<p>Son, a National Merit Finalist, grades OK but not stellar, was accepted by safety but rejected by everywhere else except for one waitlist. His sorrow is painful to see. Anyone else in this boat? How are you coping?</p>
<p>Hmmm…sounds like an opportunity to me. A National Merit Finalist? Anyone who receives over 220 (or perhaps higher in his case) on the PSAT is just flat out bright. Apply himself at the safety (and college is a good time to mature) and he will likely be at the top of his class. It certainly might be a better motivator in the long run, and a good life lesson. I can see competitive colleges not knowing what to do with a very high score/ok grade combination. I am not stating this to make him feel better… but really, for a talented kid - the sooner he views any school he attends as an opportunity to exploit to its fullest rather than a name associated with prestige or ranking the faster he will just get down to business. </p>
<p>My own experience with my kid is now the opposite. But my biggest worry is whether the candle has been burned too much in high school - this is not a trivial one - but a sincere worry. I suspect you might say this is a problem you would like to have; but really, especially with boys who often mature much later, I would let him endure his heartbreak on his own now, with the perspective that the talent is there and likely will develop.</p>
<p>I am so sorry for you and him. Mine is wait-listed at one, but fortunately got some acceptances too. Have you read the posts about getting off the waitlist? I know the odds are not great, but there’s a chance. If he’s not happy with his safety, I’ve also seen threads about colleges that take late applications, like still accepting them–if you want to consider that. Meanwhile, what is his favorite food or movie? Hang in there and don’t let him see that you’re distraught–he has to know that you know he’ll survive and even thrive.</p>
<p>When this happened to my D1 two years ago, she wanted to know if we were disappointed in her. Of course we weren’t, we just wanted her to be happy. College process is the most demoralizing process. Make sure he understands it doesn’t define who he is or what he has accomplished to date. </p>
<p>I am really sorry. There is nothing worse than to see your kid in pain. Our D1 didn’t get exactly what she wanted, but it was a happy ending for her.</p>
<p>We are headed in that direction here, so you have my sympathies. I think it is more difficult for us parents than the kids. We have acceptances at safeties, rejections at both match schools, and rejections from 2 of 5 reaches. Kids are resilent. And, this time next year, it will be only a memory…</p>
<p>My daughter and I read this somewhere, and I’ve discussed it with my kids:</p>
<p>“How can you be brave if you only ever have good things happen to you?”</p>
<p>How great your son was a Natl Merit Finalist! It does reflect his excellent abilities. If he tries to approach his safety bravely 
with an open mind, great things might happen.</p>
<p>One idea - check out the “safties” thread on cc and I bet there are kids woefully disappointed who are not being accepted…</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>define “ok grades”…</p>
<p>I am so sorry, CAS75. My D has gotten 2 WLs from schools she was certain she’d get into, so I feel a little of your pain. Her 2 acceptances are from schools that will be out of reach financially unless they come through with a really boffo aid package, which I doubt. </p>
<p>Last spring, our school counsellor said that the class of '08 was shocking her – IB students with 4.5 GPA, fab test scores and EC’s – being WL-ed or rejected, students who would certainly have been accepted just a year or two earlier. She said it’s simple demographics. Turns out we had our kids in the middle of a baby boom, and those kids are now flooding colleges with applications. The class of '09 is the largest in history, and unfortunately, it’s the peak of the boom. </p>
<p>One of D’s WLs is from Earlham – a nice little LAC to be sure, but hardly Stanford. The letter said that there were 5000 apps for 500 slots. 10% acceptance! At Earlham fer cryin out loud! </p>
<p>But it might be interesting to see how it plays out. It sounds like the same small group of students are being accepted everywhere, and a large group of otherwise-qualified students are being WL-ed (and don’t forget that they ARE qualified, or they would have been rejected). As the accepted students decide on one college, that should open up spots on the others they applied to, and kids like yours and mine might move up.</p>
<p>You’re right Lasma, colleges are bound to dip deep into their W-L. Yields number should be all over the place, since students applied to gazillion colleges.</p>
<p>So there will a a new fresh hell. The waitlist. I have been dreading this all this year. So far my D has been accepted into 2 colleges where she will be happy. Rejected at 3 that she was not thrilled about. Today the first rejection that really devastated her came. And I do fear that this is only the beggining. All the other schools are reaches and she would have to be very lucky to get into one. This weekend and the next week will be horrible and I do feel for her. I try to be sympathetic and what else can you do. Myheart breaks for her.</p>
<p>therein lies the double edged sword of multiple applications to reaches.</p>
<p>take solace in the fact that D has 2 acceptances under her belt.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Earlham’s acceptance rate is far higher than 10%. No school has anything approaching a 100% yield, so every school must accept many more candidates than it has slots for. For example, last year Earlham admitted 75.5% of applicants. It enrolled just 23.6% of those admitted. (That 23.6% figure is the yield.)</p>
<p>[College</a> Navigator - Earlham College](<a href=“College Navigator - Search Results”>College Navigator - Earlham College)</p>
<p>I am not sorry in the least for this young man. he obviously has loving caring parents, is accepted to what is I sure a good school that provides all he needs --opportunity. If he applies himself to even a reasonable degree, his can go anywhere he wants.</p>
<p>There are people ill , injured, poor, in jail , on drugs… and more
enjoy what should be a bountiful life … tell him this!</p>
<p>Thank you for that info, wjb. What a great website, I wish I’d discovered it about 6 months ago.</p>
<p>I actually mis-typed – Earlham is where she’s been admitted, the WLs are from Colorado College and Muhlenberg. So help me understand Colorado College’s numbers for Fall 08:</p>
<p>Applicants: 5342
Percent admitted: 26% (1389 students got admission letters?)
Percent admitted who enrolled: 39.7% (551 admitted students enrolled?)</p>
<p>The college’s letter says “More than 5300 students applied to Colorado College this year. We are aiming for a first-year class of about 500 students.” (That’s where I got the 10% figure.) It later mentions that previous years’ wait lists have been about 250 students, and they have admitted anywhere from 10 to 100 off the wait list. Combining that language with the above stats, it looks like D has a pretty small chance of being admitted.</p>
<p>She doesn’t see any point in sending back the card agreeing to be on the WL (“Even if they admit me, they’re not going to give us any money”.) I don’t see any point in NOT sending it. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Huggs to you and your son. In the world of CC, there is nothing new under the sun</p>
<p>A couple of years ago, pretty much the same thing happened to another poster’s son. I am posting the threads so that hopefully it will give you and your son ideas as to your next steps and to let your son know that he is still the same fantastic kid he was before the admissions process started. All the best to your family.</p>
<p>We’re picking up the pieces, but what went wrong?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Student took a gap year</p>
<p>No Acceptances: One Kid’s Story - A year later… </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>LasMa, I’d let your daughter decide about Colorado College. She might not want to prolong the agony. If she’s ready to move on and begin to be happy about Earlham, I’d let her.</p>
<p>That makes sense, Cardinal, and she’s probably right about limited financial aid at Colorado. I’ll do that.</p>
<p>She would definitely be happy at Earlham, but it’s all going to depend on the FA offer. We were hoping for 5 acceptances, so that we could compare the packages, and even possibly use them in appeals. But we are definitely glad to have one acceptance in the bag.</p>
<p>She doesn’t see any point in sending back the card agreeing to be on the WL (“Even if they admit me, they’re not going to give us any money”.) I don’t see any point in NOT sending it. Thoughts? </p>
<p>LasMa - If you D thinks she may want to go to this university, send in the waitlist card. There is no reason not to. It’s about options for your daughter. Not to sound too cliche, but ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained…’ What’s to lose? This year, in this economy, who knows what can happen.</p>
<p>My D1 had an ill-advised list for her apps. This was nearly a decade ago and there was not the prevalence of info on CC that is now available. Fin Aid was an issue for us. She had ONE financial safety public and we learned that Profile was not our friend. This was before some of the current programs which limit home equity by income.</p>
<p>Anyway, when all was said and done she had several reach declines and some reaches which did not offer us enough money so she ended up at a mid range UC (her only UC fin safety app) and she was never happy there. If I could go back and do it all again I would recommend a gap year.</p>
<p>Hopefully many today are researching better and getting a better group of possibles as I did with my subsequent kids, but if you do end up with only an undesirable safety that your kid simply cannot learn to love, consider a gap year.</p>
<p>That is better than going, hating it, not working to potential and then being unable to transfer!</p>
<p>Probably not a good idea to send your kid to a school they really didn’t want to go to. I have a friend whose kid partied big time.</p>