<p>Is this a common practice by elite colleges?</p>
<p>We received a permission slip from our high school. Two of the very elite colleges have asked our son to meet and discuss with the visiting adcoms. They want to explore what our kids option is. I am not sure about the particular of the meeting. However, we have told him to do so. In past we have told our guidance counselor that kid will go to a college where he gets maximum financial aid. Currently he attends a prep school on full financial aid. Kid has extremely good stats, GPA, national level awards and plays sports. Is this a common phenomenon or just a courtesy visit to boost application numbers? He has asked other kids but nobody else seems to have similar invitation. We are just curious as to find out what it really means.</p>
<p>If this is a one-on-one meeting, I've never heard of anything like it before. I know, however, that adcoms do try to recruit certain students directly, and this may be an attempt to do so.</p>
<p>Your student is a relatively low income (for Ivies), extremely high stat, excellent sci research, and athletic kid who sounds like an outstanding candidate for an Ivy, all of which have a hard time finding athletes with the academic background to thrive at Ivies. </p>
<p>That's why your kid is getting this kind of unusual special attention from adcoms. Congratulations!</p>
<p>He has far better chances than most of getting into Ivies. He's likely to get good need-based aid from them. However, if you'd want even more aid, he'd probably qualify for even better aid from some top 30 colleges that provide merit aid. Places to consider would include Wash U, U Chicago, Emory, Grinnell, Rice, Tulane, Wake Forest, U North Carolina and Duke.</p>
<p>In case others responding aren't familiar with your S's stats, here's what you posted elsewhere:</p>
<p>" I My son plays varsity football and has scored Math II 800, Chemistry 800, and PSAT 230. SAT 1480 in while in 8th grade. This summer he is doing internship in Biochemistry in with a renowned professor. He loves to debate and won many prizes. He has taken very hard course load including AP World History 5 and AP Bio 5 in 10th grade. He is expecting in 11th grade 5 in AP BC calculus, 5 in Chemistry, 5 in European History. His school does not rank and he in top 10%"</p>
<p>The closest my son has gotten is invitations to come to interviews with the adcoms at several top tier schools who are visiting his campus. It's nice that your child has gotten serious attention & it sounds like he will have excellent choices to make for college.</p>
<p>"I must say that Princeton's financial aid package is unparalleled as my son was able to get almost a full ride. H's offer was second best at $5000 below Princeton's. Yale offered the weakest financial aid (it was damn good but for comparison purpose only) since they asked us to contribute $9,000. </p>
<p>Son will be at Princeton. But, I would say HYP all are pretyy darn good schools and if financail aid was not a criterion, my son may have taken a different path."</p>
<p>I just remember Chinaman talking about his son attending a prep school on a full scholarship, playing sports, and getting scholarships for other enrichment activities. I remember that financial aid was critical in his college decision also. It sounds very similar to Redstar's son's situation.</p>
<p>If you do a google search for "Elite colleges and low income initiatives" you will find many articles identifying creative ways in which some schools are trying to "recruit" low income students, particularly those with high stats. The July 16, 2005 Boston Globe article talks about television ads, phone calls, etc.</p>
<p>You have an unusual son, and counsel him to take the interview with positive energy. He may not know where he belongs yet, but positive is always attractive. Sounds like you should try to find a match for his temperament and social needs since he will be able to perform academically anywhere. You may be in the rare group of Buyers market. Take him out there and let him absorb campuses first hand. Find the time for overnights so he can communicate which schools he is clearly most attracted to but stay open to loving more than one as favorites.</p>