<p>ungst ME TOO</p>
<p>I have a home track meet the day of decisions. It will be awful. I guess I'll just wait until 7:30ish or whenever its over because my last event is next to last. Hopefully it will make me run faster, but that's about the only positive that can come from having the meet that day.</p>
<p>lennni:
just a thought... maybe you can use the computer at a local library or school library?</p>
<p>What order is everyone going to check their decisions in?
Most desired school to least desired school or vice versa? I think that if I check Princeton first and I don't get in, I will be way too distraught to even bother thinking about the other 2 schools I find out from on March 29. However, if I find out that I got into Princeton first thing, I would be so happy that I wouldn't even care about the other 2.</p>
<p>I will do least desired to most desired... nothing like a crescendo of suspense.</p>
<p>alphabetically...</p>
<p>Haha "crescendo of surprise." I like that.</p>
<p>I can't decide the order... I could work bottom-up, but what if I don't get in the first one? That would leave me very little hope. I'll probably just try and open them all simultaneously and have them come at me all at the same time. I think I'll do that.</p>
<p>haha, Ungst, I like your thinking... maybe I'll do that too--I'll just check 8 decisions at once! :-P</p>
<p>Everyone: Based on either intuition or facts, do you think that you will be or are already accepted? Why?</p>
<p>I haven't even thought of the order to check my schools in. I kind of like that idea of a crescendo of suspense :P, but I also wouldn't want it to become a crescendo of disappointment. I think I am going to check Brown first just because my interviewer really liked me and I think I have the best chance. Then I'm going right to Princeton. I was so neurotic during the ED period that when march 29th comes around I won't be able to focus until I find out about princeton.</p>
<p>to answer grahamezzy's question - based on facts and intuition, I have no idea. :P I'm not sure what they're looking for. I think I have a strong application, but so does everyone else on this board and most of those who applied.</p>
<p>Actually I took the time to think about the order in which I was going to check my decisions, but then I realized I'll just check them in the order that they are available. I know I'm not going to be able to say, "Oh school A's admissions decision is available, but I need to wait until I check school B and C's decisions first like I initially planned!"</p>
<p>^^same here. I doubt all 5 of my schools I'm waiting for will all post decisions online, 5:00 p.m., March 29.</p>
<p>^that makes sense too! I forgot about that. Some decisions come online at 5 PM, but I think some of my other colleges come online later. But it's going to be an awkward wait between decisions. I'll either be really happy for 30-60 minutes inbetween decisions, or rotting in front of the tv.</p>
<p>The ivys seem to be all releasing decisions on line on March 29th. Many other selective schools will not be releasing them until after April 1st</p>
<p>O man, I forgot that I'll have that problem of them not all coming on at the same time. I have that meet, so it could be one ridiculous meet. I'll try to get my car next to the school so I can check the decisions on my laptop over the wireless. I'll look like a huge fag, but I'll be able to do my meet and see my fate at the same time.</p>
<p>just think, if you get in, the excitement will give you an extra energy boost for the meet.</p>
<p>I am checking lower to higher schools. I applied to many many reaches (seven), so if I get rejected at the lowest reach, then what chance do I have then at the harder schools? So I will check first low, and work my way up just so I might have a feeling of hope, instead of despair from getting rejected from my most likely reach, which is still quite a reach.</p>
<p>Does anyone think that guidance counselors have an idea today of who is going to be accepted from their school and who is not?
It seems to me from reading these cc threads that there are three types of guidance counselor relationships. Those who are lucky enough to go to feeder elite college prep schools like Choate or Exeter ect or top public schools that are feeder schools where the guidance counselors speak regularly about applicants to the admission officers. Then there are those who go to regular private schools and some public schools where a lot of students dont apply to the ivy league and very selective schools and the guidance counselors make one call on behalf of each student to each school they are applying to usually in early or mid march to advocate once for that applicant. Then there are those who go to large public schools where there guidance counselors have no opportunity to call as they have so many students they are responsible for. The first category seems to be at a clear advantage as the college counselors not only have long standing relationships with the admissions office at the ivy league, but seem to engage in some form of trading where they might indicate when the regional admission officer says for example that Dartmouth is interested in Susan - that Susan is planning on going to Yale. Then the guidance counselor might mention for example Fred and find out from the regional admission officer that Dartmouth does not think Fred is strong enough, or is compelling, but not enough. The guidance counselor then tells the admission officer that Dartmouth is Freds first choice and he will come if accepted. Dartmouth accepts Fred who decides to attend Dartmouth but not Susan who goes to Yale - this type of thing. This type of situation seems to reinforce the relationship between the guidance counselor and the admissions office as most schools are concerned with yield and the admission office learns that they can count on that school for this type of information, and they then continue to contact them each year resulting in more accepted from that particular school.
For those however who go to a school where the guidance counselor makes one call to a regional admission officer to advocate for a student and they call this week or last week, do you think they get an indication? Other than those accepted after a first reading, are the rest decided on the last day if the final decisions are made on lets say March 19th or are they made before that? Is there any benefit to guidance counselors calling so late in the process? Also, for those who attend public schools where the guidance counselors dont call, do the regional admission officers call them?</p>
<p>I think that CC might make the type of occurrence that you're describing a bit more common than it is. Maybe it's just the optimism/love of justice (ha, like anything about this process is just) that wants to believe that just because someone attends a really nice college prep academy, they might have a better shot at getting into Ivies (aside from their obvious intelligence and all the things they are able to do at said academies) because of their guidance counselors.</p>
<p>There were maybe 20 people in my senior class who applied to Ivies, and about 10 of us have any kind of actual shot (I mean, if you are ranked top 25%, have decent SAT scores, and your only ECs are working out and tanning...you haven't got a lot of to go off of). Of those 10, my counselor (we're divided up alphabetically) has 3 of us. THREE OF US. And it still took about seven or eight meetings with her before she figured out I was serious about applying to places like Princeton and that she needed to actually help me out. It was a really frustrating process: extremely difficult to contact her, incredibly difficult to get answers out of her, and her knack for 'guidance' (funny, it's her job title) was plainly nonexistent. I know that she was probably just overworked, but still. My school is an IB school and there are a lot of kids who could get into Ivies or other top 25 schools, but they opt for University of Texas for financial reasons. It just seems like a school should have a counselor that is kind of more tailored to the high-reaching kids: something like 80% of my class that goes to college will attend an in-state public, and so maybe they could hire someone one day a week to help the rest of us out.</p>
<p>Sorry if that was way too negative and rant-y, but I'm just curious as to how involved other people's counselors were.</p>
<p>I am also from a state where most go to the state school and dont reach for the ivys. About 10 have the qualifications that you are talking about. Many dont get into the ivys because they dont try to, and many who have applied dont seem to realize that you need more than high scores and high grades to get in. I do think that having extra curriculars that are unique, show passion, leadership, national or international achievement, exceptional talent could help. What is frustrating is that when reviewing the college list of matriculations it seems that those who did get in over the past several from this high school were those who were connected. ie. development admits whose family gave a lot of money or recruited athletes. Many of whom had lower SAT scores and grades than others that applied. It does appeare that those who applied and were not connected and did not get in really did not doing anything out of the ordinary. Those who live in the northeast seem to understand it takes more to stand out and get accepted. In southern and midwestern states for example it is more laid back and students think being editor in chief of the paper or captain of your varsity team is enough. It no longer is.
As for guidance counselors. I know of the three types. What you say about the elite feeder schools probably is true. The reaitly is more likely that there are just a lot of very connected applicants and a lot of wealth at those schools. I would not be surprised if there are a lot of legacies at thosee schools who families are big donors to the ivy league schools they attended and to which their children will apply. I bet there are many talented high achieving students at those schools who will get rejected and see classmates whose scores and grades are not that high get in with their connections.
However, it is true that at some high schools both public and private there is a history of taking a large number of applicants from that school. There is one high school in California for example that sent 11 to Yale last year. These are schools that have a relationship.
I do know that there are public schools in the northeast that have long connections to the ivy league. Many of the guidance counselors know the deans of admissions personally.
Most guidance counselors are probably like the one you have however. Even in the schools that are feeder schools the guidance counselors can only advocate really hard for their favorites. There really is no time.
The one thing I have learned in this process is that the applicants who have the greatest advantage are the ones who have their applications read not by the regional admission officers like most of us do, but have their applications get special attention by the Dean of Admissions. Most of us have a regional admission officer read our applications and one other person in the regional commimttee. THe regional admission officer advocates for every applicant in their region. However their are categories of applicants who get another advantage: Those whose famlies have given a lot of money to the school contact the develoipment office and assuming the development office feels that applicant is important to that office - they contact the Dean of Admissions directly to speak on behalf of that applicant. That usually results in the Dean of Admissions personally reviewing the application at the request of the Development office. Similarly at most schools legacies even if they have not given money will get the added benefit of a look at their application by the Dean of Admissions. In addition, recruited athletes get the benefit of the coach giving a list to the Dean of Admissions with the names of the applicants they are interseted in and the Dean reviews those applications.
I do think that having the benefit of the Dean of Admissions personally reviewing an application must be a big plus, but the majority of applicants wont get that benefit</p>