<p>Siena has a strong basketball team, which might be a catalyst for school spirit. I do not know if that detracts from an intellectual overtone. I forget which Catholic order it is.</p>
<p>warriorboy648 - My son visited Endicott, Sienna and Elmira. Out of the three he liked Endicott the best. Location had a lot to do with it - three beaches and 20 miles to Boston. He really fell in love with Boston. My son suggested Endicott to a classmate who visited last week and added Endicott to his list.</p>
<p>Elmira has a gorgeous campus but my Son if afraid there will not be enough to do. There are a lot of fun traditions and I like the small class sizes. Elmira is on his list.</p>
<p>Siena did not make his list. Can not remember why.</p>
<p>Siena is Franciscan. I’m sure one reason he liked it was the D1 basketball. He would have loved being part of the “dog pound” at the home games in Albany.</p>
<p>Siena basketball has become quite a big deal in the Albany area and many of their games no longer take place on campus but are played instead at the Times-Union Center in downtown Albany. Siena is best known for its strong business programs. I don’t think of Siena as a classic party school but it is far from dry. I remember walking through the student center last year and taking a note of a poster promoting “responsible drinking” that noted that 66% (or thereabout) of Siena students had consumed alcoholic beverages within the past week. Is that high? Average?</p>
<p>Elmira, Siena and Endicott are three very different campuses. Siena, a Franciscan school, is fairly new and most of its brick structures post-date World War II. Endicott was also founded in the late 1930s. The campus, however, combines more modern structures with several 19th and early 20th century North Shore mansions and their outbuildings. Founded in 1855, Elmira College was the nation’s first women’s college (but it has been co-ed since 1969). It has the most traditional campus of the three schools, but is also the only one to boasts twin 8-story residential towers, an unfortunate prelude to the move to coeducational instruction.</p>
<p>RtoR - I was actually trying to figure out how many schools we had visited. I think it’s around 20. In actuality, my son only has 5 schools that he really likes. He is applying to a couple priority app schools that might be interesting and will only visit if he gets in. If he applies to all of the schools that made the “I like” list I think there are 9. I’m not sure how he will make out because of his GPA, so to me more is better.</p>
<p>hudsonvalley51 - How does Elmira, Siena and Endicott compare academically/reputation?</p>
<p>So, do you think our 3.0-3.3 kids should apply to more schools to increase their chances of admission, and possibly money, or should they stick with the tried and true formula of 2-3 reaches, matches & safeties? S2 still has 11 schools on his list (he truly likes them all, and his top choices are all reaches). The list needs to be narrowed, but then someone suggested he needed to add another safety!</p>
<p>I think the tried and true formula of reaches/matches/safeties should vary by family and student. For example, folks in need of aid may apply to more safeties and fewer reaches to increase their chances of merit aid, as well as to more in state publics. Students who do best when pushed may want more reaches, hoping to land one. Students who lack academic confidence may want fewer reaches. Students seeking a program which is typically very small may need over a dozen shots to land one.</p>
<p>Above all, I have become convinced that “fit” means much more than “reach”, etc. If your child’s “fave 5” are all in 1 category, I would go for them all. If he or she prefers safeties to more prestigious reaches, my inclination is to accept it and hope the child is succesful and happy there. If the faves do not include safeties, you still need to add them, even if it makes your total more than you had hoped (preferably the list includes some with no fee applications).</p>
<p>I fyou ar elucky, some early acceptances can reduce the number of applicaitons needed. </p>
<p>I am not sure 3.0-3.3 requires more applications than, say, 3.8-4.0. Kids applying to very selective schools may think they need to, for example, apply to 12 top schools to get one, while still needing safeties</p>
<p>mom2sons: my son applied to 14 schools. I feel like we need to hedge our bets because at many schools he is on the low end of the middle of acceptances. I don’t really see that there are many safeties out there for 3.0 students, so I am trying to increase the odds that he will be admitted to 4-5 schools. His match schools are safeties to most of the 3.5 and up kids. Plus, since we aren’t looking for financial aid, I think that could work in his favor.</p>
<p>Although some GCs discourage it, i see nothing wrong with applying to over a dozen schools if you feel the need. I think the only obligation is to be prompt after acceptances come in to notify those schools you have eliminated, so waiting list kids can hear earlier.<br>
This process is as expensive as buying a house in many communities–no one would blame you for looking at over a dozen houses or bidding on over a dozen until your found the right house at the right price.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone! I keep thinking the odds are good that our kids will all land a choice they like–and decent that at least 2 kids from this thread will wind up in the same school!</p>
<p>We had planned a visit to Elmira as the D was already accepted but had not visited. I asked them several times to mail us the financial aid package before this visit. We already knew she had $10,000 in merit by a phone call. They did not comply with my wishes. Please note this visit was in late March! I think they probably felt that if we saw the FA package first, we woud not have made the visit & tour. </p>
<p>At Elmira we found things to be very quiet, a beautiful campus, small classes, lots of slate roofs & architectural gems for buildings! The actress, Helen Hayes, was an alum. It was a very nice campus-but the next day we went to Alfred University (already accepted) and that really “clicked”. Already accepted so no stress about getting in. Love those rolling admissions! </p>
<p>Elmira is very up front about their merit aid on their website & they desperately need males. However, I think in private conversations that northeastmom & I determined that to keep the merit aid seems to be a problem, they aren’t very up front about what happens if you lost that merit aid? We received the FA package after we got back from the Elmira/Alfred visits & Elmira gapped us by about 10K. It was one of the worst packages that D received, the best one was from Alfred & it was the best school for her.</p>
<p>Yes, we looked at Elmira. The campus was very pretty. I think they are upfront about merit aid from what I remember. As I understand Elmira’s policy, if you lose it they give you an opportunity to pay the difference (unless more FA is offered) and then earn it back. If a student pulls up the gpa enough to earn it back, they will refund the difference in what you paid the semester that you did not have merit aid.</p>
<p>Just had to share: my son showed his CommonApp essay to his GC and she loved it–told him it was the best one she had seen yet. (Of course, I suppose it might be the <em>only</em> one she’s seen yet…) So now he feels like he can check that off his list. </p>
<p>And he got his recommendation requests in on Tuesday. We feel very good about the teachers he chose. One of them is a history teacher he took two courses from last year, in which he did well and showed a lot of enthusiasm, and the other is his Spanish teacher this year and was one of the faculty chaperones on a school trip to Spain that he went on last year. So they both have plenty of good positive experience of him, and they’re both very nice, articulate people. The recommendations should be great.</p>
<p>So it’s basically down to the CommonApp supplements. He has to average one a week between now and Christmas. </p>
<p>Is that light I’m seeing down there at the end of the tunnel?</p>
<p>Warning - I see the thread trending toward “applying to more places to increase chances of acceptance” and I feel the need to repiterate the fallacy of that idea, which is rampant on CC.</p>
<p>First, I understand - you can’t be accepted if you don’t apply. </p>
<p>BUT… it doesn’t follow that applying to more schools increases your chances of acceptance at any one of them. For example, applying to UNH does not increase your chance of acceptance at URI. They are completely separate issues.</p>
<p>If you apply to more “safety” schools, you’ll probably get more acceptances. If you apply to more “matches” you may get more acceptances. If you apply to more reaches, odds are you won’t get more acceptances, but you will spend time, money and emotional energy on schools that may not be the best fit for you. Maybe you’ll get lucky, and dream school is looking for a tuba players and Chemistry majors, and you’re a tuba-playing Chemist. But don’t think that applying to a bunch of reach schools increases your chances at any one of them. </p>
<p>Remember, the goal is to be admitted to the right school for you (or your kid). You can’t attend more than one college at a time. The goal is not to see how many acceptances you can rack up, it’s to get into THE - RIGHT - SCHOOL - FOR - YOU.</p>
<p>We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming…</p>
<p>Question regarding early action compared to regular admission. My son is waiting for his 10/10 SAT results. If they are “good for him” then he will apply early action to the schools that have the deadline of 11/1 for early action. If scores are poor he will wait and apply in the end of December. He plans to take the Nov and Dec SATs. Does this strategy make sense???</p>
<p>MaryAnn C – I can’t give you a definitive answer. I know that Siena has a solid reputation in the Capitol District, but comments I have heard are usually made within the context of the business programs. I have known a couple very successful Elmira College grads but I don’t really think the college is that visible to most people over in this part of New York State. I would guess that it has a solid reputation in the Southern Tier, however. </p>
<p>Endicott is really overshadowed by the many great colleges and universities in the Boston area. Doesn’t mean it isn’t a great school for B-B+ students, but when you talk academic reputation with Bostonians you are usually talking about Harvard, MIT, Brandeis, Tufts, Boston College, Northeastern, Wellesley and the like. </p>
<p>One comparison I can give you is graduation rates. Siena leads the pack, with its 4-year grad rate of 74% topping the SIX-year rates at both Elmira and Endicott (which are in the 67-70% range).</p>
<p>“If you apply to more “safety” schools, you’ll probably get more acceptances. If you apply to more “matches” you may get more acceptances. If you apply to more reaches, odds are you won’t get more acceptances”</p>
<p>Parents need to realize that applying to 10 schools at each of which you have only a 30% admission does not equate to 10x .3 = 3 acceptances.<br>
However, I would not agree that applying to more matches only means you “may” get more acceptances–I certainly think that someone applying to, for example 8 matches rather than 4 (assuming a match is a school where your chances are 50% or better) is likely to have increased their chances of getting into a match. The larger sampling of 50% chances should yield a more accurate result. This is why casino slot machines set off flashing lights etc when there is a jackpot–they know the odds mean they will make money in the long run and they want to encourage additional betting.</p>
<p>I agree completely that the right school is often not a reach school, or even a match; it all depends on the student.</p>
<p>Maryann, you might check if the schools have easier standards for Early Admission, because they perceive it as indicating deeper interest. You might, however, be able to express deep interest in other ways, such as emails to the school, visits or even expressing regrets that you cannot apply EA because you do not yet have SATs. You might also check if those schools require that all scores be reported; if they do, you might want to roll the dice with EA since they will see the Oct scores in any event and you can still submit later scores if he is deferred.</p>
<p>MaryAnnC, will you have 10/10 SAT scores in time to make a decision about applying for an 11/1 deadline? The SAT scores don’t have to be in by 11/1, but if you’re waiting till they are in to make a decision it’s gonna be a scramble to hit “submit” by 11/1.</p>
<p>Yayabe, you are right about the matches - I should have said applying to more matches should yield more acceptances. But it’s your sentence afterward that conveys what I was really trying to get across: “Parents need to realize that applying to 10 schools at each of which you have only a 30% admission does not equate to 10x .3 = 3 acceptances.”</p>
<p>Hudson and Maryann, I suspect that Siena, because of its basketball team, will “ring a bell” more widely than Elmira or Endicott. athletic success should be irrelevant to academic reputation, but it does add some name recognition.</p>
<p>Has anyone seen a school which rather than just referring to its 6 year rate, explains why many students need the 2 more years? Are they part-time for economic reasons? Unable to get into courses needed to graduate? I know some parents who equate 6 year graduation with 6 years of paid tuition, which I hope is seldom the case.</p>
<p>I think the average student in the US who manages to graduate needs 6 years to actually accomplish that feat. In most cases, I suspect economics is the problem - either they take a break to earn money, or end up doing at least part of the degree part-time while working. Because of that, I think the Common Data Set asks for both the 4 and 6 year graduation rates.</p>