I know it’s a little late but thought I’d start this, to keep the tradition alive. This is the Big Thread where parents, students, or delighted observers can come and share their good news.
This is also the place to discuss both happy and disappointing news, and to support each other in the best manner of a community like this one.
D had a good amount of acceptances (discussed on the results thread), but also some real disappointments. She was rejected from Adelphi, point park, George Mason, Shenandoah, and Dominican of CA for dance (accepted for academics where that came first). She was deferred EA from LMU. It’s been a rough audition season tbh. She will pick from the choices on the table once the last few decisions come in, and she’ll end up loving anywhere she goes, but each rejection came from whichever school was top choice at the time, it seems. Also, the disconnect between many dance departments and the admissions departments has been a negative- she’s gotten phone calls and letters from admissions at schools where she was academically accepted asking her to choose them… well after having been rejected from the dance departments, which has been a bit of salt in the wounds.
Really hate the disconnect for you and her. I heard (don’t actually know), that UNC Greensboro is big for dance. Was that an option? Maybe it’s too far away. Got to be difficult when the application process is based on so many facets.
I’m so sorry to hear that. Dance is a cruel world and there’s often no rhyme or reason on acceptances. Rejection is hard and sometimes harder for us parents. It’s hard to keep getting correspondence from the academic end when you’ve been declined from the dance program.
My S is focused on Music Education (Viola). He auditioned at IU Bloomington - JSOM in 2/8 and received a rejection letter this past Monday
I posted in another thread that he has such a positive audition experience at Ball State and left very happy but I think Jacob’s was stressful for him… and as such, he seemed very negative about his audition.
That was his first choice and he had gone to their summer music clinic for the past three years and was hoping to go this year but I’d rather him go to a Summer Music class/clinic at the school he is heading to.
It sounds crazy that he was accepted to Berklee but not JSOM, lol but I have hear some similar stories.
I’m pleased that as of last night, my DS journey through the process has ended. He applied to 7, all EA. I’m still not sure why he applied to Kansas State other than it was useful as a bit of a benchmark money-wise. He was accepted almost immediately from there. The 6 main contenders were GaTech (his #1), Michigan, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Tennessee. major is Nuke engineering, but the ability to continue bassoon was very important to him. He did not get into GT which threw the race wide open. Deferred from Michigan (still). Accepted at PSU (in-state, no merit), Wisconsin (no merit), Purdue (no merit) and Tennessee (volunteer scholarship plus a 2k nuke dept scholarship).
We had a heart to heart and it was determined that neither Purdue nor Wisconsin were XX thousand dollars a year better than Penn State or Tennessee. So it was quickly reduced to 2. He auditioned at both for minor in music schools. No word on scholarship yet for either, but it is more likely from UTK than PSU. Finally visited UTK and he liked it a lot. Couple that with feeling ‘wanted’ (communication, money, etc) and he made his decision last night, it’s UTK.
Here’s the thing. I made him apply to UTK on October 31. It was not on his radar previously (which is kind of my fault because I did a lot of screening for him due to his crazy schedule). After getting accepted, he still didn’t give it much consideration because it wasn’t on his original list. Starting late December, I started forwarding him information on why it was a really good fit for him (Fusion energy science research at graduate level, relationship with ORNL, etc) and he started paying it a little attention. Then I explained that just because I did a bad job on this school in realizing the fit earlier, does not make it a second tier option. Ultimately he was won over by the school (I only supply info, I don’t push him in any direction).
The moral of the story is to ensure that your kids have an open mind about the process. What they might think will happen when they start might be completely different to how it ends. You don’t know how the dice will roll and what you think is a bad roll may turn out to be the best roll. I honestly believe that UTK is a better all-around fit for him than GT would have been. Department rankings and opportunities trump overall school rankings.
@snakster My S19 also ended up at a school not on his radar. Like you, I did a lot of the research into the schools and added UF because it fit his criteria and his cousin is there. He is my oldest and I was nervous that he wouldn’t get in anywhere so I had him apply to 14 schools!! Anyway, he only went to visit because HE was nervous he wouldn’t “feel it” at accepted student day for his original top 2 (Clemson & U Miami) so I added a quick visit to his cousin to ease his mind. He flew down for a couple days durning his April vacation and loved it. He’s very happy with his decision. Funny how it all works out in the end. My D will probably end up at a school she fell in love with early on, then pretty much crossed off and it’s now back at the top. Congrats to your son on his decision!!
As we drove away from visiting Northwestern, my D20 said “wow, that checked every box.” And after that, NU became her goal. And she was accepted ED. This ends my college admission years - 4 daughters in 10 years. I loved every minute of it. Well, most minutes of it. Loved the college visits and the time spent driving from school to school. Hated the audition process with D16 for theater - loved every minute spent with her but hated the ups and downs and rejections and tears. She ended up where she belonged and has loved it, but reading @milgymfam’s post brought back the worst of those memories. I’m sorry you’re in the thick of it now. It’s so hard to see our kids that unhappy. Moral of our story? For D20 - set a goal, work your butt off, and have a list of safeties you’d be happy to attend. Every school - reach, target, likely - should be one you’d be happy to attend.
We are actually down to the final three, and I’m a little worried that the final choice may come down to pulling a name out of a hat! DS applied to 6 total, accepted at 5, and deferred from Georgia Tech. Of the five he got accepted to, he has eliminated two due to just general lack of enthusiasm for the schools as time went on. (which, as I type that, seems weird to say. They seemed decent when he applied but then he couldn’t drum up more interest beyond that so we decided to decline those acceptances.) He genuinely likes all three choices and can see himself at all of them
So- the three that are left, and what we are still waiting to hear:
NC State- for nuclear engineering. He was invited to apply to the honors college, but I think he has run into a wall in terms of having to write more essays at this point. He wants to apply and get in, but keeps going back to the prompts and then can’t get anywhere. This school has some great positives, is the highest ranked engineering program of the three, and he would come out with no student loan debt. It would also be the most expensive (potentially- we won’t know about any scholarships until early April I think). The school hasn’t been particularly engaged with him- and by that I mean it isn’t clear that they want him specifically, or are making any effort to bring him in. He did spend three weeks on campus for a nuclear engineering camp. The dorms are probably the worst of the three choices, but he likes the campus otherwise.
University of Alabama- chem engineering. Great merit aid. Accepted into the honors program. He visited last week for a research fellowship interview. Liked the campus, the dorms, and felt at home with the other students who were interviewing. The school has been very engaged with him.
Ole Miss- chem engineering. Great merit aid. Accepted into the honors college and the Flagship Mandarin program (a 5 year program that would be a fantastic balance to his engineering degree). Visited in December and liked the campus and dorms. The school has been very engaged with him.
So that’s the current state. Still waiting to hear about the UA research program, and any final scholarships. I’m open to any feedback on those schools or programs- your inputs may make it’s way to the Decision Spreadsheet that we will be putting together in a few weeks.
Accepted:
Georgia Tech
Michigan
USC (with invitation to interview for scholarship)
Deferred:
Princeton
Rejected:
UT Austin
Currently leaning towards Georgia Tech, though I have a lot of results to come in regular. But even if I don’t get into any of my other top choices (Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Berkeley, Harvey Mudd), I’m really happy going to Georgia Tech. I love their CS program.
Last night was fun! The California decisions all came throughout the night.
We have 2 daughters one is on her Gap Year (just flew home yesterday from Taipei) and the other is class 2020.
D1 was accepted to UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, University of San Diego, George Mason VCU DePaul while waitlisted for UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine, UCLA was a surprise to her because she didn’t put that on her application she didnt want to waste the money, I checked it off when I submitted her apps. Surprise??
D2 accepted to UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara no UCLA but she decided she wants to persue a professional dance career and do college later.
I’m crazy excited for them but we have
two problems: the only school they know intimately is UCSB (my Alma Mater) and we were planning on college visits after acceptances. Did I mention that we live in Virginia?
I have a Q about wait-list requirements, Do people ever get pulled from the waitlist? Is this a Sophie’s choice? When D2 declines UCSB wouldn’t it be nice if D1 could get that spot? ?
No idea how we are going to pay out of state fees. If I could send them to Cali now to establish residency I would.
Covid really making this hard. But we’ll all get through and it’s nice to have options, right?
Accepted: Brown, University of Chicago, Boston U, Barnard, Howard, USF Honors College, U of O Honors College, American U FDDS and waitlisted Vanderbilt and declined at Harvard and Princeton.
Full ride: American University
Full Tuition: Howard, USF and University of Chicago
Full Tuition and Room: U of O
Financial Aid: Barnard and Brown
Accepted: American, Fordham, George Mason, GW, Ithaca (merit), Syracuse, Virginia Tech (talent scholarship)
Rejected: NYU/Tisch, USC, William & Mary
Going to: Virginia Tech (in state)
Folks, may be someone can advise us on this. Our daughter got accepted into Santa Clara University (letters & science with a full presidential scholarship+honors that covers tuition for all four years (upto $220K). She also got into UCLA, UCSD, UCI (Regents+Dean+Honors), UCSB (Honors), etc. We almost narrowed down UC’s to UCLA. Now between UCLA vs SCU-Presidential Scholarship - we are struggling. We do feel the pedigree associated with UCLA - but we also like the smaller classes in SCU. any feedback will be appreciated. We live in Silicon Valley. Here is our daughter’s stats:
1540 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA, 4.35 WGPA, 11 AP’s - including 5 in all of the tests taken so far (including CALC AB and BC). She also got a full score in Math Subject SAT and 790 in Spanish Subject SAT. And yes - we are really proud of her
She intends to major in Math/Econ concentration with a minor possibly in psychology or business.
First time poster, looking really to vent, I suppose. My DS is at a Silicon Valley public high school, well known as a pressure cooker school. His stats are great - 4.0UW, 36 ACT, 800s in SAT2s, 5s in the tough APs that he took. His college acceptances have been underwhelming and I am trying to figure out which of the non-academic portions of his application were seen as lacking. He applied for ME everywhere. We are “stereotypical” Asian techie parents not asking for financial assistance.
The Berkeley rejection stings the most. Since UCLA accepted him, for which we are thankful, I have to assume that at least his UC application and essays must have been good. He was a tutor in one summer, ran workshops during other summers, held leadership positions in clubs, had good ECs, co-founded a non-profit that raised 6 figures over two years, mentored kids etc. He did not have any research or internships. Is that now a hard requirement to get into Engg for our demographic? What more should he have done?
svdadof2 - We are in the same exact situation. Very similar scores. Our daughter had a 1540 on SAT. She got into UCLA, UCSD (honors), UCI (Regents, Deans, Honors), UCSB (honors) and SCU (Presidential scholarship). She got rejected at Berkeley and Ivies she applied into. This was absolutely disappointing. We are in a way forcing ourselves to look at this positively - we still have some great options to consider now
@svdadof2 Congratulations to your son on his acceptances! He has stellar stats. It’s obvious he’s a very strong candidate and has some very good options. But I know it’s disappointing when you don’t get the result you were hoping for.
All of the schools where he was waitlisted or rejected have very low acceptance rates. And in many schools, engineering has a very low acceptance rate. So, I would imagine that this combination of very selective school and very selective major results in a very, very low acceptance rate.
So I think the obvious answer is that there was nothing necessarily lacking in your son’s application. There were just far too many highly qualified students applying for very few seats. So, rather than asking ”which of the non-academic portions of his application were seen as lacking”, I would ask ”how did his application stand out from the (very competitive) crowd”.
But honestly, my advice would be to focus on the good, celebrate the successes.
My commiserations to you and your daughter on the disappointments. Hopefully my DS will be your daughter’s classmate at UCLA. If the money is not a huge factor, I would suggest UCLA over SCU unless you have strong evidence that she will be lost in the sea that is likely to be UCLA. I have not seen the rankings for your daughter’s likely majors, but do look at them, as well as the placements/grad school matriculations from UCLA vs SCU.
@momzilla2D ”how did his application stand out from the (very competitive) crowd”
This is where it really gets tricky, doesn’t it? This is because so much of it seems to be very subjective. What we think of as outstanding such as what I outlined (there is a little bit more which I cannot mention without compromising his identity) does not seem to match AOs’ estimations.
my advice would be to focus on the good, celebrate the successes.
This is always good advice and something that we will turn to when the disappointment fades. Everyone tells me that kids will eventually love the college they attend once they make new friends and get used to the college.
that we will be putting together in a few weeks.