For those who attended college, how did you get your acceptance/rejection?

[amcnj]

Pony express I think it was!

Actually, it was by US Postal Service. It was early decision, arrived in the fall, November I believe, in a manilla envelope, as it had forms that had to be completed and sent back.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

I understand that all the service academies have an option to drop out in the first two years without penalty. But after that aren't dropouts (or even just those failing to graduate) required to pay a rather expensive bill because that's when commitment paperwork is signed?

My recollection is that after two years at the academy you owed time to the Navy....so you’d have to serve time as enlisted sailor. But if you were discharged dishonorably You’d have to actual pay back cash.

I remember someone from my HS got an appointment. She was all set to go until she couldn't pass the physical. For women the requirement was a single pulp, and she couldn't do it.

The process might have changed in the past 27 years, but that sounds like she was nominated by a congress person, not actually appointed (appointed is liked getting admitted to a college...nominated is getting qualified to actually apply for admission). I recall the physical test being part of the admissions process...I remember having two coches at my HS administering the tests and signing a document attesting to the results. I think I did 3 pullups. Not sure if I was able to ever do that many again, including during plebe summer.

I recall the nomination and appointment process because Bernie Sanders (he was the lone member of the House of Representatives from Vermont back then) nominated me for West Point and Annapolis, and Leahy nominted me just to Annapolis, and he was the one that actually appointed me.

 

[bcla]

My recollection is that after two years at the academy you owed time to the Navy....so you’d have to serve time as enlisted sailor. But if you were discharged dishonorably You’d have to actual pay back cash.
The process might have changed in the past 27 years, but that sounds like she was nominated by a congress person, not actually appointed (appointed is liked getting admitted to a college...nominated is getting qualified to actually apply for admission). I recall the physical test being part of the admissions process...I remember having two coches at my HS administering the tests and signing a document attesting to the results. I think I did 3 pullups. Not sure if I was able to ever do that many again, including during plebe summer.

I recall the nomination and appointment process because Bernie Sanders (he was the lone member of the House of Representatives from Vermont back then) nominated me for West Point and Annapolis, and Leahy nominted me just to Annapolis, and he was the one that actually appointed me.

Maybe I got the nomenclature wrong. I do remember she mentioned that she wrote a letter to her House Representative and I guess that was considered a nomination. I've heard of some other nominations too. I thought the foreign nomination process was the most interesting. I thought they weren't specifically required to serve in the US military (aren't officers in the US required to be US nationals?) and I was thinking maybe their sending countries are required to pay for it? OK - found an article. Apparently some were already commissioned officers in their home countries.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryla...val-academy-international-20121130-story.html

 

[TCRAIG]

Almost 50 years ago - big thick envelope meant you were in - regular letter size meant you were didn’t make it...

 

[SteveH]

In High School I dreamed of attending a couple Universities to major in American Humanics, applied and quickly rejected by University of the Pacific and Pepperdine, I wasn't really shocked as my grades were really not that great.
So I started off at Community College, applied/accepted not big deal. Transferred to the University of Oregon, I did get an letter approving my transfer, again no big deal. Graduated and got a job, not great but working. Then the University came calling and recruited me to come back and get my Masters and run an international program called Camp Adventure. To be honest i really didn't want to go back to school at the time so I threw up some obstacles, such as not wanting to deal with GRE exams and I didn't want to take out any debt. They waived the GREs and thanks to a donation by Mr. Bill Bowerman (co-founder of Nike) I had a scholarship. So back to school. That time I did receive a rather official letter as well as a letter of employment.

 

[elphaba91]

I actually received confirmation of what university and course I got into through the newspaper (although I really knew well before then). I had to comb through a massive list to find my surname, initial and postcode, see the course code listed and then check the guide to confirm what course it was. When I got accepted to transfer courses a year later I found out by email.

University acceptance is very different in Australia. Each state has their own application system (and it’s pretty rare to go interstate for uni - I personally only know about 3 people who did), so my experience is only based on Victoria. We could apply for up to 8 different degrees (and you can apply for multiple degrees at the same university) but have to put them in your preferred order and only receive an offer for your top preference that you qualify for. For example, I had the marks to get into my preferences 2 through 8 but only got an offer for my number 2.

Most courses are based purely on your ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) (in my day it was called an ENTER though), which is basically a score showing your percentile ranking compared to your peers and the entry score is based on supply and demand. Only some creative courses plus medicine have other criteria. So unless you are applying for one of those courses or your ATAR would have been borderline in previous years, then you usually have a good idea what university and course you’re going to get into. The really scary day is results day when you get that ATAR - I got mine by text message.