Hi All,
My D20 just got rejected to the honors college. I am kind of befuddled as she is a NMF had a 36 ACT when she was 14, perfect GPA, 13 AP classes,… She was in band all four years, was in plenty of clubs and did community service. Did anyone else have such an experience?
She was really looking forward to being in the Honors college and living in the dorm. And this just blew her mind.
My daughter just got denied as well. She has been accepted into Honors at two other private colleges so far, as well as receiving other top scholarships. She is in top 10 of her 200+ class ranking in her high school, 34 ACT, 3.97 GPA, hundreds of service hours, student government, tons of activities, choir, band, lots of awards and to top it off 4s and 5 on AP exams and one was in English! Her writing skills are top notch and two universities specifically reached out to her and told her that the essays submitted were some of the best they have ever received.
UK putting so much emphasis on an essay which frankly, depending on who reads it and their biases, pushes out really talented kids who have a lot to offer and have worked towards this goal for many years. Many other prestigious colleges give automatic entrance to students with this high caliber. In my opinion and many adults who I have spoken to specifically about this, is that the Mt. Rushmore prompt was one of the worst we have ever come across. Yet my daughter still managed to write something amazing. Apparently it wasn’t good enough for whomever read it.
UK WAS her top choice but at this point who knows, this all seems to be such a ridiculous game. She is being courted by other colleges, yet UK was her first choice because we are KY residents.
Best of luck to your kids because that seems to be the way to get in the Honors College.
I would contact the honors college directly and ask about reconsideration. I know a ton of people are doing that at other universities who also heard back today. Sometimes students can also apply after the first semester.
One other thought, my son (sophomore engineering major at UK) is NOT in the Lewis Honors College, although he does have friends who are. He knows they like the early registration for classes but other than that, they take the majority of the same classes that he does.
@GuitarMom2020 Sorry for your daughter I hope it works out for her.
My Daughter did immediately reach out to the honors college but they had already went home for the weekend. So we will se where that takes us.
I too thought the writing prompt was terrible as it lends itself to bias from who you selected. I don’t know who the reader is and what they are disinclined to like.
Oh well, UK isn’t terribly generous with Merit aid so maybe this will push my daughter to select one of her full ride options (fingers crossed). FSU has a really nice campus and she is admitted to their honors college.
Do you know if they have a wait list? My DS was accepted to the Honors College, but I am fairly sure at this time is going to choose another school. So that would open a spot if they do. I will admit he was rather suprised to get in knowing how selective it is.
As far as I know there is no wait list. She received the standard reply to her email in that she can reapplying as a freshman, you have high qualifications, thousands of students were qualified, etc.
My daughter is a junior at UK. She is in the Lewis Honors college but wouldn’t have viewed it as a deal breaker. She thinks the only real benefit was early scheduling. Though she had a lot of credits when she entered (junior or maybe even senior status when she enrolled in terms of credits) which would have mitigated that somewhat. She thought the core classes (subjects that all kids had to take regardless of college) were more interesting as an honors student. The fewer the number of core classes you needed to take (AP classes satisfy several of those) made it a little difficult to satisfy honors hours requirement and at least to my daughter, those classes were often less interesting.
In many cases, I think the honors colleges are more for mom and dad in terms of providing comfort sending a kid to a larger school than they are substantive.
So we did use this as an opportunity to open back up the school choices. The problem is that UK does still feel like the best fit.
My daughter is pretty introverted so the idea of making a large college seem smaller with like minded kids did make me feel better about the transition.
Hi - Just thought I would reach out because my son, a National Merit Finalist, 35 ACT, 1st chair trumpet player, 3.97 GPA, lots of ECs is in this exact same boat as you describe here - turned down for Lewis in an email yesterday. Wondering if it worth calling - did you get anywhere when she called? Where did your dear daughter end up?