What NOT to do When You Get Your College Acceptance Letter

Congrats! You made it through college acceptance and rejection season. Whether or not this was the year your own fate was up to the admissions gods, I’m sure you ran into a few obnoxious Facebook statuses, lost pre-frosh on your campus’ visiting weekend, or tears from family friends whose hearts were set on a particular school. While the days leading up to FINALLY finding that letter in your mailbox may be some of the most nerve-wracking in a students’ high school career, its important to remember not to overshare when those acceptances do roll in.

Case in point: Recently college blogs were all abuzz when one student took his excitement at being accepted to a number of great schools a little too far. IvyBlog, (ivygateblog.com), recently posted the Facebook status of said tool. He writes on March 14^th at 8:34pm: “I just got my admittance letters into Yale, Duke, Northwestern, Penn and Columbia. Now Harvard is begging my ass to go to their school. FULLY PAID SCHOLARSHIP. LOL. Hmmmm…. Ahahahah naw kiss my ass. F@!k Harvard! I don’t need no Harvard or no scholarship HAHA! No really though, I’m going to Harvard guys. Wooooooo =D”

This is unacceptable on many levels. First off, admissions decisions have not yet been mailed out to students on March 14th (I should know since I work there). Secondly, NO Ivy League school offers scholarships to students, only financial aid made up of need-based grants. Thirdly, this is just an exceedingly douchey post. Rumor has it, Harvard rescinded this student’s admission... deservingly so.

It goes without saying that this is absolutely NOT how you should go about notifying your chosen college of your decision. You should gracefully decline admission to colleges you are not interested in by sending back their survey/enrollment form on time and giving respectful feedback. Also be sure to send your confirmed acceptance to your college of choice before May 1, the (somewhat) universal deadline.

While its great to be proud of your achievements, Facebook is not the venue for shameless boasting of this nature. That should probably be saved for immediate family, grandma and grandpa, or the teacher who gave you a C- in Algebra I in the 8^th grade.

-- By Kylie Thompson, Harvard University