Myth: It’s a perfect system.

College admission is ultimately a human process, and humans are prone to the fallibility that defines us. No one gets it right all the time.

In 1965, a scrawny California kid with a C average in high school applied to the prestigious film program at the University of California at Los Angeles. He was rejected, and so he went to California State at Long Beach. Later, he tried to transfer into another top-shelf department, the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Again, he was denied, and so Steven Spielberg had to make do with his second-rate education.

There are plenty of cases like Spielberg’s — smart, tough, ambitious students who are bound for glory despite less than stellar credentials. Yet students, parents, and, in many cases, universities themselves persist in believing that admission to the best college represents a sink-or-swim moment in a teenager’s life. This single decision is inevitably defined in terms of winning and losing, with social status and a ticket to the academic promised land going to those who get into their top-choice schools, and with humiliation and an overwhelming sense of failure to those who don’t.

“People who get that [rejection] letter from us view it as a comment on a student’s quality, on his or her history, and on the likelihood of future success,” says Provost Farrell. “It’s none of those.”

That admissions decisions often swing on the narrowest of margins should temper those feelings of failure, but ultimately, behind each application that lands at UW-Madison’s door is one face and one hope — and one decision that really matters.

But the final lowdown about UW-Madison’s admissions process comes down to this: demand exceeds supply, so admissions counselors have to make tough calls about which students get in. And they do so every day, using the best tools they have: numbers, words, instinct, and experience.

• Introduction
• Myth: It’s a secretive process.
• Myth: A formula determines whether students are admitted or denied.
• Myth: UW-Madison has raised its admissions criteria in recent years.
• Myth: The UW turns away students with perfect GPAs.
• Myth: Some students get special treatment in the admissions process.
• Myth: It’s impossible for regular students to get in anymore.
• Myth: No one reads personal statements.
• Myth: It pays to apply early.
• Myth: Minority students get in with lower grades than some white students who are rejected.
• Myth: UW-Madison caps the number of students who can be admitted from one high school.
• Myth: Back in the day, UW-Madison let everybody in.
• Myth: Applicants from outside Wisconsin are taking up spots that could go to state residents.
• Myth: Connections with important people can get you in.
• Myth: Alumni can get their kids in if they pull the right strings.
• Myth: Being postponed is the same as being on a wait list.
• Myth: An A is always better than a B.
• Myth: One grumpy admissions counselor can doom an application.
• Myth: Admissions counselors like rejecting people.
• Myth: My son or daughter isn’t emotionally ready to be turned down by the university.
• Myth: It’s a perfect system.