@SFLmom I would call and ask why. Clemson is so forthcoming and it could be a great learning moment, or even reveal a mistake. We had a friend with a big snafu with her ACT scores that took several months to resolve before she was accepted. You never know. I wouldn’t get upset until you ask the questions.
Also, she can apply at the end of first semester and be admitted for second semester. And, that application is very simple and fast. Many kids do that anyway to wait and see if they even want Honors. Although I understand where you are coming from, I totally agree with @pokeyjoe, do not let acceptance to the honors program determine your decision. Clemson has so many programs and opportunities and honors is only one of them. I actually know plenty of kids who’s major actually doesn’t even work well with the honors program for a a variety of reasons.
PokeyJoe’s experience above is not unique. That’s what we hear from everyone!
@Baxter126 & @PokeyJoe thank you both. I did speak to someone and honestly my head hurt by the end of the conversation. My daughter is talking to her guidance counselor and they will decide weather to appeal or not.
Her high school is as I stated above full of very high achieving students. Out of the aprox 360 in the senior class 1/3 of them qualified for national merit (semi,commended, hispanic) I am assuming she is not in the top 10%. However, she is well above the top 10% of every public school in our area. It seems crazy to me that she is penalized for going to a school that is challenging.
She still has other applications out and this is just a piece of the puzzle. I am sure she will thrive wherever she goes. @Baxter126 she does want to double major in biomedical engineering and genetics so I see your point in honors possibly conflicting with that. I just felt that should have been her choice.
It just seemed so strange that she was priority accepted, offered the highest OOS scholarship and then not honors.
Once again thank you both.
@SFLmom Honors at Clemson is really just one of many, many amazing programs there and the students only have so much time! It’s not really the same as honors in high school and not the end all be all. Your daughter probably would have no way to see how honors would conflict with her double major until she was there and in the mix and struggling to make courses fit. And those are difficult major choices! If she selects Clemson, she can spend some time first semester investigating honors and applying in December for second semester but she may already be involved in other things by then!
I’m sure she has plenty of very good offer with her scores! We have chosen to trust those making these decisions and see the no’s and denials as a clear closed door that helps us move towards something else better suited for our children. All the best!!! What a bright girl you have!
My son was accepted to Calhoun Honors last year . When we attended multiple info sessions , the one thing that was always asked was " What makes you different than every other high stats student that applies to Calhoun?"We were told repeatedly that it is about more than high stats, rank, rigor . All of the applicants have those things. My son was told by multiple Calhoun students to really shine on your essays and let your personality come through. I know that it was a record year for applicants this year. The reality of the situation is there is not enough spaces for all of these high achieving students .
@SFLmom It sounds like your D was shafted. My D (1580 SAT, 4.09/4.33 GPA, 7 5s on APs so far, unique leadership positions, published chemistry research paper with UofH last summer) had a similar feeling when she was not selected as a finalist for the National Scholars Program. My D must have done a really awful job writing the Tweet they requested on the essays - must not have shown her personality at all. Here’s a second try at that: “Hey @Clemson@Calhoun, thanks for making my decision easy! Gladly accepting the $$$ that @UofAlabama has graciously offered. See you next year in the CFP, or at least you’ll see us! #RollTide”
A bit immature, I know, but I now feel much better . . . Truly, congratulations to all and good luck with your apps and decisions!
@somebodysdad - thanks you made my day. Today we received her National Merit Finalist letter & finalist for the Presidential Scholarship at FSU. Hope your D enjoys Alabama it was on our list for a while. As my D’s guidance counselor tells us - pay attention to who loves you.
Good luck to your both, and remember, sour grapes can lead to a bad vintage. Good luck to your students and ftr we chose CHC over Ivy’s, UA, plus, plus. Clemson is a great place to be. I had a job on The Hill before I walked at CU and was six figure income before I was 25 years old thanks to a Clemson degree and Clemson Contacts. It is a stellar university community. It has only increased its network in the 30 years since. Please note, your kids sound amazing!! When you have thousands of top tier apply for 325 spots, it becomes a tough job. Obviously, they were meant for different schools and that should take nothing away from those who do belong there. We all have a special destiny and so glad to hear your students have found their niche. I am sure they will excel. As for football…we love it. NATTY or no NATTY, we love it. Good luck in the classroom and on the fb field. As a Bama fan, also, I wish nothing more than the best to the Tide unless they are playing CU.
@TigerMom2021 - wow- really? I went and looked over everything I said & I see no reason for your statement about sour grapes.
I am grateful my daughter was accepted. I realize how competitive it was especially to be in her major of engineering. I said nothing negative and would not. My D loved Clemson when we visited. I was simply looking for a way to understand what they were looking for. Many of the other comments had very helpful information about applying after a semester or with her hopes of double majoring it may be overwhelming.
I do not believe I took anything away from those that were accepted - and if it came off that way I apologize.
As for what school my D was meant for, we are not sure yet. We are still weighing all of our options. It still may be Clemson- we shall see.
@SFLmom My DD was admitted to Calhoun (34 ACT; 3.95GPA unweighted) but she was the only student from her HS (which is in the top 25 of Niche’s Best Private High Schools in America) who applied to Clemson, and her school does not rank. As we have found, being one of only a few applicants from a high school that doesn’t rank can make a big difference since the colleges have no basis for comparison between applicants. On the other hand, if there are a lot of applicants from a particular HS to a particular college, it tends to become a numbers game based on where one ranks among the students who applied from that HS - in other words, the colleges can put together a rough ranking based on the students who applied.
@SFLmom I think the statement was in reference to you responding to somebodys dad negative comment by saying " Thanks ,you made my day" That may have not been your intent, but it could be interpreted that way.
@carolinamom2boys - I just meant he made me smile on a stressful day. I have apologized if I offended. Everyone who got in should be proud and excited. I am happy for them. I didn’t write nor say anything rude- I just thought his remark was funny.
I was just trying to understand. This whole admissions/honors admissions and financial aide thing is new to me. I work with numbers for a living- no grey area. I find it perplexing.
When you feel as if your child has worked hard for something and then see students with lower test scores or gpa’s I think its ok to ask others if they know why. I did not bash any child/person or adult ever, I was simply trying to understand.
And I get it now. Could have been her essay’s, could have been her rank, or it could be that they don’t know her school.
It might all be a moot point if the Engineering course load and her wish for a double major would not allow room for the honors classes.
Thank you for letting me know it may have been interpreted that way. I interpreted her response as rude.
@SFLmom I wasn’t trying to criticize, I was just trying to help you to understand what in your post may have been taken
In a way that you didn’t intend. I understand that it can be difficult to understand why a decision was made, and I totally understand being disappointed and trying to help your child understand . Good luck to your daughter wherever she decides to attend.
@SFLmom and others…I wanted to remind you that she can apply in December of her first semester to get into Calhoun and be accepted for second semester of freshman year. The process is significantly easier then too, and no tweet to write! :). We know many students who do that because they want to even see if honors would be right for them. She also would hardly miss out on anything by doing that, just one honors class perhaps. She could live in either Holmes or McCabe, which are right next to the new honors dorms. She’d be eating in the same dining hall. And upon admittance in January, be able to use the honors facilities when she wants. Many of the girls we know who are in honor choose to live in the all-girls dorm, Manning, anyway so housing isn’t an issue for them.
And, we have known several engineering students (isn’t that your daughter’s major?) drop out of honors because it was so difficult to do both.
Is she appealing the honors decision? My son’s classmate is appealing and Calhoun has been very helpful to him in that process. His issue wasn’t stats, it was his essays so he was working on that for his appeal.
All the best, your daughter truly will shine however it works out for you and it sounds like in=state offers could be very good. We told our children then will definitely be attending in state because financially it just makes the most sense and sets them up well in the future.
SFLmom: my son is in Honors at Clemson. He is a Bioengineering major and has a minor in Economics. He could have double majored if he had wanted to do so. He has not found it difficult to do this in Honors, in fact he thinks it has made it easier because Honors advising is so helpful (he found Engineering advising discourages anything not on the curriculum map). If your D wants to go to Clemson AND be in Honors, it’s definitely doable. There is a reconsideration process - if you call, you can find out what the issue was on her original application. And she can always apply once she’s at Clemson. Lots of current Honors students got in after the beginning of their freshman year.
