Yes…could you clarify the hockey reference as it relates to college? Unless he has been recruited, I doubt he would have been a contender to play at ANY of the schools on his list.
Does he want a school where he can watch hockey? Play interscholastic hockey? Play club hockey? Play intermural hockey? What does he want? And how high is that on his priority list?
@hockeymom2000 - please don’t despair yet! You’re absolutely right to be looking for his back-up plan but as many other people have said - it ain’t over till it’s over. I know someone who also had zero safeties, got zero acceptances and was in the abyss of remorse when she got an offer from U of Chicago to take a gap year and join the next years’ matriculating class. She did research for a year and all ended happily. Hang in there!!!
One kid I know with just as good hard stats (NMF with 1550 SAT and 3.9 GPA unweighted) if not better also applied to top schools, including MIT, but luckily his mom forced him to apply to UCSD as a safety. He ended up getting into only UCSD. I think the adcom didn’t like his essays too much. But in real life, he’s a great kid and a hard worker. Got close to 4.0 at UCSD and got a great job which even MIT graduate would love lined up. Your kid must have applied to a tough major. What made it worse for this kid was his friends with worse hard stats all got into top schools. He basically stayed home for 2 days to get over his shock.
Because we saw what happened to the other kid, our kid applied to only one reach school, several match schools and two safeties.
“4.8 GPA, 1460 SAT, 35 ACT, All AP course load, Natl Merit Commended, etc.”
Is this a joke? I guarantee I could drive my daughter in April or May to my Big Ten alma mater and get her admitted with a merit award in 5 minutes with those stats.
The question is not that he couldn’t get into some particular school (as many still have rolling admission). The question is does he want to go to any of those schools (didn’t even apply to Texas A&M where he was an auto admit). Honestly, if all his schools are reach schools and he didn’t put a lot of time/effort into the essays, I wouldn’t hold much hope. Essays are key for non hooked applicants (even hooked applicants have to write a half way decent essay).
If he really wants to go to a reach school, take the gap year and do something really significant with the time.
Yes, I may be panicking prematurely but @countingdown was correct in the assumptions about his essays being less than spectacular. He also waited until the very last minute to ask for recommendations, only provided the minimum and in general, just figured that the whole thing was a formality. Maybe he just lost steam after 3 and a half years of busting his butt, maybe none of us were realistic about the process. Lots of maybes and what-ifs. Some have asked about tuition costs - we have done nothing but save for over twenty-five years - pretty much the day after we got married, we started socking away everything, living on one salary, etc. We’ve also drilled into our kids the need to save so he’s got a healthy savings account built up. Plus a generous grandparent put some aside for education. So if the school is a fit for his goals, we can make it work as long as he works and helps out. He does play hockey at a high level and played AA travel hockey for ten years - but most colleges want kids that have played a year or two of Juniors and he doesn’t have the size required to not get killed at the college level. (He’s barely 5’6). He’s seen a few friends suffer major concussions playing college level hockey and wants no part of that. He just wants to play college club hockey so he can enjoy the sport he loves but focus on his academics. At any rate - thanks for letting me air out my panic here instead of projecting it on my family!! Whatever happens, there is a path forward!!
If he is a music artsy kid, U North Texas is supposed to be a good school.
U T Dallas has great scholarships for top scoring kids.
The issue is with his high stats he might have gotten scholarships at many schools, but many deadlines have long passed.
I think NMF scholarships are not available after a gap year.
I believe that UAH has hockey. He should schedule an honors visit.
He would get free tuition and housing I believe for his stats.
There are plenty of smart kids there because of the generous scholarships.
Call them, it is not too late.
Pitt and Penn State have hockey, they would like a full-pay, high stats student and have rolling admission.
How about some Canadian universities?
FWIW, my eldest sort of lost it with college applications. I dragged her through the whole process because I knew from experience it was fear holding her back. She’s a stellar writer but writing about herself was torture and her essay was “eh” at best. She applied last minute with me over her shoulder telling her to hit send before midnight. In the end, she got some rejections, some wait-lists, some acceptances even from reach schools. She graduates from her 3rd choice Magna Cum Laude in May. She’s totally thrived, travelled the world independently, done 4 internships, been published and grateful that she landed where she landed.
I think high performing high schoolers feel a constant battle to top themselves. The pressure (even if not from parents) to get into the “right” college can be overwhelming and anxiety can overrule their better senses. Yours isn’t the only kid who put forth an application that doesn’t reflect themselves. It’ll all be ok. Whether he gets into a school he wants this year or next year. In the long line of his life, this will be a blip.
Do NM commended kids get NM scholarships? This kid isn’t a finalist.
If he wants to go to college in the fall, he will be able to do so. It might not be to his top choice college, but he will be able to go someplace.
If he doesn’t want to go…he can re-apply for fall 2019 and take the time to really look at different schools, and complete his applications well.
Sorry, I didn’t see the NM commended.
When/if an applicant is rejected from all schools, can they re-apply to schools that allow starting mid-year?
e.g., Say they’re rejected from a large state university; don’t some of those universities allow applications for January matriculation? Is that common? How about private colleges - do they do this?
Most top colleges don’t. It is school by school, though.
And they have 2 teams of club hockey. Still extremely competitive (you can spit and hit Canada).
In fact many of the club teams are very competitive. Running a varsity hockey team is expensive, and many schools have switched to club where the travel is less and the team members pay for much of it themselves.
http://achahockey.org/view/achahockey/divisions/men-s-d2-1/acha-mens-d2-2017-18-rankings
Looks like Penn State, U Cincinnati, U Toledo and Miami U are doing quite well in ACHA Division II.
U Cincinnati, U Toledo and Miami U would give him academic merit as well, if it’s not too late.
http://www.uahchargers.com/schedule.aspx?path=mhockey
The UAH Chargers play Notre Dame, Northern Michigan, Cornell, Arizona State, Alaska Anchorage, Ferris State, Minnesota State, Bowling Green and more in the WCHA.
It’s still early. I wouldn’t assume anything yet. But be assured there are productive ways to go no matter what happens.
And if he doesn’t need merit or financial aid, he can work and take some classes, online or on campus, at many schools if he doesn’t fully matriculate this coming fall. As for gap year, there are formalized gap year organizations, many service opportunities, and I always like to recommend National Outdoor Leadership School.
But I would still think he will get in somewhere: we didn’t hear from schools until the end of March.
As for kids who apply just before the deadline, many of them do fine. In some ways I think it is healthier than all the angst that goes into getting essays done during the summer before senior year.
Hockey rankings/Divisions are different than other sports.There really isn’t D2, but the D2 schools play up or down, and some schools that are D3 for all other sports have permanent rights to play D1 (Colorado College, RPI, Union) and some even give scholarships (Colorado College). The D2 teams on the link in post #54 are playing D1 schools (DU, Wisconsin, Penn State).
But OP’s son is not looking to play NCAA hockey. He might want to play on a club team, although that might not be easy at schools like Michigan that of course have a varsity NCAA team but thousands of kids who grew up playing hockey and want to get on those club teams. It’s competitive.
Well, that’s kind of why guidance counselors are always stressing a solid safety school option, because the chances of getting into elite universities are lousy 
I don’t see any rational reason to wait a whole year and reapply. The same thing would probably just end up happening again. He’s better off going to a community college and reapplying somewhere in the spring or next fall. Just because it’s a community college, doesn’t mean the classes are taught at a “lower level.” They transfer as general ed courses exactly the same. The only difference is that a university is quadruple the cost for the same classes no one cares about anyway. If he has top grades, there are tons of transfer scholarships available,
Wow. What a blow, especially for a family who has saved so much and been thoughtful about education expenses. Surprised a school counselor didn’t suggest some true safeties… I’d say don’t throw in the towel yet. Still some UCs to hear from, right?