Rescinded Acceptance to Harvard

Ivy Coach was featured yesterday in a “Business Insider” piece.

Ivy Coach was cited this week in a piece up on “Business Insider” by esteemed educational reporter Abby Jackson. The piece focused on the saga coming out of Harvard University yesterday. For those very few folks who don’t happen to read our college admissions blog every day with their oatmeal and coffee and thus may not know about the story coming out of Harvard, several students learned that their admission to the Harvard Class of 2021 had been rescinded because of posts they made in an admitted students Facebook group.

Jackson’s piece, entitled “Obscene Facebook chats reportedly got 10 Harvard students’ admissions revoked — here are all the reasons a college can pull your acceptance,” focuses on causes for Harvard to rescind an offer of admission, which of course is not particularly common — at Harvard or at any highly selective college. But these schools all very explicitly state that they reserve the right to rescind an admission when such offers are extended. As Jackson writes, disciplinary issues, a drop in grades, conduct while on campus, criminal charges, etc. can all be causes for a rescinded acceptance.

As reported in the “Business Insider” piece, “Significant changes to grades can hurt admitted students. ‘Is a B grade going to [result] in a rescind? Highly unlikely,’ Brian Taylor, director of Ivy Coach, told Business Insider. It’s important for students to try and maintain their grades, but they shouldn’t overly worry about minor fluctuations, he said…Students should be aware that their conduct at admitted student weekends is also subject to scrutiny, according to Taylor, who said that issues like underage drinking at fraternity events during these weekends can cause rescinded acceptances in some cases.” You bet. High school students on a college campus overnight for the first time. Access to alcohol. A few students are bound to get into some trouble.

Have a question on rescinded college acceptances? Worried if that ‘B+’ in AP Government is going to result in a rescinded offer of admission? Try to keep your grades at the same level they were at when you were admitted. But also stop worrying so much. It’s not healthy.