<p>Congratulations everyone!</p>
<p>I wanted to say hello- I am an expat and still trying to familiarize myself with the US college system! Also a first-time ‘college mom’…so feeling very new to all this. </p>
<p>My S has been accepted to American, SUNY Albany and Boston U. Did not get into Georgetown, is on the waitlist for George Washington.</p>
<p>Welcome knaptonhill. My D is likely going to attend SUNY Albany and I live near there. Any specific questions PM (private mail) me and I will try to help.</p>
<p>Villanova or Johns Hopkins…Bachelor in Chemistry… which is a better program.pros and cons … (non-medical school),… FYI Nova has a 5 yr Masters… Hopkins is Hopkins???</p>
<p>S accepted to Princeton with outstanding finaid! I’m so proud of him! He’s worked incredibly hard at a high school with very few resources…he so deserves this!</p>
<p>My son, who earned only two B+s in high school, worked terrifically hard, and is an Eagle scout, was rejected from Cornell, USC, UCLA, and UC Berkeley.
He was accepted by University of Miami, Syracuse, Ole Miss, Arizona State, University of Orgeon, and UC Davis, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. He was deferred by Michigan.</p>
<p>Cornell was his dream school, so it will be a sad evening at our house tonight. How do you help a kid through this?</p>
<p>DS was rejected from Penn. It was his dream school, and he has very good stats, so the rejection hit him very hard. Went to bed without another word (at 7:00 PM!) I agree with the previous post, what do you say or do in that case? He did get accepted in two schools: not his second or even third choice. I am a CC junkie so looked everywhere on the forum for good advice but besides the generic “You are wonderful - their loss, some other college gain” did not see anything of real value. I said all the right words, did all the right things but it still hurts.</p>
<p>To the previous moms posting: hugs to you and your children. There is so little we can say. Rejection hurts, no matter how many other wonderful options we have in life. My S was rejected from his top 3 schools tonight, and even though he got into some other great schools he’s a little bummed. He’d been hoping for MIT, Princeton or Yale, and he was waitlisted at Princeton and rejected from the other two – what to do? I don’t know, but I have faith things work out and there are many paths to a great college experience! That’s what I’m counting on to pull us all through the disappointment.</p>
<p>I wish my son could see the great position he is in. Accepted at Caltech, Columbia, U Chicago. Disappointed by the rejections from Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Yale. i hope time makes him see the big picture…</p>
<p>My son had 2400 Sat’s and only two B’s in high school Freshman and Sophomore years in rigorous IB curriculum - was rejected from Penn, Princeton, Harvard, MIT. Accepted at CMU, Pitt (full tuition scholarship), McGill (partial major scholarship), UNC Chapel Hill (in state). Don’t know if CMU is a good idea, since it would require loans.</p>
<p>It is very hard on both the kids and the parents when when they don’t get into what they believe is the perfect school for them. You have to acknowledge that it is a sad or seemingly unfair thing, but then move on to a plan of action for going forward. Move the focus to where you are and what they CAN do and away from what they didn’t get to do. There are options. They can pick a school they have been accepted to and love it, but if they are so set on their dream school, they might not be open enough to the idea of another school. The plan is to get them to move on and be open to other ideas. Remind them of their choices, and let them start the process from where they are now. There are a couple of options that I can think of. They can always consider a transfer after their first year. They can look at the schools they are accepted to and think which one will put them in the best light as a possible transfer student, then do fantastic while they are there and try again for their dream school. This gives them the option to not be “settling” but be actively working, with the school they will be going to, to get what they want. Odds are they will end up loving it and never want to transfer anyway, but if they do want to it is an option. The other thought, if it is in your budget is to do a gap year. Find something amazing to do that will make them “different” enough to be accepted to their dream school. Those top schools are able to select from all kids with top grades and SAT’s or they wouldn’t be applying there. The difference seems to be (when you look through the threads here on CC, and hear what the adcoms say) is that the kids they select have a passion for something, or have done something amazing or unique. Remember every HS in America has a captain of their soccer team, they all have a President of NHS etc… by taking a GAP year it gives them an opportunity to do something different that not every HS kid has the opportunity to do. Then when they come back again for admission, they can bring something different to the table. It also shows a true interest and a willingness to work for it, which might set them apart. But, I would give it a day or so to let them be sad or angry, then work with them to move forward with a plan. Good Luck and Hugs all around!</p>
<p>@parentofpeople, thanks for a great advice. S got up this morning and was still depressed to the point that we offered him to stay home. He ended up going but we know that his heart is not in it today. Both the transfer and a gap year seem like good choices. DH fees that we need to commit to a school even if we do gap year. So I am wondering if S defers from a school and applies to his dream and miraculously gets accepted, what would be the right course of action? I am way ahead though but that’s understandable after 5 hrs of bad sleep. We will let the dust get settled and try to be supportive and quiet. On a last note, S applied to Harvard too but felt it would not be a good match so did not select email notification. So we will still feel the last jab after that letter arrives. My hugs and good thoughts to all the parents who ache for their kiddies.</p>
<p>Our D was accepted at U of MD College Park, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), and VA Tech. She was wait-listed at Carnegie Mellon. She was accepted into the honors program at both UMCP and UMBC. She has decided to go to UMBC because she was accepted into a wonderful scholars program for women in computer science, along with a $15K/yr scholarship. UMBC is only 30 minutes away and she wants to stay close to home. Even if she was accepted at CMU (which has the #1 computer science program in the country) and they offered her a full-ride, she still would have decided to go to UMBC. We are VERY excited for her!</p>
<p>@PAmom18. Sorry your son is having to deal with this. It is so hard on him and so hard on you to watch. Hang in there I know everyone says this, but in the end it does all work out. I have been through this process with two kids, and have seen a lot of situations between my two and all of their friends who went through it as well. Really, they are all happy now! Ironically the only one who transferred was the one who was waitlisted at her first choice school, sent in her deposit elsewhere, then got accepted to first choice and changed to go there. She is the only one who ended up not liking the school and transferring. So who knows, maybe the admissions people do know something ;-)</p>
<p>If you are planning to commit to a school before the gap year, I would check with the school he would consider attending and see what their policy is on deferrals. I don’t know if there is any penalty other than losing your deposit. I would check to make sure there isn’t some issue, like there is with ED for the other schools not to accept him or him not being able to apply to another school if he chooses this option. </p>
<p>Hopefully he will get some good news from Harvard and this will all be moot. But, if not just remind him that he does have options and some control over his future and make the best choice that is available to him.</p>
<p>Give it all a few days, and things will hopefully be a little clearer when some of the emotion is gone. Good Luck!</p>
<hr>
<p>OK, my S’s teacher told him today that he could call the admissions office @Penn and ask for the reason why he was rejected. She even told him that he could appeal. Never heard of such a thing! I can’t imagine thousands of rejects calling or emailing admissions reps. Anybody has any input?</p>
<p>@PAmom18 I have heard of the GC calling on their behalf to find out what the reasons were. If that makes you more comfortable, you can try that. But there is no law saying your son can’t call. The worst they can do at this point is not help him and your son hangs up the phone and is no worse off than before he made the call. The best that can happen is that they give him some really good advice. Either the GC or your son has a right to do this, I would just not recommend you (the mom) doing it ;-)</p>
<p>Now what?</p>
<p>DD accepted to Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Dartmouth, Cornell, Rice and Tulane, etc.</p>
<p>Sure, she’ll visit and then she must decide. She can only attend one school.</p>
<p>I must admit that when she was applying to these schools, the small % of acceptance ratios was the reason for throwing such a wide net. Is this the reason why the ratios are so low, indeed? Is it just a marketing strategy . . . that works very, very well each year?</p>
<p>Rejected from HYP, but accepted at Rochester, Georgetown, Cornell, and Williams!! S happily chose Williams! Go Ephs!!</p>
<p>D is between four schools. Looking for input, although she is going to visit them all again. She is a strong student, smart, but she works very hard for her grades. She is very upbeat and social, but does not drink. She has narrowed down her choices to:
<p>Also accepted to Wash U, Northwestern and Vanderbilt, but I think the above 4 are tops right now. April will be a very busy month, as she will visit all four schools again to try and decide. Would love some input, as others might have experience with these schools and share info. we don’t know. Thanks!</p>
<p>From the 4, I think Rice is your best bet for you DD (depending on her major). Very safe, the RC, pretty, waether, upbeat, smart peers, personalized attention from the Profs, big up for grad/professional school, if that is her interest.</p>
<p>DD decided against applying to Pamona because of its tiny size.
USC, too big and not so safe.
Miami, the honors college IS changing, so did not apply.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted at Yale, her dream school yesterday. She was also accepted at Dartmouth, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, Georgetown, Univ of Virginia.<br>
Wait listed at Harvard, Brown, Cornell.<br>
Rejected by Princeton.
I have no idea why she was accepted by one school and wait listed or rejected by another. </p>
<p>To those on here whose kids were not accepted at their dream schools, the same thing happened to my son 2 years ago. Not admitted to NYU EA (who had recruited him heavily),he applied and was admitted to UCSB. He is happy and doing incredibly well.
And his rejection from NYU is just a distant memory now.<br>
And that is how is will be for all of your kids as well.
Things do happen for a reason, and I believe that our kids ultimately end up where they were meant to be, to do well and be happy.</p>