<p>Yesterday’s NY Times, in a useful Education supplement, noted that Tulane sent out 130,000 "VIP priority " applications. That sums up the college game</p>
<p>Son keeps on getting stuff from RPI and Macalester - both reaches. Today he also got a large envelope for one of the school’s that he’s applied to - another viewbook. Arrgh!</p>
<p>Tomorrow he has to take a couple of hours worth of tests that don’t even count. Pennsylvania is rolling out a new state standardized test and all of the seniors in his school have to do the literature test. What’s interesting is that it’s supposedly Brit Lit, which our kids don’t take until this year. So they will have had all of two and a half months of it and now they get tested on it and the test is supposed to be an end of year thing. Great base line info…</p>
<p>One of those things that makes you glad HS is almost over, eh?</p>
<p>okay, ds is not deflated like me…hubby said he took it in stride when he opened the envelope. His grades are much better so far and he made second honors for the first quarter. I told him to write a brief letter to the admissions counselor and copy his report card saying thanks for the consideration and want to let you know I’m doing well this quarter and hopefully adding his 10/23 ACT scores, too…if they ever post them! for the 9/11 test they were mailed days before the posting and now…tap tap, login, no change…tap tap, login, no change to status.</p>
<p>Hi everyone,
I’m a senior who falls in the middle of this thread with a weighted GPA, and in the bottom with my UW GPA. Hoping to find schools that are a good match for me. I don’t have a parent who would post here so I have to do it myself, hope it’s ok that I’m lurking in the parents thread. Luckily, report cards recently came out and if I continue to get the grades I got first term, I will be on the upper edge of this thread for my W GPA. How many schools are your kids planning on applying to?</p>
<p>Also, please disregard my username. NYU is no longer the school for me, I learned, and I’m not applying. :)</p>
<p>S got his first app out last night to Elon. Plan to get 2 more out this or next week to our state flagship and to a reach (Wash U in St. Louis). Others we hope will be out later this month though some may drag into December. Would’ve loved to have them all go out at one time as most are on common app, but almost every one has its own separate essay so he has to get some more writing done. Total should be around 7 or 8. Still looking for another safety school that he’s interested in. State school is only one so far. Have 2 or 3 targets.<br>
He is thinking of U of Mary Washington but he and we keep waffling as to whether that’ll be a good fit. Anyone know that school in any detail? Academics? Social life (particularly for an OOS)? Reputation?</p>
<p>ddd928 - I agree with you completely about sending updated grades and test scores to the deferred school. If I might also suggest - another letter of recommendation and a brief “essay” from your son (if there was not already a why XYZ university essay) stating why he is a good fit for the school - what he can offer – and so forth. Don’t send everything at once - space it out - so that the school receives an additional piece of material every 2-3 weeks. Send directly to the regional rep for your state if there is one. You are basically doing a marketing campaign to them - restating your interest. Good luck!</p>
<p>I like your suggestions rockvillemom and ddd. My son’s grades come out for the first marking period on Friday and I was thinking of having him send a copy of them along with a short note. Great idea to send it directly to the area admissions rep.</p>
<p>Even better…rep doing interviews at his school Friday for applicants! It’s a local school, I mean really local…just a few miles away and hubby and I went there for grad school. They mentioned legacy in his letter, basically stating it wouldn’t be the only reason he got in. He can do the same thing, show midterm grades, test scores and verbally express why he wants to go there. Time for that haircut!</p>
<p>fyi, if anyone has Tulane on their radar (and with 130,000 VIP apps I imagine a bunch of people on this thread do), there have been a number of lower stats kids around here who have already been accepted (full-pay, no merit, no FA)…and by lower stats I mean at the lower end of this thread, without honors or AP’s (or very few)…no idea about SAT/ACT though…</p>
<p>My D was really tickled to get all of those “priority applications” and fee waivers, she said, why not apply? But it still costs for the ACT and/or SAT copies, and it’s more of a hassle for her counselor. I figured if she got into Tulane it would be for full pay and that’s something that we just cannot do. She’s applied to 5 SUNY’s - Albany, Oneonta, New Paltz, Binghamton, & ESF - all early action - which is non binding, but the app has to be in by Nov. 15. Also RD to Geneseo, which is a reach. I’m afraid her 1st quarters are not as good as she had hoped, but I do feel she’s on track to get in to many of her schools. Her ACT score came up to a 27 (her Science was 31 but Reading 21, ugh) - wish they could pick and choose what to send like the SAT’s, she does really well on different areas each time! Right now SUNY-ESF is her top pick, she had a great visit this past weekend. She had a talk with the admissions counselor and felt very positive about it. I just want to see one admission letter so we can exhale a little!</p>
<p>^^bella: I hear ya; daughter would have definitely been full pay to Tulane; and add to that the travel expenses and that it would have been a reach, we nixed the VIP app as well…(I didn’t think it was a good fit either)…</p>
<p>would have been nice to have an acceptance in already though…</p>
<p>Wow, I feel like such a loser … we didn’t get anything from Tulane! I guess my kid isn’t in the “top 130,000.” (ha)</p>
<p>Emmy: I think that anybody who has EVER had any communication with Tulane about ANYTHING received a VIP app; my daughter had been in NOLA last year for Habitat trip and they literally “stopped by” Tulane one of their days off…</p>
<p>While she LOVED New Orleans and probably would have attended Tulane just to be down there for four years, I told her that an annual trip would serve the same purpose…plus if she really liked it that much, she is more than welcome to settle there after college…</p>
<p>Yes, I think my D feels the same way about Manhattan.</p>
<p>In the meantime, she got more than one piece of mail per day from several schools lately … you gotta wonder what they’re thinking sometimes. Now if we got one of those “app fee waived” things, we might consider, but bella’s right about the ACT fees and other costs.</p>
<p>nyuhopeful, what kind of school are you interested in attending? </p>
<p>National University, LAC, Regional University? </p>
<p>Urban, rural, suburban? Number of students?
Interested in Greek Life dominating the social scene or not?
Do you need Financial Aid? What do you want to major in? </p>
<p>Would you prefer small classes & want to know your professors?
It’s tough to make suggestions if we don’t know your preferences! 
</p>
<p>bella, Have you looked into any of the private colleges that are known for good merit aid? My B average older kids both graduated from Colleges like that and we paid just a couple of thousand more then the public U’s. Hartwick and Marist are both good choices right in NY state, although Marist does have a lower acceptance rate, it might be worth a shot.</p>
<p>[HWS:</a> Merit-Based Scholarships](<a href=“http://hws.edu/admissions/merit_based.aspx]HWS:”>http://hws.edu/admissions/merit_based.aspx) Merit @ Hobart & William Smith </p>
<p>[Alfred</a> University : Financial Aid : Undergraduate Freshmen Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/freshmen/scholarships.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/freshmen/scholarships.cfm) Merit @ Alfred University </p>
<p>[St</a>. Lawrence University: Admissions and Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.stlawu.edu/admis/scholarships/]St”>http://www.stlawu.edu/admis/scholarships/) Merit @ St. Lawrence University</p>
<p>86 (weighted) numeric average. Been accepted to:</p>
<p>Rutgers, Indiana University, and Drexel. Waiting on University of Michigan, GW, Fordham, and American.</p>
<p>However, I am posting here because I want people to consider schools outside of the US. I put my main focus on schools outside of the US because they don’t have liberal arts in their university curriculum, I thought it would be a great experience, degrees are usually 3 years, and law school is an undergrad degree (as well as medicine). It is significantly cheaper than US schools. London School of Economics’ tuition is equivalent to half of University of Michigan’s tuition. I suggest you focus on schools in the UK if you are interested (but there are other options, i.e Ireland, Australia, Netherlands, etc.). They base their decisions on standardized test scores instead of GPA. This is because a 3.3 at your school could be equivalent to getting a 4.0 at my school. So if your son/daughter doesn’t do their work for school or they go to a tough school, but knows their stuff…have them take SAT II and AP exams. If you get 4’s and 5’s on 3-4 AP exams or 3 SAT II’s @ 700+, this will get you into most top UK schools. </p>
<p>I’ve applied for law and so far I have been accepted to Australian National University (ranked number 20 in the entire world), Durham University (4th best uni in the UK behind Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial), and Edinburgh. I’m still waiting to hear back from London School of Economics and Queen Mary (part of University of London). I’m not trying to brag here, I’m trying to show you that just because your kid wasn’t the best academically, doesn’t mean he/she can’t go to a great school.</p>
<p>The application process for the UK schools is very easy. They have something like the common app, except every university uses it (and it is the only way to send an application). It’s called UCAS. You can only pick 5 schools. You fill your name, address, school, qualifications, etc. Then you write a personal statement (look up how to do this, it isn’t like an essay for US schools) and have your teacher write a reference. Click, and send. That easy. </p>
<p>If your kid gets the opportunity to go, not only will he/she receive a great education (graduation rates at the top schools are 97% as opposed to 50% in the US, ability to focus on one subject, the list goes on…), but your bank account will thank you as well.</p>
<p>Durham for example has a tuition of 18k plus room and board for 5k. Throw in flights at 3k for two round trips. That’s 26k a year for 3 years. $84,000 total for a top university. That’ll get you a year and a half at Harvard. </p>
<p>I hate sounding like a salesman here, but it really is a great opportunity and I wish more people were aware of it. Of course, it isn’t for everyone. Some people won’t want to be a 10 hour flight away from home…but for those who like adventure and something different, it’s a great option to consider.</p>
<p>SLUMOM, thanks for your reply! I’m interested in a national university or LAC primarily, but am open to hearing about schools I may not have heard of before. I’m in Massachusetts and would like to stay on the east coast or close to it. I have a college list that’s being finalized, and am wondering if there are other schools out there for me.</p>
<p>I’m interested in Greek life but don’t want it to be the entire social focus; I may or may not join a sorority. It’s not one of my priorities in college, though I think it’d be a nice option.</p>
<p>I want a school that’s urban or close to a city on public transportation, or at least a large town with stores and things to do for fun off-campus. My ideal school size is bigger than 2,000 but not enormous. I have a wide range for that element; anywhere from 2,000 to ~13,000 suits me.</p>
<p>I will be needing financial aid, hopefully I’ll get it. Schools with merit aid would be great, but I’m not sure what I’ll get with my GPA. I lived abroad for a year in middle school, and hope that might help me? Not sure if it will. Both of my parents were born overseas. </p>
<p>I want to major in international studies/foreign relations/something to do with history or English. Obviously I’m not entirely sure, but international studies is what I’m looking at right now.</p>
<p>Does this help?</p>