My left leaning 20 year old chased merit and is loving UD, beautiful campus, large school but everything is walking distance, tons of school spirit, really nice Main Street, so much going on (UCONN was too isolated for her, her top choice Villanova was too expensive with no merit given, she’s very happy she chose UD).
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Thanks! The more I read about it, the more I was impressed. I know southern VT much better, especially Brattleboro, but I’ve skied up there many times. Even if there wasn’t skiing, I think culturally and academically it’s a great fit for him. I’m excited about seeing the campus - and seeing Syracuse. All of the times we traveled to Syracuse from Ithaca, I never saw the campus.
UDel is 5 minutes off of I-95 in Newark…it is worth the 20 extra minutes to pull off and walk around a bit.
Thanks for your comment. I am (sort of) flattered you looked at other posts I’ve put here. I’m not sure how I found my way here many years ago - perhaps when I started teaching undergrads - but I love the school and enjoy helping others with whatever school they are interested in or attending. Thanks also for the hugs & support - they are needed. It’s a bizarre time and I feel lost. Now that the school has YET ANOTHER new college counselor, I’m even more confused. I haven’t been able to find a private college counselor. We have a College Admissions event tonight with his school, so I hope to hear more? Yet they want us to provide a list of transcript releases by Monday - without ever meeting since last spring.
- Class standing - the school doesn’t provide it. I really don’t know. He’s not top 10%.
- Most demanding rigor - don’t know. This is the first I’ve heard about it but I will definitely ask tonight. Thanks!!
- Geography: Northeastern US, non-urban (that part is new) - MA, NH, VT, upstate/central NY (not Long Island), and the DC area (MD, DE, very northern VA). I realize I’m excluding certain states, and that’s based on his experience in spending time in those states with family and friends. CT is home, RI too much like home, PA too conservative outside of the cities, NJ and LI he just doesn’t like, and he has a very strong feelings about the South, despite my having lived in parts of the South before he was born.
- LOR: he could get a STEM LOR from his physics teacher, but given he’s not a STEM candidate, he’s done well in science and pretty good in math - enough to hold his own - wouldn’t it be best to get his LORs from his strengths and interests (History, English)?
- Rigor: I mention this on another new post below. He responds well to being challenged. He would struggle at first in some classes, but would be fine in others. He has the academic and mental capacity to have done well in the Cornell that I knew, which I think was tougher in many ways than it is today, though that’s impossible to say for sure. I think he’d be intimidated at first, but working through that and coming out the other side was hard work and incredibly rewarding for me. I think he’d do well at any of the updated schools I posted, though he’d be happiest at a school where he didn’t have to work as hard. As a parent, I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing.
- Merit - no, not really. I don’t want financials to factor into his decision at all. That said, I just about puked when I saw BC’s tuition! but thankfully he didn’t like the school.
We’ll know about the SAT on Friday - but he has said adamantly that he won’t take it again. Period. I respect that. Thanks!
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He hasn’t taken all of the language opportunities at his school. He hated Spanish from middle school on, plans to take Italian at college. He is incredibly happy to not be taking a foreign language this year. (His school offered French, Spanish, and Mandarin). Had they offered Latin, I’d have recommended he take Latin I this year, but they don’t, and with the 2 Gov classes + extra science, he didn’t have a free elective.
Awesome to hear - thanks! I will definitely add it to our “check it out” list.
High school should have copy of its School Profile that it includes when it sends transcripts.
An example, shows type of curriculum or school philosophy, accreditation, explains grading scale. (Some high schools may have grade inflation, others might have deflation if weighted courses are limited).
Counselor may be able to say what decile or quartile a student is in. (Some health career programs or scholarships require rank for admission and a counselor will calculate on case by case to help a student apply.)
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Have you thought about BU College of General Studies ED1 or ED2?
BU explains what it is on their website and could potentially be a good fit. With regards to Cornell, there is just no way it happens even if ED unless there is a significant connection(3-4 undergrad legacy from Parent, GP, GGP etc) or a history of family donations totaling a significant sum, probably north of 1 million dollars.
There is a reason parents were willing to spend so much money to get their kids into school through the “side door” in varsity blues. Spending a couple hundred thousand dollars to fake admission as a sports recruit is cheaper than giving a fortune to the school.
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I think you are missing a digit from that donation number, and having an unbroken chain of legacies going back to a great- or even great-great GP is a neat story, but it’s not going to move the needle the distance it needs to be moved here.
A full pay male ED applicant to American with those stats might have a reasonable chance of admission. You will want to consider carefully where to use that one ED slot; wasting it on a moonshot may not be wise.
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This is helpful info. I have no idea how much legacy status factors in at Cornell, only that they take it into the most consideration for ED applicants. Thanks!
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Good point. He has to see the schools to know, and he’s only seen 2 that were nearby and giving tours. We head to Cornell and Syracuse soon, and U MD, American and GW for Columbus Day weekend (it’s a 16 hr drive round trip). I don’t see how we can add in another school that weekend. The Cornell/Syracuse trip will help (though no formal tour available at either) because both schools are very different than BC and BU. He may see Syracuse’s mega size and say that’s not for him. He may see Cornell’s crazy Homecoming and be turned off.
I wish we’d been able to start this earlier. He and his little brother really lost so much with the pandemic but at least, TG, we’re all ok.
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He likely will try for BU with the common app, but I suspect it’d be low on his list. He just wasn’t wowed by the campus and being in Boston, tho we’ve been to Boston many times as a family. And BU considers GP to be legacy, whereas many schools don’t.
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Great! I’ll ask at tonight’s parent meeting.
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While DS has significant connection (parent, GP undergrad & grad, GGP) and donations, Big Red requires Big Bucks in the eight figure range. The Bushes we are not!
The varsity blues thing cracked me up because 1. Almost all of those parents could have pulled a Kushner and 2. I have a younger son who qualifies on multiple levels for extra testing (including PSAT) but won’t use it! I don’t think he’ll want to keep the legacy going since he has his heart set on Comp Sci, which is notoriously brutal (and more theoretical). He’s my future hacker if he has his way.
That would be classic, if big bro winds up in govt or law, and younger becomes a hacker… perfect for a Law & Order reboot, lol.
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AP USH was offered but he couldn’t take it because of the entrance test…he qualified for Honors US and despite his history grades, they wouldn’t budge.
Others you mentioned aren’t offered.
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I can attest that Cornell classes are tough first-hand. I wouldn’t have him consider it if I didn’t see him fitting in. As far as SAT/ACT, the correlation with college success is very low. In 10 years, I think we won’t even be talking about standardized tests for undergraduate and graduate admissions.
In terms of my classmates - granted it was a long time ago - some did well on SATs, others didn’t. Some came from public schools, others from prep. What they had in common was perseverance and a love of learning. It’s part of what makes the culture at Cornell so special. I’m sure that’s true at other schools too - I can only attest to what I know. UConn is a very good school but it doesn’t have it (perhaps because so many kids leave on weekends?). Other schools I’ve taught at didn’t have it either.
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How did your son enjoy homecoming? My D was 2020 so it was her in person “commencement” - not the ending she had hoped for, but more importantly she considers her time at Cornell the best 4 years of her life - and this coming from a student who wasn’t even going to apply because, as much as she liked the school, she assumed she’d NEVER get in. So my advice- your son should absolutely apply, but it should be ED - that is the only way to get the benefit of a legacy - and I recommend looking at CHE or ILR - A & S is extremely competitive. Also, there are fewer male admits in those schools - which I think would help your son. That’s the other thing to consider - you have to look at a schools fact book because what might be an acceptable GPA/test score for a girl might not be the same for a boy - particularly if there are fewer boys in the program. Also important is to show “fit” for whichever school he does apply to - find an area of study that the school offers and in his essay he should say how his experiences make him a perfect “fit” with that program and what he will do with that education in his life (but you probably know this as a Cornell alum).
My other D is a GWU grad (as was I) and I do NOT think this is a reach for your son, but there I would suggest him applying to CCAS - not ESIA.
Have you thought about Skidmore (that’s where my Cornellian probably would have gone if not Cornell).
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Cornell grad here (back in the 90s). I say give it a shot and apply ED. Special place even though I did CS. It was brutal but I mostly forgot the pain and just remember the good stuff.
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