I’m right with you on Richmond! And we’re quite liberal (our D says she’s a socialist!) and have a junior there, who’s also Jewish, so a minority, and he’s loved his time. Not sure what’s going on with the naming…
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I find this is true of so many kids, including my own. Both had some pretty strong “must haves” at the start. Most kids eventually realize that they have to compromise.
My son is the one who shocked me. He wanted big rah rah sports, tailgating, etc… He ended up at Binghamton, which has been famous since 1946 for its undefeated football team.
The punchline: Bing has never had football😀.
@Bill_Marsh , this is why we didn’t see a reaction. Saving the best for last!
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I’m going to venture to say that Homerdog’s D’s essays were were written and played a part in her success. Especially in a Covid year without scores, essays are important. So many think their essays are good, but most are just mediocre and don’t stand out. Have been to a couple of those admissions panel events and reps (from some of these schools in the mix) said that as well. In fact a Richmond rep says he reads 1,000 essays a season and perhaps 10 truly stand out, and not many others are high quality.
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We found the same thing. The backbone of D20’s priorities remained, but when push came to shove and she had to choose which college to attend, she re-examined some of what she thought was most important initially in favor of variables that hadn’t been as critical to her when forming the initial list.
I, too, have loved this thread. With D20 happy and thriving at Santa Clara, I was nurturing a small flame for the CA schools (and SCU in particular). I can’t wait to hear the final decision!
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Vibe is very close to being the most important differentiator for her. All of her schools have strong academics etc. The living situation, the other students, the location, the social scene, the extra curricular opportunities are a lot of what make the schools on her list different from one another.
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When did we like Wake? We liked it as an option before we visited and before I dig deep meeting students who are local kids.
As for Colgate and the campus? I haven’t commented because I’m trying to keep some mystery going. Lol. I don’t remember commenting on BC’s campus either.
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Can you explain what you mean, Why would that statement be a negative?
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Agree. I don’t see how that comment in her recommendation could be a negative.
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Tulane was in the list for a while. She even wrote the essay. But we saw some pretty unorganized virtual sessions and I was turned off by how pushy they are to move everyone to ED. And also no one goes there from our high school so we don’t have enough good info on it and D’s impression is just “party school”. Hurricanes also didn’t help.
We never considered Miami. I don’t know much about it.
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I agree that many of the early stated preferences have shifted, but I think that’s true of many journeys. For many reasons, what students/families think they want at the beginning, turns out to not be as important when it’s time to make a decision. For a lot of people in this process, these calculations don’t come into play because there simply aren’t very many options.
I think for many families, by the time it comes to making a decision there are only 2 or 3 real options in the running. It’s a little easier to decide then. When a journey results in 12 realistic options, some of those original preferences get a hard look and it might be determined that what was important in July is not necessarily so important in April.
It is and has been a very interesting process.
In the end, I think a lot of it is somewhat inconsequential. I think Homerdog’s daughter will be a success at any number of her options. But it’s nice to have the option to choose what feels like the best fit today.
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I don’t disagree that full pay likely helped and I don’t want to hide that. I don’t know how a blurb from a rec would prove that full pay helped though. I don’t see what one has to do with the other.
That being said, BC and Richmond are need blind and she got in and Vandy, Midd, and Wake are need blind and she did not so I think the need blind schools maybe didn’t take it into consideration and truly looked at fit and not that she checked the “no aid” button on the common app. Also, we know plenty of full pay friends of D’s who did not get into the need aware schools that she got into. So, could it have helped? Sure. But I think plenty of full pay kids still don’t get into these schools.
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Wake is meets-full-need, but I don’t think Wake is need blind.
Ah so even better. They were need aware and she didn’t get in. So full pay status isn’t something where schools just open the gates wide.
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However, Wake is also very interested in demonstrated interest. Many families that are full-pay get denied if they don’t display enough interest.
Not that it matters in your case, because I think there were better fits available for your daughter.
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I would rather not state what the shared comment meant. It does not convey what the Colgate rep thought. It is a clever statement composed by a highly intelligent & experienced person.
This is why I ask applicants to the most selective colleges & universities to let me read an early draft of their college essays.
Maybe @publisher means that the rec was well written so it must come from a teacher at an affluent school who knows how to write recs. I don’t disagree with that either. We don’t know which rec it is but we could guess and that teacher graduated from a very well known journalism program and worked for years in NYC in publishing so she’s a good writer - and she knows D very very well having had her in class for three years. So, recs are important. Maybe more important this year. It’s not a fictionalized account of D and I don’t think it can be held against her that her teacher knows how to write.
I’m now going to take down the comment from the rec. I think it’s offensive that you think that is was some backhanded way to say something negative. I know this teacher as well and she has shared with me how she feels about D. It was a true assessment.
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No, that is not the message that the writer intended to convey.
The statement was not intended to be a “back handed compliment”, but it shares a lot more than might appear to many.
I am sure you are super proud of that comment, as you should be. I would be proud too. If the AO wrote a note including it, that means it made a strong positive impression. To me it says this student is secure in their own skin - a leader, not a follower who would be a positive presence on any campus.
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