@gointhruaphase Wow- those application numbers at Colby are almost staggering. Will mean that a lot of kids who would have been accepted in previous yrs will be denied. Wonder if other LACs had similar increases?
This was from last winter. Most of the increase are kids that can’t get in or don’t want to attend.
Other schools had large increases in applications without doing this. If you recall BC did not like the results of this approach and changed the application process so it wasn’t so convenient.
@rjjxv26 , I just read that your son has not visited Binghamton. If so, and seeing all the other colleges he is applying to, I will hazard a guess that he will not like it. It is an excellent school. Don’t get me wrong, but it is nothing like any of the LACs he wants. It is big, it is concrete, it is not pretty. If he is looking for the LAC vibe, he will not find it there.
I’m not sure why folks are suggesting he add another school at this last date. He has a solid back up with Binghampton and a good chance at Vassar, Bates, Colby and Hamilton.
I do believe he still has a chance at the other institutions but the application doesn’t sound very dynamic. Can you add some information? What did he do in the summer months? Could he walk on and play Div 3 soccer and if so, did he contact the soccer coaches (it’s not too late for an email introduction)?
GPA looks good to me. A bit of a dip in the Math score…did he send in any SAT Subject tests? Bowdoin is test optional…but the scores are strong enough to send in.
At these small LACs, essays should knock their socks off and the admin committee is focused on building community so they want to see how your son would add value and where he would fit in. Wishing you the best! Sounds like a solid student.
@lostaccount – I understand the OP’s geographic preferences. Most LACs back east are not taking applications, I checked the deadlines and the ones I listed are still open. My view is that getting another safety LAC app in is prudent. While OP has a good shot at Vassar, it’s going to be a long wait for final decisions.
An alternative might be contacting St Lawrence, depending on when their applications closed, they might take a late app from a kid like OP’s son.
A short plane ride or 10 hour car trip
may not be much of a concern to some people, but OP is looking for aid.
On the importance of financial aid, the difficulty is, the OP has not indicated what results of NPC are, whether the OP’s family needs merit aid to close the gap between EFC and what the family can actually pay etc. Identifying schools offering “great financial aid” is only the first step, the real question is whether those schools determine a family’s specific need to align with what that family’s actual ability to pay. While Earlham, for instance, may not say it meets full need (it may so so, I don’t know), a well-qualified applicant would likely receive substantial merit aid at Earlham. Plus the sticker price of many midwest LACs is more than $10k a year less than Williams, Midd etc. For that reason, focusing only on schools that offer generous financial aid excludes what could be real financial and admission safeties.
The OP came asking whether the gpa was the reason for the deferral. My view is, likely not. Williams and Midd have many many more well-qualified applicants than they can take, so whether a specific applicant fills out the class in the way Admissions wants, is not about gpa but about what a student brings to campus life. And the same will be true at Vassar, Hamilton and the other LACs on the OP’s list.
As the OP described the search further, many were struck by the lack of real safeties – Bing, which the student hasn’t visited, is not an obvious safety for a student who wants a LAC. So, many suggested schools still taking applications.
If the OP’s student is to have a choice, rather than, having to go to Bing if there are no other acceptances at schools which – by my definition, are reaches for everyone because of the acceptance rate – then the OP needs to get some safety LAC apps in right away. Earlham, Wooster, Alleghany, St Lawrence if you could talk them into taking a late app, etc., would all serve that purpose. If the OP’s student, come April, decides that Bing is better than having to deal with schlepping to Wooster or Earlham, so be it. But at least there was a choice to be made.
I don’t get the fixation about having “a choice” at the end just for the sake of having a choice. I completely understand the arguments that OP’s son has potentially made a bad choice by choosing Binghamton as the only safety and I think that’s a very valid point raised by several posters. If OP/her son has chosen only Bing because they think it’s closest to an LAC then yes, that could be problematic and I agree with the recommendations to have LAC safeties. If they have chosen Bing because they would rather have him attend a cheap non LAC than an undesired LAC then that’s a choice they’ve made and in my opinion/experience of having to choose between my bottom two schools, there’s no reason to waste time/money applying to schools *just/i for the sake of getting to make that choice in April vs. having already made it.
Also, if things don’t work out satisfactorily for OP’s son, there is always the option of taking a gap year and giving this rodeo another go next year…
Yeah, I think a kid wanting selective LACs using an un-visited large state U as a safety is not a great choice.
But OP has surely gotten this message and disagrees, so, so be it.
Early denials can be disproportionately disappointing, but he’ll likely have a choice among Binghamton and at least two other schools. Good luck.
@iwannabe_Brown, my sense from the OP’s early posts was that the Bing choices was made casually and without a lot of thought because the OP thought that statistically their son would get into at least one of the other schools. But as most people out here know, a safety isn’t a safety if the kid would not be happy to attend, and every year we see kids who misjudge and just get into their safeties. Might or might not happen with this student – but having a true acceptable safety is always best.
The primary question of my original post as been well-answered and I learned a lot more along the way. Thanks to all.
I was telling my son today about all the heat we were taking over on the collegeconfidential blog for our selection of schools. He laughed and said “Don’t worry Dad. I’ll be alright.”
He would laugh all the harder knowing that I had referred to this as a blog 
good luck. Come back and tell us where he ends up attending.
I figured you were being quiet because you didn’t want to press him on this, and it sounds like you didn’t. He, of course, does not know much about the odds of admission. Hope it doesn’t come back to bite both of you.
I have remained relatively silent mainly because the thread has spiraled pretty far off-topic.
People counter probabilities with their own probabilities. There is nothing wrong with using published acceptance rates as probabilities…for acceptance, and as my son is surely a stronger candidate than most in the application pool, using even higher numbers is justified. Some say it’s not like that and there’s a real chance – a probability – it won’t work out. There are probabilities like “he could go 0 for 10 – we’ve seen it happen” or “there could be a bomb in your son’s application.” I acknowledge these probabilities but think them to be quite low. So it’s on to the subject of safety schools.
It seems obvious that the safer the school, the less desirable it is. So I don’t really get all the hubbub concerning the identification of that one (or several) safety that would be “truly acceptable.” Though not an LAC, Binghamton is a very good school and is the school he’s good with if it all goes south. “Good,” here meaning acceptable but disappointing. Yes, there’s a handful of schools between his best shot school and Binghamton. But none appeal to him.
Yes, we’re riding the probabilities. But who isn’t?
Well I think you actually started this thread right? And you started it saying that you were feeling pessimistic. So I think people chimed in by supporting your notion that your son applied to difficult schools to gain admission to. And, many, including myself, questioned the wisdom of the safety which bears no resemblance to any of the schools your son wants to attend. Safeties are obviously less competitive to gain admission to but there are some outstanding possibilities that are similar to the schools your son seems to desire but slightly easier to gain admission to-but he did not choose one of them. It is a little like saying, I’m hungry so if I can afford it I’ll dine at 4 seasons or Jean Georges and if I can’t afford it I’ll go to Dairy Queen. Diary Queen is good but there are a lot of other restaurants more similar to Jean Georges that cost one tenth that price where you could get food not just dessert. Likewise, I think people were suggesting that there are safeties that would be better fit for your son. But you are right. he will probably get into one of the schools he has already applied to. I think people were being responsive to your expressions of concern.
Also I don’t think the following is true “It seems obvious that the safer the school, the less desirable it is.” There are very desirable schools that are less “hot” because the whims of 18 year olds don’t necessarily follow any particular logic. So some schools get loads of applications but they are not necessarily more desirable to those who are looking for great academics, an intellectual student body and school climate, etc. There are some outstanding schools that are slightly less competitive to gain admissions to. The Safety you choose is simply a disconnect from what your son is looking for. The school isn’t just a name. it is where he will spend at least a year of his life-if not 4 years. So the fact that he has not visited the school could be problematic but it is probable he won’t have to attend anyway.
My D1 ended up liking her LAC safety as well as higher ranked schools she got into, and decided that with excellent merit aid she might as well attend there. Saved me about $60,000, and she had a great experience – graduated Phi Beta Kappa and landed an excellent job. You can’t just assume that it is a lesser experience to attend a safety – it doesn’t always work out that way.
Why ride the probabilities completely and with what is likely an undesirable safety if you don’t have to? Taking a gap year or going to a school that is a poor fit sucks – why not hedge your bets? For what it is worth, you would have gotten this same advice at the beginning of your search (and my bet is that you would have taken it then – but now you are invested in the approach you had already decided on).
I don’t quite understand adding pressure to an already stressful situation. Most of these colleges (Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, Lafayette, St. Lawrence and many others) had deadlines of January 15 or Feb 1. The OP posted his query on Feb 6. Additionally, the OP is the parent. Approaching the student, 7 days after deadlines, and suggesting he consider calling schools and adding a few applications (if the schools are willing to consider late applications) seems ludicrous to me. It would have put my child over the edge. It’s too late for could of, should of would of. In my meager opinion, the student looks solid and the deferrals are from very tough schools. The student has applied to a range of schools and I am convinced he will get into at least one of them if not a few. Lets keep our fingers crossed for the family, think positive thoughts and send good vibes. All my best @rjjxv26