When My Alma Mater Didn't Want My Daughter

By ERIKA J. WATERS

My daughter's rejection letter from New York University this spring was compassionate by any standard. It explained that out of 36,000 applicants, only 4,000 had been accepted — which means that a population the size of Fairbanks, Alaska, had received the same letter that day. I hoped that fact would comfort her.

But...