@Sarrip Congratulations - that’s fantastic!!!
So many great choices!!!
Wow, now that the acceptances are all in…a big congratulations to all the students as well as the parents! It’s been years since my daughter went through the process but I still love reading the good news on this thread. Now comes the hard part of deciding which school to choose. Good luck to all!
Congratulations - this is exciting!!!
@goneaway and @collegeready33 - congrats on the great acceptances
My last decision was an acceptance to Stanford!!! Thank you everyone, it’s been a hell of a process but it was worth it in the end
@goneaway - SIMPLY AMAZING!!! Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.
A potentially fun idea since we are all looking for things to do during this crisis…
Have a virtual college reveal using Zoom or other virtual meeting platforms. My daughter will talk a bit about the application process, acceptances, etc. At the end she can reveal “where she is taking her talents”! We have family all over the country so it’s a good excuse to get us all together for a nice diversion.
Our seniors are missing out; prom, graduation, senior awards dinner, sports competitions, musical concerts, etc. Trying to find ways to “celebrate” their achievements.
@GarnetTide What a fantastic idea!! I hope some of you do it and post on a YouTube channel where we can find you!!
As someone else upthread offered to help, thought I’d offer up mine too: just had a student-athlete graduate from Harvard and have a current student-athlete at UNC, Chapel Hill. If anyone has any questions, just reach out!
@GarnetTide @crimsonmom2019 - Great Ideas. DD20 is very low key/background and is not into the public/social media posting scene which disappoints me to some extent. She requested to open her college decisions privately and then she would come down to inform us (I think getting waitlisted at Barnard gave her an emotional hit). My husband and I respected this so we sat in the living room waiting. Me thinking that I was going to have my moment behind her back, back fired. At 7PM on Ivy Day, I turned my phone onto video, placed it on the end table in the living room and waited. It should be titled “Parent’s Reaction”. There is no video because apparently the camera was faced in the wrong direction but the yelling and then ultimately the sobbing (me) was something that we will listen to often.
Wow!!
I can’t tell you all how uplifting it is to look at all the AMAZING acceptances. I’m so excited for all of you and your DS/DD. Congrats! Black excellence, indeed.
I’m so sorry I’m just congratulating you now. I have been so busy moving all my college courses online that I haven’t had a chance to log on for a few days. It’s my first time teaching online courses, so it’s been a bit of an adjustment.
@Sarrip I was anxiously waiting to hear about your DD. We have posted on so many of the same threads, I feel as if I know her. It’s so great to see her hard work paying off! And your guidance and support throughout the process was tremendous. Do let us know her final destination.
It has been wonderful sharing this journey with all of you. In these difficult times, these acceptances are so heartwarming. Well done, Class of 2020!
@ProfSD - Thank you so much. We are still in a daze. We are still waiting for one more decision which I think will be tomorrow. Meanwhile, out of the 16 that we have decisions for so far, DD has decided to remove herself from Barnard’s waitlist. She also declined 8 schools last night due to lack of desired merit/aid. They were all great places that DD did feel that she could be happy attending. The goal was to apply only to schools that she felt she could be happy at. We are now left with those that we are having difficultly choosing between, one (Yale) of which we have not visited. My D came into my room this morning and asked me which was my favorite and to tell the truth I just could not pick a favorite nor did I want to lead her. We are still waiting for financial aid from Tufts. so, we are still up in the air. We are definitely going to need some time to sort this out. Started a Pro/Con list for each for myself and encouraged D to do her own. I will absolutely, update.
Because some of us didn’t know this forum existed? My son is an instrumental performance /music technology major (Clarinet) so in my initial CC search, I stuck with the first thread that came up about the journey with music major auditions etc., since that’s what we were going through and I had questions about. We were in the thick of in when I started. Joined that party VERY late in the game (comparatively speaking) but gleaned a lot of information from there along the way and have been active in that forum only. Then last night I was bored, (Anybody who knows me would say… Imagine that !! HA ) and decided to look around to see what else was here on CC since we’re DONE, but I have a niece who’s going through the process next year. Well… truth be told, I was looking for @EconPop (yea… I’m stalking [sorry] cause our sons have similar stories, he responded to one of my threads, we both cast similar WIDE nets and I was looking to see he changed your mind about finishing that amazing journey thread which he had closed. I see not? ] Anyhoo, my hunt to see if he posted anything, looking to see where his son ended up, landed me here. I have to say it was quite enlightening reading about your children’s journeys and their amazing accomplishments. CONGRATS to all of you. Black Excellence indeed!
On our end, it’s been QUITE the journey. Pre- COVID19, we were on the road EVERY weekend since Marching Band season at the Public Magnet School for the Performing Arts my kid attends ended. So, with the weekends we’ve been on the road with his competition marching band (I’m that band mom chaperoning every trip ! ?) we’ve pretty much been away from home EVERY single weekend since September - First for Marching Band Competitions, then College visits, and then audition season. Since it’s just he and I (single parent and he’s my one singular sensation? ), it’s kinda been our life… College Audition Roadies.? And now that he FINALLY gets to enjoy his Senior year, and we had all these post audition celebrations planned, we’re stuck at home with nowhere to go but the grocery story.? But that’s a whole n’other story. Ah well… Well, he works at Dominos so HE gets to go out AND he’s had clarinet lessons on Zoom, so has something to do. Just got word that he’s starting Zoom classes for school on Wednesday. Me, busy outgoing Momma that I am, am going stir crazy!!
We cast a VERY VERY wide net, because as he so bluntly put it, in an interview with an Admissions Counselor, “I can play. I just suck at Math”.? Low stats (I wrote a thread about that if you’re curious…) talented kid, with great ECs - and recommendations who got accepted into EVERY School of Music he auditioned for, (8 of them… he cancelled the remaining auditions [6] after being accepted at his top three) and ultimately, after having to send in mid-year grades for most, into the universities themselves. (cause yea… you can get in to the music school but NOT accepted to the university itself… talk about added stress during the process !) He got accepted and rejected at some other universities where the acceptance was based on academics first and wasn’t pending audition results. (2 Yeses, 4 Nos. and an odd Yes to one of Penn State’s other campuses. Odd because they only have a music program on their main campus, so not even sure why they accepted him as “Undecided” elsewhere. He specifically said he didn’t HAVE a second choice. Also odd because it was a super reach for him but he liked the clarinet instructor he had met at a workshop, so applied. So he got accepted without even auditioning for the instructor?? Still trying to figure that one out, but moved on. Anyhoo, I digress. ) While it would probably have been an easier route to college acceptance, my son was adamant about not wanting to go to a stand alone Conservatory. So academics had to come into play. He seriously hunkered down his first semester, amid all the traveling, to pull out stellar grades for those mid-year grades he needed to send in, even getting on the honor roll for the first time in high school. I’m still scratching my head wondering where those grades were his 3 years of high school!! For him it’s always been about the music and I encouraged and let him focus more on his passion for it, instead of science and math, confident that his talent would get him into college, which it did!! Still have a tiny bit of regret left about not pushing him more academically. But it’ll pass.
One of these days, I too might do a journey thread like @EconPop , but for now, our journey is over! My kid and his clarinets & saxophone are headed to Pittsburgh in the Fall to attend the Mary Pappert School of Music @ Duquesne University for a BM in Clarinet Performance and Music Technology… unless, of course, he gets a nice, 4 year renewable scholarship from the Tell School of Music, which was his first choice. As it stands, their very nice scholarship was guaranteed for the first year only. It’s “likely” that he could get it all four years, they said. My kid said… “I don’t want to go through my freshman year on ‘Likely’ and worrying about whether my Momma would be able to pay for me to come back the next year”. Smart Kid!! He attended the Virtual Accepted Students Day Music Showcase on Saturday and is now very excited about his 2nd choice being his final choice. ??
Good luck to all your sons and daughters during this decision making process. Remember that they can only attend ONE school AND, I’m a firm believer that they will ALL end up exactly where they need to be. It’s preordained.
I’ll be hanging out around CC in the future as I have a niece who is a junior and about to embark on this college application journey. Since we got very little help from the GC about the process, I’m still gleaning info from around here to help her with her journey. Unlike my kid, she has the stats and elite private high school background to get into T20 schools, which she has her sights set on. It’ll definitely be a different journey, that’s for sure.
There I go again… being verbose to my core. ? I better stop writing my ‘book’ and keep it for the journey thread. Nice “meeting” you all.
So… @EconPop , any final decision? IMWTK ! I know you’re around here somewhere, occasionally.
Awesome story @BenniesMom1 !!! I’m so happy for your son. Hard work pays off.
Still no final decision for my son. I think he’s down to a final four of Ursinus, Drexel, Dayton, and an in-state public. His overall favorite is Va Tech, but it doesn’t look like the finances will come through on that one. Of the final four, I think he likes Drexel best, but it’s hard to tell.
He can’t quite make up his mind on large enrollment, mid-enrollment, or small enrollment. He hasn’t come out and said so, but I think he also can’t make up his mind whether to go far away or stay closer to home.
I’m still holding out hope he reconsiders Wooster. They offered what would be almost a full ride. I love the school and think it would be great for him. He likes it but hates (with a capital H) that it is so isolated in a tiny town. Also, there are a couple of other options outside the final 4+1 that he still hasn’t completely eliminated.
Not to mention that after being sort of firm about not wanting to attend an HBCU, lately now he’s mentioned NC A&T a few times. He hasn’t said he’s thinking of attending, but it sounds like he’s curious. Having a lot of free time on his hands because of the Covid19 shutdown, he’s been spending a lot of time looking harder at the schools that admitted him. I think he found something to like about A&T that he’d originally overlooked.
He has three decisions he’s still waiting for, and a couple of wait listed schools that could change everything. He has at least a month before he has to make a final decision and I have a feeling it’s going to come down to the final few days.
@EconPop You’re almost there !! Thanks for the update. My kid and I both LOVED Drexel and it definitely would have been the best FIT w/regard to the distance restriction we agreed to - close enough to where if I wanted to take my kid to dinner on a Sunday afternoon, it was doable, but far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to see me running by daily - which knocked our State Flagship totally off the list, despite it having a GREAT program and him having a full-ride there. 5 mins away from home! Takes lessons with the instructor at UD. Plays in the Youth Wind Ensemble at UD. Works at the Dominoes at UD. ? “I might as well stay at home then, Momma”, he said. That wasn’t happening so… Drexel would have been nice. But, alas, they only offered Music performance as a minor and not a major. It was still on his list for a while, though, cause they have a nice Music Industry program which he is interested in (same as Music Technology), and some really good ensembles, but he ultimately decided that his main focus IS performance, so… they got bumped. ? We were just laughing about the fact that Duquesne barely made the 5 hour drive restriction cut off… and only made it because the drive up never had any traffic… and they ended at the top. Unlike Ithaca, which on paper made the cut off, but both times we visited, it took us 7 hours with NY traffic…? so off the list they went. Gotta have some way to whittle down the pile ! And the expectation was set from day 1… You can’t LIKE any universities that your Momma couldn’t drive to by herself. Being on the East Coast give him sooooooo many GREAT options within that 5 hours driving range. I’ve NEVER missed any of his concerts and wasn’t about to start, due to distance, just 'cause he’s going off to college. Maybe if we lived somewhere else where there weren’t as many good options, I might have bended on that restriction. BUT, as it is… I have no regrets. Now how in the world did I land here? As usual, I digressed. ?
We WERE talking about Drexel. YES. GREAT School . FWIW, Drexel has our vote ! ?
Hey , had some time on my hands and thought that I would break up the silence on this thread a bit. I’m going to take this opportunity to share D20’s list and FA. No decision yet as D20 has contacted Brown (on her own and told me afterwards) to see if they are willing to narrow the margin and make it a little closer to our target budget. There is some wiggle room in the budget. We shall see. I welcome the village’s comments and opinions, insight and wisdom.
ACCEPTED COLLEGES (Major: Computer Science)
EFC: 32,238,
Target Budget: $20,000 Per year
- Ramapo College of New Jersey • Presidential Scholarship –full tuition and fees for 4 years • (Out of Pocket: $19,228)
- Union College • Presidential Scholarship – 20,000 per year • UC Grant $14,227 • (Out of Pocket: 32,238) Declined
- Stevens Institute of Technology • Presidential Scholarship- $2500 per year • Edward A. Stevens Scholarship – 20,500 per year • Martha Bayard Stevens Scholarship $2,000 per year • Stevens Grant - $7920, • Research/International Experience Stipend $5,000 • (Out of Pocket: $41,520) Declined
- Clark University
• Traina Scholarship - $20,000 per year • Clark University grant $1,910 • (Out of Pocket: $27,610) Declined - Worcester Polytechnic Institute: • WPI Presidential Scholarship $30,000 per year • WPI Scholarship $3920 • WPI Global Scholarship - $5,000 • (Out of Pocket: $38,534) Declined
- Dickinson College: • Presidential Scholarship - $35,000 per year • Dickinson Grant - $3,420 • (Out of Pocket: $38,238) Declined
- Fordham University (Lincoln Center) • UPS Scholarship $7,000 per year • Grant $31,000 • (Out of Pocket: $47,953) Declined
- Lehigh University • University Grant - $27,180 • (Out of Pocket: $45,700) Declined
- Lafayette College: • Marquis Fellowship $56,556 or Full tuition for 4 years • (Out of Pocket: $ 18,120)
- Swarthmore College:
• Swarthmore Scholarship $46,529 • (Out of Pocket: $27,431) - George Washington University • Presidential Scholarship - $24,000 • University & Alumni Award - $7900 • (Out of Pocket: $48,301) Declined
- Brown University: • Scholarship & Grant: $48,278 • (Out of Pocket: $28,326)
- Tufts University: • Balfour Scholarship: $5,500 • Scholarship: $45,000 • (Out of Pocket: $30,892) Declined
- Princeton University: • Scholarship: $51,210 • (Out of Pocket: $20,500)
- Yale University: • Scholarship: $51093 • (Out of Pocket: $28,380)
- New York University • Deans Scholarship: $52,206/Full tuition • (Out of Pocket: $21,920)
Waitlisted:
• Barnard (removed from List)
Declined:
• None
@Sarrip , that’s a great list of accepted universities. And a wide range of OOP expenses. It makes sense to use that COA as the first way to cull the list.
I don’t have an opinion on which of the schools you accept should be the final choice. IMO, they are all great options. It will come down to which one you and your daughter prefer. I would feel satisfied leaving it up to her to choose from the finalist that make the financial cut.
Congrats, and good luck!
Accepted: Brown, University of Chicago, Boston U, Barnard, Howard, USF Honors College, U of O Honors College, American U FDDS and waitlisted Vanderbilt and declined at Harvard and Princeton.
Full ride: American University
Full Tuition: Howard, USF and University of Chicago
Full Tuition and Room: U of O
Financial Aid: Barnard and Brown
Going to American University
For other African American families on this thread I would recommend you apply for outside scholarships from Black civic organizations and national organizations.My daughter has so much outside scholarships money that technically she can go to any of her schools listed in my previous post for free but chose the full ride to American.
@Sarrip and @trippfolsom, those are amazing lists of acceptances by your amazing kids. I have a question for both of you.
@Sarrip, is Princeton really that much cheaper than Yale or is there something else lowering your overall costs at Princeton? I bet your DD is fluctuating between schools on a daily basis with such a great final list to choose from. Thank you for sharing the financial considerations. They are very helpful for someone who sees the world through numbers like I do.
@trippfolsom, I know that your DD applied to schools far away from home. What was the criteria your DD used in applying to schools, and congratulations on such amazing options and choosing American U (I also like your tip as my son has applied for 2 small scholarships from civic organizations in the last month).