When that class has been chosen each spring and the letters are mailed informing applicants of the Committee on Admission's decision, the questions start from parents, guidance counselors, alumni volunteers and even some admission officers bothered that a favorite candidate did not get in. "Can you tell me why we didn't admit this student?" they ask the dean. "I can't figure it out." Hamilton's increased selectivity and the growing pains that come with it have only exacerbated the problem.
"Rarely can I point to a C in calculus the senior year or anything specific," Inzer says. "Most of our applicants are great students, and that's what makes this job so satisfying — and so frustrating. Usually, when the decision doesn't go the applicant's way, it has nothing to do with the student and everything to do with our overall pool and how we're trying to sculpt the class for what our community might need in any given year. We end up turning down hundreds and hundreds of qualified candidates, and it's never easy doing that."
But the system still works in most cases, and every admission officer has a story that proves the point. Wendy Schmidt '05 remembers a student with whom she connected and for whom she advocated in committee, but when acceptance letters were mailed in late March, the student learned she was on the wait list. Undeterred, the student stayed in contact with Schmidt. When a spot opened up, Schmidt had the pleasure of making the phone call to tell the student she was being offered admission. "She cried on the phone," Schmidt recalls, "and several days letter I received a bouquet of flowers with the message 'Thank you for believing in me.'" Schmidt keeps the card on her desk as a reminder of why she loves her work. "It still makes my day," she says.
For Inzer and her colleagues, such stories make the difficult decisions worth the struggle. "We never forget what an honor and privilege it is to admit Hamilton's future," Inzer says, "and how lucky we are to review applications from the best students in the country and around the world. It's hard not to be able to admit them all."
