<p>If you got in to a state university that does not mean you have been rejected everywhere. I don't think anyone on CC can really be completely shut out IMO.</p>
<p>Actually some people HAVE been completely shut out because they only applied to “reach” schools without a state school or other academic/financial safety as a backup. </p>
<p>Not only do I not understand such people, I don’t have much sympathy for them either.</p>
<p>I actually do have some sympathy for them in that they did not have adequate guidance from their college counselor or parents.</p>
<p>All they had to do was look at acceptance rates.</p>
<p>We are talking about 17 year olds, the age most of them were last fall when they drew up their lists and applied. The fortunate ones had guidance counselors and parents/grandparents who truly guided them, and insisted some TRUE safeties be included. Also made sure they chose safeties they had toured/liked. Some kids didn’t get that guidance, and the danger is more prevalent with high stat kids. If my S had listened to his grandfather, he would only have applied to top 20 schools. Grandpa still doesn’t understand how much things have changed. We insisted S apply to 3 true safeties along with the reaches and matches.</p>
<p>As I live abroad, I’ve seen quite a few great kids get in absolutely nowhere because they aren’t American citizens and needed quite a bit of financial aid. It’s a really sad situation to watch, especially since most of them won’t be able to go to a uni in this country either because they’ve been following an American curriculum. </p>
<p>That being said, I do feel sympathetic for the kids who didn’t have real safeties due to lack of guiding. The guidance counselors at my school kept pushing the same 5-10 schools on all the students, meaning that most of us ended up unknowingly competing for the same colleges. They also didn’t warn kids about the necessity of safeties, resulting in many people overreaching. </p>
<p>As for people who say they got in nowhere but mean that they only got into their safety, I really wish they would just shut up. I know it’s a tough situation, but not comparable to not getting in anywhere.</p>
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<p>Truth.</p>
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<p>So is this, but I sometimes have a hard time remembering it. </p>
<p>If a person applied only to reaches despite having been told he needed an appropriate mix of colleges, and the most important part was finding good safeties that he liked, then I have no sympathy. But there are some young people who didn’t know better, and who got some seriously bad advice from adults who intended to help them but didn’t. I do feel bad for those kids.</p>
<p>No, I think there’s a Catch-22 there. You know how much information there is online, and I know it, but we know it only because we already know it. </p>
<p>If you don’t know how much you don’t know, then you don’t know corrective action is needed.</p>
<p>I think it’s completely possible to be naive, or badly advised, without being from Appalachia.</p>
<p>But, look, I don’t care. You want to have no sympathy for these kids? Go right ahead. That’s your prerogative. I feel do feel some sympathy for them. I don’t understand why you seem to have a problem with that, wallrus.</p>
<p>There are 20% of people in the US without access to the internet.</p>
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<p>Nothing. For Pete’s sake, that was never the question. </p>
<p>I simply said that I think it’s too bad when kids aim too high because they got bad advice or no advice.<br>
I intend to feel bad for them. I don’t expect colleges to do anything for them.</p>
<p>Why such rancor?</p>
<p>Let’s be real here. Most of the kids complaining about “not getting in anywhere” are kids who knew exactly what to do to play the game. Their parents do, too. And I agree with wallrus that they should know better. Look at how many of them are kids who have long-established accounts on this site with dozens of posts about “chances,”</p>
<p>Sally, I think we all agree that the kids who should know better should know better.</p>
<p>Wallrus: OK, but suppose for a moment that I accepted your premise. These kids–and at 17 or 18, they are still kids, damn straight–are victims of their own poor planning and nothing else. How are they, or you, or any of us better off for your heartless approach? What good is that doing for anybody, except perhaps for the person who enjoys assessing blame? And what harm is done by my saying, “Wow, you got really terrible advice, and I’m sorry. That kind of sucks”?</p>
<p>OK. Not how I see it–at least, not in every case.</p>
<p>Chiming in… on my son’s account. We are new to CC and the college process. Neither I or my hubby went to college, (big mistake), and our oldest son, 17, is just starting this journey. I happen to be OCD when it comes to big endeavors in our lives, buying a house, car, doctors, etc. – I am a research nut. I have spent many hours and long nights researching colleges, college app processes, etc. and I have come to the conclusion on this particular web-site that SOME of the kids will NOT accept the fact that the college admission decisions are holistic. They are programmed to believe that if they don’t get admitted into an ivy league school, they are a complete failure. It’s very sad to me when I read the SAT thread, that some students were thinking of re-taking a 2340 score. WHAT?? and more importantly, WHY?? My son is a straight A student, has been all his life, 4.0 GPA, 8 AP classes, ranked 3/465, sounds pretty good, right. It is. We are very proud of him. But when it comes time to apply to college, we are encouraging him to 5 safe and 3 reach. His SAT score is a 1970, one sitting, and he is fine with that. I am too. He has so much more going for him than an SAT score. It does not reflect who he is. Personality wise or academically. If he happens to get “lucky” and get an acceptance from UPENN, great, if not, we’ll move on. He’s OK with that and so are we. I feel bad for the kids that get rejected from HYPS and can’t deal with it. It really is so sad to me.</p>
<p>* His SAT score is a 1970, one sitting, and he is fine with that. I am too. He has so much more going for him than an SAT score. It does not reflect who he is. Personality wise or academically*</p>
<p>While that is a fine score, if you want him to get accepted to the schools that give the best FA, then he should retest. Or if you want him to get a good sized merit scholarship, he should retest.</p>
<p>There are many “good schools” that will accept them, but those schools probably don’t give the best aid or he won’t qualify for the best merit. </p>
<p>Getting “accepted” is VERY different from getting the best aid pkg. many schools do “preferential pkgs” which mean that the best aid goes to their top test scoring students. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that he needs a 2300, but something in the 2050-2150 range or ACT 30+ range might get him better aid/merit.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are mostly based on test scores…other “stuff” might be used for down-selecting, but the high test score is what gets the app put in the “scholarship” pile.</p>
<p>But, if you’re fully prepared to pay the $25k-55k per year for the college that he likes, then fine. :)</p>
<p>mom2collegekids - point taken. Like I stated, new to this and will definitely research that next. ;)</p>
<p>Totally agree you sound like an awesome mom with a balanced approach in this crazy process! That said, I will echo the suggestion that your son consider taking the SATs a second time. He doesn’t need high cost prep courses or tutoring, but I have seen big improvements with relatively modest investment: doing some practice tests from Real SATs over the summer and in early fall; understanding how the writing essay is scored (and how to best prepare for it); and reviewing vocab words (my daughter, who is a slow reader, ascribes her very good CR score to studying the words in the book “Direct Hits”)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Same here. with 2340SAT and retake is not a sensible decision. But below 2000 for an academically strong student, I would retake. You will hate to see doors closed at your wonderful child bc of the bad SAT score</p>
<p>Sent from my Nexus 7 using CC</p>
<p>More to the point:</p>
<p>the kids complaining that they didn’t get in anywhere are posting on CC. Which means they have computer access, and a wealth of information at their fingertips.</p>
<p>I DO think that even schools regarded as safeties in the past are getting less and less safe. </p>
<p>Some people seem to have been shut out with good stats and a reasonable safety.</p>
<p>I feel sorry for kids who get bad advice or poor guidance.</p>
<p>And, truthfully, I feel bad for all of them. They are just kids. It’s not like they are seasoned application pros.</p>