<p>Wow, nice post First. Your empathy will take you far in life. Good luck in college. I have a feeling you’ll do great.</p>
<p>well the in final count is in for my SecondToGo who fits this threads profile …</p>
<p>ACCEPT
- Roger Williams (with merit aid)
- Ithaca College (with merit aid)
- University of Vermont (with merit aid)
- University of Delaware (with merit aid)
- University of Mass (Mass resident … no honors - no merit)
- Skidmore College</p>
<p>WAIT LIST
- Connecticut College</p>
<p>REJECT
- Cornell (legacy)
- Dartmouth
- Bowdoin (dream school)</p>
<p>I’m pretty excited about his choices … of the rejects and wait list Bowdoin would have been a terrific outcome for him but realistically he didn’t have a shot. Now we off for some revists and a decision. Frankly, his options are excellent and better than expected in our moments of doubt about our kid … but better yet schools I believe are a good fit for him (a better fit than some of the higher ranked schools)</p>
<p>Cherryhillmomto2 your inbox is full sp no room for PMs.</p>
<p>To answer your question … my son’s SATs are about 2000 … and his GPA is now just about 3.3 (unweighted) with a failry tough course load (but certainly not the toughest) at a very good public school. IMO the top 25 for so research univerosities and the top 25 or LACs are really tough to get into … but after that there is room at some really excellent schools for kids with very good but not amazing academics. For my son, while I think Bowdoin would have been great, I actually prefer some of the schools he got into over the higher ranked schools that rejected him … given what he wants to do and where he is academically being a slightly bigger fish in the pond probably is the best environment for him right now.</p>
<p>updated info for D who fits in this thread:
Her stats- solid B average (with A’s offset by some B-s) from an alternative public h.s. program and a lopsided ACT (35 on CR, 25 on English) for a 29 composite. She has some exceptional EC’s with leadership, but not a lot of quantity
She was accepted to:
Hampshire College (with some nice merit)
Manhattanville (with significant merit)
Elmira (with significant merit)
Le Moyne (with significant merit)
Siena (Presidential Scholar with nice merit)
UAlbany
SUNY New Paltz</p>
<p>Other statuses-
RPI (WL for science- interdisciplinary major)
Smith (denied ED)</p>
<p>Ok, gang, time to start working on collecting the paperwork info. You’re going to need your kid’s immunization records, final transcripts, and travel plans for admitted days, orientation, and move-in! We are trying to figure out the best meal plan for a kid who would eat mac ‘n’ cheese 3 meals a day for the rest of her life but who loves to cook – for other people. The roller coaster may be done…but they dumped us right in the gift shop. Lots of choices to be made in relatively short order.</p>
<p>Well, congratulations!</p>
<p>As far as meal plan, can it be changed within the first 2 weeks? At the school my son attends it can be changed. The difference in cost from the more expensive meal plan to the one he was required to have was $500 for the year. He is very happy that he has the more generous meal plan so we are going to continue with it. My son is a breakfast eater. Also, he likes the other things that come with the more expensive plan. We are fine paying for the better plan, but if he eats off campus more often then we will have a discussion.</p>
<p>OK, last entry for me in this thread. We just finished the final visits to the final 3 schools … and half-way through the tour of the last school (without talking to SecondToGo) I called Mom3ToGo and told her … this is the place; if he doesn’t pick this school I’m going disown him … clearly seemed to the best overall fit. So UVM it is for SecondToGo.</p>
<p>A few thoughts having gone through this with a 3.0-3.3 student.</p>
<p>1) The process for kids in this band can be more unsettled and complex because where fit and where they may get accepted is much more ambiguous that top stat kids … and this can be unsettling and worrisome for both the student and the parents.</p>
<p>2) As mentioned earlier after the top 25 or so research universities and LACs schools become much easier to get accepted to … and these kids will probably have better options then we worrying parents think when we’re worried about them.</p>
<p>3) Interestingly this also opens some merit aid up to these 3.0-3.3 kids … in our case more than for our 2350+/4.0 student who was looking at tippy top schools. SecondToGo’s choice of UVM just freed up at least 1 1/2 years of college fund money for ThirdToGo!</p>
<p>4) However these choices also brings risks … for SecondToGo if he got into his reach (getting thrown into the deep end) would he respond and start working a lot harder to survive … or if he went to his other options (which I think are great for him) where he is in the top 1/4 or students will he slide by getting OK grades or will take advantange of the chance to be a big fish. Time will tell how UVM works for him … but I can honestly say if I were picking any school for him to which he applied I would pick UVM … even over his reaches.</p>
<p>5) SecondToGo’s experience just solidified my belief in fit. Could he had done fine at his other options … absolutely. But this experience was the second time with one of my kids half-way through a day without talking to my kid I knew there was a dominant first choice for my kid … and I totally understand and agree with their impressions … they each picked the school that to me was the obvious pick … (and I had the same experience 30 years ago). (PS - interesting, in all 3 of our cases the obivious first choice school was not the highest ranked school under consideration.)</p>
<p>Excellent advice and best wishes to your son!</p>
<p>novelisto-great analogy, love it! but glad to be in the gift shop of one school standing in line, ready to pay.</p>
<p>Ds selected St Louis University. We had a great visit, he loved the size of campus, the students, the hockey program…they have a nice program for accommodations requests like extended time, note taking, e-readers, etc and he will have to take ownership of these requests, something he really wanted to do himself.</p>
<p>ddd, congrats and best of luck to your son</p>
<p>3togo - great comments, and I’m wholeheartedly with you.</p>
<p>My D2 ended up with a full tuition scholarship based fully on merit/talent at a perfectly wonderful school that fits her. It is second-tier by most standards, but she will have an exceptional experience. My D1 with the better stats got not one penny from the 1st tier school she’s about to graduate from - but we knew they never award merit money, so that was OK. She loved the school from the moment she saw it, is the kind of person who never asks for a thing, but this is what she wanted. </p>
<p>The 3.X students in some ways are in the best, and the worst, of worlds when it comes to college admissions. They have a hope at the top schools, and sometimes make themselves crazy hoping for them and feeling they’re failures if they don’t get in, or if they get in and can’t quite cut it. On the other hand, they are much more likely to go to schools a notch down and be among the top kids there, get the scholarships, and have wonderful experiences, since as we all know these schools are perfectly lovely places to get an education.</p>
<p>In the long run, if I could have changed anything for D2 it would have been to magically erase all images of prestige from her mind - the only sleep she lost through the process (and sadly it was a lot of sleep) was when she felt she was “unworthy” because the most selective schools on her list rejected her. This was mostly because of following in D1’s footsteps, but it also came from various kinds of hype, rankings and gossip. </p>
<p>I know that once she goes to her very wonderful school all of those feelings will be entirely gone. She is extremely proud of her scholarship, now, although I’ll admit that initially she wondered why people were so interested in throwing money at “someone like her.” </p>
<p>She is on a WL for a top 50 school, and there’s a teensy-weensy chance she’ll get offered a spot and undergo a period of indecision. I do think she’d be tempted to go there, except that in her case a very specific course of study will most likely keep her at her 2nd tier school. Otherwise it would be very interesting if she would consider giving up her scholarship and being a much smaller fish in a much bigger pond. I’ll let people know if that even becomes an option. Until then, we’re happily enjoying anticipating her entering her current school this fall.</p>
<p>PS - I always thought this was a great fit for her, too.</p>
<p>EB… I know you and I have been on the same page and I have always appreciated your informative and insightful posts. I have a 3.x 2100+ DS who will be going through this crazy process next year. He is a VERY unassuming, brilliant, but a gentle soul who right now thinks he will get in NOWHERE… He “loves to learn but hates to be taught”…quote from someone but can’t remember who. He loves intellectual challenge but doesn’t always like to put 100% effort into his studies. Likes to be inolved with tons of EC’s and is always put in leadership positions because of his way with people.He is practical and level headed.</p>
<p>I’m thinking he will also be happiest as a big fish in a small pond. He is at a VERY rigorous HS now and sometimes feels like he hates the competitive environment. I don’t know what next year will bring, but I worry, as you have, about him maybe squeeking into a top 30 school, but then not feeling it would be right for him. It is all about balance for him… sigh… I am DREADING next year… I hope you don’t desert us…:-((</p>