Also want to add that Villanova enjoys a rush of apps from a number of schools that make it far more selective than the stats may show because they do give a bit of an edge to certain situations. I know our high school gives Villanova quite the rush each year.
It’s tough knowing these nuances about schools from the onset.
Not the main focus of this thread but how would the admissions office have any idea that your son had even applied to school X?
Amazing on how many people stress over this with respect to getting into a school like Lafayette or bucknell for engineering if their kid has been accepted to TCNJ or Rowan which will offer them the same opportunities after graduation without incurring huge debt or having the added pressure of maintaining a certain gpa in order to keep getting their, ahem, “scholarship” (discount). Everyone should be applying to a reach, some matches, and some safeties and then when all is said and done going to the school that will result in the least amount of debt at graduation which is typically your instate or out of state public. The private colleges are running a huge scam these days to soak every last loaned dollar from students and their families. Especially when majoring in engineering or computer science or nursing. Everyone stressing over getting into the hoity toit school of their dreams for psychology or history—- that’s a whole other head scratcher…
I do not believe that those schools, Lafayette, Bucknell , URochester, Lehigh, collude or guess someone is going to one, so waitlist or deny. Why? Ive seen too many kids accepted to them all or half or 2 of them.
@adlgel At the time, I believe the application asked the question, but that question has now been removed. We also had a family connection to college X that could be seen in the application.
@cptofthehouse I wasn’t suggesting collusion, but yield protection. I know at least one of those schools had a probability on each students file on whether they would attend if admitted.
At my son’s high school, Lehigh and Bucknell are big ED meccas, and Lafayette to a certain extent. I suspect it’s similar at other deep pocketed suburban high schools in the area. Private college counselors around here are encouraging ED apps more and more. The local public high school GCs are still giving out the same advice from 10,15 years ago.
There are more sophisticated software tools available now for enrollment managers at universities. From the university’s point of view, RD is a crapshoot for them as well. I suspect that these models are spitting out yield probabilities based on years of data.
Understand how these models work- they aren’t saying that YOUR kid won’t attend if admitted. The models will show historically, what is the yield from kids LIKE your kids. Then an actual human being makes a decision. That’s where the demonstrated interest comes into play; that’s where the connections your kid has made (or not made) on campus come into play.
There are likely thousands of kids across a wide span of colleges who get admitted every year even by colleges whose internal data and models show that the kid’s profile might indicate “you are my safety school”. But a visit to campus, an enthusiastic interview with an alum where the kid demonstrated a pretty comprehensive understanding of why he or she was a great fit, etc. all trump the model.
That’s why I get so aggravated when parents post here in December “my kid was offered an interview by an alum by his safety school. His stats are way over the median, I think it’s a waste of time. Should he bother with an interview?” The answer is "if he doesn’t accept the interview, it’s a clear signal that he has no intention of enrolling and only applied to shut up the GC or a parent who said “you need a safety school”. Seriously- an alum is prepared to give up an hour to meet your kid in a local coffee shop- what is the possible downside? And if an interview gets offered, it will also get tracked- interview- yes, no, and if not, why not?
My S applied and got into Bucknell and Lafayette and we are not full pay, but not for engineering. He was waitlisted at Lehigh , which was completely expected - Lehigh used to accept students from our school RD, but no more - ED or bust.
I will say that it makes no sense to wonder what could have been done differently during HS, on the application, LORs, etc. Easier said than done, I know, but focus on the positive (acceptances to other fine schools) and get excited about this new chapter.
Re: Villanova, don’t underestimate the power of the national championships to drive applications.
My neighbors three girls were all accepted to Lehigh,Lafayette , Bucknell and one to Colgate as well. Another neighbor’s daughters accepted to the two Ls and Colgate; and they both went to Colgate. All some financial aid.
When you apply for financial aid, the schools can see the other schools to which you apply. Unless you go through the trouble of doing each FAFSA and PROFILE transmission individually. I don’t know how it works with mass test score releases. But I know ever so many kids applying to all or most of those schools.
Not any more. They stopped that practice precisely for this reason.
@adigel, our experience was that there were certain schools that looked at my son’s EC accomplishments and came to the conclusion that he would definitely attend School X. One even sent the rejection letter three weeks early because he requested visiting the school on an alternate weekend because of an award competition. The letter arrived three days after he had asked. And he was interested in attending the school, FWIW.
And, being the dear quirky soul that he is, he didn’t go to School X.
I strongly feel that the schools read both my sons’ essays and knew from that whether the school would be a good fit. That said, both of them wrote specifically towards the schools they wanted most, and that worked for them. My other son was really interested in LACs, but his essays clearly communicated something about fit, because he was rejected/waitlisted at every one of the LACs, but got into other very selective schools.
At the end of the day, I think the admissions committees got it right for both of my sons, but this was 10-11 years ago and early in the admissions crunch that continues today. They were both lopsided applicants, and I can’t imagine how they would fare in the current admissions environment.
This is no longer true. It was when your kids applied, but that no longer is the case. For FAFSA and Profile, the schools see no other colleges listed…at all.
@Hanna precisely what drove my Villanova app back in 1987! The big Georgetown upset! I lived the heartbreak of getting accepted and turning it down when I saw the cost. Went to state, where I loved it, met my husband and forgot about Villanova. It stings in the moment, but life has a way of working out!
OP, I had lived in the Lehigh Valley area for over 20 years and both my daughters graduated from public High schools in that area. I am very familiar with most of the schools you have mentioned. My D2 recently graduated in Mech Eng from a Tech school in the South (3rd generation Mech Engineer). She had no intention of applying to the likes of Bucknell or Lafayette, maybe Lehigh a bit.
So your son will do well considering the ones he has already been admitted to like Olin or RPI. My only guess is that his uGPA is a little low as to why some colleges did not accept him.
Good luck to him!
@NJWrestlingmom it was actually 1985. I applied to Villanova that fall (and not at all because they won the championship-that wasn’t on my radar). Back then, it was relatively easy to schedule an interview on campus when you went for a tour, which is what I did. The interviewer specifically mentioned the win and how they were expecting more apps than usual in that cycle and suggested I take the SAT one more time to try to raise my math score to be more competitive. All said in a condescending tone that left a bad taste in my mouth. That probably clouded my vision but the tour didn’t impress me at all either. I didn’t say anything to my father who had taken me to visit but the next day, we visited a different school, had an amazing interview and knew right then that was where I wanted to go (and did!).
Coincidentally Villanova didn’t win another championship until 2016, and the next application cycle was the same year D17 was applying to schools but it wasn’t on her list.
I absolutely agree with Hanna’s point that Villanova most likely had more apps this cycle following their win last spring.
OP, your son has some great options! I know it’s hard to understand, but hopefully he (you?) can quickly put those schools behind him and focus on the ones who are happy to have him. He has some great options. Good luck to him!
@mom2twogirls RPI have my daughter $25K merit. They are trying to shift their male/female ratio…and they are wise to try, because the existing 70/30 was the reason she didn’t consider it after others came in. Don’t rule it out! I also know a boy in DS16 class that got the same $25K merit but he was a NMF. Definitely no financial need there -
mom is a CEO
@Gudmom yes, it just wouldn’t have been enough because it wouldn’t have stacked on top of FA need, just taken it’s place. But it seems a fantastic place for those who can make it work!
I know a young woman who got merit at RPI and they upped it while she was there to her parents’ surprise. It was not her first choice, but she did very well there. Went on to get a PhD at Cornell where she’d been rejected for undergrad.
This thread went off the rails (beyond engineering) from the OP’s question. Also, @njdadjets, some of the things in your posts are factually inaccurate.
I am a first year engineering student at Bucknell. Engineering programs at the mid-small sized schools the OP references are very hard to get into. I applied to Bucknell ED 2 with a 35 ACT, high 700 Math 2 and Physics SAT 2s and having taken AP Calc AB/BC, AP Physics 1 and Physics C with 5s on all AP exams.
I applied ED 1 to a Tier 1 college (that enroll on 250 engineering students every year) and was rejected so I was happy to apply ED 2 to Bucknell which was my second choice. Bucknell, Villanova and Lafayette have excellent but SMALLish, undergraduate-focused engineering programs. Lehigh is also excellent, but has a large graduate school. It is difficult to gain admission into any of these engineering programs precisely because of the quality of instruction and strong alumni network.
Check out Bucknell’s engineering job placement stats on the school website.
One of the drawbacks of the size, however, is the fact that after the sports teams’ rosters are filled (250/1000 students) and the ED 1 and ED2 students with strong stats are admitted, it leaves little room for regular decision candidates.