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<p>Very wise words! I am going to write them down. This applies in many cases - you don’t know what life is going to throw at you. Believe me, from my experience with my own two sons, not getting into the college you (or your child) wanted is pretty low on the significance scale.</p>
<p>Amen, Waitingforivy. You have a lot of wisdom for a high school student and you and your input are most welcome here!</p>
<p>“So here’s my solution: not only should the colleges report the average stats of admitted students and the average stats of enrolled students - they should report the average stats of ALL students who COMPLETED an application.”</p>
<p>American U. not only does that, but they report “applied/admitted/enrolled” at every level of SAT/ACT and GPA.</p>
<p>You’ve summed things up nicely, waitingforivy. Best of luck to you as you choose between your two “wonderful, exciting choices.” I hope your mom will simply tell people how happy you are with both of your options!</p>
<p>Very insightful, waitingforivy. Many are disappointed today, but almost all of them have a college education in their future.</p>
<p>D had a well researched list, tailored to her interests (academic, location, future plans). She’s in a highly respected IB program, many of the students apply to highly selective schools…with widely varying results. D was very fortunate in her acceptances, had 1 surprize waitlist, and a couple unsurprizing denials (HYPS–didn’t surprize me–and they were not her number one choice and I think it showed in her essays). She is in at her dream school, well known, great program for her.</p>
<p>I really think the differences were in EC’s, attention to detail in the essays (why do you want to go to our school?) and sustained effort (passion) in couple of areas. D has been passionate about Girl Scouts for years–she does things at all levels, from troop to assocation, to council, to a national board. Earned her Gold Award, etc. Others in her class did not have sustained effort in anything outside of classwork. And I think it made a difference. These kids all have excellent grades/test scores. The colleges need something to look at to make a difference.</p>
<p>I know several classmates are surprized at their results…and a couple are outright unhappy. Looking over their lists I think they were widely optimistic, especially those with limited EC’s and generic essays. Really, you need to give the colleges a reason to pick you. Everyone applying has great grades/test scores…what else do you bring to the table? What specific thing do you love about our school? I would be sure to answer those questions in a waitlist situation.</p>
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<p>As I mentioned I think up thread,my kids both were accepted to all the schools they applied to.
Prestige was not a criteria. Affordabilty was. They only applied to instate public schools or Oos schools that participated in the reciprocal exchange& and also offered merit. Older daughter also threw one top LAC in the mix that met 100% of need but was a big stretch for admittance. As it turned out that was where she attended, but she was would have been more than happy with her 2nd or 3rd choices.</p>
<p>Regarding financial safeties, my D’s 55k school she just got accepted to, is giving her 34k in free money. Leaves 21k for us…about the same cost as sending your kid to an instate school where we live. Her grant alone was more than the total cost of attendance at state schools and we do not qualify for any financial aid except 5500 unsubsidized loan. Many top schools like this one can afford to do this I guess. ?? Because her grant at a lower ranked (still top 100) LAC was 4k. Go figure.</p>
<p>Never ever imagined my D would be accepted and afford to go to this school. I guess my point is, a financial safety doesn’t have to have a low sticker price.</p>
<p>here here waiting for IVY
However I am cynical about the “holistic” application process, the cynic in my thinks they just want our application money.</p>
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It’s not a “safety” unless you had a guarantee of the financial aid before you applied. My kids got into expensive private colleges we could barely manage to afford – and they also got accepted to many more where financial aid fell far short of our expectations. For my daughter, the in-state university would have been half the cost. What made it “safe” was that I knew going in that we would be able to afford the school even without generous grant aid. We opted for the barely manageable private – but the point is, even with plenty of financial aid, it was never a “safe” bet financially. </p>
<p>There are a handful of elite colleges and some colleges with very transparent merit aid policies to enable student to predict with accuracy the financial aid they will receive after acceptance. Most are far more speculative.</p>
<p>@absweetmarie - I think my mom is happy for me, its just that what other people think is more important to her than to me. My strategy is to say the least possible - I DO want to spread the good news - but not to say enough to give anyone enough to gossip about.</p>
<p>I just realized what my username is. Well, that’s interesting. I just picked it randomly because I needed a username when I joined CC in 10th grade. Now, I think I’ve grown attached to it and think it sounds pretty.</p>
<p>@downtoearth - I’m pretty sure “holistic admissions” is code for “We can do whatever we want without having to explicitly explain ourselves”. Holistic admissions can definitely be good, and helped me a lot in one school, but can also cover a lot of sins.</p>
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<p>Very true.</p>
<p>However, there do appear to be some students who think that any school less selective than the super-selective reach-for-everyone schools is “beneath” them, so that any school that would be an admissions safety is automatically unsatisfying to them. So they have no true safeties that they like, and they are setting themselves up for disappointment when they get shut out in April, or get admission to only an unwanted admissions safety.</p>
<p>There even appears to be a common disdain of “state schools” such that students, particularly from the northeast and mid-Atlantic, do not even want to name them (but just refer to them as “state school”). This even seems to be the case when the state school is a very reputable one academically, like Rutgers.</p>
<p>waitingforivy: I can imagine you give your mom lots to be proud of. I hope she can become an ambassador for whichever school you choose. The other schools will soon be in the rearview mirror for everyone. Best wishes to you.</p>
<p>Calmom, I agree with you completely. I was just surprised that the school we never thought we could afford, became within reach. But I would never advocate applying to high cost LAC and assuming they give good aid. Absolutely, one should apply to a school they will be able to get in and pay for with minimal loans.</p>
<p>And one more thing. Trust your instincts. There are many kind and well meaning posters (s/o to parents of hs class of 2012!) on here but there are also some vicious scoundrels. Lol. If my D had listened to what many have said, she would not be in the position she is now. Be very very wary of CC. You know your child and these people are random strangers/some well meaning and others just mean. The one thing I did learn on here though was safety safety safety…financial and academic. :)</p>
<p>At the end of the day, literally, at the end of today, our D told us the school she wanted to go to. It is one of her likely schools and one that she would be really happy to go to if it were the only one. While never considering any uber selective schools, she did get into a school or two that might be considered more noteworthy to some more than this one. But she loved it when she visited in the fall and, as she said herself, getting their acceptance letter made her the happiest of all to receive. And her reasonings behind the decision were very much what we wanted to hear in terms of the aggregate. She knows who she is and can see herself there. I can’t really ask for much more. </p>
<p>As for waitingforIvy… I loved what you had to say and so from now on I am going to think of you as one of those “grow where you’re planted” kids. I think it fits perfectly. And the Ivy in your name is just a symbol for the climb in reaching one’s potential and taking advantage of opportunities that come your way. Best of Luck to you!</p>
<p>I absolutely agree with Moda, Waiting fo IVY you are very insightful. I am very impressed.
I was tongue in cheek about the application fees-sort of. LOL</p>
<p>I am just tagging this thread because I think there is a lot of good advice. </p>
<p>It is also important to remember that stats change from year to year so what worked last year may not work this year. My son applied in 2010 and got rejected from his dream schools (Northwestern; UVA; Georgetown and Yale) however this year I see reports of students accepted with his identical scores/GPA. The best cure to taking the sting out of my son’s rejection was to receive two full-rides to some pretty other good schools that had honors colleges. In designing his list we made sure to have some schools like that on his list because we knew his year was going to be tough. Yes he was disappointed but now he loves his school especially when he opens his bill and see only zeros in amount due. Interestingly his freshman roommate turned down Northwestern because the fulll-ride his roommate also received was just too good to pass up. </p>
<p>I am sorry for CPU and Mary’s predicament because it is tough to see your child work so hard and not get accepted. The good thing is that this is a lesson for all of us with younger students.</p>
<p>Mary, I wish you and your son the best. Just when you think it’s a good thing that we-- in this country and globally-- are all getting more connected, this application process turns out to be heart-breaking and demoralizing. This has become a truly competitive world with fewer and fewer spots on the top. (Notice the shrinking acceptance rates at schools like Dartmouth and Middlebury.)</p>
<p>Waitingforivy, thank you for your wise comments. Please be sure to keep us posted next year.</p>
<p>At my son’s school, the GCs are careful to be sure ALL students know to apply to 2-3 safeties, 2-3 matches, and then the reach schools that interest them. Kids and parents are told how important it is to seriously check out the safeties and matches, because the kid might very well have only those from which to choose come April. We took the GC’s advice and are very happy with the result. So often, kids/parents spend tons of time touring and researching those dream reach schools, but there are many, many top students competing for a very few slots at the super selective schools. We told our son he could only apply to schools that he honestly would be happy attending, and made him select those safeties and matches carefully.</p>
<p>A 2020 is not a bad SAT score! Somewhere there is a table showing the scores for all students who took the SAT, nationwide that proves this; I’m just too busy to look for it at the moment. The point is, there are likely way more kids in the 2300 and up list than there are openings at the most selective schools.</p>
<p>"…however this year I see reports of students accepted with his identical scores/GPA" - It’s the same deal as last year. At the top schools, acceptances are based on lots more than pure stats. Other factors include essays, EC, demographics, and recommendations. And for better or worse - just plain old luck.</p>