<p>My oldest is in 9th grade. I came to CC for the high school and summer forums, got hooked and have begun aiding an extended relative thru the college process (with my 9th grader in toe to visits & fairs).</p>
<p>Seein how my relative has evolved in the last year with her choices made me wonder how many parents were surprised when May 1 rolled around for the finally choice vs. where the kids were as 10th or 11th graders?</p>
<p>I had never even heard of the school D1 ended up attending when she was in 10th grade. I did guess that she would go to an LAC; her independent K-12 school was very “LAC-ish”, and she adored it, so I was pretty sure that would appeal to her. And about 80% of our visits were to LACs.</p>
<p>We found her college in the Fiske book when we planned to visit a couple other nearby schools in April of her 11th grade year. We had an extra day, and she needed to beef up her safety school list. This one was strong in her major and EC interests, so we stopped by. She fell in love, and while she was admitted to some more selective schools, she really liked this school, and they covered about a third of the cost with merit money. She is a soph, and loves her choice!</p>
<p>I was. My daughter just graduated two weeks ago from the University of Florida. When she was growing up and all through high school she told us that she would never to go school in Florida and could not wait to go out of state. She didn’t even want to apply to any Florida schools but, being instate (with wonderful merit aid to good students), we made her apply to a few. Flash forward to spring of her senior year when she discovered that she dosen’t like to be cold and that she wanted to stay instate. Thank goodness we didn’t listen to her earlier and had made her apply to the state schools!!! She had a wonderful four years in Gainesville!</p>
<p>My son’s choice of Goucher was surprising in some ways and not in others. When we first started looking, he said he wanted a large, urban university in New England, so it’s funny that he wound up at a small suburban LAC in Maryland. </p>
<p>I guess it’s also mildly surprising that he chose the least selective/lowest ranked of the schools that admitted him (but only mildly, in his case, since he has never shown the slightest interest in such things). </p>
<p>OTOH, I knew from my first glance at the Goucher website that this was a place that he would connect with, and our visit last summer strongly confirmed this. So the choice was unsurprising in that sense.</p>
<p>I think what surprised me most about his decision was how quickly and emphatically he made it, once all the choices were set. He announced his choice the same afternoon he got his last rejection, and never expressed the slightest doubt or hesitation about it (at least, not until after it was too late to change it–buyer’s remorse runs in the family).</p>
<p>Compared to his freshman year, shocked. I hadn’t heard of the school during his freshman, it’s much farther away than I would have ever thought he’d choose, totally different climate, etc. The school he chose could not have been more different than what he said he wanted freshman year (UTexas).</p>
<p>Compared to sophomore year, surprised, as I still hadn’t even heard of the school at the beginning of sophomore year. But I knew then about LACs, and IMO that’s where he belonged.</p>
<p>Compared to junior year, pleasantly surprised. He liked the school upon visiting, and I was thrilled that he was willing to take a risk and seriously consider looking at a school 1,000 miles away. But I wasn’t convinced he’d end up there.</p>
<p>Now, looks like the perfect place for him. I’m glad that it’s turned out as it has.</p>
<p>I think with my neice, nephew & 3 of my own (too young to start much planning for them yet), this whole ride will be a lot of fun.</p>
<p>It is a LOT of fun. And stress.</p>
<p>I was not surprised by the final decision although I was surprised, and impressed, by D’s decisiveness and clarity in making her decision. </p>
<p>The chosen school was not one that was on her initial, uninformed lists. In fact, she just read her 9th grade letter (at her school, they write a letter to their future selves that the school mails to them at the end of their senior year). In it, she described her hopes of getting in to “X” school, which she visited last year and took off her list almost immediately after visiting (a fabulous school, just not a match for her). </p>
<p>The school she ended up choosing was one that was suggested by a college counselor (private, not the school counselor). When we visited, her Dad & I both almost immediately saw it as her best fit but bit our tongues and let her come to that decision on her own. As decisions came out in March, she was waiting on the one last one. It was a decline and she said, okay, then I’m going to “Y” school. I asked her to sit on the decision for a few days. She did and stayed equally convinced and I don’t get any sense that she has had any second thoughts about the other possibilities.</p>
<p>My son graduated from Swarthmore in 2008. In 2003 when he was still applying, I would never have guessed that he would land there. We just hadn’t heard of Swarthmore in Sept. 2003. It was my frequent visiting of CC that did it! He applied at the last minute after I told him he had nothing to lose but just the $75 application fee. The decision to matriculate was his, not mine.</p>
<p>Fast forward to now and my son says he could not have imagined graduating from the other places he did get into. So stuff does change in the matter of just a few months! And college does have a HUGE impact on who you turn out to be, except in some outlier cases where the student already knew who they were before they went to college (perhaps people like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook).</p>
<p>Exactly the same as srco14: I was not surprised by the final decision although I was surprised, and impressed, by D’s decisiveness and clarity in making her decision. </p>
<p>All the research and college visits were worth it. It made the decision-making easier on her side… and, on my end, I am sure that this is a great fit.</p>
<p>Having said that, there’s another of her top choices that she got admitted to for Spring 2011… we don’t have to tell them anything until November, so we are holding off, just an the complete off-chance that “perfect fit school” isn’t as perfect as we think.</p>
<p>College visits played a major part in my daughter’s decision, and I was very surprised at how it turned out. </p>
<p>I spent a year researching colleges, making spreadsheets, taking her on visits, pouring over books and brochures. She spent that same time telling everyone who asked that her top school was XXX…until we visited. After the tour she wanted to leave (even though we had an info session and lunch planned) and she never mentioned that school again.<br>
I had to force her to go on one last visit to the local private university. I hadn’t researched it at all, but they contacted her and offered to waive the application fee.<br>
She fell in love with the school and is thrilled to be going in the fall.</p>
<p>My kids are both double legacies at Harvard, but from early on we always figured our oldest would be more interested in that school down the river. He was, but they didn’t accept him and Harvard did. However he turned down Harvard for Carnegie Mellon (which I had only heard of because one of my best friends in architecture grad school had been an undergrad there in architecture). I knew nothing about it for computer science until we started looking at colleges more carefully spring of junior year.</p>
<p>For my youngest I had no idea what he might like. His grades made Harvard highly unlikely, I thought he might like an LAC, but he was quite firm that he wanted something bigger than his high school which ruled out all the LACs. (Though he did apply to Vassar just in case he changed his mind.) Interestingly it was in the process of applying to colleges that he also figured out what he might major in, and that then had a heavy influence on the list.</p>
<p>Not very surprised. My D paid no attention to colleges through 3 years of HS. She’d never heard of ANY of the schools to which she eventually applied before we mentioned them to her. </p>
<p>She was fascinated by the idea of Ivy League until the interviewer from Brown came to our house (“I did not like that lady. I don’t want to go there now.”), and she visited Cornell with an overnight dorm stay (“The food is pretty good, but hardly anybody smiles. And what’s with jumping into the Gorges?”). Then it was the LACs, none of which she’d ever heard of. Amherst, Swarthmore, Dickinson, Wesleyan (“OMG, I can’t remember one from the other. I’m getting a headache”). Apparently, except for the architecture, LACs seemed too similar. She had almost resigned herself to attending Penn State’s main campus ("Why do they call this “happy valley? It doesn’t excite me at all. It’s so big! It’s awful.”) then we visited Oberlin. </p>
<p>From the moment we stepped on campus, she had a smile on her face. She’d found “her people.” Intellectual like Swarthmore but bigger (Swat is smaller than her HS), with multiple dining options on campus (instead of one), a world-class classical music conservatory, a Jazz conservatory and art museum, no fraternities or sororities, an awesome library–especially for an LAC, no one gave a damn about sports, and liberal, liberal, liberal. It was the anti-Penn State.</p>
<p>On the seven hour drive home we didn’t have to ask where she hoped to go. It was all over her face.</p>
<p>I was surprised because he loved Stanford so much when we visited. Just loved everything about it. Then chose Harvard. I was disappointed. Would have preferred visiting him in Palo Alto.</p>
<p>I am not surprised; S’s choices were somewhat limited by his grades, his intended major, his particular requirements (location, size), and unfortunately, our finances.</p>
<p>But I was surprised that when he was waitlisted at his favorite school, he firmly decided to turn it down. He was enthused about an earlier acceptance, and was all set to have his decision finalized and get on with it. Avoiding waitlist drama made me very happy :)</p>
<p>Happy, relieved and grateful, but to be completely honest- not surprised.</p>
<p>S visited St. Olaf in Sp 09 along with Mac and Carleton on a trip not accompanied by parents. Mac and Carleton went off the list, but St. Olaf stayed on the list and he had a lot of positive things to say about his visit at St. Olaf.</p>
<p>In June, S and I visited College of Wooster, Oberlin, and Lawrence U. Oberlin dropped off (because of “too many busy streets running through campus” among other reasons).</p>
<p>Just before S left for Russia for an academic year exchange in August, I asked for a list of where he intended to apply and what the ranking was: Wooster and Lawrence were tied for first, St. Olaf was clearly in third place and no other place made his final cut.</p>
<p>St. Olaf was the last application completed. I then asked for an updated ranking. (1)St. Olaf, <a href=“2”>gap</a>Lawrence (3)Wooster with 2/3 a tie.</p>
<p>Was this a surprise? Not after I had a chance to read his “Why St. Olaf” essay. That essay put him back in touch with what he really had thought about St. Olaf. I’ve wondered if his choice might have been different if he would have had to write “Why Wooster?” and “Why Lawrence?” essays.</p>
<p>Maybe not surprised by the school itself but by the location. I thought for sure that Walla Walla would be a deal breaker. Starting to wonder if he chose the school that was hardest for me to get to, three plane rides and a rental car…</p>
<p>Oh, but Whitman is such an wonderful school! (And I say that even though I don’t have a kid there!)</p>
<p>Pleasantly surprised by the maturity and responsibility D has shown in her final decision - I hope she made the right decision in turning down a couple of powerhouse programs for the fiscally responsible alternative. While I know she’s been struggling at events where announcements of college choices are being made and some of her classmates are headed for more prestigious schools, she’s committed to make the best of the situation. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that once she gets there in the fall, she’ll discover that the program is the right place for her.</p>