I just want to add, since one of my seniors planned to go to Rutgers, on the Facebook parents page it appears that current students registering for classes are finding most are online for the fall.
GW has announced they are in person for this fall, Rutgers is requiring vaccines so not sure why they would be online this fall
1 Like
My daughter is in a similar situation - despite an upward trend and impressive senior year achievements she was âonlyâ accepted at her 3 safeties - GW too, plus Fordham and the in-state one (SUNY Binghamton). Pol sci too (and an international student at a US high school, which likely didnât help). Given the enormous price differential, she will go to SUNY Bing. She has also had a conditional offer from Edinburgh but wonât know until the summer if she has got in. But she is really embracing Bing now, not dwelling on what went wrong but making the most of the opportunities she will have. I am proud of her. It is how we respond to setbacks that really defines who we are and what we achieve. That is the way forward.
21 Likes
Iâm going to disagree with some of these arrogant and dated comments on how âyouâre not high stat enoughâ because so many thousands of low stat (like Câs) kids got into the UCâs and Ivyâs and T30âs schools this year. So who knows if you can transfer. The colleges changed the rules all of a sudden so high SAT and ACTâs are worth nothing so donât waste your time. Just do the best you can, study what you love, go to one of these great schools, and if youâre a harder worker and smarter kid, youâll excel in any business you choose. Because after the first few years, employers look for quality not a piece of paper.
2 Likes
Every time I see the title of this thread, I think âyou have got options!!â
7 Likes
Source please, as I highly doubt this is accurate as a general statement.
12 Likes
I canât speak to the Cs but it has been clear than many kids with middling scores (who then just applied test optional) got tippy top spots that they wouldnât have gotten in past cycles. Personally, I think scores still matter and I hope that faculty at these schools complain about the class the admission counselors accepted. Also hope that the schools get punished in the rankings in the next few years for ignoring SAT/ACT scores.
1 Like
That makes no sense. First, scores have weak correlation with predicting college success so these kids will do just fine academically at their schools. Many top schools have been TO for years. Second, GPA and course rigor takes on even greater importance (and are a better predictor of academic success) when scores arenât submitted so clearly these kids felt their strong GPAs, ECs and so forth were a valid representation of their strengths and interests. Third, many kids werenât able to take SAT/ACT tests due to Covid. Maybe some of them wouldnât have been accepted in prior cycles but thatâs hardly thousands. And every year there are hooked applicants, such as athletes, that are accepted with below average stats including test scores. Colleges pick the kids they want for their classâŠthatâs the point of holistic review. If you wants stats alone apply to Canadian, UK and other foreign universitiesâŠthatâs their system.
11 Likes
I agree with this. Students accepted this year arenât going to suddenly flunk out if the top schools en masse. Theyâll be just fine.
One dynamic I havenât seen mentioned is the effect of TO on AOâs tendencies to rely more on the high schools they know well. If two students apply to my college with an UW 3.8, Iâll be more inclined to accept the graduate whose high school has an established track record with my college.
3 Likes
Your examples of non-hooked applicants and schools that look for specific features successfully operating under a test optional scheme may not scale to the entire country. You give a lot more credit to admissions counselors than I do. In my sonsâ schoolâs case, many middling candidates who didnât perform nearly as well as some of the top kids in classes they had together nonetheless landed nice admissions by applying test optional. On the other hand, we know one boy who took Calc 3 this year, scored 1550+ SAT ( I donât know his exact score but it was elite) and got rejected from all his tippy tops and will be going to Ohio State rather than Vandy/Wash U/CMU/Northwestern and the other schools that he should have had a shot at. Meanwhile, a boy who isnât close to the first kid academically got into Northwestern test optional. Plenty of CC posts reflecting how often this happened this year. I certainly hope both kids do well but kids who got middling scores and then applied test optional arenât all rocket scientists.
Finally, most of the country had access to SAT/ACT and I suspect many kids who applied TO had scores that they just didnât want to submit.
3 Likes
I agree that the admissions cycle was unpredictable and disappointing for many high achieving students. Iâve read many threads outlining outcomes like the ones you describe. So many changes and adaptations by AOs rendered predictions via naviance or just historic trends at a particular HS basically useless. I agree with @Auntlydia that HS familiarity may have played a roll, as well as FA requirements, and even demonstrated interest because yield predictions were also a concern.
My other comment is that TO is test optional so kids will great scores can submit them and have them considered which should benefit them. Now test blind is a whole other issue. But I still believe that GPA has to come into play. I cannot explain why a school would accept a 3.4 GPA applicant unless theyâre bringing something else unique to the table. And as far as CA schoolsâŠIâm at a complete lossâŠthey are truly an enigma to meâŠpublic and private.
Hope your Son finds a great home for his next 4 years!
1 Like
From experience, âthe stories you hear in your sonâs schoolâ are often missing key pieces of information, or contain inaccuracies.
The SAT/ACT situation this year was unfortunate. I see it differently. Parents and kids scraping for a good score felt false pressure to risk their lives to get a chance to take a test that tells colleges very little. And colleges did not reward them for it either.
13 Likes
Itâs probably helpful to keep in mind that even those who may have have had access to SAT or ACT may not have tested bc they did not want to risk exposure (to themselves and/or other family members) by sitting in an enclosed area for hours, etc.
We did not have that issue bc our S tested preCovid and with a great score but we often noted that if he hadnât taken it preCovid there was no way we would have elected to even try to have him sit for an SAT/ACT testing session.
8 Likes
Faculty wonât even know the difference.
4 Likes
Weâll see. Again, schools that have been TO for a few years look for specific predictors of success and Iâm skeptical that all the new schools that went to TO this year will have the same skill-set. There are only so many 4.0 with a patent and a national chemistry/ physics/literature award who applied TO to go around and after that, admissions counselors are reading highly curated essays and projecting that the 3.8 kid who took 4 AP classes will perform as well as the 34+/1520+ 10 AP kids.
You might want to start your own thread on this issue.
OP would probably prefer his thread to be focused on him. 
7 Likes
They could be reading LORs. At our school, the top kids arenât always those with the personality places are looking for. Even when Iâve talked with some college profs, theyâve outright said they prefer the 3.8 4 AP kid over the one who obsessed too much.
Academics are just one thing driving success and the 3.8 4 AP can usually do just fine.
Whether itâs college or jobs, if one has all it takes on paper and still isnât getting what they think they should, itâs often time to have someone totally unrelated who knows what they are doing assess other things - like people skills. It may or may not be the case. Things happen at times. But more often than not we teachers arenât surprised at results even if we offer lip service saying we are.
I seriously doubt profs at TO schools are going to be disappointed in their classes.
7 Likes
Couldnât agree more. Even before TO there have been students wondering why a kid with lesser stats was accepted over them. The truth is no one can say with certainty. What some kids donât seem to understand is that holistic admissions are just that - holistic. Contrary to popular opinion most top schools (with exceptions like MIT or Caltech) arenât looking to fill their classes just with the academic elite. They are looking for academic strength + something else. For all we know, a lesser stats kid has some special talent, an incredibly compelling backstory or LOR through the roof. Unless you are looking at the two applications side by side there is no way to know for sure. Since stats are all that is publicly available it is easy to get stuck on those as a measure.
11 Likes
Time to get back to the OPâs question and college choices available.
10 Likes
If youâve been following reddit A2C you would have seen many many kids saying "oh gosh look thereâs hope because I got into âinsert UCLA, Berkley, Cornell, etcâŠâ here with a 3.2 gpa or âoh see thereâs hope because I had 2 Câs and no SAT and I got into BerkeleyâŠâ so many kids on the blogs saying stuff like that. âoh i thought i didnât have a chance but was admitted to Princeton, Duke and so and soâ and itâs great for them. But telling this kid whoâs broken his back to get great grades that his âstats arenât high enoughâ is just so last year. Itâs not the same anymore. The rules have changed. I think the AOâs didnât even read a lot of applications this year just rushing for the âhookâ admits.
1 Like