Some schools that aren’t testing as much as Midd are already having problems this spring. Richmond tests all kids every two weeks. They’ve been back to campus for a about a week and there’s a big jump in cases. Went to their red level where all off campus kids aren’t allowed on campus at all for two weeks now. All classes went remote. So, even though they started out with fewer restrictions than a school like Middlebury, they are currently pretty prison-like.
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Last semester Davidson (where D18 attends) tested all students once a week and was able to keep numbers very low (zero or single digits). This semester starts today, and they are starting with testing twice a week. So much more community spread right now compared to August. Fingers crossed.
I’ve shared this before, but we loved Middlebury when we toured. Wasn’t right fit for either of my kids, but what a special place. Vermont kinda stole my heart that trip – of course it was July!
Middlebury was one of the first places we toured, and they had a Top 10 Tips for Parents handout at the admissions desk that made a big impact on me. Little things like “The student should check themselves in and ask any questions about the tour. It matters and we notice.” (Paraphrasing here.) And just really reminding parents this is the kid’s journey, not yours. Offered both practical and sage advice.
So excited for your D and all her emerging options!
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You may have already mentioned this, but did any of the RD schools have an EA option? If so, why did she choose to apply RD?
I have a D22 and have been interested in your D21’s journey even though my D22 will be looking at a mostly different set of schools mostly because she doesn’t want to be in the south and would avoid schools on the more conservative end of the spectrum. But, there is some overlap of my D’s working list and your D’s working lists and application list.
One other reason this thread has been interesting to me is the shared experience of needing to adjust strategies for the second child. My S19 is at Northeastern.
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D applied everywhere she could EA. All of her decisions so far were EA. The rest of the schools on her list don’t offer it.
You’re so good at tracking the covid situations! Just want to say that only the off-campus students have to do remote classes for the 2 weeks at Richmond. There was a huge disparity between covid found in on vs off-campus kids. (There is at least one “unofficial” frat that the university urged students not to join (and told parents about it) that has parties.)
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Got it! Thx! I did see that Richmond is reimbursing off campus kids for their meal plan for this two weeks which I thought was the right thing to do since they can’t eat on campus for a couple of weeks. That’s a plus in my book!
It’s been a while since I’ve been on but I remember you from last year. Congrats to your daughter! Is she chasing merit, or will the final decision come down to fit?
Congratulations to you and your D!
5 nice acceptances already and 8 more icing on the cakes to be determined.
Must be such a relief as a parent. She’s in!
If your D is still interested in and decides to visit Vanderbilt, my offer still stands for you and your D to get the inside scoop tour from either my undergrad D there or my grad student D there in addition to or to replace the usual campus tour or a zoom call if covid spikes there, though my kids seem to think they’ve been good about the whole covid situation. They are covid tested weekly.
You’ve got a wonderful list of 13 and won’t go wrong whatever her decision!
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@bloomfield88 Thanks so much! Lots to still shake out. I’ve also been thinking a lot about what school could look like in the fall. I don’t know how much she will have to consider that. None of us really know what will be happening with the pandemic by then. If she has two schools that she likes about the same, Covid protocols could be the decider, but she might also end up with a front runner that will still have strict Covid rules this fall and she could decide to take a gap.
Lots of waiting now. About seven weeks until she hears anything else.
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@1stTimeThruMom We are not chasing merit. We did, though, only choose safety schools that offered merit and still fit most of her criteria. We weren’t considering full priced private college in that safer category. Honestly, if CA was more open and LMU and SCU had students on campus, we would be visiting this month. Instead, I think they’ve pretty much fallen off of the list now that Richmond came through. Her last chance for merit will be at Wake where she applied for their Presidential Scholarship for dance. That one is $16k/year. We have no idea how much of a long shot it is. We did find a video submission of one of the winners from two years ago and D is a much more accomplished dancer so I think she has a shot. There’s some conflicting info on when they will find out but some think finalists will be notified early March so that would be the next thing she would hear if it’s good news.
We are full pay for our S and it would be nice for D to go to school for less - not going to lie! But she also has a list of good matches here that do not offer merit and we knew that going in.
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Congrats on Richmond! How will she narrow down her top choices if Covid is handled well at all? It seems so hard to figure out!!
I think we just have to wait longer to know how much Covid affects her choice. Like I said, if she has a big front runner but Covid makes fall less than ideal then she could just take a gap.
She has actually decided that some of her RD list aren’t that important to her anymore. She named just three schools she’s still excited to hear from out of the eight left. I’m not taking that too seriously for now. Getting the Richmond decision helped her put RD schools in order.
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That’s good- makes it “easier,” maybe!
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Congratulations to your D on the acceptances! I hope you are able to visit in February. I remember that your planned trip last year was canceled so I’m sure it will be nice to finally be able to see the campuses in person and get a better feel for the vibe.
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Thanks! Not sure how much of the vibe she’ll be able to figure out with all of the Covid rules on campuses but it’s better than nothing. Of course there are lots of virtual sessions for admitted students too. She is signed up for a bunch of Richmond ones.
I am sure you figured this out but covid protocols now and in the fall “might” look different especially if we can get kids with vaccines this summer… But having a sound system of testing now also helps. So many decisions we never had to think about before. New reality.
Glad to hear she has some sound decisions she will be happy with.
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I enjoyed the Richmond virtual sessions that I watched in Oct/Nov and was impressed by the students who spoke. Definitely hope you get a chance to visit a few schools!
Thx! D participated in quite a few Richmond sessions in the fall too and was impressed. I’ll be curious to see what she thinks of these admitted student seasons. 
Thank you for sharing the list of 13 schools applied to in post #1548 above.
The more that I think about your daughter’s journey, the more perplexed I become that SMU is not among her targeted schools. (I have no connection to SMU and I recall past discussions focused on friends’ daughters’ experiences at SMU with respect to sorority rush.)
The reason that I revisit the thought of SMU now is due to a review of the 13 targeted schools of which at least 10–and possibly 12–seem similar to SMU in several respects.
No need to respond as we have discussed this several months ago. It is interesting to me at this point because I now see the final list of schools to which your daughter applied. So please consider this post as nothing more than a casual observation.
Well, I will respond briefly! She doesn’t want TX. I don’t like how open SMU was Covid-wise this year. Our neighbor across the street has a D there so I know the details. Rush was way over the top with moms moving into local hotels for two weeks to “help” their daughters. Kids from our school go there with much lower GPA and so that makes it unappealing to her as well.
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