Ok, major disappointment in our house tonight. Wait-listed at both GA Tech and WPI. Still waiting on Purdue. I do not understand at all the WPI decision. Anyone have insight on the difficulty of getting admitted to WPI from here? I can’t find the stats from last year…
I think it is harder to get in if you apply RD. They take a lot of students early on. He might still get off the waitlist.
They are probably the favorite engineering school in the NE.
@MITMom7 He will get into a good school. What is his safety?
He got accepted into U of MN twin cities but into the liberal arts college. Still waiting for Purdue and U of Wisconsin
@MITMomT if I may ask, what majors did he apply for those schools?
Engineering
I know it is too late for your son but for engineering majors it is especially important that they apply EA to schools where possible. When my D met a few years ago with Georgia Tech admission staff, the number one piece of advice they gave her was that she should absolutely apply early. This year Tech’s admission for EA was 40% while RD will be between 17% to 20%. Before Tech went to the common app two years ago, the EA rate was 70%.
Similarly Purdue accepts a large pool EA so I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don’t think your son has a very good chance of acceptance at Purdue since it is March 20 and Purdue has been accepting students on a rolling basis since the beginning of December. I am a big proponent of Early Action because more and more colleges admit at a greater rate EA. Plus who wants to drag this process out for the entire senior year.
If your son’s news continues to be not what you have hoped for then I suggest you review NACAC’s list which comes out around May 3ish. Colleges who still have availability for their Fall 2015 freshman class will be listed. Your son could apply to those schools if he is interested. You might be surprised what schools are on the list. Some schools may not offer financial aid at that time but you can with the particular college.
I know this is a tough time for your family. I am very sorry you didn’t get better advice last summer to have your son apply early. One other idea is to review schools listed on a favorite website of mine, http://collegemajors101.com/ Nationally the average acceptance rate for colleges is 61% so look over the list and see if any school has rolling admission decisions and still has room in their class. Schools I like are Missouri Science and Tech and New Mexico Tech. I don’t have the exact link but both schools are high on the list for STEM graduates getting into great graduate schools as well as getting great jobs.
thank you itsv.
I know this is a tough time in your house because your son has worked hard and has great stats. We too are a robotics household and I know how much work goes into that interest. One thing I forgot to mention is to have your son take a gap year and apply smarter next year. I suggest 10 to 14 schools with a mix of reaches, matches and safeties. I always tell my students they have to give me 3 reasons why each school is on their list and they can’t say “if I get accepted there I am not going” since that doesn’t make sense. I go with 14 schools where a student is hunting for merit money or fin. aid. I have the student apply around June or July for some safeties that are rolling since those early acceptances seem to motive the student for the harder applications and take some of the pressure off.
If your son wants an ED school I would seriously weigh the consequences versus applying EA. My D went 12 for 13 in admission and had most of her decisions by Jan. 15. She wasn’t valedictorian or with an SAT over 2000 but she applied “smart” and really loved every school on her list. She applied to only one school regular decision. All her apps were completed by Nov 1 with the exception of her RD school which she submitted in Dec. 1. Most of her apps were submitted between Sept. and Oct. She is an ME major. I am not telling you this story to brag but to give you a picture of how to apply with less stress and more success.
Last year I had a student who was in the running for Val at her school and got rejected just about everywhere (like 12 schhols) but a UC and Puget Sound. Her parents were like you- “what the heck is happening” so I asked to see her common app. I cringed when I read her essays (they didn’t answer the prompt or came across very pompous) and her EC chart was not complete and done all wrong (she didn’t read the directions and started out with her 9th grade club award as being her most important award). In her honors she had failed to list all her honors including being NMSF. Perhaps having a neutral source look over your son’s common app may give you some more information.
If he truly doesn’t like his accepted colleges then a gap is not a bad way to go. There are lots of opportunities for him to volunteer in STEM. Plus engineering is one of those majors which takes a bigtlonger to complete so there is no stigma him not graduating at the same time as his high school class.
If he really loves Georgia Tech then have him contact his admission rep. Write and give that person an update and say you will attend if accepted. Send in 1 or 2 more recommendations. The reps at Tech are great so try to work that relationship. Hopefully you did not apply for financial aid at Tech but if you did and can afford it tell them you no longer need fin. aid. Sometimes a student’s ability to pay plays into the admission decision depending on the school. We stretched for Tech since it was my D’s first school and we wanted to increase her chances. Fortunately she got about $14K in private scholarships to help us with paying for Tech.
MITMomT, take a look at one of the threads I started regarding merit aid at WPI, there was a Dad who replied to me and gave me a link to look at WPI’s stats from last year, it should help a bit. If I were you I would make sure WPI knows your son is interested assuming this is the case so that they keep track of him as ‘definitely’ going to accept if he is offered a place. As they get closer to May 1st when all admitted applicants must give them an answer, they’ll be more able to offer places to waitlisted kids. Good luck to your son.