I would appreciate advice from the forum. My son has some great offers from other schools but really thinks Brandeis is a better fit and he got wait-listed. (He got honors acceptances and great $ from Northeastern and University of Vermont, RPI medalist award and 40K annually from Carleton). I told him he should contact Brandeis, tell them that he really wants to go there and see what could happen-- that there is no downside. They would also need to offer $ to make it all work because he is very concerned about excessive debt. If I can get him to make this contact does anyone have thoughts about how to best do this to be effective?
@onlygotone before asking for a scholarship he has to get off the waitlist and get accepted. In order to do this he has to show a lot of interest in the school. Schools more willingly accept students when they know that the student will commit. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-joseph/dont-wait-to-get-off-a-college-waitlist_b_6980822.html
@onlygotone So strangeā¦ my daughter got waitlisted at Carleton, which was her #1 school and got accepted to Brandeis! Go figure. I posted on another thread that I had looked at the waitlist stats regarding Carleton and saw that Brandeis odds are really, really low if past couple of years are any indication.
@ProudWADad. Wow. Wish we could offer them a trade!
I got accepted into the midyear program so im not sure if im going to go since I wanted to start college in the fall! Im going to call them and see if there is anything I can do to move me up to the fall semester since that is a big deciding factor between Brandeis and another couple of schools.
But, here are my stats. I didnt send in my SAT scores since they were terrible and instead send in a research paper but im just going to say that they were very under average for Brandeis.
GPA: 4.02 W
Activities: Varsity tennis, cross country, NAHS, NHS, interact and Leos club. Plenty of volunteering and social activism, as I helped to organize and presented a speech at my schools walk out against gun violence last year.
I also did an interview and showed a lot of demonstrated interest.
seriously, is anyone going to the admitted students events?
Mid year is the only thing u offer you can not start in the fall . I was also got accepted mid year. @hamiltonfan1780
HSSP is a major, you donāt get accepted into a major and HSSP is a part of the ācollege of arts and scienceā. You donāt declare a major until the end of your sophomore year @noah2425
Thrilled that my child was accepted to Brandeis, and she received financial aid but no merit aid. Is this surprising? Is it something that is reasonable to try to appeal? She would love to attend, but her other serious option is the UMass Amherst Commonwealth Honors College, where sheās been accepted/invited and tuition would be waived (family employment).
Obviously the two schools are not comparable (private/public), but thatās our familyās comparison. Any advice about requesting merit aid if it wasnāt offered with acceptance? Thanks.
we are going for sure.
Weāre going on April 14 for the big Admitted Students day. My child hasnāt decided yet, but Iām sure the day will be fun (and maybe informative, too)!
I was admitted RD and I canāt seem to find a financial aid award letter. Was it sent in snail mail or is it on the Brandeis admissions website? If so, where is the award letter found on the website?
Snail mail letter just came today to Washington. Came with financial aid award info, too.
@Emily209485 It should be on the portal, you might have to click on a separate link once within the portal. It will also come with your mail package.
@ProudWADad It is a common practice at many selective colleges. Northeastern has its NIU In program where students spend Fall semester overseas. Boston University has its CGS-London program where students start in January and spend the next Summer in London. USC and Cornell offer January entry to many Fall applicants. It is a final decision and cannot be changed to regular Fall admission.
In some cases the studentās stats ae on the low end of accepted students.
@Yaskwhy We also have the choice between Brandeis with a Deanās Scholarship for $10500 or the UMass Amherst Commonwealth Honors College with a Deanās Scholarship for $2000 plus the Adams Scholarship fo $1500. I am in academia and have one son who attended the Honors College. Sincerely if you are capable and willing to take all the opportunities that the Honors College offers you can go very very far for a much lower sticker price! To me the difference between the 2 schools is negligibleā¦ and I am in contact with many students!
Thanks; I tend to agree with you @momfromitaly ā¦ but Iām also a mom. Iām trying to give my child plenty of time to evaluate the decision herself. Itās great to hear your perspective as both a parent and an academic.
@noah2425 if you donāt attend Brandeis, where do you think youāll go? You sound a lot like my kid (gay, Jewish, cooking, dad jokes) who is also pondering. Sheās between Brandeis and the UMass honors college. What about you?
@Yaskwhy Hi! Well I applied to a ridiculous amount of schools and was only rejected by the UCs I applied to (ridiculous that I canāt attend school in state now) so it boiled down between University of Washington as a microbiology major and American University as a BA+MA in Public Health. I decided on UW and Iām committing this weekend 
Awesome @noah2425 I bet it feels great to have the decision behind you!