No worries! My Ds final decision came down to Oberlin Smith and Mt Holyoke!
Is there any chance to get off the waitlist?
@4sugarplums seeing your child sad is the worst. Your daughter sounds like an amazing person. I am rooting for her! My daughter was rejected by Bryn Mawr yesterday—she is not surprised but still sad. Will hear from Wesleyan any minute now and though she expects a rejection she is psyched the waiting will be over—well except for the Holyoke waitlist. I hope she is able to open her mind and heart to the schools we have on the table now and pick one she loves.
Should my daughter tell Holyoke she doesn’t need aid to help get off the waitlist? I know this is a weird and somewhat delicate question. We completed the FAFSA because we will need loans to pay for school, and you can’t get any Federal loans if you don’t complete it, but we did not expect any grants, etc from the school. It’s my understanding that Holyoke is not entirely need-blind, so I’m wondering if she should express to them that she doesn’t need aid from the school to improve her chances of getting off the waitlist? I feel conflicted about this—obviously this is exploiting an unfair advantage—but on the other hand, this is my kid, and I know she would thrive at Mount Holyoke, and I want to help her get there. What do people think, and if she were to do this, what would be the best way to go about it?
@kschneeb, thank you for your kind words. We had four rejections in less than 24 hours (Scripps, Smith, Barnard, Oberlin). We overshot and it’s costing us. We are still waiting the last two stragglers but don’t expect much there, either. We had two acceptances off the bat so we thought, well, all righty then! This is FUN! Then our first waitlist, then the second (and these were the target schools), so these last four weren’t a surprise but doesn’t make it any less sad. We got a great offer from the safety but still fall 20 grand short which isn’t doable for us and the other is an international school and we haven’t heard the aid there yet. Never imagined we would be end of March and not have a place for her to go. It is oh so disconcerting when it’s taken months of her life applying and working on it and worrying about it and bam! it’s over and we still don’t know. We are trying to regroup and now think about gap year though whatever was preventing her acceptances now will still be preventing her after gap year, I guess, so I don’t even know how smart that is. It’s like the loopity loop playing over and over in my head and never any clear resolutions on what to do.
Anyway, I hope you had good news and at least a clear path forward. Do you really think there is any hope for the holyoke waitlist? I find myself thinking about it continuously.
@kschneeb I would say do everything you can to help your daughter (within reason ?) there is no harm in trying. Have her write a letter and mail it. More personal. Good luck to you. Believe me I understand how you feel.
@4sugarplums my heart is hurting for you and your daughter. I will be thinking and praying for her. These college acceptance rates and admissions are probably at the peak right now. It’s brutal. There are no words sometimes when you get a rejection from a college that your daughter would be a good fit at and you just don’t understand why… Maybe look for her to take a small gap year and maybe look into other all woman colleges that have higher acceptance rates Hollins, Cedar crest are a few that she could probably do well at. They offer good merit aid. Please know you both did your best.
I thought you are doing right, some college send letters asking their applicants if they can pay to get out from waitlist.
Hi,
Do any of you know when the regular decisions are out?
@Bbates75, oh, please do. That would mean so much to me! I never know if I’m praying right but if you could just remember us…to get off the waitlist; or see a clear path forward where ever it might be; or at least peace for the time being for whatever happens. She is VERY, VERY sad today - worse than yesterday - and I’m letting her grieve but at some point we are going to have to get on with it. She’s the happiest teen I’ve ever known, which makes seeing her this way doubly sad. I really do appreciate your care and concern for a stranger and her child.
@4sugarplums my daughter is doing a gap year now, actually. She changed her mind about her goals very late last year and took a gap year to regroup, apply to liberal arts schools, and kind of work on herself and figure some things out. She has been working part time and volunteering, and will be traveling in Europe for 5 weeks starting next month. She really didn’t want to go to the local community college or do educational or outward bound kind of programs. She has been making art, soul-searching, etc. I’ve heard schools often like kids who have done gap years, but hers is so unstructured I have worried. Still, she is in at six out of 11 she applied to- Hollins,Muhlenberg, Clark University, Sarah Lawrence, Hobart, and Skidmore, and waitlisted at Holyoke. I bet your daughter would have a great outcome after a gap year, especially if it was more structured than my daughter’s. As for the waitlist, I think it’s a huge long shot, but I’m a big believer in trying, and taking control of what you can. I do doubt there is merit aid for anyone off the waitlist, though, but I believe need-based aid may be offered.
@4sugarplums , I second what @Bbates75 suggested. I can’t speak to Hollins, but if your daughter is interested in women’s colleges, take a look at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA. Admissions is rolling and they offer very good merit aid. Strong in the sciences.
Hi there everyone – my daughter was accepted to MHC – she was hugely relieved to get an acceptance from one of her favorite schools after being waitlisted at Gettysburg and Trinity (and rejected by Smith and Oberlin). Unfortunately it seems she has received no merit aid which means that my parental contribution is calculated at over $20,000 (I am a single mom, my annual income is only $49,000 and I have one other daughter in university) so there is no way I can afford it. I feel terrible and am wondering if there is some mistake. I always thought that schools like MHC pledged to meet an accepted student’s financial needs but there is definitely no way that I can afford it. Any advice? (Many thanks in advance, by the way!)
@kschneeb, if your daughter gives up her place at SL, would you see if they could just swap it on over to my kid?? She would have killed to have gotten in there! 
@4sugarplums two of my friends swapped houses once, so why not??Actually I was just going to write to you—wondering if you have the end of the waitlist letter? With a name of who signed it, contact information? Looking back, in past years there have been specific admissions officers assigned to waitlist students.
@kschneeb, better than swapping husbands, I reckon! 
let me find it for you. be right back, hopefully…
Too bad we don’t live near each other @4sugarplums , I think we could be friends!
@kschneeb, okay it was more of a FAQ page than a letter, the part about how many and all. The actual waitlist letter she received was from a Robin Randall, VP for Enrollment. The waitlist email is waitlist@mtholyoke.edu. Hope that helps?!
@kschneeb, that would be lovely! Almost as lovely as if both our girls got to go to Holyoke together and become friends!!
Yes!! Thanks @4sugarplums !