OP does not appear to have come back. My guess is that this family thought that doing well at the expensive boarding school that had a good track record of getting kids into Ivy’s made the Ivy’s obtainable, UIUC a target and U Denver a safety. Unfortunately the school’s previous track record may have involved students who had hooks not the least of which may have been that they were development candidates or legacies at those schools. I am not sure why this kid did not get into UIUC but the statement that they had to call the school makes me think the application was possibly incomplete. Had she gotten in the family would likely have been disappointed with the net price. Lots of good advice in this thread if the OP ever comes back.
“What a horrible system we have that so casually throws away decent students and hard workers. You are either a superstar with a red cape or a nobody. There’s nothing in between apparently.”
I think the system is overly complicated. Without someone knowledgeable to guide you through the process, it is difficult for the average student and parent to establish a reasonable list of schools that are financially feasible and aligned with the students interests.
Something doesn’t ring true to me here. If the OP’s daughter went to a BS with a history of good college placement, then something went very wrong in the counseling process. Academic-focused boarding schools are in the business of ensuring good outcomes for their students and that means knowing the student well over the time the student attends the school and starting the application process early and with expert guidance. Like others here, I am scratching my head at the short, non-cohesive college list. I can’t figure out what parameters were used to whittle to that one—it does not contain enough options and the options don’t seem well-related.
Next to a great high school education, expert and personal college counseling is part of what you are paying for at BS. Boarding schools are not in the business of allowing shutouts. Unless they get absolutely no cooperation from the student or the family (then you’ve wasted a major asset of your school), the CC will be working side-by-side with the student to craft a very targeted list. Our son’s school required three reaches, three likelies, three safeties, and the student’s state flagship, and none of these ten schools was casually thrown in there. Also, in junior year, parents completed a very lengthy intake form that probed for every possible gating parameter. This was followed up by a personal meeting or call from the CC, and that was just the start of a year-long conversation. In the highly unlikely event of a shutout, the school has relationships with some very good colleges that will accept a student who ends up in this unfortunate state, but this really doesn’t happen when all parties communicate and participate in the application process as the boarding school lays it out. There is a good match for every student regardless of test scores/GPA, and these schools are in the business of helping students find and make those matches.
As far as schools ignoring a student and not bothering to send a decision, I’m wondering if something got lost in the e-/mail. It is unfortunate that the OP’s daughter had to call, but this is another place where the BS CC should have stepped in to help.
If this were my situation, I would be back in the BS CC office asking what went wrong and what they could do to help even now, but I can’t see how this situation could even happen if the student and family understood and participated in the school’s process. There is more here than the OP is revealing. Without knowing how that odd list was crafted, we’re too much in the dark to understand what happened, but there have been some good suggestions here that I’d be interested in hearing the OP respond to.
Doesn’t the average student look mainly to the local community college and nearby state universities?
Perhaps it is mostly a problem for those who have high aspirations, or whose parents, teachers, friends are impressed by their achievements and encourage them to apply to an all-reach list, ignoring safeties and cost considerations. Granted, such students are overrepresented on these forums, and a boarding school that sends students to super-selective colleges may be an environment that encourages that if the counselors do not tell students to talk to their parents about costs, run net price calculators, and start their lists with safeties.
"What a horrible system we have that so casually throws away decent students and hard workers. You are either a superstar with a red cape or a nobody. There’s nothing in between apparently. "
That’s not true. The list was poorly chosen. There is no one, absolutely no one, who should put U Chicago or Columbia on a list and consider it anything but a reach. Had you looked at the acceptance rates for those schools? I’m guessing they are 10% or lower.
I would think the guidance counselor would know the kid is on scholarship and so look at the financials. I would bet that UI was assumed to be a safety and either the application was incomplete, the application was very late, or the kid picked a major that is very difficult and thus did not get in.
OP: if you ever come back, this stinks for you and your kid. All is not lost, however. She can either take this as a gap year and re-apply to a wider range of schools for the fall or can go to the local Community college and then transfer.
I agree with Choatiemom that I would be back at the school asking for assistance in applications for 2016. She will get to school and will be successful. It just is a slightly different journey.
I did not realize one fact that “It sounds like the OP is from Illinois”
I cannot believe that such a strong student have problem being from Midwest.
There are so many affordable schools in Midwest IS and OOS and privates.
It is more and more clear that this situation was a result of inadequate research. Too bad! And GC has very little to do with it. They know only so much even at expensive private HSs even with very few kids in a class (D’s class had only 33 kids). He is there to complete whatever his part. It is up to a family to listen to GC or not. We had no choice, but NOT listen, he was not familiar with the specifics of the programs that D. was applying, did not even know the names of some of them. We did not blame him, he had 32 more kids to help. All he is interested is to place kids at highly ranked colleges. Our GC’s interest was simply NOT in synch with D’s interest.
And it may as well be the case here. Result is the list that does not match to the student criteria and stats.
Hey OP,
First off, here is a link to the saga of andison, who also had very disappointing college applications results, took a gap year, applied to an altered list of schools, and ended up doing great. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-a-year-later.html
I hope you’ll post here and let folks offer useful advice (you’ll get some non-useful advice as well 
). There are aspects of your D’s record that sound truly unusual (Arabic!) which can be used to help make her next round of essays really sing.
Help us understand more about your daughter’s record in the context of the school. Yes, she had high honors, but was she top 10% of the class? Top 25%? Does the school assign rank to its graduates? Many if not most private high schools that are feeders to highly selective colleges do not assign rank at all, because they recognize that it hurts their students’ admissions chances. Where else were students from her year with similar GPA and test scores admitted?
For finances, a FAFSA EFC of 25-35% of your household income is typical, if shocking the first time you see it. You are not alone. There will be options for your D that will offer significant merit aid, especially if she takes some time this summer to prepare for retaking the ACT and/or SAT in the fall. To see if need-based aid at the most ultra-generous schools would make any sort of difference for your family, try the Princeton NPC. If the COA number you get there is still too high, you’ll know for sure that your hunt is solely for merit-based aid.
Seems to me UIUC would have yielded a positive result (especially if she is an in state student) unless app was to Engineering, CS or Business. Possible the application was incomplete. For UIUC, all students self report their grades and then if admitted, an official transcript is sent to the school.
I haven’t read through the full thread, so I may be repeating others; but it doesn’t sound like a problem with system, nor a particularly surprising result, aside from UIUC. You mentioned UIUC didn’t even bother to send a rejection. This sounds odd. It’s also is uncommon (but far from impossible) for students with stats like your daughter to be rejected from UIUC. Perhaps there was some kind of problem with the application. However, it’s not clear from the thread that UIUC would have been financially possible, regardless of whether acceptance occurred. So no matter how you look at it, there was problem with advice about the college application process, particularly in regards to selection of colleges . There is a wide spectrum between “superstar with red cape” and nobody, and a wide spectrum of colleges with admission selectivity between Columbia/Chicago and Denver. It sounds like the financial issues will pose some obstacles, but there are numerous merit and lower cost options. You can find a lot of good threads about what students have done with gap years. All the ones I have seen are success stories with an excellent result following the gap year.
An expensive boarding school doesn’t necessarily equal a GOOD boarding school. Given the description provided by the OP, I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out the BS in question. If so, its interesting that there is no reference to college counseling found anywhere on the school’s website nor much info on college matriculation, a sharp contrast to top tier and mid tier boarding schools. What very little college matriculation I could find was not overly impressive. The fact that the BS incorporates a 2 yr junior college into its academic offerings seems questionable as to its motivation placing kids well at the college level. My guess is this boarding school caters to many full pay international students looking for a US education but who don’t have the academic chops to qualify for more competitive boarding schools. I don’t mean to be so harsh but some caveat emptor might prevent some family from falling into the same predicament in the future.
I agree with the consensus that the college list was poorly constructed. Perhaps the guidance counselor did provide sound advice as to creating a balanced and affordable list. Perhaps the student/family chose not to follow that advice or to provide adequate info regarding financial needs. The lack of much test taking is also a signal of either poor counseling or the student not following recommendations. Regardless, its a reminder that parents need to be involved in the process and not leave it totally up to the student and counselor, without at least some oversight.
Given the lack of testing and the poor list construction, one also wonders about the quality of more subjective parts of the application like essays.
There is a lot of missing info that would be helpful but the OP has some good suggestions provided by posters.
^^^^^ @ucbalumnus - I probably used the same search terms and definitely had the same conclusions about the BS in question as @doschicos.
I think there is a possibility we are all being played by the OP.
Well, if THAT is the school OP’s daughter attended, I’m not sure how much help they could expect from the school or if the school could provide the help this family needs. There is no mention of college counseling on their website, and a brief mention of recent college matriculation shows an unimpressive list (They do say the rate of college attendance of HS graduates is “100%” though). OP, if you are still around, maybe you should try to find a private counselor. It’s still not too late. They may still be able to help your daughter find an acceptable college for this fall.
The take home message for everyone reading this is that it was a poor selection of colleges in the first place. Two reaches, a questionable match and a financial disaster does not make for success.
If you don’t want to end up this way, you need two matches and at least a backup or two, preferably with the financial requirements well researched.
Not just “preferably”. The safeties must be affordable; otherwise, they are not safeties.
My son planned to apply to 11 or more colleges, and had to apply to four. Even so, there were two rolling admission colleges that he could have applied to if all 11 said no.
Everything he did in the college search was planning NOT to get into his top choice. We feel very lucky he did get into his first choice, but yes, the FA is leaving us paying about 33% of our income per year.
If I were in the OP’s situation, I’d go on CC and look for a list of rolling admission colleges as well as colleges that still have space available. I agree the list the OP’s D had was three reaches and a match, and there should have been a few more matches and safeties, especially if (as is clear from the OP’s post) finances are a major issue.
The other option is to not enroll in college this fall and take a gap year and do something, maybe volunteer somewhere or get some sort of service job.
@dadof1, I doubt it. The OP originally posted this in another thread. Then someone told them to start their own thread.
I can’t even imagine having a backup that is expensive in the first place. You’re already going to a college that’s down your list quite a ways and now, you are paying big bucks for it? Ack.
@dadof1 may be on to something…