In our first-ever edition of Love in Admissions, we’re exploring tales of romance and good old fashioned admiration.
These tales come from all stages of the admissions process, from letters of recommendation and personal essays, to supplementary materials and admission interviews.
While some of these will warm your heart, others may leave you scratching (or shaking) your head.
Nonetheless, we hope you enjoy these stories about:
The one who found true love
“We met during a conference for university recruiters. I was rather shy and bashful but he persisted and finally got my attention. We married eight years later to the day and had our reception in the same building where we had our first spark of love.” More on their story here.
- Stacy, Queen’s University
The one who found new love
“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.”
- Sugarhoneybadger on Reddit
The one who has a future in romance writing ... or stalking
“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 prospective 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 more about the faculty member!”
- TheMapesHotel on Reddit
The one who loves themself … a little too much
“In lieu of an academic transcript, the applicant provided us with a 32-page PowerPoint presentation about themself. All headings were made using word-art, and it was full of selfies that looked like they were straight from their Tinder profile.”
- Supalora on Reddit
The one who’s young but sure
“I just received a Letter of Recommendation from a ten-year-old girl for a grad school applicant: ‘...and let me just say you would be quite dumb not to accept her into this grad school. If you are smart, you should take my advice.’”
- Cristina, George Fox University
The one who knows a scandalous secret
“I edited essays for students applying for college. The cringiest essay I read was one where a student answered a ‘How are you a creative person?’ prompt with stories about how he blackmails his father into paying for expensive trips because he knows about his father's mistresses.”
-Empressultramagnus on Reddit
The one who divorce lawyers will love
“...My work-study job was in the nursing department at my college. It was my job to sort incoming applications into potential students. [One applicant] answered the ‘why do you want to be a nurse’ question with how she planned to marry and divorce a few doctors until she became a millionaire.”
- Elenakalis on Reddit
The one who’s soft for an Iron Man
“USC interviewer asks ‘If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be and what would you ask them?’ I panicked and rambled about ironman, literally said ‘I’m so soft for Tony Stark.’"
- Anonymous on Reddit
The one who won over the PM
“We had a Thai student with a reference letter from the Thai Prime Minister since her mother was his secretary (or something similar). The letter basically just said how great the girl's mother was and suggested that her daughter must be pretty great too!”
- MF1980 on Reddit
Are you itching for more tales of admissions romance? If so, kick back this Valentine’s season and watch/read the romantic comedy Admission.
Here’s a synopsis:
“A Princeton admissions officer who is up for a major promotion takes a professional risk after she meets a college-bound alternative school kid who just might be the son she gave up years ago in a secret adoption.” - IMDb
