Hello everyone, I am stuck at a bit of a crossroads currently, and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts to share, based on their own opinions or experiences.
At this point, I have heard back from most of the colleges I applied to (excluding CMU, Vandy, BC, and Lehigh). So far, the only acceptances I have received have been from Providence, UNC, and Villanova. (Stats). I have also received a spot on the waitlist from Holy Cross, Middlebury, and UVA. Having said all this, I am currently considering three options for the upcoming year (assuming worst case scenario with no waitlist acceptances and no acceptances from remaining schools).
Attend local college or community college with the intent of transferring after one or two years.
Work/Intern for a gap year, and reevaluate after a year.
Attend one of the colleges I have been accepted to, even though I have issues with each school.
Thank you for your help, and if you need anymore information, please let me know.
These are all terrific colleges. If you had issues with them, why did you apply?
I would choose one of the colleges you get accepted to, and matriculate with the positive attitude that it’s a terrific college and you plan to stay there…assuming they are affordable.
Just a little reminder…if you don’t get accepted THIS year to one of these colleges…it’s not likely you will get accepted next year.
Good luck on the ones you are waiting to hear from.
Each of the three you’ve ben accepted to have upsides and downsides-- like every other option in life. There is no perfect college. Nothing is perfect, life is full of trade-offs.
What are the perceived negatives in your mind? Perhaps we can all help you sort this out.
Are you going to need financial aid? If so the transfer route may prove to be more difficult. Reason is that many private colleges save more of the FA pool for incoming freshman.
If not then the community college route may be possible. Are you simply looking for a better ranked college? If so then consider going to a community college that has an articulation agreement with a 4 year institution (Cornell, Berkley, UCSB, etc).
In regards to the issues I have with each college, I had hoped I would have received more money from Villanova and Providence, which did not end up happening. I applied to UNC without a large amount of interest due to the suggestion from family members.
As mentioned above, you’ll get less money if you transfer and perhaps none. Most financial aid is reserved for incoming freshmen versus transfer. You could go to community college for two years, live at home and save money in the hopes that you could transfer in to a school you like better and pay for it but that is risky.
I think the best choice is choose one of the three where you were admitted, and if money is an issue the most affordable one. Go in with a positive attitude - all three are great schools. And do your best to be happy and involved and find your place. If it ends up, not working out, then transfer.
If you could articulate what you don’t like about the three schools where you were admitted, we could probably be more help. UNC is a large state school with people from all walks of life so I think chances are good that you can find a niche that makes you happy there.
What is your budget? Did you run the NPCs at all the schools on your list before applying? I agree that as a transfer you will generally receive less money in FA, so something to think about. If Providence and Villanova aren’t affordable now, they won’t be next year or the year after that.
As a NJ resident, did you apply to Rutgers or any other in-state publics? They are all still accepting apps AFAIK.
I can’t tell you what to do, but there seems to be little reason to not attend college in the Fall, unless you have no affordable options (affordability defined as not requiring loans greater than the $27K max in undergrad student loans). Schools that did not accept you after HS are unlikely to after a working gap year. Some may consider you if you do really well in CC, but again, less than likely.
There is no perfect school. Full stop. There will always be tradeoffs, and I expect you would do well wherever you attend.
The vast majority of the schools that will be on this list in early May are still taking apps right now, and some have more FA now than they will in May.
I’m hearing that you’re disappointed with the results that have come through so far. I understand because we went through the same thing with one of ours. In her case, it was Harvard, Yale, Brown, Amherst, Williams, Stanford, and Pomona. Like yours, these are impossible places to get admitted even for the best of students - as you are.
It’s premature to say that you are at a crossroads because all of the results are not in. I think that your chances are very good at Lehigh and are still good or pretty good at BC. I think you add Vanderbilt and CMU to the list of schools which you are happy if you’re lucky enough to be accepted but where you don’t expect it, no matter how strong a student you are. But you still might be struck by lightning.
You need to be patient because it’s not over until it’s over. You only need one school to go to, so despite the fact that your returns so far have been disappointing for you, this is not the time for planning or for making decisions.20why don’t we talk more in a week or so when all of the results are in.
Keep in mind that college is not a destination. It’s only 4 years, not the rest of your life. The rest of your life starts after you finish school. College is just the means to get you there. You can get where you want to go from a lot of different colleges, any of which can be the launching pad for the rest of your life.
Yes, the RD deadline for Rutgers was Dec 1, 2022 (for merit consideration) and early Jan otherwise.
NJIT has rolling admissions for RD, but the deadline was March 1st.
Rutgers New Brunswick (the main campus) is still accepting applications in many programs/schools (but yes, merit deadline has passed)…it is common that Rutgers main takes apps into the summer. Scroll down on this page to “September 2023 Available Enrollment” https://admissions.rutgers.edu/apply/dates-deadlines/new-brunswick
In common app it looks like NJIT is also still accepting apps, a quick call to confirm would make sense if OP is interested.
OTOH, I think that Providence could be motivated to send more money his way. He looks like he could be one of their top incoming students.
This student is interested in Economics as well as CS and Math. Providence has invested a lot in their Business School in recent years and has developed their Economics program so that it offers special opportunities fir undergraduate students in research and internships. This could be a good fit.
Econ is in the School of Arts and Sciences at Providence, not the business school. Providence has already admitted OP, so they see OP as a good fit.
Until OP responds to the many questions that have been asked on this thread, it doesn’t seem there is any basis to ask for more FA (mistake on forms, larger offer from peer school). In the absence of those things OP can still ask for more $, but I can’t imagine it would result in more than a couple of thousand dollars, maybe $5K max. Hopefully OP will return and let us know about affordability.