@rjjxb26- My son is planning to visit the two safety schools that he has gotten into. Hoping that he will feel good at least about one of them while we wait for the rest of the schools decisions. He did not visit his safety schools either. He also got deferrals from two of his EA schools which we did visit. Total crap shoot. I think you sons stats look great. I am sure he will have a few options in March. Best of luck to your son.
Advice out here for posters who find CC earlier is to visit safeties and low matches first. It is harder to find schools where your kid will be truly happy where they are higher up in the pool, so it takes more work. It is easy to find reaches. Watch in March – there will be students out here who only got into their safeties, and just figured out that they don’t like them. There is a list of schools published every year in May of schools still taking apps, and some surprisingly good schools are on the list most years. Feb 6 isn’t too late to look for more alternatives.
Most of us looked up schools and only suggested those that had 2/15 or later deadlines. I know I did, and saw others did as well. Options are certainly narrower because it is late, but they aren’t gone. And the ones I suggested, Wooster and Allegheny, are really a matter of checking a box to add them on the common app. Allegheny may have a brief supp question.
I believe the poster nailed it who said the OP does not want to approach his son about this. I think that would be because the OP would have to admit that maybe their strategy had a flaw, at least as far as managing risk (which is what this conversation is really about). And the OP would rather take the risk than admit that.
I looked up the schools too- and many that weren’t mentioned like Gettysberg. The student was interested in NE, NY and PA, and the exception was Muhlenberg with a Feb 15 date. I don’t know about your kids but my children were so done with the process by February. Additionally, his mother attended Bing and felt really positively about her experience there. He is already in- why add to the stress? If he is unhappy, he can transfer next year.
After he has had an unhappy year, lost any chance at freshman merit aid, has to start over again socially, and may not have all credits transfer. Sure, why not? Students do transfer all the time, but the cavalier idea that they lose nothing in the process is ridiculous.
And the parents are presumably paying for college – my kid can be as “done” as they want to be, but if I asked them to do 1-2 more apps to common app schools with easy essays, they would do it. At least they would if they wanted my continues cooperation with my checkbook.
Transfers get notoriously bad aid. The only way to assure any good merit is to apply as a freshman.
Or maybe there are things about Bing that OP’s son likes in spite of it not being an LAC and he already applied to all the LACs he would rather attend than just go to Bing.
I agree with the above post. The student’s mother was happy with her experience and presumably knows her son well enough.
I guess I just find that this conversation went way off track. The OP asked a simple question- whether he should be concerned about his son’s GPA. All of a sudden, it became about trying to convince colleges to accept an application after the deadline. And about aid.
By the way, many schools who are willing to accept your application after the deadline won’t have much aid to offer. It’s been 20 years but I worked in Admissions. Presumably, they won’t be too impressed either that you are asking to consider your app after deadlines. The AdComs know what’s up. They know you’ve been deferred or (more commonly) rejected from your 1st/2nd choice and your panicking. Most places don’t like to be back ups. This influences yield and with this student’s good stats, I’d be very skeptical that the student is truly interested in said school.
I don’t enjoy arguing because there is really no point if we don’t agree. I just wish people could be more positive. Anonymity shouldn’t give us the right to be snarky or mean.
I know some folks gave some whole hearted researched advice, and I’m sure the OP appreciated it. He just isn’t looking at schools in that geographic region.
The assumption that I never spoke to my son about this is flat out wrong. So please, enough with the speculation. He and I looked over the list of schools that are still taking applications. There are web sites that do this nicely. There are some good schools that have relatively late application dates. However, his requirements – classics/location/vibe – were not satisfied. For any that were in the LAC ballpark he would say the same thing: I’d rather go to Binghamton. Those requirements are what kept the list short to begin with.
He’s not interested in going to Ohio or Indiana regardless of the school; he’s not interested in schools that don’t have classics; he’s not interested in schools that don’t have a certain level of competition.
There has been this build-up throughout this thread that S really dislikes Binghamton. I never said that. But him not liking Binghamton or Binghamton not being similar to his main list is central to the “you make a big mistake” argument that is being delivered, and with a clear scolding tone. BTW, Binghamton is a well-known quantity to our S not only because my wife went there but also several of our friends. They’re all doing great and in fact the most successful person I know (in terms of income, anyway) went to Binghamton. S knows that his mom got a great LA education at Binghamton and knows they have a huge classics department. So again, he’d rather have a small, intense college experience but barring that, would be OK with being in a larger classics setting.
I truly appreciate those who suggested adding LACs at this late date and even looked up information on our account; it’s one of the great things about this site. We had a look but it didn’t work out. It’s the folks who hold on with attack-dog ferocity until I admit we made a big miscalculation that I don’t understand. It might not be the way you would have done it but it doesn’t have to be.
Well first, we all know it’s way too late to do anything about his GPA, so it’s really irrelevant if we think that’s the reason he was deferred or not. It is what it is. I suppose some people could have just said that instead of trying to help.
But most of us pivoted to suggest things that can actually be done at this point, one of which is to apply to one or two schools that would be likely to admit him (and again, NOT schools with passed deadlines). Not schools way out in the frozen north or mountains or deep south either. Schools in or adjacent to the desired area.
“Well first, we all know it’s way too late to do anything about his GPA, so it’s really irrelevant if we think that’s the reason he was deferred or not. It is what it is. I suppose some people could have just said that instead of trying to help.”
The question of GPA was something that had been rattling around my brain since the beginning. Isn’t this the sort of question that gets asked here all the time. And the feedback I got on that count was great. So it wasn’t irrelevant to me.
@iwannabe_Brown , yes, that is it in a nutshell. I’m still unsure of why this wave of vitriol rose up.
OP: I think this will work out fine. You have a plan-stick to it. Don’t let one bad result derail it. I know any number of things can go wrong. We tried to avoid that by applying to more than one safety, treating what I thought were safeties as not, and what I thought a match as one of his reaches. and his ED rejected him…nervous! But as it turns out, he probably applied to too many. He could have narrowed a bit more. Stick with the plan. If he’s a good candidate, he’ll be fine;)
in a perfect world your son would have all SAT section scores above 700 but 2220 is an exceptionally strong score overall so I don’t think that is a major issue. As noted a very high percentage of the ED/EA pool would be either athletes or legacy. I do think how well known the high school is and the high school profile make a difference. Top 5% at different high schools can mean very different things. His list of colleges includes essentially no safeties aside from Binghamton. Demographics play a role. Take Williams incoming class and eliminate the athlete, legacy, URM, and international spots. Then take what’s left and divide it in half for male / female admit distribution. How many admissions spots are there really?
@rjjxv26, please keep us posted! I really want to know where your son gets in.
@Wje9164be, at least the OP is posting about his son. If he had a daughter, odds would be higher of the student being shut out of the LACs on their list.
Don’t forget first-generation college students, who make up about 20% of the admitted pool. Low-income students (such as those from QuestBridge) also get a hook.
@Wje9164be, good points. The hooked applicants reduce the effective admit class size and thus the published admit rates, that’s for sure. I would add that not all applicants apply to a school with the same chances for success. The super-star applicant who gets into Stanford never had 5% chance of getting in; it was always much higher than the legions of kids who said “what the hell.” But yes, the absolute figures are sometimes startlingly small.
Oh gosh, I’m certainly not saying you shouldn’t have asked or that it wasn’t a good question. Only that by senior year second semester there’s literally nothing to be done about it.
You did say, in your OP: “Any impressions or advice are welcome.” - and that’s what you got 