Brown senior and CC member Shara Azad has written a great article about her CC experience:
[Applying</a> to College: Online Forums and the “Chances” Game](<a href=“http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shara-azad/college-admissions-process_b_979987.html]Applying”>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shara-azad/college-admissions-process_b_979987.html)
What a wonderful compliment to CC, and in particular to all of the CC members who take the time to share their knowledge and opinions with other members!
I think they do a good job of keeping the discussions at least civil and don’t allow some extreme types to dominate as has happened on other college discussion boards.
yeah good community here
I ditto her sentiment. I really don’t think my D would have gotten into Cornell if not for all we learned on this forum.
These forums made all the difference when my son was applying to college 5 years ago, and help keep me sane through the whole process.[The only down side was my son was “embarrassed” that I was on these forums so much- he said I was obsessed, which was not too far off the mark, lol!] Without the wealth of information that I found here, all of it freely given by parents who had already been through the college application process, I doubt he would not have had the success he achieved.
This board saved it for my son and me. I am not exaggerating. He is attending his dream school and it wouldn’t have happened.
I think it’s a pretty general consensus that most users’ lives or their D’s or S’s lives would be much different if they did not use this site as the valuable tool that it is, including myself.
Ditto! (10)
I stumbled on CC when our DD was in the fifth grade; she’s now a junior in college! The info shared here really helped to educate us about preparing for college admissions.
Thank you!
I echo the sentiments above. I don’t believe my son would be in the wonderful position of being in a school he loves that we can afford if I hadn’t stumbled upon CC. Yes, I was obsessed and my family did laugh at me but I still check in to this day with the parents who went through the process with me. One mom and I even took the connection off line and we have spent good times together. My kids were shocked that I made an “internet” friend. Good example or not, it’s been sweet.
CC has indeed saved me in my application process. But it worries me that she says she spent her afternoons “scrolling through thread after thread, reading frantic posts by similarly college-admissions-obsessed teens” that year. As I have discovered myself, it’s too easy to get sucked up in this process and website.
True, but this site has been a a huge help. When we hear from college A or B, the first thing I do is check it out on here-especially financial aid. I avoid the ‘chance me’ stuff like the plague, but there are many helpful comments. We were interested in one college, but the comments on here made it clear that this particular school was not a good fit. I remember the bad ole days, when the consumer had to just hope some of the puffery College A or B put out was close to the truth. This site arms us as consumers, allowing people to post both sides of issues-a true “marketplace of ideas”, and generally, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
She was my peer advisor at Brown…such a nice girl!
CC has both good and bad sides, of course, like every other Internet forum. If people knew two things–using the search bar before posting a question and writing in comprehensible sentences–then CC would be even better.
I was grateful for CC when our DD was applying to colleges in '07, because her public school guidance counselor was overwhelmed by the sheer number of students she was responsible for–700! I now try to pay it forward at the local public high school, by sharing what I learned, and continue to learn from CC, with students-many of which are first generation.
~APOL-a Mum
I echo everyone thoughts. CC has been a huge blessing to our family. My D is now a freshman at her dream school and I have NO doubt that she would not be enjoying that experience if it weren’t for CC. She comes from a very small high school with very few students even thinking about going to school out of state. CC helped us with ACT/SAT preparation/testing, gave us info about the NMF program, helped with essay writing, the list just goes on and on. Thanks to the entire CC family!
This site is absolutely heaven sent for parents like me who are new to the process of college admissions. The conversations are so polite, intelligent and helpful. I started reading these blogs 5 years ago and now my Ds are in Freshman year and I am already so much better prepared for high school guidance than any guidance counselor in their school! We should really thank all the generous parents and students who openly share secrets to the process without expecting any reward back.