<p>I have boy/girl twins who both applied to UK with similar resumes:
-34 ACT (single sitting)
-AP Scholar with Distinction (5 APs junior year, 4 more senior year)
-NMF
-multi-sport varsity athlete
-3.9+ UW GPA
-hundreds of service hours
-Kentucky Governor's Scholar</p>
<p>The major differences between the two is that DD is Valedictorian, Class Vice-President and had a part-time job. DS played three sports (Captain of one), while DD played two (allowing her time to work). DD was accepted into UK's Honors program, but son was rejected.</p>
<p>When I called to discuss with UK, they said they had received over 2,000 applications for 400 spots. I pushed for more information and found that they accepted 700 applicants to fill the 400. When I asked why DS was rejected, she said he had an outstanding record but his essays were rated "Acceptable", which is apparently a middling grade. That was enough to knock him out of consideration, even though he is more math/science oriented and writing is not a strength. There is no appeal process available.</p>
<p>I am astonished that four years of hard work are overshadowed by essays. I tend to believe that politics must have entered in to the process somehow. They attend a small, Catholic school in Kentucky with only 52 graduates in their class. Perhaps they are only allocated one slot for the Honors program? DS was accepted EA at Notre Dame - has UK's Honor College become more selective than UND?</p>
<p>Even more baffling is that as an NMF, UK has awarded DS a virtual full-ride scholarship. As a Kentucky tax-payer, I hope they are not offering more than 400 full-rides to the incoming freshman class. When I pointed this out to the Honors College rep, she responded that the Honors College admission process is separate from the scholarship process.</p>
<p>I saw on another thread someone who was accepted in the Honors College with an ACT of 30, but no other information. Does anyone know any more information about how the process works or statistics about those accepted?</p>
<p>I hope I have not been too overbearing in this post. It certainly is possible that I think more highly of my children than I should. Hopefully the FA from Notre Dame will be generous and will make his decision easy.</p>
<p>i also think highly of my son. in my opinion, he should had been awarded to the full ride at xxx university. however, he wasn’t chosen.<br>
we had no choice but to accept their decision and move on.</p>
<p>i suggest you get over it since there is no appeal process.</p>
<p>I totally share your pain rmldad. I received notification today that I was rejected from Honors but am being placed on the waiting list. I thought my stats were pretty good: 32 ACT, four AP classes last year, six this year, 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.62 weighted. My extracurriculars aren’t amazing, but NHS, NSHS, cross country, Spanish Club and several others are not bad. I’ve gotten into honors at all of the other schools I’ve applied to, including OSU and Miami. I find it surprising that I got into Honors at OSU but not UK. I was thinking that my essays might have been what killed me, but I find it hard to believe that the applications were so competitive that it came down to who wrote a better essay, especially considering the subjective nature of deciding which essays are better than others. Incidentally, I go to a relatively small Catholic school here in Ohio. </p>
<p>I was also disappointed in their scholarships, as I only got the National Excellence Scholarship. Being out of state, $4500 a year is horribly low. I’m getting more from OSU. My family and I thought that UK was really generous with its scholarships based on a lot of the mail we received from them last year, so I thought that I had a terrific shot at the Singletary. I really wonder what their decisions behind scholarships and Honors are.</p>
<p>I think I’m officially crossing UK off my list now, which is a shame since I really liked it when I toured last year.</p>
<p>Misery - (do you really love company?) - thanks for your empathy. It seems that UK really is sending out confusing signals about scholarships this year. Perhaps since their NMF package is so generous, they received a larger response than anticipated and it is impacting many other admission/scholarship decisions. tOSU and Miami both impressed us when we visited those schools and should be excellent options for you.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with lvvcsf - “Congratulations to Kentucky on what must be a stellar class.”</p>
<p>Rmldad: when I visited with my daughter recently, the Honors school rep mentioned twice the importance of the essays and that they would all be read by two honors staff. She emphasized the huge number of applicants versus spots as well…your son’s resume is awesome…at our house, this would be extra hard if a sibling with similar stats got it and the other didn’t…not a jealousy per se just even harder to explain…sympathy here!</p>
<p>Rmldad,
Well, I assume you are referring to my post, as someone who had a child who was accepted to the honors program with a 30 ACT. I am sorry you are disappointed. We had a disappointment ourselves, as my child was wait listed for the honors program at another school!</p>
<p>In terms of her academic stats, I’m sure they may not be as strong as your child. I will say, on the other hand, that she is an exceptional writer. I am also quite confident that her EC’s are pretty unique.</p>
<p>I am also pretty sure that the honors program looks at many things beyond grades, since all these kids have strong academics. Who know? I would guess they look for diversity in location (and we come from a school and state that doesn’t send a lot of kids to Kentucky) and major and probably diversity in EC’s and volunteering.</p>
<p>Again I am sorry for your disappointment. The college app process is just as hard on the parents as it is on the kids, it seems to me!!!</p>
<p>@VBCMom - Congratulations to your daughter on her acceptance to UK’s Honor College. Also, thanks for your kind words. I think the college app process might be harder on the parents since we have so much less control over the process and a bit more perpective on the importance of opportunities. DS didn’t seem too upset over the HC rejection and I have been constantly biting my tongue around him. CC is a wonderful place to vent in relative anonymity.</p>
<p>I am still really stumped about why one of my twins was accepted and the other rejected when their credentials are so similar. DD spent more time on her essays and that might have been the deciding factor. It is disappointing since the essays by their nature penalize STEM-oriented students and are by far the easiest part of the application to embellish one’s credentials.</p>
<p>Could it be that UK got more top applicants than usual due to the reduced UAlabama NMF scholarship and the new UK honors dorm? Seems like a bit of a disconnect in administration thinking. At most schools with big NMF scholarships, either honors is automatic for NMF, or if there is an app with essay, it’s basically a formality with honors semiautomatic so long as you make a reasonable effort. They must know that NMFs are not choosing these schools for the money alone, but as a package including the honors experience which makes the school a solid choice. If they want them enough to give away all that money, they should realize they need to make room for them in honors. Of course, they can run things as they wish, but I am just wondering about their thought process.</p>
<p>I sympathize about the essays. D hasn’t been denied honors anywhere, but for ‘wholistic’ scholarship apps for which her EC accomplishments not good enough to stand on their own, she has not done well. She gets stat driven ones. Her abilities lean STEMish and even for schools about which she is enthusiastic and for which she works hard on the apps, her writing level falls short, not mature and doesn’t shine enough to win them over. It’s been a learning process. Had we understood the scholarship award process at various schools better as we went into this, might not have applied to many of these schools with big signature scholarships where she gets in but can’t win the $. Should have done more research/thought things through, could have saved time/money. Well, we’ve one left at home, so will learn from this experience and not repeat mistakes.</p>
<p>As a current Honors student at UK, I can affirm the importance of the essays. Yes, test scores are important, but they are not the bottom line. It is the essays that make or break the application. Writing is no longer just for the Humanities major; communication is interdisciplinary. For example, I was just accepted into medical school. Although my MCAT score “got me in the door,” the crucial parts of my application were the personal statement and the interview.
Application essays are about setting yourself apart and showing true creativity. An essay that does not fit a prompt or was forced into a prompt is obvious and will be marked down compared to an eloquent and outstanding essay that engages a reader.</p>
<p>College admissions is not done merely on merit anymore.</p>
<p>There are affirmative action considerations, geographic considerations, and the like.</p>
<p>I do not agree with this, but that is the way it is.</p>
<p>In my opinion, essays are just an excuse to apply subjective criteria. Why should an essay count for more than 4 years of work. Obviously, it shouldn’t. The college doesn’t even really know whether a good essay was written by the applicant.</p>
<p>The fact your kid, with his fine record, was rejected shows that the process has in many ways become a farce. </p>
<p>I suspect many were accepted that have a record nowhere near as good as your son’s.</p>
<p>You have no choice but to move on.</p>
<p>Last year, my son had a 2300 SAT, and 14 AP courses, yet was rejected at many schools, who admitted kids with far less impressive records.</p>
<p>I had my son, who did not have much in the way of ECs, apply to schools in England, where they go basically by hard data. I figured he should play in a game where the rules favored him.</p>
<p>In your case, your son had good ECs as well.</p>
<p>For those students who weren’t selected for Honors – what is your impression of the “intellectual-ness” of the regular courses, residence hall life, etc.? Put another way, have you heard any comparisons of, say, the level of discussion and expectations in Honors classes -vs- regular courses? Class size, motivation levels, types of assessment (written answers -vs- multiple choice), anything else?</p>
<p>I think it is odd that the OP’s son did not get accepted in honors, especially as he’s a NMF. Somebody with his stats should definitely get in, even with an average essay (the fact he is a STEM student should be taken in consideration).</p>
<p>I had put University of Kentucky on the list where my junior hs student should apply next year. He is not a NMF and, although we haven’t gotten his ACT score back, probably won’t have as impressive stats as the OP’s son. I thought he would “try” for the Otis Singletary scholarship. Also from my research, I would be comfortable if he was in the honors college but I am not sure if I would be okay if he was not. From what is written on this thread, do you think it would be even worth spending the time and application fee for him to apply?</p>
<p>@onetogo2 - You are correct. Both twins qualified for the Presidential scholarship which covers tuition, fees, room and limited board.</p>
<p>@kjcphmom - What I have heard through the rumor mill is that Honors College acceptances are based largely on geography - it is much easier to be accepted if you are from out of state or under-represented parts of Kentucky. If it was a strict meritocracy, more than half the HC would be from the Louisville area. I agree with your concerns about your son enrolling in the “university at large”, especially if he is not naturally aggressive about finding and pursuing opportunities. Don’t expect much in terms of merit scholarships unless he is NMF (I heard all the Singletary scholars this year had already qualified for the Presidential scholarhsip as NMFs).</p>
<p>@ahsmuoh - You are correct that DS could apply to HC as a sophmore. However, in my mind, the main advantages of the HC are in easing the transition and making new friends during freshman year.</p>
<p>For anyone still interested in this thread, both my twins have decided to decline the Presidential scholarships and accept generous offers to other universities. For a variety of reasons, neither will attend UK next fall.</p>
<p>rmldad, thanks for your input. My first 2 sons were NMFs so I had different opportunities for them for merit scholarships. S3 is not, although he is as bright as the other 2 so I have been “researching” possible schools where he might get a scholarship so he won’t be in a lot of debt after graduation. From your information, I will take Univ. of Kentucky off of his list. </p>
<p>Good luck to your twins. I hope they have a great experience at the school(s) they chose.</p>
<p>I recently got in to UK’s Honors College. They informed me that there were over 3200 applicants for only 450 spots (14% admit rate) so it has become really competitive! </p>
<p>It seems like your son is a strong student, and will do great wherever he goes! I’m surprised that he didn’t get in, but it will all work out for the best! </p>
<p>I am not an expert, but I would say that WRITING and the essay is a huge factor, along with community service and leadership experience. Also, I am NOT from Kentucky or even a nearby state (Texas), which may have helped since there probably weren’t many Texans applying to Honors at UK - but who knows. </p>
<p>I also went to an Honors info session while touring and sat in on a class, in addition to going to an informative dinner about UK in my area. </p>
<p>Also, Honors is very Humanities/Writing oriented, from what I understand. There are plenty of opportunities for academic achievement elsewhere on campus. Just because a kid is smart and strong academically doesn’t mean that an Honors college will be the place where they thrive and learn best, much like how even the brightest students may not “click” with certain schools (ex. I am not math/science oriented and very interested in Liberal Arts, so MIT probably wouldn’t be a great match for me). </p>