Rejection: Some colleges do it better than others

Wall Street Journal columnist Sue Shellenbarger samples college rejection letters and declares that Bates beats out Stanford for the “toughest” such missive. The Bates letter, she writes, “delivers a more direct, and perhaps more honest, message: ‘The deans were obliged to select from among candidates who clearly could do sound work at Bates.'” Dean of Admissions Wylie Mitchell tells Shellenbarger that brevity is the best way to show respect for rejected applicants. (View Text)