March 18, 2010

wisdom watch: college admissions edition

	MIT releases college admissions results on Pi Day.
	Today’s applicants expect instant online notification of their status. Remember waiting to see whether it was a big envelope or a little envelope?
	The Internet.

Terran (March 20, 2010)
The envelope size heuristic was already dead in 1995. MIT sent me a regular letter to say I was admitted, and that additional information would follow a week or two alter.
KERaven, MD (March 20, 2010)
Had a similar experience as Terran in ‘96. At least early admissions acceptances were just a single piece of paper. THE worst part is that it had arrived with the “Congratulations” on the first line visible in the address window, but my mom tapped it down so it wasn’t visible before I got it. She had known right away, waited for me to come home from school, and then I had to agonize opening it.