<p>Yes… my S hasn’t had much luck with his EA schools… 2200 SAT’s…3.6GPA… Eagle SCout,1500 Community Service hrs, internship at National Parks, first responder.search and rescue volunteer, commutes 3 hrs a day to school,and had a JOB… deferred at 3 “perceived” safety schools… he is WAY over their 75% stats for SAT’s. He visited and interviewed at all schools and truly liked all of them…he does have 1 acceptance at an OOS school with a somewhat competitve admissions… it just seems SO unpredictable for the higher stat kids…</p>
<p>Just a question, why Catholic? GW and American are much better matches for her if she wants to be in DC. Are you looking for merit aid? Sometimes, if the applicant is WAY too qualified, the university will reject him/her so as to avoid negatively affecting their yield rate.</p>
<p>^I like American, but I don’t think it has Engineering. GW does have a small school I think and they made the point on our tour that it has a 50/50 M/F ratio.</p>
<p>Catholic also has an Honors Program which seems to be a natural fit for many of these high achieving students. It’s one of the reasons that my D was so attracted to the school.</p>
<p>Oh whoops, didn’t read the whole OP lol. Yeah, for engineering, American and GW probably aren’t your best bets.</p>
<p>Aw! Give your daughter a hug! One of my kids had a safety lose the application. I seem to recall a similar post about Catholic last year so I have a feeling they protect their yield. And I definitely agree with qdogpa: Catholic school kids have an easier time getting into many of the Catholic universities. I wonder if she would be interested in Villanova, Santa Clara or Fordham?</p>
<p>Granite State Mom - good luck to your daughter. Do you know if they are still eligible for the Honors program and merit aid if they are accepted regular decision? I think she and my daughter would have a lot in common if they met! We are from RI and also traveled to DC to see the school’s Open House.</p>
<p>My daughter also visited GW and American, although she would be a Math major at American as there is no engineering. Yes, she is hoping for merit aid wherever she goes. With that said, she really did like the atmosphere of both the university and its engineering program at CUA; it’s not a “DC last resort” at all for her. </p>
<p>One of the things the adm. person stressed to me was that they really need to know WHY my D wants to apply to CUA, so I believe that they are looking for someone who really wants to be there. I only wish they required a supplemental essay, if that is indeed the criteria they are using when selecting students for admission. She does have a chance to explain that now, though, and has already sent an email outlining her interest. Good luck to all of us!</p>
<p>Mom6 - still waiting to hear the official word. Very frustrating. I agree that if they want to see why a student wants to attend CUA, they need to ask the question in a supplement. I guess I’m more than a little surprised that they would defer female engineering majors with good stats. Very weird. Where else has your D been accepted?</p>
<p>It’s probably not anything sinister, but likely they didn’t have time to fully process all the applications on time, or a transcript was missing from the application the day they reviewed it, etc. You know full well she will be accepted eventually and likely be offered a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>A similar thing happened to our D last year at another small college (not CU). There was every reason to think that our D would be accepted to this school and no reason she would not. No one with her stats had ever been rejected on the Naviance charts. But they deferred her. Frankly, even though this school was in D’s top 2 initially, she never would consider attending there after that. I believe it was nothing more than just lack of efficient app processing. Eventually she was accepted and offered a scholarship, but she chose the other school without a thought. In a teen’s mind, if you were deferred, they must not think you are really who they want, or something like that. Schools that do this hurt their own yield IMO.</p>
<p>It may be in your case, CU will never accept your D, if she accepts a slot somewhere else in December/January, thus not hurting CU’s yield.</p>
<p>If she really wants to attend CU, she should write a letter to admissions now stating renewed interest and update any recent activities or awards to strengthen her app.</p>
<p>So sorry you’ve had this disappointment, OP. What stands out to me is 1) your D2 is way over CU’s typical student–raising red flags as to why she is applying–weird right?, 2) your D1 was admitted then did not attend (implying this may be a safety school in your family), and 3) you have not actually said that your D would attend if admitted. So, with that said, she is in a spot. Can she write honestly that CU is a top top contender in order to persuade them that 1 & 2 are not indicators she’ll bale on them when better schools come along? </p>
<p>Sometimes higher stat kids fish around for wonderful merit aid by applying to schools where they’d be in the top of the heap. The hope is the school will try to lure the high stat student with the big scholarships. In this case, I’m afraid, CU did not bite. Even if she can persuade them of her sincere interest in attending, I’m not sure that will bring about a great merit offer.</p>
<p>Onward and upward, though. Glad she has already been offered merit at other worthy schools.</p>
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<p>Like saman42 said, don’t go to DC for engineering. Your in-state flagship is usually a much better choice (financially and academically).</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is of any help, but I’ve tended to have a kind of “well fine then” reaction when my kids got bad admissions news. With DS#1, he did well with most of the schools he applied to but got deferred at the school <em>I</em> really wanted him to go to. I harumphed and very quickly wrote that school off my mental list (which was actually kind of freeing). Many of the schools he got into (including the one he’s attending) had higher stats. He did get a call that spring admitting him but I was almost a little tickled to tell the admissions woman that the ship had already sailed.</p>
<p>With DS#2 it was a very surprising mix of in-state/OOS results, but I really am a fatalist. If your daughter was not meant to be at CU, then so be it.</p>
<p>My best advice is to let it go. The admissions process is so not black-and-white, and you can make yourself a little nutsy trying to figure out any one decision. Focus on where your daughter did/will get in.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone; I’m the OP and really appreciate all your thoughts and insight. It has made both my daughter and I feel better about the whole thing, and we’ll have to see what happens. I have read on another forum re: CUA early action, that several high stats students have been deferred, too. So she’s not alone.</p>
<p>Granite State Mom - my D has been accepted at Assumption in Worcester, Univ. of Hartford, and also applied to URI. Will also apply to Roger Williams Univ., Fordham, Trinity in Hartford, GW, American, U Penn and Cornell, but she knows those last two are reaches. She’d like an urban school if possible, though not all she applied to are urban, and somewhere where she can get active in the school community and still be involved with music, and of course, merit aid would be nice! CUA did fit the bill, so we’ll see what happens.</p>
<p>Since she’s looking for urban, engineering, wondering why Drexel didn’t make your D’s list? They usually give out a decent amount of merit aid for high stats kids. Also, I don’t think they will turn your D down for being overqualified.</p>
<p>I second the suggestion about Drexel. Their program is similar to Northeastern - typically 5 years with co-ops, though there are some 4 year options. D got in for engineering with a very nice merit scholarship. As pamom said, rather than turning away overqualified kids, they actively recruit them.</p>
<p>Also, if she wants to major in engineering wherever she goes, have you thought about WPI? They love women engineers and have a great music program - musical theater, band, jazz, and chorus. Their musical groups tour abroad almost every year. My husband is an alum and was very involved with music in college - went to Great Britain, France, and Russia with the band. </p>
<p>Best of luck to your D! (My D is STILL waiting to hear from CUA, but she is not feeling the love, especially after her less than informative phone call.)</p>
<p>This is a clear case of Tufts syndrome IMO, they simply didn’t believe she would attend. Her stats are too good, she did not attend a Catholic HS and accepted sister turned them down.</p>
<p>I don’t blame you for being dumbfounded and upset over this. I thought applying EA meant that you were obviously interested in a school. To me it seems to point to her non-Catholic “preference” as much as anything. The fact that 85% of the undergrads are Catholic tells me that you probably don’t have to do too much investigating as to why she was deferred.</p>
<p>If this turns out to be the reason why she was deferred (and I’m really only speculating), it may be a “blessing in disguise”. Not sure I’d want to attend a school that seems to only want a student body made up of just one primary religion.</p>
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I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the OP, at least, is apparently Catholic and was referred by her parish priest. She just went to a secular high school. It looks like she applied or will apply to a few Catholic schools. Some people actually prefer that or have no problem with it you know. </p>
<p>So I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Maybe another poster in the thread?</p>
<p>Yes, Bovertine you are correct. I am the OP on this and we are Catholic; she received a sponsorship/nomination for a CUA Parish Scholarship from our pastor so CUA was aware; I made sure that the admissions office took note of this on her application. </p>
<p>I’m sure Catholic high school graduates receive preference at most Catholic colleges and universities, though - although I did see another post on another forum where a Catholic high school grad with high stats. was also deferred from CUA! So, go figure. My daughter opted for our public school because of the wealth of opportunities it would give her in music, which is important to her - and it had a strong honors track. </p>
<p>I am curious if others think the fact that her older sister declined the spot really mattered for my D - it was two years ago? My older D loved CUA and recommended it to her sister, but in the end felt it was too far from our home.</p>
<p>The second one doesn’t mind leaving though!</p>
<p>^I meant to say non-Catholic HiGH SCHOOL preference. I also wasn’t suggesting that 85% of all undergrads went to a Catholic HS, just suggesting that that is a very high number of Catholic undergrads and that a large number of them probably DID attend a Catholic HS. </p>
<p>Bottom line: I do not think it is Tuft’s Syndrome or have anything to do with a sibling rejecting the school, IMHO…</p>