Public Speaking was the most useful class both D21 and D24 took in high school, by far. Both girls have used those skills throughout the rest of high school and in2 years of college, respectively, including formal presentations and interviews, and informal situations where it helps to be well-spoken.
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So, interesting twist. D24 toured Barnard today and absolutely loved it. Now she is conflicted about applying ED1 to Tufts. Barnard only has ED1, Tufts has ED1 and 2. I’m glad she loved it, but am sorry she no longer has a clear first choice. I really wish colleges would just abolish ED and the gamesmanship it entails. I wish she could apply to ALL the schools she loves and see what her options are.
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She can…it would just need to be regular decision.
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Except that (and I think that’s the gamesmanship @southernfemmom was referring to), chances at many schools drop significantly if you don’t apply ED.
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Sure. Yes. But a lot of schools accept the majority of their class ED. Being ED full pay is, sadly, the closest approximation of a hook we have.
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Being full pay is a wonderful gift for your student.
Good luck with her college applications!
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Oh - gosh - and those are tough to pick from, each has so many great qualities.
What facets of Barnard did she like in particular?
Maybe making a list of the benefits of each while her recollection is still fresh will supply her with criteria by which to make a rational choice?
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The good news is there is likely multiple ‘right’ schools for her. Even more than these two.
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I can see how those two could be similar. I would take gamesmanship out of it and just go with her first choice for ED. Having ED2 for Tufts is a good fallback if Barnard isn’t a yes. Her odds are probably similar at both.
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Totally feel for you. My D23 was in same boat last year. She ended up applying ED1 to Tufts and was deferred. It stung for sure, but opened so many new doors in RD that even when she was ultimately accepted to Tufts in the regular round, she chose a different school. Don’t fear the RD round, especially if you are full payers.
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Agree with this based on our experience - our D23 was deferred and then ultimately rejected by her ED school; she opted not to ED2 anywhere, and we were a bit anxious in the RD round, but she had multiple amazing options (including all 3 she had considered ED2 at - Bowdoin, Vassar, and Smith).
She was not close to full-pay, and we felt we could see a pretty clear pattern showing that her waitlists were almost all from schools where amount of financial need was a factor (Mount Holyoke, Skidmore, Kenyon, etc). She had several overlaps with your possible list. Hopefully the ED round works out for you, but I think full pay will still be an asset at the need-aware schools in the RD round.
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Where did she end up?
Another vote for Swarthmore
I think she can try ED1 to Barnard and if things don’t work out, she still retains the opportunity to ED2 to Tufts, and she won’t be able to ED to both vice versa. Barnard has a great classics program in coordinate with Columbia’s Classics department.
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Thank you all! I feel very encouraged with your experiences of success in RD and I do appreciate that there are MANY amazing schools where she would thrive. Because she is torn over the ED1 choice, it makes me anxious, too.
Between the two, she prefers that Barnard is a smaller school with a small campus but still would have access to large University resources. She loved the walkable neighborhood of Morningside Heights and proximity to parks. She prefers Barnard Classics program and course offerings. She loves the flexibility of Barnard’s foundation requirements. The women’s college within a coed University is the best of both worlds. For Tufts, she really likes the 4+1 Masters in Classics and the affiliation with SMFA. She finds Boston less intimidating than NYC. But NYC has a lot she loves too. They are both incredible and she would be thrilled to be accepted at either. I think she leans ED1 Barnard ED2 Tufts with a focus on matches and likelies for RD. She is still trying to find a likely that gets her really excited.
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Based on this, she absolutely should put preference on Barnard.
Too many use ED as a tool to get in anywhere they consider prestigious, even if it’s not the top choice.
That’s silly. ED should be used if it’s the top choice and the parents are willing to pay whatever the expected cost will be.
For schools that admit by major, Classics likely helps with admissions as it’s not as popular a major as others. And before EDing, I’d check the breadth of faculty and course offerings, including the schedule for the last two years, to ensure they have ample offerings in real life.
Most schools look great on paper for majors they offer but in reality, some smaller majors are slim in the offerings. Both may be great here but I’d double check given it’s a major that many schools are underinvesting in. We see transfers from dream schools, sometimes because of this.
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Since it is going to be a big part of their life experiences through that point, it is understandable that applicants, and by extension parents, find it somewhat stressful to make these decisions. But I try to remind myself and my S24 this is the GOOD type of stress, meaning which great experience you will end up getting is ultimately a wonderful thing to be able to anticipate.
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Let me add, that sometimes things look good only on paper, but then the devil lays in the detail. In the case how Barnard has implemented its distribution requirement, it truly does work “as advertised”.
My daughter found it easy to navigate their system, given how many hundreds of courses were available, how many check-boxes each single one potentially ticked, and how even for topics that were completely outside her area of interest, she was able to find courses that she either was able to enjoy, and sometimes even tangented her fields of study.
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By the way, it feels to me like perhaps a really specific regional preference is an impediment to filling out the more likely end of her list with otherwise exciting schools. Obviously if it is non-negotiable, though, then it is what it is.
But my S24 is potentially interested in Classics (likely with a Latin focus), and he is looking at schools like the University of Richmond. The University of Rochester and William & Mary (which has a joint Classics degree program with St Andrews) are also on his long list, which I see your D24 has filtered out for location reasons. Some of these might be more “target” than “likely” for him, but they would be options for filling out an otherwise ambitious list. I also note Rhodes College might not get on his long list (and hence not on the application list), but it seemed pretty cool for Classics (and, you know, it is called Rhodes!).
Anyway, you may have considered and already definitively cut all these schools, which is fine. But again I think there is maybe a little conflict going on between a tight regional focus and finding more likely schools which would excite a Classics student.
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I could not agree with you more and I REALLY wish she would expand her geographical search and be a little more flexible. She toured W&M (my alma mater!) and really liked it! It has a superb Classics department and I agree it could be great for her. I toured Richmond with my S24 (her twin brother) and we both loved it! It might be a bit preppy for D24, but I thought she would love the classes and the school size and proximity to a city are exactly what she wants. I worry that an over emphasis on geography is steering her to likelies that really don’t match most of her other key priorities, like flexible curriculum and small classes. I will continue to encourage her to expand her search.
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