College Admissions: The Real College Confidential

Sam Katz, 61, three-time candidate for mayor
Applied to: Yale, Swarthmore, Haverford, Dickinson, Johns Hopkins.
Rejected by: Yale.
Went to: Johns Hopkins. “I wanted a school where I could play basketball. I picked the school with the best gym.”

Robert Venturi, 85, principal architect, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates
Applied to: Princeton.
Went to: Princeton. “Several close friends of my family went there. I went because I admired them.”

Karin Mormando, 36, director of undergraduate admissions, Temple University
Started at: Burlington County Community College. “I grew up in the last recession. I had a twin sister. My father had lost his job.”
Finished at: Rutgers.

Buzz Bissinger, 56, author, Inquirer columnist
Applied to: Penn, Dartmouth, Stanford, UVA, Tulane, Occidental, USC.
Rejected by: Stanford, UVA.
Went to: Penn. “Dartmouth had just turned co-ed. I figured my odds of getting laid there were very poor.”

Kendall Alexander, 2010 grad, Germantown Friends School
Applied to: Tuskegee, Hampton, Spelman, -Drexel, Morgan State.
Rejected by: Spelman, Drexel.
Going to: Hampton. “An Historically Black College was definitely the place for me after GFS.”

Steve Cordasco, 44, host, The Big Money Show
Applied to: U. of Delaware, West Chester.
Rejected by: None.
Went to: West Chester. “After two years, I transferred to Temple, which had an accredited business school. I spent my summers lifeguarding down the Shore, and a lot of the guys I was rowing with went to Temple. I really respected them.”

Jim Gardner, 62, news anchor, WPVI 6
Applied to: Columbia, early decision.
Went to: Columbia. “It was a politically engaged campus, it had a renowned pre-med program—I was pre-med for about five minutes—and I liked its urban environment.”

Maxwell Presser, 2010 grad, Cheltenham High School
Applied to: Penn, Pitt, Indiana, Emory, UNC.
Rejected by: None.
Going to: Penn. “It’s a great combination of academics, city life and student activities.”

Brian Kappra, 52, president, Evantine Design
Applied to: Temple, Rutgers.
Rejected by: None.
Went to: Temple. “The big city was interesting after growing up in a small town. I was going to go into journalism, but then I discovered landscape design.”

Jenny Rickard, 46, dean of enrollment and communications officer, Bryn Mawr College
Applied to: Yale, UCLA, Stanford, Swarthmore, Cornell, Wesleyan.
Rejected by: Yale, Stanford.
Went to: Swarthmore. “It felt right. I liked the sense I got of the core values of the institution.”

Wyatt Good, 2009 grad, Springfield High School
Took: A year to travel to Fiji, New Zealand, Australia; did an internship in Ireland; worked at Global Metal Arts.
Then applied to: U. of Vermont, U. of Delaware, Allegheny, Temple.
Going to: Allegheny, for the financial aid.

Betsey Stevenson, 39, business prof at Wharton; national expert on marriage and divorce
Applied to: Columbia, Wellesley, NYU, UVA, Virginia Tech, Smith.
Rejected by: “Some. I can’t remember.”
Went to: Wellesley. “The financial aid was a bigger deal to me than the acceptance.”

Sifiyyah Glass, 2010 grad, George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science
Applied to: Temple, Penn State, Drexel. Rejected by: Drexel.
Going to: Temple. “It was my first choice. I just always felt like I belonged there.”

Sandy Hingston, 53, senior editor, Philly Mag
Applied to: Princeton, Bryn Mawr, William & Mary, Duke, Gettysburg.
Rejected by: Princeton.
Went to: Duke. “It was such a beautiful school. I had a great time. I’m still pissed at -Princeton, though.”

Ronnie Polaneczky, 53, columnist, Daily News
Applied to: Temple.
Went to: Temple. “I dropped out to play in a bar band. Eventually, I went back. My senior year, I got an internship at Philly Mag and got bitten by the journalism bug. I finally got my degree—with credit for 10 years of ‘internship’—when I was 30.”

Kevin Clark, 2010 grad, La Salle College High School
Applied to: La Salle, St. Joe’s, Scranton, Penn State, West Chester, Bloomsburg, Lehigh, DeSales, Catholic.
Rejected by: Penn State (main), Lehigh. Going to: Scranton. “I’ve never heard someone that went there have a bad experience.”

Michael Smerconish, 48, host, The Michael Smerconish Show
Applied to: Lehigh.
Went to: Lehigh. “I was accepted despite poor SATs because I was a legacy.”

Anton Popov, 2010 grad, Germantown Friends School
Applied to: Kenyon, Bard, Elmira, Connecticut College, Wesleyan, Lafayette.
Rejected by: Kenyon, Connecticut College.
Going to: Bard. “I liked their academics, and I was recruited for basketball.”

Pete Ciarrocchi, 52, owner, Chickie’s and Pete’s
Applied to: None.
Why: “My parents told me as soon as I got done school, go to work. That’s what I did. Kids should go to -college, though. People think I’m successful, but that’s only a touch of what I could have been.”

Kathy Romano, 31, sidekick, The Preston & Steve Show
Applied to: George Mason, Virginia Tech, West Chester.
Rejected by: None.
Went to: West Chester. “I opted to stay local and go to a state school.”

Steve Cook, 37, -restaurateur/chef
Applied to: Penn, Brown, Harvard, Yale, Michigan.
Rejected by: Harvard, Yale; wait-listed at Brown.
Went to: Penn. “You had to pick one of the four undergrad schools. I picked Wharton. Family Ties was big back then.” Later went to NYC’s French Culinary Institute.

Michael Solomonov, 31, restaurateur/chef
Applied to: U. of Vermont.
Wait-listed by: U. of Vermont. Went to: U. of Vermont. “Some of my relatives probably cried and bribed admissions to accept me.” Dropped out after three semesters and moved to Israel; later went to Florida Culinary Institute.

Jacques Wells, 2010 grad, West Philadelphia High School’s Academy of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering
Applied to: Penn State, Drexel, Kutztown, -Virginia Union.
Rejected by: Drexel.
Going to: Penn State Berks Campus. “I saw it on a tour, and I could really picture myself there.”

Jacquelyn Cochet, 2010 grad, Haddonfield Memorial High School
Applied to: U. of Vermont, Fordham, Scranton, St. Joe’s, College of Charleston.
Rejected by: None.
Going to: U. of Vermont. It came down to that or Fordham, and “I would rather live for four years in Burlington than the Bronx.”

Rob Fenza, 53, COO, -Liberty Property Trust
Applied to: Rutgers, -Syracuse, Penn State.
Rejected by: None.
Went to: Penn State. “It was the cheapest. I put myself through school.”

Tamala Edwards, 39, news anchor, WPVI 6
Applied to: Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, Northwestern, Columbia.
Rejected by: None.
Went to: Stanford. “The Stanford kids were by far the most positive about their classmates and profs. And I didn’t have to pack a coat.”