<p>This… or maybe I have just been on CC long enough to choose not to even think about it. We were shocked (SHOCKED!) when D2 got into a reach EA school with merit aid. I think we are still wandering around a little bit stunned by this as she finishes her final applications. But I know that the admissions (and merit aid) gods are capricious. They would find it entertaining to let her in there, but to none of her matches (or provide no merit aid a those). Maybe it helps that D is completely unconcerned about it. She had forgotten that the EA decision was even coming on the day it was posted.</p>
<p>SteveMA - I have twins who are seniors also. DS applied to 7 schools - 5 for 5 on acceptances so far including an EA with ~15% rate. DD applied to 9 schools - 2 for 2 so far with one deferral for an SCEA school.</p>
<p>My predictions have been 100% accurate so far (pardon my boasting), but the tough calls are still being determined. However, I wasn’t bold enough to put my predictions in writing on our spreadsheets - I didn’t want kids to think I lacked confidence in them for Harvard.</p>
<p>Complicating things in our house is that DD wants to go to Med school, so she has been applying to numerous direct admission programs. This effectively adds a second application for those schools. </p>
<p>Also, the scholarship applications have added significant work. We decided to try for a number of national full-ride programs but have not had much success with these. I think the process has been valuable and shown the kids that there are a lot of other more competitive students out there.</p>
<p>Only a few more months of scholarhsip applications and we should be finally finished. This application season has almost been a full time job since August. Maybe we should have hired a professional coordinator to live in our house!</p>
<p>DS has been accepted at 19 of 20. Waiting on 20. Highly doubt he will get in #20. Since its Harvard. ( He applied to humor me because well if you don’t apply you don’t get in):)</p>
It’s not always a matter of “fiscal responsibility”. For example D has applied to Ohio State as an OOS. She qualifies for the National Buckeye Scholarship, but it’s competitive so we have no idea, zero, zip, zed whether she will be offered it or not. Unless your kid is a 2400/36 disease-curing bon-a-fide genius, or scholarships are automatic for stats, or you are dirt poor, you simply can’t really know what they might be offered. How is that being “irresponsible”?</p>
<p>Sylan- I’m with you there hence the 19 colleges for merit aid… I thought the buckeye was more an automatic scholarship but the additional ones weren’t. Although DS hasn’t heard anything on Merit at Ohio State yet so maybe I’m wrong…</p>
<p>For safeties, the schools need to be affordable for sure on assured need-based aid or guaranteed-for-stats merit scholarships or list price lower than what you are able or willing to pay.</p>
<p>For non-safeties, if a large non-guaranteed merit scholarship is necessary to make them affordable, then the reach/match assessment has to be based on the scholarship, not merely admission. I.e. admission without the scholarship is the same as rejection.</p>
<p>DS is 7 for 7 acceptances and 1 RD to go. I, obviously, must be a pessimist because I was expecting at least one deferral and was shocked that it was an acceptance. I think, at best, he will be waitlisted on his last school (Don’t tell him I said that!!!). If he gets in I will be pleasantly surprised and very happy for him!</p>
<p>^ucb - of course, but op has implied that if you need a column for prediction of scholarships you are irresponsible. If you don’t know whether or not you will be offered a scholarship, how is that being irresponsible? The responsible part is having some financial/admission safeties, but that doesn’t necessarily negate the financial unpredictability factor inherent in the other schools to which you might be applying.</p>
<p>MichiganGeorgia - here is the quote from tosu:<br>
I would not take that to be automatic, as they seem to have some wiggle room there.</p>
<p>rmldad-DD is also considering med school. A couple schools she applied to had direct admit program so she did work on a couple of those as well. It’s a process to say the least. The school she picked does not have a direct admit program however.</p>
<p>With ds1, I called it perfectly for all 11 schools (one no, one WL, nine yesses). Ds2 is a different animal and has aimed higher so it’s dicier. There’s no reason why, statistically, he couldn’t get into most/all them, but, truthfully, I’ll bet on a 7-2 record because a couple have really low acceptance rates. So far, he’s 2-0.</p>
<p>@sylvan. I in no way meant to imply that if you need a column for prediction of scholarships that you are being fiscally irresponsible. This post was only about whether parents predict acceptances. My spreadsheet does not focus on finances since we are not anticipating any scholarships or financial aid. Fortunately we have saved for a long time to send our D to school without her having to take out any loans. My S went to our state flagship school so that helps free up some of the savings we put aside for him to pay for our D if she goes oos or private. I did not have the choices that my D will have. I was expected to go to my state flagship because that is all my parents were able to pay for. I am very sensitive to financial issues, however this was not the focus of my post…it seems to have gone off on a new tangent.</p>
<p>8paws, welcome to cc, where threads often take on lives of their own as people pursue their own agendas. The good thing is that most people are well-meaning and trying to be helpful.</p>
<p>We had a column for scholarships. We entered the automatic ones in there. I started a column for the results of the NPC and stopped because it was too depressing :D. I also had columns for potential merit aid and for DD’s athletic awards. In the end, for DD so far, they tabulated and the final total gave her a good solid idea of where she stood financially.</p>
<p>@Youdon’tsay…I agree that threads take on a life of their own. I find the digressions and tangents interesting and would love to see a visual diagram of how they flow from one topic to another. I agree that the CC community is comprised of nice, supportive people. I just wanted to reinforce that I consider myself one of them and didn’t mean to imply any judgment toward others, rather explain a misunderstanding. I find the similarities between many of the posters validation that so much of what people go through in life is relateable. The differences that I see in people offers a fresh perspective things. All in all I secretly wish that I could find a community IRL even 1/2 as supportive as the virtual one here.</p>
<p>My children are both performing arts majors. We went through the process 2 years ago with her and she auditioned for 5 and was accepted at 3. We were naive in the process… My S has so far auditioned for 3, got EA to one of the top schools on his list, rejected by a safety and deferred by his other safety, which just goes to show you, there are absolutely no safety schools for him! He auditions for the rest in February and the very messy spreadsheet will be completed in March/April. And he was told he qualified for an artistic scholarship but will not find out the amount until April as well. However, all the schools are ones in our budget and we have not allowed any of us to fall in love with any program (although we all have a crush on the first EA school right now!!!).</p>
<p>I too thought D1 would get in everywhere she applied, but after getting stunned by a flat rejection in EA I revised the RD predictions to “I have no idea about any of these schools except maybe the safeties.” She ended up going 8 for 11, with the two RD non-acceptances being wait lists that she did not pursue. So the EA school stood as the only outright rejection.</p>
<p>Being older and wiser the second time around, for D2 I predicted out loud and nailed the prediction of her top acceptance. I looked at her app and and the stats and ECs of the kids on the prior Accepted threads and decided she fit best there - and sure enough she was accepted. She went 6 for 10 overall with 2 of the 4 non-acceptamces being wait lists.</p>
<p>My son went 9 yes, 1 waitlist, and 1 no. I had predicted a yes for the one that WL’d him, and no for one of the top LACs that accepted him. But you never know how life is going to turn out, because now he is at our tiny, local, no-name school. But he’s happy and thriving, and that’s what counts! And the profs are thrilled to have him. :)</p>
<p>College acceptances do seem to be somewhat of a c**pshoot. </p>
<p>@photomom5…I guess there really is no such thing as a true safety. I am so glad that despite those two safety surprises, your S got in EA to one of his top choices. That is all that really matters. </p>
<p>Maybe because I am so superstitious, or maybe realistic, I predict that my D will not get into the two schools that are top on MY list, my way of preparing for disappointment I guess. My D has different top schools on HER list and she is very realistic about where she applied, so I predict that she will get into her top two. Some stranger sitting in an admissions office somewhere in this country knows her fate and we will find out in a few months. They say time goes faster as you get older…this is one time that I am thankful for that. Decisions will be here soon enough, she will move out, and then like my S is about to, graduate college sooner than we can imagine. :(</p>
<p>I simply did not consider the possibility of a waitlist outcome at all. I figured it would all be acceptances and rejections. So I was totally unprepared for how to deal with a waitlist situation, but thanks to some very good advice and cheerleading from someone who’d ‘been there, done that’, it all turned out favorably.</p>
<p>Last year, my husband actually made a chart similar to yours…except that it was a family pool! Done in the spirit of fun, with extended family placing their bets re: where S would be accepted and where he would attend. It was a hoot, but only because my S’s sense of humor is a match for that sort of thing.</p>
The good thing is that most people are well-meaning and trying to be helpful.</p>
and didn’t mean to imply any judgment toward others, rather explain a misunderstanding. I find the similarities between many of the posters validation that so much of what people go through in life is relateable. The differences that I see in people offers a fresh perspective things. All in all I secretly wish that I could find a community IRL even 1/2 as supportive as the virtual one here.</p>