<p>Congratulations on all the recent acceptances! </p>
<p>Condolences to everyone who received rejections/wait lists, but it looks like everyone already has great choices. </p>
<p>I am surprised how many kids here applied to Bowdoin. Most people in our HS have never heart of it and I myself still not sure how to pronounce it. It was on my S big list and we visited it last year and all of us liked it a lot, but it was dropped from the list. A little bit too small for S and as a prospective science major he wanted more research opportunities. But what a nice campus and area around it! Makes me wanna go back there for vacation.</p>
<p>Re: That Rolling Stones song. My DH was making the home movie about our college visits and asked me what background music should he use for that. Immediately, “You can’t always get what you want” came to my mind. It was 3 months ago; he decided to use something else, but this song is stuck in my head ever since.</p>
<p>Congrats on all the acceptances and hugs to the ones rejected or waitlisted. Also, glad to hear so many people have made their decision already.</p>
<p>I didn’t get a chance to listen to the infamous Amherst NPR yet.</p>
<p>Best of luck to all for today’s results, while we are waiting for tomorrow’s dreaded ones.</p>
<p>S had to miss school again today to attend a science and engineering fair, where he is a finalist. He will have to catch up on homework and has to do a missed physics test tomorrow as well, on top of an after school math senior meet. Hope they don’t all decide to stay longer to view their results at the school…</p>
<p>Good morning. Congratulations on the latest round of acceptances and scholarships and boos for the WLs and rejections.</p>
<p>I wasn’t all that surprised at the number of Bowdoin applicants. When I first started researching college for my daughters, I was intrigued by Bowdoin. That’s the school I’d pick if I could go back to college. </p>
<p>MomofBoston: I’m glad that your daughter is getting closer to a decision. My daughter is very excited about going to college in Boston.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone waiting for the last round of replies.</p>
<p>Tonite will be D’s first waitlist or rejection. I am trying to be very realistic about it. When I look at the classes and opportunities other kids have at their high schools compared to what is offered at D’s school - it just amazes me. Example - AP Physic teacher has never taught a Physics class at any level before. This year is the first time they are even offering AP Physics…and then only because the kids asked for it. This year has definitely been a learning experience for her. </p>
<p>She went off to school this morning extremely nervous about tonight. I guess I didn’t realize just how much this school meant to her. But, she does have some very nice acceptances so no matter what happens tonite and tomorrow - she is going to college! ha ha </p>
<p>The National Honor Society ceremony at our school is no big deal which is really disappointing to the kids. </p>
<p>As I read about some of the acceptances/waitlists/rejections - I have to google the colleges because I have never heard of them. Again, I have learned so much on this board. I wish I have found it earlier.</p>
<p>I’m a nervous wreck about tonite and the ivy lotteries…I don’t know how some kids and parents deal with hearing back from 4 or 5 schools all of the same day. The rollercoaster of emotions but be huge.</p>
<p>Our main computer picked up a virus yesterday so we can’t use it at the moment. That’s the computer with the comfy chair etc and where D checks all the decisions on. But, we do have laptops if it is not fixed by tonite! Kinda like when the snowplow took out our mailbox…</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone and I can’t wait to be on the other side of all of this.</p>
<p>I do have a quick question regarding grants - can that dollar amount change year to year?</p>
<p>OWM it is very exciting to see your son up there speaking at such a nice event! We had ours Sunday night and he was a little taken aback since right before he got up to give his speech the person running it said they were going to continue the speaking through dinner. He has never had to speak in that type of setting so he was knocked for a bit of a loop but managed to recover nicely. He also was not expecting as he named people to thank for their efforts the applause that would follow-after the first time though he figured it out. I wish they had warned him going in so he knew better what to expect-just thought I would give you a heads up. I can’t wait to hear about it later.</p>
<p>I listened to the NPR piece and it just reinforced my feelings that this whole process is nuts and the results are so unpredictable that to try and figure out what is going to happen in the next few days isn’t worth it. You can’t take a result from one school to figure out your odds at another school. Who knows what the “committee” might be feeling like doing that day? When you have so many people wanting so few spots though and willing to pay any price to go there they can pretty much do what they want, can’t they?</p>
<p>Well said 50 about the process being part of their discovering about themselves and what they want to be-that’s the message I will be delivering to my son after he gets his final results tomorrow.</p>
<p>Has anyone else noticed the change in charges for tuition and room and board for next year? My husband just updated our spread sheet last weekend and then last night when we were crafting a financial aid appeal letter, he realized that two colleges had increased their costs. Neither are public schools. I guess the colleges are coming to terms with new budget cuts/costs and think that a thousand here or there won’t matter. Wrong!</p>
<p>I also can’t keep up with reading here! I think I missed about four pages but once I read them, three more were written! </p>
<p>How is everyone liking the accepted students visits? We’ve been to a couple of different events - a dinner and a luncheon and liked them very much. This weekend we are going to our first real accepted students one and I’m excited!</p>
<p>**Tuesday’s Countdown for the “reachy” lottery schools is: </p>
<p>This is the LAST WEEK for the acceptance decision countdown. 3 days of countdown left and this phase of the process is over.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins - TODAY is the day. Announcements are to be released online at 6PM this evening. (Based on information provided to me by another poster - thank you.) See their Admissions Blog announcement at [Hopkins</a> Insider](<a href=“http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/]Hopkins”>http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/)</p>
<p>Duke - 1 day to go. Lottery drawing results will be available online at 6 PM tomorrow, March 30th per an email message to applicants. </p>
<p>The big “H” and other ivies - 1 day to go based on the Wednesday, 5PM March 30th announcement date and time. The “lottery drawing” is only 1 day away!</p>
<p>March 31st schools - 2 days to go. For all the schools that haven’t announced earlier dates!</p>
<p>Stanford - 3 days to go based on the Admissions News posting on the Stanford web site on March 24. Their link is [Admission</a> News : Stanford University](<a href=“Page Not Found : Stanford University”>Page Not Found : Stanford University) We are thinking they might advance it a day or two but no one knows.</p>
<p>Today is the big hill climb. Tomorrow is the big plunge. Wonder if the CC servers will stay up and running tomorrow night? If kids have already decided on their final choice you should be very happy!**</p>
<p>D received her last decision yesterday - she is five for five, all with merit (in varying amounts). One of the benefits of only applying to safety/match schools offering merit - no reaches. I had encouraged her to apply to a reach or two if she found any that particularly appealed to her, but she has said all along that she is very happy with her choices. Reading about the rejections/WL’s of all the stellar kids here is making me really glad that she went this route. I am just thrilled to see some of the great acceptances here, and very sad for our awesome high achievers who are getting disappointing news. I have a sister in law who is an admissions officer at an ivy, and you don’t want to hear about some of the discussions that go on around the table - it breaks your heart.</p>
<p>On a non-college front, we had a minor (?) doggie crisis yesterday night. I came home from a business trip, dropped by overnight bag (with my open purse in it) by the front door, and started chatting with D and some of her friends in the kitchen. Fortunately, one of them wandered into the front hallway and was able to see our dog chowing down on some Advil I had cleverly put into a small baggie and stuck in my purse for my trip. Don’t know how many he swallowed (he will eat anything…) but the bottom line was that he ended up in the animal emergency room overnight with an IV, etc. He will be fine - I don’t think his tail has stopped wagging. and I think he sees this as another puppy adventure (he’s 8 years old, but that doesn’t stop his puppy behavior). All the blood work, etc. is normal and I’d like to pick him up tonight but they want to keep him until Thursday (!). We will see.
Continued positive vibes being sent to those still waiting.</p>
<p>Good morning. It sounds like almost everyone is finding their niche. The kids will do well wherever they go.</p>
<p>We have been fortunate in our household with one exception–WL Vanderbilt-- my daughters #1 or 2 pick. She has been accepted at Notre Dame with no $ info yet, Boston College with hefty scholarship, work study, small loans, and some others with similar. BC’s scholarship says it is need based, and what worries me is that I am self employed and my income can go up, so the cost for us could change every year. The other two are similar amount hefty offers, one with half merit and one all merit. I realize merit is the best, but she really likes BC.</p>
<p>My innate cheapness/frugality wants to send her to the safety which is a fixed merit. The better schools will cost us 10-12K more THIS year but that could change. I have a sixteen year old who is 2 years away from this(which could help with FA,but I will still have 2 in college) and an 11 year old in the wings.</p>
<p>So to throw this question out their–are these better schools worth the investment? She is waiting on some out side scholarships–that would make it easier.</p>
<p>Her boyfreind got the $ word from MIT 35k per year to them–ouch! He may be going to Rice.</p>
<p>I don’t know whats worse being accepted and not able to afford it or not being accepted!</p>
<p>Question for “old timers” - i.e. parents who have been through this before. It seems to me - from both reading CC and hearing about the top kids at school - that this really is a remarkable year for WLs. But is that true? Does every class feel that way? I don’t remember so many WLs from '09.</p>
<p>Congratulations to those accepted, hugs for those deferred or wait listed. I love the fact that so many of your children are narrowing the field and getting excited about a final few schools. D is still in ‘collecting’ mode, and her stress seems to be rising each time she gets good news.
Re the Amherst NPR piece, we too found it disturbing, but I applaud Amherst for being transparent about what really goes on. I have to believe it’s that way at all the highly selective private schools, not just Amherst. When D interviewed with Tom Parker, he was amazingly open about where she stood, in which tier she would be read, and what about herself she should emphasize - not just to Amherst but to all the schools she was considering. And then he said the same things to me. I came out of there with my jaw on the floor.</p>
<p>Cooker - Hope puppy recovers quickly!! I had a scare like that once when my golden retriever (120lbs of love) ate 5 lbs of chocolate easter bunnies. Not just the supermarket kind - no, that year, I decided to go to the chocolatier in my town and got the expensive ones He was fine.
Boy decided to join a fb group for admitted students for one of his choices - he was mightily surprised to see how impressive a bunch these kids were, he had chalked this choice off as the “sad financially safe option that he’d rather not be forced to bring himself down to.” Good.<br>
Little question - for loans only “finaid”, do these colleges really need to have a cc of my 1040? honestly, I have had enough ID-theft for one life, I don’t like sending these all over creation for no apparent reason.</p>
<p>Belated congrats from last night to the Bowdoin and Pomona acceptances and to all the others including the scholarships and great FA offers that are far too numerous to list.</p>
<p>Belated condolences to all of you who received WL and rejection letters and inadequate FA offers. For what its worth, I was rejected by Bowdoin 40 odd years ago so I guess I can relate just a tiny bit although the process and competativeness has really changed over the years.</p>
<p>Today seems like a slight breather with just a few schools announcing (Johns Hopkins is one I am aware of) with the impending potential carnage of the ivy lottery drawings coming tomorrow afternoon and evening.</p>
<p>Cooker, +++++ vibes your puppy is on the mend. My friends two Bassets got into a bottle of ibuprofen last month and it was touch and go for one, especially for one of them. The $3500 vet bill she could have done without but just happy both dogs are OK. </p>
<p>Also, +++++ vibes to everyone waiting on Ivies.</p>
<p>missypie, I’m de-lurking to say I was with you in 2009 (and have been quietly and happily following your sensible and funny posts ever since!), and while I remember some WL action back then, I agree, there wasn’t as much as we are seeing now. We have also had a few more surprises at our school than we did two years ago. Demographically speaking, 2009 was supposed to be the baby boom peak class, so remember how we predicted things would be a little less intense for this class of 2011? But it’s clear the numbers have continued to creep up (or down, depending on how you crunch them, i.e., apps vs. acceptance percentages) due to other factors–everyone applying to more schools because of Common App and/or to maximize choice and especially FA/merit packages, the steady influx of international apps, etc. </p>
<p>Even though the process is maddening, as I follow the 2011 results and compare other kids’ results to how my own senior has fared, I have to say, I think those admission folks might actually be getting it right when it comes to that elusive concept we call “fit.” When I see a child who got an admit to a school that rejected my child, and vice versa, I am usually impressed with their perceptive assessment. Although…I am pretty sure I won’t feel that way after Wed. night’s lottery numbers are announced! The tippy top admission process is in a league of its own and often defies logic. I loved the NPR Amherst piece. I think the best practical advice we can give to those coming behind us is, “Pitch yourself in 1 minute” and what do you hear?</p>
<p>missypie, congrats on your 2011 child finding just the right place, and so early in the process.</p>
<p>My guess on the WL increase is that people are beginning to recognize how random the admissions process is and are applying to more schools. The result is that there are so many qualified individuals that have applied to so many schools that schools are struggling to estimate how many students will accept offers of admission. Add the economy to that and the need to consider financial aid - merit and otherwise- before choosing a school and increasing waitlists are inevitable. </p>
<p>What can I say, I’m sure my 2012 D will apply to 10-12 schools next year because we won’t know the true sticker prices until April.</p>
<p>As I told my son, to maximize chances of winning a lottery you need to buy as many tickets as possible. Not a moment of guilt… it is the colleges that made the process a lottery (see Amherst NPR piece for proof of what nonsense it is to pretend it is anything else) so they have to live with the consequences…</p>
He was fine.