<p>oldolddad-
10 for 10 wow!!
Did you go to Rice?? My s LOVES it!</p>
<p>jym626:No I did not go, but have had a number of kids from my classes and our district go. All have liked it. I have always thought of it as sort of a hidden gem. If S does not go it will not be because he does not like it. It might be that another places has a slightly better fit. He has a really good merit offer from Rice but others that are similiar. He will have a difficult choice to make.
Although S's counselor and teachers predicted success I never assumed nor did S that anything was a sure thing. I had always thought that no student should apply to more than 4 schools but he has such broad interests that we agreed to let him go with a list that he could justify. He said it was a mistake . Too much work that made it difficult to get his other things done. If he had it to do over again he would have chosen at most five.(or so he says)</p>
<p>My son ended up with excellent results and we're so happy -- he got into 8/11 schools he applied to. Right now he's leaning towards Rice, with Carnegie Mellon close behind. He was awarded 2 wonderful scholarships from Rice and nothing from CMU, so this obviously factors in. Although I think he might be leaning towards Rice even if there was no price differential. He wants to major in Computer Engineering, and while CMU's program is outstanding, Rice's program isn't far behind and the social environment is much better. He's going to attend Owl Weekend before making his final decision.</p>
<p>Never have I been so happy to read through such a long list.</p>
<p>Congrats to all of you and your kids on the amazing acceptances this cycle. Now comes the hard part; decisions, decisions.</p>
<p>Congratulations to each of you - you should be so proud of all your kids / selves. </p>
<p>I particularly want to congratulate all of you on the list who don't post very much. It's hard to establish a sense of who you are since we don't hear your voices. But I know you're out there, experiencing all the same worry, anxiety and love for your children, even though you may not post those thoughts online. Best of luck to each of you, and may the next month end with a decision you're all happy with (and can afford ! ).</p>
<p>Well, I thought that the difficult part was going to be the application process and waiting for decisions. I now know that the most difficult part for DD is going to be deciding. The list, I think, has narrowed to HYPS and Lewis and Clark. Although last night, DD said that she was looking at Cornell again. The next month is going to be very interesting, and I am going to do my best to hold on to my supportive hat as the direction of the wind changes!</p>
<p>Congratulations to all on the great results. My daughter was accepted at all of her schools: Dickinson, Brandeis, Conn College, Goucher, Wooster, American, U WA and WSU. Dickinson was her early favorite, but she also really likes several of the others, enough so that she wants to take a good hard look at course bulletins and other factors before deciding.</p>
<p>We heard from the final school today, Tufts. D was accepted there, as well as at Centre, Denison, DePauw, Furman, Hendrix, Rhodes, and Vanderbilt. She is 8/10, having been waitlisted at Davidson & Macalester. Merit at all but Vandy (although they met 100% need with all grants), Furman (waiting to hear results --- see below), Tufts & Rhodes (no info yet one way or the other about merit from either). She chose her list carefully to maximize her chances for both acceptance & merit money; she would have been happy at any of the schools to which she applied. She was stressed about how she was going to decide.</p>
<p>The GREAT news, though, is that she has actually decided on a school!! We spent Thursday & Friday in Greenville, at a Furman scholarship interview. It became clear to me at some point Friday morning that Furman was THE place for D (not that I told her ... ). That afternoon, D confided to me that she had absolutely decided she belonged there ... even if she doesn't get a scholarship. She wanted to know if we could somehow make it work, no matter what. I have to think that this is happening for a reason, so I believe that all will work out for us and D will be wearing the purple FU.</p>
<p>Best of luck to those who are still waiting for their kids to be "deciders!"</p>
<p>I'm almost relieved that I was waitlisted at all the coed liberal arts colleges I applied to (Amherst, Middlebury, Swarthmore, and Williams). I'm having a hard enough time deciding between Dartmouth, Bryn Mawr, and Wellesley! To most people here -- students, anyway -- it's probably an obvious choice, but I don't want to make a decision based on prestige without looking carefully at all my options, so I'll be going to accepted student days for all of them. I still haven't heard from Macalester, but I doubt I'd choose it over the others anyway, so I don't really care.</p>
<p>I'm still feeling the sting from the rejections by Princeton and Chicago, but I'm feeling much more optimistic and excited about the options I do have, and to quote my dad, "there's always grad school!" :D</p>
<p>Kelsmom -- Congrats to your daughter!! But inquiring minds want to know -- what did she WEAR?!?! :)</p>
<p>Congrats to all for surviving this process! DS was rejected by Princeton, but was accepted to Yale (and is eligible for a private 1/2 tuition scholarship). Also accepted to MIT, CMU, Northwestern, Cornell and Penn State Honors and Michigan. This has been so surprising -- I've lurked this board long enough to know that the outcomes could easily have been so different, and have worried that like so many others, he may not have selected a "safety", but DS now is deciding between MIT and Yale, will attend both preview days and I know will have a very hard time deciding -- emotionally pulled in both directions (the engineering nerd in him loves MIT and its palpable sense of humor); the literature and history buff in him feels the pull of Yale and its residential college system. So blessed --</p>
<p>kelsmom, I've identified with you throughout this process because I think you and I went about it in much the same way, looking primarily at schools where our children would be good candidates for merit aid. In fact, your D and my S applied to several of the same colleges. </p>
<p>My S was accepted at all the schools he applied to, with merit aid from the ones that we thought were good bets and even from one of his reaches. He got in to UF, Elon, Trinity U, Denison, Rhodes, Davidson, Wake Forest, Richmond, UVA and Rice, with merit from Elon, Trinity, Denison, Davidson and Rice (haven't heard from Rhodes yet, either). All ended up being affordable except for Wake, Richmond and UVA. Like many others here, we don't qualify for financial aid so merit aid was very important. </p>
<p>I'm happy that your D is so excited about Furman. Isn't it great when they get "the feeling" and just know it's right? My son chose Rice and feels very confident that it's the right one for him. He's looking forward to Owl Weekend to cement the deal, but he fell in love with it on his first visit.</p>
<p>Congratulations to both parents AND kids for getting through a really difficult few months! I'm glad I don't have to do it again but I have to admit it was kind of fun -- all except Essay Hell, anyway!</p>
<p>Its finally over, and D went 5/5. Carleton, Macalester, Oberlin (J. Oberlin s-ship), Reed, and UW-Madison (honors program) (full ride). </p>
<p>Glad we only have to do this once more....</p>
<p>CountingDown, I had to laugh when we were at the interviews. D turned to me and thanked me for steering her toward a suit! I almost fell off my chair in surprise. The whole thing had been such an ordeal, because only OLD PEOPLE wear suits. We tromped through store after store until we finally found a tan pantsuit (NO BLACK, MOM) at JCrew that was acceptable to both of us. THEN we had to find shoes (mid-heel peep toe pumps, inquiring minds). </p>
<p>In the end, she looked & felt great. We found out that Furman isn't southern in that Animal-House-sorority-girl way I feared (didn't notice goths, punkers, pierced folks like at U of Michigan, although there may be a few --- not much different than the liberal arts schools in our state). BUT SHE WAS GLAD SHE WORE THE SUIT.</p>
<p>Kelsmom,
When you look good, you feel good, and it shows!!! That is terrific -- I think a suit helps convey that one has seriousness of purpose. She may not wear a suit again until she has job interviews in four years, but she just cleared the biggest "job" interview of her life -- with flying colors!</p>
<p>Did she wear a purple blouse? ;)</p>
<p>It's so nice when they notice we've acquired some wisdom along with the gray hairs, huh...</p>
<p>I've done a lot of searching on CC have seen very few posts on anything related to HBCUs (Historically Black College Universities).....</p>
<p>In any event, my daughter was accepted at:
Hampton University
Howard University
Spelman College
Cal State Fullerton, Northridge, Pomona</p>
<p>CountingDown, no purple blouse ... :)</p>
<p>Patsmom, I also noticed your posts & the fact that our kids seem to like the same type of schools. Rice seems amazing! I hope he really likes his stay. I am sure you'll keep us posted. </p>
<p>BustAGroove, I am not too familiar with HBCU's (except Xavier, because a couple young women I know attended). DC & Atlanta are great places to be, though! Pomona ... there's a school I know about & think sounds wonderful. Where is your daughter leaning toward?</p>
<p>So happy for all of you!
Patsmom- thats GREAT NEWS!! Go owls!!!</p>
<p>Just throwing a handful of confetti in the air for everyone's AMAZING accceptances!!! May everyone be in just the right place for them, come fall.</p>
<p>I'd originally posted this in my gap year thread (on that note, I don't think I'll be taking one), but I thought it might be relevant here as well:</p>
<p>Since I'm on break right now, I haven't been completely up-to-date on all my friends' college decisions. Hearing about their waitlists and rejections, some of which are shocking and difficult to explain, has been a much-needed reality check. I've been accepted to three amazing schools -- all of which, I remember now, I had very good reasons for applying to -- and I'm only able to attend one, while my best friend since middle school, an American citizen with similar numbers, voice auditions, a gift for writing, and an impressive record of activities, finds herself backed into a corner, and she's not the only one. I feel guilty for ever complaining, and so humbled.</p>
<p>(I wrote this in my online journal: "I'm done being maudlin, irrational, and insensitive. I've had such incredible luck in this ridiculous process that I'm almost embarrassed. So many of these decisions seem to lack either fairness or rationale, and I really don't understand what happened. I know that anything I say now will sound hollow or condescending, so I'll try not to say too much, but I really am thinking about you (if I were religious, I would call it praying). Much love, and I really am sorry.")</p>
<p>Then at the same time, I look at us and at my school, where students are able to say things like "we'll just both go to Michigan and transfer the hell out" (we have a 93% acceptance rate, and we are out of state). For most students at my high school, the University of Michigan is a safety school -- well, except for the guy who really wanted to attend, who was waitlisted.</p>
<p>I'm afraid I'm not very structured, and I don't know what point I'm trying to make, but I'm definitely regaining some perspective (because I do feel as if I had it at some point). Writing this, I can't feel sad or even disappointed -- just thankful.</p>