23 of the Funniest Applications Seen by College Admissions Officers

‘We had one applicant arrested for attempting to break into the director’s office’
23 of the Funniest Applications Seen by College Admissions Officers

When applying for something, it’s important to include a detail that will make an impact on whoever reads it. The student who included a five-foot-wide poster of his face along with his college application knows this better than anyone. But unfortunately, while his giant visage did make an impact, it didn’t help his chances. 

The college admissions officers of Reddit have written about the funniest applications they’ve seen from prospective students, and we wanna know what happened to the guy who sent the taxidermy squirrel. 

xtremechaos . 10y I had a kid once send in his own sneaker along with a note that read, Hope this helps get my shoe in the door. It didn't. ... 3.1k
. 5y White water farting. Не meant white water rafting. ... 13.1k
TheMapesHotel - 5y Graduate school admissions. Our application requires 4 separate essays. This student wrote all four as a long, drawn out love letter to one of our faculty members. The faculty member wasn't taking new students into the lab and had never met or talked to the perspective student. The student had taken all the info for her love letters from his website in addition to providing a list of his publications (also from his website) that she had read. I walked away from reading her application with zero sense of who she was but having learned a lot
buddythebear. 1 10y I worked in college admissions briefly. One kid sent in 15 letters of recommendation, one of whom was from a congressman. The kid was apparently rich and well- connected, and mistakenly believed that the letters alone would seal the deal. Sorry kiddo, that many letters will not cover up the fact that you had a 1.9 GPA and a DUI on your record.
Nufity . 5y The amount of students who glue rice to their applications to Rice University is too damn high. 705
brohgan . 10y I've been working in an international admissions office for about 6 months at a large state university. Even though they are no way required, I have a ridiculous amount of students e-mailing me YouTube videos of themselves. My top two are a vocal performance and a basketball reel. Oh, and the language barrier usually keeps things interesting. Email's that open with Your majesty, usually make my day. ... 375
jennave43 . 10y I have worked in college admissions for seven years, and I can tell you the worst thing I have ever seen. At my previous school we would accept screenshots of transcripts for the purpose of initial acceptance (it was a shady for profit school.) A young man sent us a screenshot but didn't close the windows that were open behind the transcripts... One window was of xhamster.com and the and the headline read Milf Loves Cock. I was able to actually look it up afterward and it was some dirty stuff. ... 1k
MetasequoiaLeaf . . 10y The essay question on the application to Harvard one year: In 500 words or fewer, demonstrate bravery. A student wrote: Go Yale! and submitted it. Не got in. (I am not, myself, a college admissions person, but I am friends with Yale's former Dean of Admissions, and apparently Harvard's DoA couldn't wait to tell him this story.) ... 2.9k
10y I work at the admissions office and a kid once sent in a portfolio of his artwork... Full of softcore Anime porn ... 382
Kabsal . 10y My favorite story from the college admissions people who visited my high school was students who listed more hours of extracurricular activities per week than there are hours in a week. ... 3k
Work13494 . 10y We literally had a kid in my grade google best application essay and change the name before submitting it. The college found out pretty quickly that he didn't own his own business or do a tour in green peace, so it was rejections from everyone. ... 2k
daweiandahalf . . 5y Less ridiculous, but we had an applicant send in a book they wrote and published themselves. It was difficult for us to really read it, because for some reason the book really stank. We just put it in their file and shut the door. ... 5.2k
hippiemamacrunchbot . 1 10y I briefly worked admissions at a university with a huge and well respected music program. We would have students who had their moms write letters to us saying things like, We just knew little Susie was meant to be a singer because she was born with her arms straight up in the air just as if she were performing. My other favorites were the students saying that while they could not read music or had never had a lesson in their lives, they just KNOW this is what they were meant to do with their lives. Those auditions
halveabee 10y I work in medical school admissions. We had one applicant arrested for attempting to break into the director's office. Не planned to meet with our director and convince her to issue him an interview invitation, because he was certain that if he could only get an interview, he would get in, and that she was not issuing him one because she had never met him. ... 412
sugarhoneybadger. 10y One student in my high school was applying only to Christian colleges. Her admissions essay was about how she survived her break up with her boyfriend by praying to Jesus and realized that Jesus was the only true love of her life. She got in. ... 837
hereforcats. 10y Stalked admission advisors. Not even the person that makes the decision, just the applicant's person of contact for the process. I couldn't get how a person was still thinking he had a shot at coming to the university when we had his name, number, and DO NOT ANSWER next to the receptionist phone. ... 57
stone4345 . 5y A applicant literally wrote something along the lines of please don't accept me I don't want to go to your school in the addendum section of our application because his parents forced him to apply. Another time an applicant submitted a essay composed of Japanese characters that when put through google translate turned out to be a loosely translated version of cat in the hat. ... 17.4k
dimgray . . 5y The worst CV I ever saw as part of an application to a graduate program was a barely-intelligible, un-formatted mess that included such bits of information as she likes to spend her free time reading and her favorite book is fifty shade gray 10.3k
Kimura4you . 10y When I was an Admissions Counselor I had a girl imply that she wanted to meet up with me at a hotel I was staying at to discuss her chances on being accepted. ... 1.9k
eyow . 10y I worked in the admissions office when I was in college. Most amusing phone call was from someone living in Manhattan, wanting to know which preschool her child should go to in order to get into the school. You know, in 15 or so years. ... 1.5k
thirteenandahalf 5y My high school counselor told us about kid who did something similar. Не sent his essays to the wrong schools, but when he realized what he'd done, he sent them both photos of himself with his foot in his mouth and they both accepted him. ... 628
aatdalt . 10y I had a friend who worked admissions and his best story was from an applicant who sent a 5 foot wide poster of his face. While they did hang it up somewhere in the office, it did not help his chances. ... 2.6k
kpajamas . 10y An admissions officer at Harvard told me that some kid wrote about his taxidermy hobby in his essay, and then sent a sample of his work. The office didn't know what to do with it until the stuffed squirrel began to decay because the dude sucks at taxidermy...

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