"I very much regret to inform you that I will be withdrawing my application. I realize you may be disappointed by this decision, but you were in competition with many fantastic universities and following your interview I am afraid you do not quite meet the standard of the universities I will be considering."
There was an interesting story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-16604050 recently about a student who sent a rejection letter to the University of Oxford following her interview for a place there.
Elly Nowell parodied the institution's own rejection letters, stating that Magdalen College "did not quite meet the standard" of other universities with which they were competing.
Nowell went on to criticize the formal, elitist, and intimidating nature of the interview process and noted later that,
"It was while I was at interview that I finally noticed that subjecting myself to the judgement of an institution which I fundamentally disagreed with was bizarre."
I am beginning to suspect the art and skill of critical thinking, while bemoaned by many as sorely in decline, may in fact be alive and well among many emerging college and university students. As such, if educators and the institutions they represent fail to adapt their brand to the tastes of these new consumers, they may also fail to attract the kind of talent they have to share.
In the words of Elly Nowell,
"Being a successful student should depend on the student, not on whether or not a couple of academics have deemed you to shine in a 20-minute interview."
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