<p>Dumbo11, I think USC is just fine and if your daughter loved it, that may be the place for her. There are campus police, and young women everywhere need to take safety precautions, no matter how “safe” the school they attend.</p>
<p>ParentofPeople and others, thanks for the kind words and advice about dealing with my son’s pain over rejections. It helped to read your posts.</p>
<p>Next week, we will travel to see the choices he does have, so I hope he will feel better. At least Arizona State loves him. They offered a $13,000 per year scholarship. My son was accepted and offered sizable scholarships at less prestigious places, but rejected from the more selective ones. I can’t figure it out, and it is painful after all his hard work and accomplishments. His high school is one of the best in Cal, so maybe he was competing against his classmates for spots. Now it is time to Let It Be.</p>
<p>@Catherine. I am so glad that I am not the only one dealing with the pain. It is curious how easy it is to ruin those teenagers self-esteem with one rejection email. What I resent now, are the comments from all those people around us, including my friends and coworkers and my S. teachers, who after hearing about his wonderful stats, told us matter-of-factly:“Well, he will get in anywhere he applies. I hope he’ll apply to HYP, they will take him in a snap”. No matter how hard I tried to poo poo this, it did affect S. feelings about the whole admission process.</p>
<p>Waitlisted in Stanford, Duke, MIT, and Washu. So depressed! Work hard all years with activities, perfect GPA, 35 in ACT, NMF, Presidential Scholar candidate… What else do they want?</p>
<p>My son was devastated after going to Olin’s candidate weekend, getting all revved up for Olin (and his parents) only to receive a rejection letter three weeks later. It was like somebody died in our house for days. Then, he set his next hope on Mudd (which he heard was the “Olin of the West”). When that came in, WAITLISTED. Another rough day or two but he is now writing his “why you should take me from the waitlist letter.”</p>
<p>He does have some good options though. He was accepted to Rice, Williams, Carleton, Grinnell (10k merit), Case Western (17k merit), Lafayette as a Marquis Scholar (20k), and Lawrence U (conservatory and as a physics major…14k merit) and U. of Rochester (15k). I am still waiting for the financial aid award letters for so many schools!!! What is the hold up?</p>
<p>But, I do remember so much sadness and anger around his rejection at his “first love” school. I remember him saying "I have worked so so hard!!! Why wouldn’t they pick ME???</p>
<p>As a parent, who has watched him work so hard, it is really heartbreaking. I really hope one of the others end up being a good fit for my introverted, science/math “nerd” type son so he can be happy and we can relax.</p>
<p>He has FABULOUS Options. I think Rice is the under appreciated jewel among them. The kids are great, Engineering and science are fabulous, and the residential college system is awesome, as socially compelling as Yale’s. Williams, Carleton, and Grinnell are also wonderful and kids are smart and happy.</p>
<p>thanks sdgore1</p>
<p>I keep telling him that. For so long he really wasn’t that engaged in the process of looking at colleges. Then, he fell HARD for Olin. He will move on…</p>
<p>Shelldemeo, He has amazing choices. Williams in unbelievable! There are plenty of kids devastated that they did not get in there. Have you visited?</p>
<p>hi parentofpeople</p>
<p>Williams is amazing, I agree. He is more concerned about the social fit. At Olin (got to let it go) he felt like he had found “his people.” Think math loving, non-drinking, quirky, humorous kids. </p>
<p>When he started this process, he wanted to major in physics and music. Now he wants to major in math and/or engineering! We live in western mass so have been to Williams (and his father went there) but he will go to accepted student days definitely. One I don’t have to fly him too! He is flying over to carleton and down to rice. Houston flights are expensive! right now. I wish that he received some merit money at rice but he did not and our efc is 40k. eek.</p>
<p>He didn’t get in everywhere. He got waitlisted at Swarthmore, denied at MIT, Olin, and Yale. The nicest acceptance letter he got was from Lawrence…and Lafayette actually. Very personalized with hand-written notes at the end. Very nice touch.</p>
<p>PAMom, curious to see how you make out with Upenn. My D was also rejected from Penn as well as Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth and waitlisted at Cornell. This was devastating for her, and frankly for me as well. She sounds a lot like your son, hard working, 34ACT, 4.0, no B’s ever in her career, etc. She also got rejected from Swartmore and waitlisted at Vassar. Fortunately, she got accepted with a good deal of merit at university of rochester, so she is adjusting. Everyone around her told her that with her record she was a likely lock at the Ivies and elites, obviously that wasn’t the case. The yes/no for the Ivies has very little to do with academic talent alone, the majority of factors lie in areas that she could not control. </p>
<p>I have to say that UofR has been great to deal, from the personalized acceptance to thoughtful admissions to a great collaborator on the UofR CC board, I feel that it is all going to be OK. She is also a cellist and the Eastman school is a huge draw for her, so, all is right with the world in the end for her.</p>
<p>I told my D 2 things:</p>
<ol>
<li>College is what you make it </li>
<li>Dress warm (she is going to Rochester after all!)</li>
</ol>
<p>BankofDad</p>
<p>Shelldemeo, My D goes to Lehigh, so I could never say anything nice about Lafayette in public, but really I do hear it is a great school haha. I would suspect that there is a lot of drinking there, at least during Le-Laf week. But realistically that goes on at most schools. He might like healthy living housing, or a tech house if the schools offer it. He will probably find “his people” wherever he goes. The accepted student days will really help him figure it out… but it does just add to the bill! On the bright side, he has some great choices. Good Luck figuring it out.</p>
<p>I saw this on another thread
and thought I would pass it on here. Amherst seems to be very open with their admissions process. In 2008 when my first was applying, I remember watching a video of the actual process going on there. Now they have opened up to NPR…</p>
<p>[Behind</a> The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR](<a href=“Behind The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR”>Behind The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR)</p>
<p>parentofpeople: That was generous of you to compliment Lafayette with daughter at Lehigh. My son is heading to Easton tomorrow night for the marquis scholars admitted day so we will see how it goes! It looks like a nice, little school. How does your daughter find Easton?</p>
<p>Shelldemeo, she is actually in Bethlehem…The part of town (South Side) where Lehigh is located is not nice, no nice way to say it. The North Side is an adorable little city, but kids from her school rarely venture over there. They pretty much stay on campus. Now that she is a junior and has a car, she is able to explore the area outside of Bethlehem, but really there isn’t much there from what I see. Your basic mall and strip mall, nothing too exciting. Though they did just open a casino, just what every college town needs!</p>
<p>Okay, trying to narrow it down – could use anyone’s feedback!</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted at Brandeis, Kenyon, Skidmore, Whitman, and UC San Diego, UC Davis, and SF State. She is interested in theatre, and probably would want to get involved in a choral or acapella group . Any feedback would be much appreciated. She is trying to decide which schools to visit to make the final decision. Thanks!</p>
<p>parentofpeople, I live about 15 minutes from Lehigh. There actually is a lot in this area, but unless you know where you are going, it may not seem that way. South side is more seedy then the Moravian College side, but I know many people that go to the little restaurants near Lehigh. Main Street Bethlehem, (near Moravian) [Things</a> to See and Do in Bethlehem, PA | Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor](<a href=“http://www.delawareandlehigh.org/index.php/towns/bethlehem/]Things”>http://www.delawareandlehigh.org/index.php/towns/bethlehem/), Lot’s of festivals including Musikfest in August - [Musikfest</a> 2011 Bethlehem PA | News, Lineup, Schedule - lehighvalleylive.com](<a href=“http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/musikfest/]Musikfest”>Lehigh Valley Entertainment - lehighvalleylive.com)</p>
<p>And shopping, over near me - [url=<a href=“http://www.thepromenadeshopsatsauconvalley.com//index.cfm]Welcome”>http://www.thepromenadeshopsatsauconvalley.com//index.cfm]Welcome</a> to The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley<a href=“cross%20between%20a%20mall%20and%20a%20main%20street”>/url</a> very popular.</p>
<p>mstee, you might get better feedback starting your own thread…</p>
<p>Kathiep, thanks for the info. I did mention the both of those malls malls as well as saying the north side of town (the moravian side) is adorable. I just didn’t use the specific names. As far as things to do in the area, I still don’t think that there are a ton of things that the students have access to as most students especially freshmen don’t have cars and easy access to those places. It is also not very safe on the South Side for kids to be walking around especially at night. They can’t get to the Moravian side easily and safely. The musikfest is a great event, but it takes place over the summer when the students aren’t there. I am sure the areas surrounding Lehigh are great for families etc. But I was answering in terms of what is available where my daughter is in terms of students, which I thought the Shelldemeo was more interested it. But I agree, the suburbs around there are beautiful.</p>
<p>My mistake parentofpeople, I thought that there would be shuttle buses to take the students to the other side of the river and to more places off campus. It was too close for my kids to consider so I’ve never even taken a campus tour.:0 One tiny correction - There are really not so many “suburbs” around Bethlehem as there are small towns, most having been settled hundreds of years ago.</p>
<p>Mstee: on Kenyon </p>
<p>We just came back from Junior Visit day at Kenyon and I was impressed with the breadth and frequency of student music opportunities – I noticed especially because my son could care less about this and we kept hearing about how much there was going on. Also appeared to be diverse opportunities in student theatre program. </p>
<p>My son did love the feel of the place – Admissions director described Kenyon students as “quirky, creative and collaborative.” A very small town, could get incestuous for sure, but again, my son really liked the alternative vibe in the coffee shop etc. </p>
<p>We drove, but I understand it is not too bad a trip from Columbus, Ohio airport. Good luck,</p>
<p>Mstee - my niece graduated from Kenyon in '06. She loved it and from what I’ve heard the kids love it there - even though it is in the middle of a cornfield! She is a girl from the suburbs of NYC and not having anything to do didn’t bother her a bit. Very engaged campus. Interesting, but down to earth, kids from all over. </p>
<p>My niece sang with the a cappella group even though she wasn’t a music or theater major. She was a math and religion major.</p>