<p>Georgetown University SFS! So happy - #1 choice for years!</p>
<p>@wedgedrive - on my second Tulanian now, and if she really likes it, it’s a great school. Wonderful support for their students, many opportunities.</p>
<p>@DarwinKnew - I’m on my 3rd, also work at a HS, and believe me, your daughter has a bright future. If she loves Goucher and they love her, count yourself among the lucky, take a deep breath and smile and enjoy. </p>
<p>My son was accepted at University of Hawaii (“super safety”), DigiPen Institute (weird for-profit ‘career school’ for video game programmers, which is what he wants to do), UC Santa Cruz, and University of Denver (safety, but with a fairly good program and met all of his other requirements, which was tough!). He was rejected at his first choice, University of Southern California. That was tough, but he is now going to Denver and is very happy about it. As a computer science major, he got almost a full ride - they are now (I think this is new, this year) meeting “full need” (they are a CSS Profile school) for all engineering and CS admittees. This worked out great for us, as we are high need, and even with both parents self-employed, and even under the Profile, our contribution will be around $5,000/year. He can reduce his Federal loans by working part-time, as he didn’t have work study in his package.</p>
<p>Sure, he was a bit upset when the final, “big” decision came from USC. He was competitive, as there were many students with similar stats who got in, and his ECs were pretty good, but it was a “reach” since the admit rate was only 18%, and lower for his major (I’ve heard 12-15%). </p>
<p>He very rationally considered DigiPen, but decided against it for various reasons, both financial and non-financial. A smart decision, in my book, but I am very glad that he came to it himself. He feels that if he still wants that kind of intense, game-focused ‘boot camp’ after he has a more basic, well-rounded CS degree, he can always go there for a Masters. </p>
<p>No way in heck we could afford Santa Cruz (as OOSers), even with a Regents’ Scholarship AND Dean’s Award. Just no way. So we had to say no to that one, and he understood.</p>
<p>That left Denver and UH. Wanting to ‘get off this rock’ (and not just to a neighbor ‘rock’), UH was not really an option (but he would have been darn happy to have it if all the others had said no). So that left Denver, which at first felt like “settling”. But as we have learned more about Denver, and reconsidered why it made the “short list” in the first place (location, size, type of school, he liked the campus when we visited, good chance of decent financial aid), and also read about so many students who didn’t apply to any “safeties” (or don’t really like their safeties), and didn’t get in anywhere, or who are having financial difficulty or having to borrow huge amounts to attend college, we are all (son included) feeling VERY lucky and happy with where he “ended up.” He is excited to begin this next chapter of his life!</p>
<p>Just wanted to share this story about how things can turn out OK even when there are rejections. Because it is more the rule than the exception these days, with admissions getting more and more competitive every year.</p>
<p>Son’s final swag (as he would say):</p>
<p>Accepted: Grinnell (24k per yr merit), Kenyon (15k per yr), Michigan (EA), Illinois (EA in-state safety), Carleton,
Northwestern, Duke, Vandy, WUSTL</p>
<p>Rejected: Brown, UChicago (originally his dream school but lost a little interest after being deferred EA), Harvard,<br>
Yale</p>
<p>Waitlisted: Amherst, Williams (will decline both)</p>
<p>Going to be a hard decision. His top 3 probably NU, Duke & Carleton but the money offered by Grinnell not to be sniffed at either and he loved the school. Want to to double major in Econ and Math and also applied MMSS at NU too.</p>
<p>Congrats to all and best of luck !</p>
<p>Congratulations and good luck to all families here! </p>
<p>We have just gone through many, many discussions at home on sending son to one in-state college versus another. (aren’t instate decisions supposed to be a lot easier???!!! 
</p>
<p>Anyway, we looked deep into both Rutgers and TCNJ. Everybody, I mean everybody, goes to Rutgers… and Rutgers always seems to be in the news - arrests, firings, charges - you name it.</p>
<p>TCNJ looked very good on the surface but lots of little red flags the more and more we poked around. Clearly, very aggressive and misleading marketing tactics going on at TCNJ starting with very basic information like number of kids in classes - (it is not really 21 but more like 50 LOL! ) and the “faculty” teaching them. (apparently these people are paid Walmart wages and hired/fired every fifteen weeks over and over again even if they have been around forever)</p>
<p>I also found out that for a small college they have way too many “suits” with some very fancy titles - vice presidents, managers of this and that, lots of directors and such. All these people must be clearly busy - bombarding us with emails to come visit this week! </p>
<p>I guess son will go to Rutgers with eyes wide open knowing full well in advance about the frighteningly huge campus and the notorious RUScrew . (But at least Rutgers name is actually known outside NJ).</p>
<p>@bn2ba1, welcome to the thread…great group here. I don’t know what your son plans to study but has he considered Rowan University? We had visited both Rutgers (too big) and TCNJ…all the same feelings you discuss above. We were very impressed with Rowan and all it’s growth. DS was accepted into the honors program and will be attending this Fall. Very excited. </p>
<p>tpcrd66, good luck to your son! </p>
<p>On hindsight I realized that Rowan Engineering would have been a great alternative. (I should have pushed son who refused to even visit njit or rowan; not clear what kind of ideas were floating in their high school peer group about which colleges are “cool” to attend)</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for your support!</p>
<p>D is deciding between UNC Chapel Hill, Rice, and Cal Berkeley. We’ve already toured Cal. Visiting the others over spring break. Majoring in Political Science but that could change. Debate, public speaking, and performing are her strong points, but she excels in everything. Likes math alot. Struggling to find where she belongs, what she should pursue. We are trying not to interfere. Difficult but exciting. Thoughts would be appreciated. </p>
<p>S accepted to, and will be attending the University of Miami (FL) with merit aid
Also accepted to UMCP, USD, UC-Boulder, Loyola Marymount
Wait listed at Wake Forest (but never interviewed there which is pretty important, not a top choice for him)
Rejected at USC, UCLA, and UCSB</p>
<p>Happy to have the decision made!</p>
<p>@Marylandmom7 - Those are all great schools, but very different vibes and in vastly different parts of the country. Which feels like a better overall fit?</p>
<p>So happy to see so many wonderful acceptances and soo many involved parents, like I am:) lol
My son had 10 amazing acceptances including Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Cornell, Duke…never in a MILLION years did we think that was going to happen!!! Son is at Penn right now during Quaker Days, then he’ll visit Columbia in NY and last is Yale! It’ll be interesting to see his choice, but if I thought applications were tiring, the waiting for decisions were draining, this is killing me. I want this over and for him to be happy of course</p>
<p>University of South Florida</p>
<p>D2 was accepted to University of Washington, Western Washington University (Honors & Women in CS Program).
Boston University & School of Engineering, & Pacific Lutheran University. The state flagship, UW offers no aid and she’s not impressed with the 25 per year acceptance rate into Computer Science. Denied Princeton & Stanford; she knew these were a reach but with a 4.0 and 2200 SATs, she had to try.
Her dilemma: should she accept the solid FA from a lesser know school with good CS contacts (Microsoft, Google) or go for the school “brand name”?</p>
<p>@Saona83 That’s an impressive list! Sounds like he can’t go wrong. Curious what his intended major is, that might make a difference.</p>
<p>Hearty congrats to everyone else, too. Don’t forget to list your acceptances and (perhaps more exciting) the final decision in the Google Doc
<a href=“https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZxUwgbCqcCpq4L_2L4lAhqcKQAN0AyGHDAjf1rDX9rI/edit”>https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZxUwgbCqcCpq4L_2L4lAhqcKQAN0AyGHDAjf1rDX9rI/edit</a></p>
<p>@sandywb14, go to the lesser school with the contacts. In CS contacts are important. Even back in the dark ages, CS people from Chico (thought of as a party school ) had a direct connect pipeline into HP, and it carried many of them a long way. I still see that with Cal Poly … not that it is a “lesser” school, but it doesn’t have the name panache of Stanford. Kids still get jobs and get paid and some get into better grad schools than some Stanford kids. … just my 2¢ .</p>
<p>Way back on page 1 I posted my son’s first acceptance, to Indiana. University/Kelley School/honors. I am happy to report that yesterday he decided he will be attending the University of Maryland College Park/Robert H. Smith business school. He had some great choices, including an almost full-tuition scholarship at Miami Ohio. I am a UMD alum, and I completely support his choice. Now I am DONE, at least with undergrad admissions. </p>
<p>D2 is deciding between Tulane (with merit aid) and UC Davis (in state). Also accepted at UCSC, UCSB, Cal Poly, U of W and waitlisted at William and Mary and UCSD. She is having a very hard time deciding! She loves the idea of attending school in NOLA, but I am wary of sending her that far from home, when she has been accepted to a great school in CA. She is undecided regarding her major, but she is leaning toward Poli Sci or History. She loves everything country and will likely join some sort of singing group during college. Any help would be greatly appreciated! </p>
<p>@MarylandMom7, I am a CAL alumni and S1 is a current engineering student at CAL and he loves it, but we are local and it was always his dream school. I think the education at CAL is outstanding, but the students don’t get any hand holding, so they need to be very self reliant. You visited Berkeley, so you probably experienced the unique Berkeley vibe. I visited UNC with D1 last fall and we both loved the campus and surrounding college town. The student populations at UNC and CAL seem very different. CAL has a very diverse population, while UNC has a majority of students from North Carolina. I have not visited Rice, so I can’t help you there. All three school are fantastic, so I would choose whichever campus feels most comfortable. </p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! She is still deciding, but I think she’s leaning towards Rice. We all loved Berkeley, but when it comes down to deciding, I think the distance is daunting. She is So honored to have been offered admission there.</p>