@homerdog Did you take your spring visit trip? Is that still in the works?
@puppyraiser619 It’s not planned until March 30 and not looking good now of course. The schools on the trip are still “open” and in full swing but colleges are shutting down at a quick clip so I’m expecting this trip will be cancelled. Not sure how we will proceed then. I really want her to see these schools this spring with kids on campus so we will have to see how it goes. If they do cancel tours but then start them up again in mid or late April, we will take D out of school, compact the schedule and see the schools in just a three/four day trip over a long weekend. If visits are cancelled for the rest of the spring, I don’t know what we will do.
i’m just hoping the SAT isn’t cancelled this Sat.
Which again raises the issue of standardized test scores & the attractiveness of Wake Forest University as a highly ranked, test optional school.
SMU.
I understand that friends did not enjoy their daughters’ experiences with sorority recruitment, but they are not you and their daughters are not your daughter.
If you are both attracted to Vanderbilt University & to Wake Forest University, then schools such as USC & SMU should also be of interest.
Among Vanderbilt, USC, WFU, and SMU, your daughter’s best odds for acceptance are at SMU based on her current stats. Plus, it–SMU–and Dallas, Texas just seems to be a great fit.
P.S. TCU anyone ?
I brought up SMU again for several reasons:
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You may not get an opportunity to visit all of your targeted schools, and, if you do, you may not have adequate time to refocus if disappointed;
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Current ACT score makes SMU a slight reach, but less of a reach than a couple of your other targets;
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Because, at least by my assessment, SMU & Dallas are a fit for your daughter.
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Your only opportunity to visit some schools may not come until after an acceptance is received so it is best to maximize one’s options.
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Standardized testing may get delayed due to current epidemic.
? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???:
Based on guidance from community-health officials for preventative measures against the global spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), beginning Friday, March 13, and until further notice, Wake Forest University Admissions is suspending all campus visits, student-led tours, and admissions programming, including our “A Day in the Forest,” Campus Day, and MOSAIC events.
Please know how much we wish we could see you in person. Until then, we hope you’ll take the time to explore our website (admissions.wfu.edu) and social-media accounts (@wfuadmissions on Twitter and Instagram) to stay connected with Wake Forest. You may also receive updates about COVID-19 and changes on campus at wakefo.rest/coronavirus
This was a difficult decision for us to make and we understand how disappointing it may be to you, but we hope you’ll take solace in knowing how thoughtfully and seriously we value your wellbeing and that of our campus community.
Please know we’ll be back in touch soon.
All our best,
Wake Forest University Undergraduate Admissions
Thanks @UGG2023 D got an email today too. My husband told her we can still go on the trip and walk around all of the campuses we planned to see but she wants to wait until we can see more. It’s sad. We’ve started talking about whether summer would be an ok time to visit if official visits start again or if she’d want to wait until fall. High school starts early, around Aug 8, so we’d have to take her out of school to visit. Fall will be super busy for her.
I guess we have time to think about it now. 
Consider applying to more schools than planned so that any unexpected disappointments will still leave many options.
Visiting during the summer can be deceiving.
P.S. Your daughter may be eligible to attend a summer session at one or two schools if she wants to get a feel for a particular campus or two. May not, however, be an accurate portrayal of the campus culture due to intimacy & openness resulting from the smaller less segregated community.
Can be helpful for one wishing to explore another region of the country.
Many most selective colleges & universities offer easy admission to their summer sessions. Consider Vanderbilt, Davidson, Middlebury, UCLA, Pomona, etc.
Not sure about the ease of admission as a summer student, but Duke, Dartmouth College, Stanford, Cornell, WFU, UNC, Boston College, Clemson, Williams College, Amherst, Bowdoin, Wash & Lee, Skidmore, Colgate, Emory University, Colorado College, Furman, St. Lawrence, Lewis & Clark College, Univ. of Oregon, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-San Diego, any large state public university among many others might be great places to consider for a 5 or 6 week summer session.
Sometimes it is better for a student to experience a school without a parent in order to get a better, more personalized understanding for and appreciation of differences among types of schools & locations.
Well, we are obviously in a holding pattern. May SAT cancelled. D21 has a seat for the June test but i’m not holding my breath. I will get her a seat for August as soon as that date opens or, hopefully, they will add a July test and we can jump on that.
Not sure about visits now. Everything is so uncertain. We will wait until things improve and travel starts to happen again to decide. Of course, schools have to be having tours, etc., for us to bother visiting. I think we are more likely to wait until fall to visit.
That doesn’t mean D21 won’t be writing essays this summer. I will have her write her common app essay and essays for any schools she wants to apply to with the exception of any “why x college” essays which I think are better tackled after a visit.
This will be interesting. Part of me thinks that, if schools are open by June or July, she might want to throw caution to the wind and visit Wake without students on campus. She might be able to still meet with professors and we have students she can talk to. She could apply super early ED in the summer without a score and see what happens. Summer ED answers seem to come fairly quickly and, if she’s not accepted, then she could figure out where else to visit and apply in the fall. She’s not dying for this to be a long complicated process so she may be open to this plan…
@homerdog I haven’t read through all of your D21 journey (just at the beginning and end) but I think you have a great list. We visited many on your list when my D18 was looking at schools (Furman, Wake, W&L, UVA, Richmond, Wm&Mary) and I am happy to answer any questions as it wasn’t that long ago. MY D18 was accepted to UVA and Wm&Mary and we are OOS (and public school small town) so don’t let that put you off. She LOVED URichmond and it was her absolute 1st choice until Vanderbilt showed up 4thQ offering more money. She is loving Nashville and Vandy, but UR will always be the one that got away … she toured, then interviewed and then went back for admitted Spiders Day (it’s a 13 hour drive for us!)
Don’t add SMU. We have a friend there and everything you think your daughter wouldn’t like about it is true - there is a reason it’s nickname is the Country Club school. We visited Elon and from what you’ve said so far it’s not a fit for your D; it is strong Theater and Communications, with a decent Business school (new building) but it lacks the campus feel/academic experience that Wake and Davidson can offer. I think she will love Wake and Richmond. W&L has a conservative school reputation but that doesn’t drive everything on campus and it’s not what my daughter (who is more liberal thinking) saw while there - campus is gorgeous! D really loved it but didn’t think the STEM was strong enough (she’s a Chem major) so didn’t apply.
Wake Forest has a summer ED and one of our friends did that and was accepted before Senior year started in August. If denied or waitlisted your D could still ED at another top choice. Apply to as many EA schools as you can… it’s just nice to have something known - good or bad news.
Good luck! If I can help with any questions ask or DM… my next one isn’t until S23 but I’m trying to keep an ear to the ground since the process is so unpredictable. He might be a recruited athlete and just took the ACT in Feb and got a 27 so we think can get to 30+ by Jr year… time will tell since we are losing so much academic time and time out of the pool. Home schooling and home workouts are not our strong spot!
@ASKMother : Interesting comment about SMU as your daughter is at Vanderbilt which is SMU’s #1 overlap school. And WFU is also an SMU overlap.
I suggested SMU for OP"s daughter for a variety of reasons including socio-economic & EC (ballet / dance) match. And, based on my reading of this thread, OP is looking for a “country club” environment type school even though not stated explicitly.
Nonetheless, OP has already ruled out SMU even though friends have recommended USC for OP’s daughter. USC & SMU share a lot of similarities. If OP’s friends are recommending USC for OP’s daughter, then SMU should be a good fit as well.
@Publisher I truly do not mean this disrespectful, but it would be nice to know when was the last time you visited any of these schools? We can read all the rankings and websites and such until the cows come home, but nothing beats talking to people who have direct experience with a school. My SMU opinion (just my personal opinion) is based on the students from our area who go there. Because of that, we don’t personally rank it anywhere near the Vanderbilt or Wake experience, especially academically, but nationally ranking wise it is a strong academic school. I can see the Wake Forest and SMU overlap as far as social scene (preppy and money), but not the Vanderbilt. Vandy has a much more international and diverse vibe than Wake did (we visited Wake twice, toured and interviewed and have a friend who is there). Wake, W&L and Richmond had a more preppy vibe, whereas Wm&Mary, Vandy and UVA had more worldly vibes … all were equally academically focused though regardless of where they may rank. Again, just our opinion. Ironically my D got in everywhere else, but she was waitlisted at Wake. The process is somewhat of a lottery.
So your opinion on SMU is based on second or third hand information, yet you ask when was the last time that I visited these schools. My answer = apparently a lot more recently & more often than you. And, I also do not mean to be disrespectful to you or to any other poster.
My impression is that OP’s daughter would fit in nicely at Washington & Lee, SMU, & Vanderbilt.
I don’t get the impression from what has been shared by OP in this thread that WFU is as good a fit as are the others. (OP’s main attraction to WFU seems to be its ranking & its test optional status.)
P.S. Remember OP was very interested in Furman University.
Another point worth considering is to which school is OP’s daughter likely to be accepted.
Unlikely at Vanderbilt & unlikely at Wash & Lee.
Reasonable chance for WFU.
Likely for SMU.
Likely for the University of Richmond.
P.S. Today the federal reserve in St. Louis predicted a possible 32.1% unemployment rate in the near future. If unemployment reaches into the high teens or higher, then full pay applicants should receive a very substantial admissions boost making reach schools reachable.
What is it about WF that you feel would make it less of a fit? We visited 3x and I see it as a good fit. I also think she would like the U of Richmond.
I know WF fairly well and agree it’s a good fit for OP’s D. The Greek scene might be a little more than she ideally cares for, but it’s not as intense as many other places.
Only have a second here and I’ll add more later but we were never “very interested” in Furman. I was trying to find more schools for the list, preferably ones with merit and EA, but Furman dropped a while ago. And no SMU. Please stop.
P.S. Today the federal reserve in St. Louis predicted a possible 32.1% unemployment rate in the near future. If unemployment reaches into the high teens or higher, then full pay applicants should receive a very substantial admissions boost making reach schools reachable.
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And even more likely if there is a decline in, or restrictions placed on, FP international students.
Sure. Sorry for suggesting SMU again after you indicated that it was not a school which you would consider for your daughter.
I would rather not address my concerns about WFU for OP’s daughter as I think that a visit is important in order for OP’s daughter to make her own assessment.
P.S. Seems as though this has evolved into a WFU & Univ. of Richmond thread more than an evaluation of multiple alternatives.
Oh, man. How to pick an ED school without being able to visit. So hard! I honestly think that a summer drive by, while it sounds like it could be of some limited value, would be unlikely due to shelter in place restrictions (I don’t have a guess on the timing, but meaning, if the college is closed, the state will likely have a shelter in place order).
I wonder if this panel tonight will have any insight as to whether colleges are reconsidering their ED policies? I don’t know that I’m allowed to post a link, but there is a UCLA and Davidson webinar tonight 3/31 at 9pm, “Colleges and the Coronavirus”, Moderator Jeff Selingo if you want to try to find it (or PM for link)