Rescinded College Acceptances

The “Her Campus” section of “The Huffington Post” seemed to have a field day with Bev’s opinions on the subject of rescinded offers of admission.

Bev Taylor, the always outspoken and unapologetic Founder of Ivy Coach, has been featured in an article up on the “Her Campus” section of “The Huffington Post” in a piece entitled “How to Avoid Having Your College Acceptance Rescinded.” The piece obviously focuses on how students can’t start failing their classes and getting into trouble with their school — or the law — once they receive their exciting offers of admission from their dream colleges. With every college acceptance comes a gentle warning that students are expected to essentially maintain the same standard that they set before their offer of admission as after. It’s a gentle warning that should most certainly not be ignored.

As Bev is quoted in the piece, “‘If you’re an A student, a D or an F could certainly do it,’ says Bev Taylor, founder of Ivy Coach, a college admissions counseling practice. ‘If you got some Cs, the college would probably just ask you to explain your grades and see if you had a valid reason for their drop.’ Why is your school allowed to revoke your acceptance? Well, if you look at your acceptance letter, Taylor says you’ll likely notice there’s a clause making your acceptance ‘conditional upon the successful completion of the final year of high school.’ Your letter may have that exact phrasing, or it may say something like, ‘It is our expectation that you remain fully engaged in your studies and other pursuits for the remainder of your secondary school career.’ According to Taylor, that means you have to maintain the image of yourself that you presented in your application, whether you had a 4.0 or a 2.5.”

It’s funny because Bev didn’t write this piece and we always like to feature segments of pieces in which Bev is cited. But, in this case, we feel like we’re including the entire article! As the articles goes on to say, “So if you have minor grade slips? Not an issue. ‘If you’re a B student and you have a C or two Cs, the same thing goes [as when A students get Bs],’ Taylor says. ‘[The school] would probably never ask you about it.’…However, it doesn’t matter if you’re an A, B or C student or what field you’re interested in. Taylor says in almost any scenario, an F could cause a school to revoke a student’s acceptance. It’s not just receiving poor grades that can lead to a revoked acceptance. Dropping a course or switching to a less rigorous one—for example, deciding to move from AP Art History to pottery your second semester—is also considered a violation of the ‘successful senior year completion’ clause, Taylor says. Changing one class most likely won’t end with a college revoking your acceptance; however, if you were to drop all of your AP classes for joke electives, that’s a different story!”

It’s quite the long piece but we suppose we’ll continue to quote Bev. As the article goes on to say, “Taylor says there are two types of letters you can receive for slacking off. The first, in which the admissions team says it has noted your drop in grades or class changes and would like an explanation, is the most common. The second, in which your acceptance is revoked with no warning, is pretty rare and usually reserved for non-grade-related infractions, like getting caught cheating or being arrested.” Don’t get arrested! Yikes. And finally, Bev is quoted here: “Taylor says you should also reply to the college. Maybe something happened in your personal life that makes your grade change a little more understandable, such as a family illness or death. In those cases, explain what happened, apologize for your lapse and say you’re working to improve your grades.”

Also, in all of the years that Ivy Coach has been in business, we have never had a student whose admission was rescinded. Not once.