Be careful what you wish for! Need some advice...

Parents Forum
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<p>Cami -</p>

<p>In my reductionist view of college admissions, stats = options.</p>

<p>The better your stats, the more options you have.</p>

<p>With his new, much higher SAT your S now has more options on which schools he can get into and more options about which schools will offer him merit money.</p>

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<p>Since the lower SAT is no longer a factor, I think he deserves to, if not to be steered back toward the high end schools, at least offered the chance to consider them. He has opened up that option for himself.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much for all this great advice. There is a lot here that I can think about.</p>

<p>Up till now, son has been most interested in Brown and Chicago. He knows they have two very different curriculums but liked the intellectual intensity he saw at both schools when he attended programs there in the summer. He is a life sciences kid who would naturally take a lot of humanities and social science classes so, whichever school he was at, he would want a broad array of courses. That would work at either place.</p>

<p>In some ways he likes Chicago best of the two, but is a little nervous about the workload. When he was there this summer, he had long lab hours...8 or 9 hours a day in the lab, and sometimes much longer. But the "quirkiness" and humor of the campus as well as its architecture does appeal to him. </p>

<p>Even if he was willing to apply ED to Brown and EA to Chicago at the same time, Brown's policy doesn't permit that....no early applications of any kind. Because of that, we've opted for Chicago EA. The application is on our computer and ready to send in. The supporting materials have already gone. So it looks as if Brown will be a RD application unless he changes his mind overnight and we can somehow whip up an ED application in five days. That's not out of the realm of possibility but is still unlikely.</p>

<p>I honestly wish there wasn't so much pressure on the kids to make these decisions so early. ED is just such an enticing carrot with its higher admit rates and, at some schools, a large percentage of the class filled. But there are so many problems involved. For some it's the financial insecurity; for us it's the fact that his "improved" test scores came through too late to give us enough time to think about what we're doing and prepare a careful application, and the fact that S may just not be ready yet to make a binding commitment anywhere.</p>

<p>I am going to get hold of the cousellor and see if anything can be done about Emory Scholars at this late date. It's definitely worth a try. And there is the possibility of merit aid at Brandeis. We never got a "blue ribbon application". I have no idea if I can call and ask about that based on son's latest test scores. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. Merit aid would be very nice, but we are mostly interested in having S figure out what school(s) would work and getting him into one of them. In that respect our family is fortunate that we have the "luxury" of choice. </p>

<p>
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......obviously the guidance dept is getting the job done......maybe the Harvard emphasis is their own goal to get a Harvard admit on the school profile?

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<p>** Maine parent **-- Very perceptive. I totally agree that this is part of it. The school has a total of about 200 students, with about 40-60 kids per class. It's still trying to prove itself to the community. They had great success with last year's graduates and want more of the same.</p>

<p>Yesterday, I got a call from son's bio teacher also suggesting we look at other options like Harvard. We live in an area that has one of the top ranked IB programs in the nation at our local public high school....a huge urban institution with large classes, etc. So a small private school has to show it can be both successful and unique if it hopes to persuade families to fork out tuition rather than going to the well regarded public school around the corner. With our son, it was a question of size. As a freshman, he wasn't read for a school that large so we looked for other options. For us, it's been a good decision.</p>

<p>The only reason I would consider Harvard (or any school for that matter) is if son really wants it and has some valid reasons for feeling that way. As Coureur says, the main thing is "options". These scores present some possbilities that hadn't seemed realistic before. Given the short time frame, I think it's more realistic to consider this in the context of RD rather than ED or even single choice EA. The only think that would change this would be if son had a revelation and decided Brown was the "only place" for him. That hasn't happened that.</p>

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<p>
[Quote]
I honestly wish there wasn't so much pressure on the kids to make these decisions so early. ED is just such an enticing carrot with its higher admit rates and, at some schools, a large percentage of the class filled. But there are so many problems involved. For some it's the financial insecurity; for us it's the fact that his "improved" test scores came through too late to give us enough time to think about what we're doing and prepare a careful application, and the fact that S may just not be ready yet to make a binding commitment anywhere.

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<p>Can I get an "Amen"?</p>

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<p>Amen.</p>

<p><em>blah blah to make character count</em></p>

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<p>
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the fact that S may just not be ready yet to make a binding commitment anywhere.

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<p>First, Audiophile's "Amen".</p>

<p>Even though my daughter probably benefited from ED, the whole process left me with a bad feeling. Lots of kids aren't ready to make a binding committment - most, really. She was very happy with her choice, and is happy now, but the overwhelming feeling of relief last Dec was not so much excitement about where she was going, rather it was that she didn't have to worry about college admission anymore - after I thought about that for a couple of months, I felt that just wasn't right.</p>

<p>Brown ED might make more strategic sense, but if he is asking to make a binding commitment, then don't, it is as simple as that. He will have good choices in the spring, vs no choice, perhaps if he goes Brown ED. What he wants and what he is ready to pursue IS the right decision for him. Good Luck, the waiting is hard too, but then everything becomes more fun.</p>

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<p>One of the things your son may want to consider is the incredible science opportunities at Harvard. That was definitely a factor in my son's decision: he really wanted to have the chance to do exciting research as an undergrad.</p>

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<p>I agree with Donemom's comment about science opportunities at Harvard, but Chicago has plenty, too. So if Chicago is first choice, Cami's S should apply EA there. He can apply elsewhere RD, inlcuding Harvard, and make up his mind in April. Unless Brown is absolute first choice, he should not apply there ED, as it is binding.</p>

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<p>cami, with your son's statistics and ECs, I would think that he has an excellent shot at Chicago -- a school my son really liked! I think you can trim the match/safety list a little, keeping both financial and admissions options in mind, but why not take another look at the reaches? My feeling is that they only try this once, so a good candidate should include a few skyscrapers on the list. In fact, at a Harvard info session, the Admissions rep spoke about how difficult it is to be accepted -- but, she said, ..."someone has to get in. Why not you?" </p>

<p>With that in mind, and knowing that you are trying to trim your list, I have another school for you to look at. A cerebral, verbal student with an interest in science might really like Columbia University. My son was quite torn between Columbia and Dartmouth, and though they are so different in ambiance, I could see him at either. And, like Curmudgeon's daughter, I imagine it would be a wonderful cultural exchange between the typical northeast kids and some from Texas.</p>

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<p>Cami, two more thoughts on the matter.</p>

<p>"In some ways he likes Chicago best of the two, but is a little nervous about the workload. When he was there this summer, he had long lab hours...8 or 9 hours a day in the lab, and sometimes much longer."</p>

<p>I think that any of the reach schools on his list will be challenging. That's what a selective college is about, by its very nature. The main difference, I think, is that it is less structured as far as scheduling is concerned. He will spend less time sitting in class, more in labs, and yet more time studying or working in groups. I do think it's hard for kids who have been at the top of their high school class to discover that everyone else in their college classes was also at the top of their HS class. </p>

<p>Secondly, I agree wholeheartedly about ED vs EA. We would not allow S1 to apply ED to Columbia, although he made a strong argument. We did encourage EA, just to relieve some of the admissions pressure, but while he did get in RD to Columbia, he ended up at a different school. The relief of a few EA acceptances was enormous. When I've talked about having his brother apply ED to the school S1 attends, he's said that he thinks ED takes away the fun of the spring acceptances. I don't know if he'd feel this way if things hadn't worked out for him, though, so we are keeping ED open as a possibility because of S1's wonderful experience so far at Dartmouth.</p>

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<p>My daughter has a fairly strong preference so she is applying ED to a school that doesn't give merit aid, but gives an extreme boost to ED candidates. That reason and the desire to be "done with it" are her prime motivators. I really wish it could be EA instead, we haven't even had the chance to visit two of the schools on her list.</p>

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<p>I agree with a previous poster's observation that ED can make for applications that aren't quite completely "done." Applications, along with fine wine, benefit from sitting for a while. D's app essays turned in at December were better than the one's turned in at Nov.</p>

<p>Oh, yes--AMEN!</p>

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<p>Audiophile - she will be fine. She sounds like DD. I really think you have to remember what kind of person your child is - my daughter has always been decisive, few regrets, few what ifs. She may see all sides to a course of action, but once she has decided - that's pretty much it. If she had been the kind of kid who second guesses, I would have been much more proactive about the realities of ED - as it was, she had a brief "Wish I could have known how I would have done" moment in March, but it was very brief.</p>

<p>I kind of wish they would do away with Early anything, except for rolling admissions, and move the acceptance date up to March 1 - but that has no benefit ot the colleges, so its never happening.</p>

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<p>Quote: "I think that any of the reach schools on his list will be challenging. That's what a selective college is about, by its very nature"</p>

<p>Yes, that's true, but I think its important not to gloss over certain differences even among the most select schools in terms of a certain extra intensity, degree of workload, etc. From having talked to many kids who've attended top colleges, including my own, I would say that U. Chicago, Swathmore, and Cornell stand out at being on the far end of this continuum. Harvard is intense, but not across the board. Same with Penn and Brown, but less so. I just had the opportunity to speak to several parents of kids attending these schools over the past few weeks, and these generalizations seem to be borne out.</p>

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<p>Sometimes it helps to open your mouth! I called up Brandeis and asked if son would be eligible for the blue ribbon application. They asked for all his stats and, by the end of the conversation, I was given the information to access the application. Many thanks for that idea.</p>

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<p>Very promising news!</p>