Parents of the high school class of 09

<p>momreads--son also got admitted to U of AL (Thursday). It's also (I think) a back-up, depending on how much $$ is offered & what other programs are available.</p>

<p>We had to call a college too re: admissions materials. The online 'status checker' said that they hadn't gotten rec/HS transcript/ACT scores (he mailed all in early August!). When we called they said they had it, but it was a computer error. I think our plan will be -- check online first (son has to set up a few more accounts to do this!!) then call if there is a problem indicated.</p>

<p>Congrats on both getting admitted to U of Alabama. I wanted D to apply there but she used East Carolina as her back-up, which she got admitted to.</p>

<p>D, too, was the first person in her senior class to be offered an admission to college.</p>

<p>Congrats to everyone getting admitted this early! What a huge sigh of relief! She now has 3 offers, 1 waitlist, and 6 more to hear back from.</p>

<p>Congrats again to all your kids who have those lovely acceptances in hand. Reading the most recent posts, I think DS would stop the whole application process if he had an acceptance from one of the schools he's interested in. We'll definitely submit them all close to the same time!</p>

<p>Thanks, JSM & cpelts. Kind of neat---son also got tuition scholarship from U of AL & aninvite to apply to the honors program (& they have a special honors prgrm in his major, too). Now-just has to do the 2 essays for those programs! Back to the drawing board....</p>

<p>D got accepted yesterday to a private right outside of Pittsburgh. She said "now I have a school 'close by' to choose from". Hello - Pittsburgh is about 7 hours away! She was also thinking last night that Florida is where she needs to be (I'm thinking that the 20 degree difference this time of year is the deciding factor). She has already been accepted to one school down there, waitlisted on another, and waiting to hear on a 3rd in December. She then had a thought of applying to a 4th now. I was like "WHAT?! It might be 'too late'"?!? Ugh. admssions was pretty easy, it's deciding where you want to go that is going to be the hard part.</p>

<p>I thought d's list of 8 schools was decent: 4 in state and 4 oos - chosen for solid reasons (i.e. major, size, etc.). NOW she is getting so many tempting-to-look-into offers and easy app offers that I think she's lost focus somewhat. She added two schools to her list last week and I'm not she can say exactly why other than she didn't have to pay an application fee or have to write an essay. Tried to talk her out of one - the deadline was yesterday, so transcripts and scores will be late - but couldn't. The other was the University of Alabama and I'm thinking that maybe d is right about that application. Regardless, my we're-on-target-feeling is gone.</p>

<p>ignatius, D feels the same way. She applied to 10 good schools, a list she went over with a fine tooth comb. Then yesterday she thought she should apply to one more school, aOOS school we visited and she didn't care for. Now she's having second thoughts and I feel she's going off-target at this point int time. I told she would be "late" now in applying, no deadlines, but being OOS it gets tougher every day, although it would be a match/safety if just looking at her test scores. Then she said she would apply in December or January, if she doesn't get into her #1 or #2 school by then (both reaches although one school she was deferred in order to bring her test scores up).</p>

<p>Ignatius and JSM, maybe it's just hard to end the search process because it's been one we and the kids have been immersed in for so long. DS is now expressing interest in a new major and we've come up with two more schools as possibilities because of it. Not sure he'll apply, but I was hoping that once the apps were out we'd be done - listening to you, that may not happen until January!</p>

<p>Son's safety is an in-state CSU school, but with all the budget costs coming down the pike, I think it will be impossible to graduate in 4 years, much less 5. When we're looking at the final numbers, I'm definitely going to factor in a fifth year for any publics.</p>

<p>Ignatius --- All of the free application offers become overwhelming........you almost feel obligated to apply even though my daughter has no strong interest. At this point, however, since she doesn't have a strong preference for any one school I want her to get as many apps in as she can so that she'll have some choices.</p>

<p>We've started to receive tele-marketing calls from some schools promising guaranteed minimum scholarship awards. One is a school that's very close to home. </p>

<p>She actually has completed some applications....I told her that some kids are actually receiving acceptances already so she felt some pressure.</p>

<p>I've also been amazed by the number of "special application" offers - the number has definitely increased since three years ago. I guess it's the current hot marketing technique.</p>

<p>Congratulations to the latest acceptances!</p>

<p>Interesting that my son hasn't gotten any, though I'm not unhappy. I suspect that this means that the list is being sold by the high school rather than the College Board. If it were the former, he graduated so they couldn't include him without some thought. If it were the latter, he has just taken the SATs for the first time and got a strong score and you'd think he'd be subjected to the same flood your kids are getting.</p>

<p>Can high schools sell lists of their students???</p>

<p>School districts set policies on releasing student information. The colleges which send priority/expedited applications do so to students who have expressed some interest in the college, either by visiting/interviewing, registering for more information on their website, etc, or because his name is on a list they purchased from College Board or ACT.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Interesting that my son hasn't gotten any, though I'm not unhappy. I suspect that this means that the list is being sold by the high school rather than the College Board. If it were the former, he graduated so they couldn't include him without some thought. If it were the latter, he has just taken the SATs for the first time and got a strong score and you'd think he'd be subjected to the same flood your kids are getting.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The list is not being sold by the highschools...</p>

<p>If your son took the PSAT, he would have seen a box to check if he wanted colleges to contact him. Contact meaning brochures, email, and even special applications. If your son did well on the PSAT and checked off that box, then he would have gotten the same flow that many other students do.</p>

<p>Good to know, jchen09. He did not take the PSATs.</p>

<p>D is a NMSF, and most every one of these application offers start with "Congratulations!" so I would assume that the list of NMSFs is available to universities.</p>

<p>My daughters have received letters like that based upon AP scores.</p>

<p>College Board sells several lists to colleges - some based on PSAT, some on SAT, some on ACT. Colleges set parameters for these lists - scores over a certain point, targeted zip codes, etc.</p>

<p>If you do not check the box on the registration for the SAT that asks if they can communicate with schools about your information then your name will not be distributed. S did not and he has only recieved a few contacts from schools that he did not show interest towards--at college fairs or on-line.</p>

<p>acceptance to Willamette came for TwinE in yesterday's mail. Yippeeee! Two down 7 to go!</p>

<p>TwinK has had trouble lighting a fire under her bio teacher but he has completed her rec and she should be hearing in the next couple of weeks from two of her schools :)</p>