Thanks so much for the wonderfully thoughtful and detailed account, and best of luck at Alabama.
The choice sounds like a good one. Going to SC and not getting into Honors, a real possibility, would be quite unpleasant. I am sure you can get the courses you need to do international business at either school, and at least the MBA programs at both places probably have international course that you could take as senior electives if you’re doing well.
What jobs would an International Business specialist with only a BA apply for? Genuine question.
Congrats, man. Bama’s a great school
Congratulations on your decision. I’ve loved reading your post. I’ll bet you wrote GREAT admission essays!
I too really appreciated your candor as you explained your thought process all the way through the journey. I especially was impressed at how well you responded to the rejection by Duke and the decision to take a fresh look at your college list. I almost wish this thread could get a little “lock” on it because it is an excellent example of all the choices available to National Merit Finalists.
^I second this thread getting a “sticky” (not a lock!) so that it’s at the top of the page no matter when students open it.
Yes, a sticky was what I was intending!
It’s charming, well done.
Thanks for sharing your journey! I loved reading it and laughed more than a few times, especially the admittedly irrational points and the coin flip with gut reaction. Some very wise points…
Thank, everyone for the positive feedback! There will be one more chapter in the next few days.
So very interesting to read this and to hear about your college decision journey.
<em>taps toe, waits for next chapter</em>
He posted elsewhere that he got into Vanderbilt.
Yayyyyy!
Yes, the last part is about Vanderbilt and Alabama, but I will wait to post until I have decided.
The final chapter:
After my decision, I began to get very excited about attending Alabama this fall. I was looking into all of what to do between then and August to get the best experience. My dad was going crazy about Alabama football and began the process of getting the whole family tickets to the Iron Bowl (the Alabama-Auburn football game).
May 1st (Decision Day) passed insignificantly, as I had decided a week earlier. The next day (Friday), I saw my dad for the first time since the announcement (though, he was there then). His girlfriend hung a big Alabama flag inside the house and had celebratory decorations all over. That night we had a little celebration and watched the Roll Tide/War Eagle documentary on TV. We were all very excited about Alabama.
However, the next day, everything changed. After talking to people all day at a party about my attending Alabama, I looked at my e-mail and saw that Vanderbilt was prepared to offer me admission off the waitlist. I had always told myself that there was a chance I could get in, but I had really pushed Vanderbilt to the back of my mind and gotten excited about Alabama, so I did not know how to react at the time. The e-mail wanted me to respond, saying that I wanted an official offer of admission, and from there, I would have three days to decide.
I responded saying that I wanted to be officially admitted to keep my options open, but, I thought that there would be a good chance that I would stick with Alabama. I was not even sure if my parents would be willing to pay for it. The next day (Sunday), I had a meeting with my parents to discuss the decision and the financial aspect of it. A long story short, my parents agreed to pay for Vanderbilt if I wanted, but they seemed to be hoping that I would stick with Alabama. My dad had previously offered me $12,500 to choose Alabama and upped his offer to $15,000. Studying abroad has always been important to me in this process, and my mom decided to put a fairly high GPA restriction on my studying abroad (she suggested that it might be being in line for cum laude- a 3.59 GPA).
With their preferences and as I was excited about Alabama, I walked out of that meeting leaning towards sticking with Alabama. However, I kept thinking that, for several months, I had always said that Vanderbilt was what I wanted and I would go if accepted. There was even a time a few weeks earlier when I contemplated taking out significant loans to go if accepted (something that I would not normally do). Outside of my family, most people said that I would be crazy to pass up Vanderbilt, as it is a “much better school” and I would have access to better alumni networks. Keep in mind that my school is not used to sending high-stats students to state schools (maybe except UVA, Michigan, etc.). I was the first person ever from my high school to commit to Alabama.
Today (Wednesday) was the deadline for Vanderbilt. I was leaning towards Vanderbilt this morning, but it continued to go back and forth throughout the day. Early this evening, my dad was growing impatient for a decision, and he, along with my mom and brother, was not backing down from getting me to decide. The phone conversation with him lasted over an hour which consisted of me struggling with my decision. My mom made it clear that she did not have a strong preference between the two. Instead, she kept trying to convince me that the right choice was South Carolina and that I should tell them I made a mistake and ask to go there. My dad, on the other hand, had a preference- Alabama. He kept going over the non-financial reasons to go to Alabama, such as the fact that I am a prized applicant, the football team, the fact that my scholarship is for five years and can cover some masters study, and even some more trivial stuff, such as his saying that the girls are hotter at Alabama (though, they are A+ at both schools on that other site) and not ruining my commitment.
That call accomplished nothing, but, later on, I told my dad that I was leaning towards Vandy. He then again upped his Alabama offer to $20,000. I had been close to going to Alabama during the call, and I went to my room one time intending to pick up an Alabama hat and reject Vanderbilt. I had also been close to going with Vanderbilt; I had the cursor over the accept admission button, but I could not bring myself to click it. At this point, I was having an even harder time deciding, as my parents were also willing to help with grad school with the condition that I go to Alabama. After thinking things over, I decided to go with Vanderbilt, as it will open up more opportunities, and, when you have it paid for, you should not pass up a school like Vandy. There were pros and cons to each, but Vandy offers a mix of everything I want in a college.
Bringing this back to the very beginning, maybe my mindset did not change as much as it had seemed. I am going to a top-20 school over a full ride plus $20K, so prestige was a factor. But, the facts that the decision was so hard between Vanderbilt and Alabama and that I had once committed to Alabama show that things did change. Getting into Vanderbilt regular decision, unhooked makes me wonder even more what happened and what could have been at Duke. I know that Duke is slightly harder to get into and admissions were random, but a double legacy who had what it takes to get into Vandy getting flat-out rejected ED? But, maybe it is all for the best. I would have probably done ED to Vanderbilt anyway if it were not for my lifelong (until December 12) die-hard devotion to Duke basketball. But, if I could give advice to future students, it would be to never give up (I got in off a waitlist) and to think about what they really want earlier in the process than I did.
Thank you!
Thanks so much for your final post. Congrats on your admission to Vandy!
< I know that Duke is slightly harder to get into and admissions were random, but a double legacy who had what it takes to get into Vandy getting flat-out rejected ED?>
You were a double-legacy to Duke? I had not realized that detail until your final paragraph. Interesting.
I should have mentioned that in my earlier posts, but it is almost more interesting to say that now.
Congratulations on your decision. No one can say you didn’t put a lot of thought into it - good luck!
Congratulations!!! I think you will make the most of what Vanderbilt has to offer. Glad you were able to resist the “hot girls” pitch from your dad, lol.