have friends who worked the mailroom at my colleges admissions office from their experience people send all sorts of things John Chinese calligraphy Scrolls to go with their essay music that was supposed to be played when the counselor reads the essay food quite often and yes taxidermied animals most often it's put on a shelf and a notice put in the file so if the counselor really wants to see it he or she can people go really crazy over college apps I work at a public four-year university processing transcripts more often than not as the young tonight said the parents call and tell us how we are fools for not accepting their special snowflakes and how there are dozens of other schools begging for him /her to attend some students send us everything that they've ever won since grade school including the spirit of woods that are handed out like stickers after a booster shot some will send in resumes of all the wonderful ways they've contributed to society sometimes in conjunction with lossy headshots they also try and explain why they were given disciplinary action during high school one of my favorites is when student explained how he and an amicable peer had an encounter in the auditorium before their academic courses proceeded then said student went on about his way after the encounter and was called into the principal's office where the other student was bruised and seemingly beaten and crying and he the applicant was accused of rape he then went on to say that it was all a conspiracy against him because he was expelled from another school in another state and fired from his job for the same reason needless to say he was not accepted I can't tell you how many essay a day I will read about either mom / grandma / dad being greatest inspiration in my life or grandma / grandpa / dog passing away being the biggest hardship in one's life something that I hate is when I get wealthy kids that lie about their finances listing their stay-at-home mothers income or other things of that nature one kid who was doing this actually posted on his FAFSA book a vote about whether to go to a private university or go to a state school because his dad would buy him an m3 with the extra money I've been working in an international admissions office for about six months at a large state university even though they are no way required I have a ridiculous amount of students emailing me out of videos of themselves my top two are a vocal performance and a basketball reel oh and the language barrier usually keeps things interesting emails that open with your majesty usually make my day UK University admin here had a girl who was rejected get her minister write a letter urging the Uni to reconsider as he knew it was the will of God she be admitted to study medicine a third letter sat on my desk longer than it should have before being acknowledged read been also people threaten to sue us go to the local press have their in piece write to us asking what our major malfunction was for not admitting the spraga their constituent while we admitted more outstanding candidate CTC thank you all so much I can't wait until all those acceptance letters come rolling in I took all of your advice after hours of research I'm not african-american from Egypt I used much good grammar in my assay lots of semicolons and capitalization I wrote it all on an old shoe if they want they can see what it's like to walk a mile in my shoe and my foots already in the door I hope they enjoyed my taxidermy bear stuffed with magic brownies wish me luck everyone I added a song for you to listen to while you read this comment make sure you read it again with the music it's so much more powerful I briefly worked admissions at a university with a huge and well-respected music program we would have students who had their moms write letters to us saying things like we just knew little [ __ ] was meant to be a singer because she was born with her arms straight up in the air just as if she were performing my other favorites were the students saying that while they could not read music or had never had a lesson in their lives they just know this is what they were meant to do with their lives those auditions typically did not go well one of my friends in high school joked that he could go to any school regardless of how his admission essay was written he was Native American and Venezuelan mother was an immigrant could speak four languages salutatorian of our class perfect ACT score three sport letter for three years etc jokingly he sent an application to an Ivy League school that had a two essay requirement plus an interview for decision first essay asked to describe why they should admit them and second was to describe their future goals he literally wrote only endless possibilities for the 1st and the world on the second he got an interview and ultimately they did not admit but they were impressed by his creativity well I don't know what this kid was thinking about his chances but I worked in admissions and I needed a kid to submit an essay or about why he was transferring and he basically texted me from his phone before smart phones were very prevalent filled with typos and slang and then it said something like sent from my phone like I want to come to this school because I think it would be a good change in stuff and I had to let this kid in because he was an athlete such hiya I was advising a student on her options this read her results from a printed Excel spreadsheet and mistakenly advised her that she could gain admission to such in such an overseas University background our students could study the first one or two years of their course with us before completing the degree overseas however when we checked her transcript properly she was actually one a short so we apologized and told her that actually she couldn't get in now we don't decide who this university accepts that didn't stop her threatening to sue us in order to make us accept her another story but not related to admissions some students were dissatisfied with their result so they appealed the mocking of the exam to get it remarked their appeal was unsuccessful because the assessment was 100% course walk with no exam component their appeal fee was not refunded well to be honest I did some crazy things to bolster my chances of getting into a great college I collected donations for the underprivileged chimpanzees of the Congo I provided veterinary services for homeless people's pets I raised awareness for chapped lips in the winter syndrome I visited a starving child in Africa and wrote about my evening with contigent I even started a fake charity called Invisible Children contac in 2014 guys

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Keywords: college admission officers, college admission, college admissions, college, admission, ridiculous things, ridiculous, get in, people, reddit, askreddit, askreddit funny, top posts, top posts of r/, r/, r/askreddit, reddit top posts, reddit cringe, comedy, reddit compilation, top posts of all time, askreddit question, askreddit top posts, ask reddit, askreddit reading, subreddit, reddit stories, best of r/askreddit, funny reddit, best reddit posts, best of reddit, ToadFilms, pewdiepie

Id: 1ICJkLxJ41M

Length: 17min 0sec (1020 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 15 2019