<p>“Hey emilybee/list buddy, I was going to ask you about your boat comment. Now, from my many years growing up sailing, leaning over the edge usually had something to do with seasickness …”</p>
<p>LOL! Not seasickness… almost ready to get off the boat and onto dry land - probably in Maine. </p>
<p>Boychild races sailboats, btw.</p>
<p>Emmybet-big congrats on Bard!!!</p>
<p>collegmaw - we did both but we had access to professors and students on the accepted days which we found to be the most enlightening aspects of that visit. We did not have the same opportunities on the “everyday” visits.</p>
<p>Re: ssindecision - I could help but laught at Amanda’s descriptive visual in the Bermuda Triangle …last week I felt like we were on the Titanic with sea sickness :rolleyes:</p>
<p>The timing of the accepted students days makes a difference with my son - most are on weekends. As it is, he’s going to miss at least four days of school in April, two for Robotics tournament and two for visits because we have to travel. Son really hates to miss school and then make up the work. If we didn’t have school and logistics to deal with I would like him to attend a class/shadow a student/do an overnight. We just don’t have that luxury. Also, my son is a bit on the shy side. I’m hoping he makes a friend connection too.</p>
<p>Let me offer a perspective from a parent of someone who won the lottery this year (i.e., got into 4 of the top 10 national universities, and 5 of the top 10 LACs, based on the quite fallible US News rankings.) I hope this does not come across as bragging or puffery.</p>
<p>He has top flight numbers (2360, 36, 4.0 UW, 9APs,) but we come from a town in UT that no adcom ever heard of. And his well-intended, but quite overworked, public school GC could be of no strategic help. Our challenge was to make his accomplishments pop. He has a long-time interest in comparative religions/cultures, and had the chance to do an extended program on the challenges of US diplomacy to the Muslim world last summer. He is also a candidate for a State Department-funded study abroad this year to learn Arabic. So we “packaged” him as someone interested in understanding and bridging the Western-Muslim chasm. While he legitmately has that interest, he has others as well. We chose to go for focus rather than well-rounded/balanced.</p>
<p>So what was in the headlines all spring as the various adcoms were reading his file? Revolution in Tunisia, Egypt, now Libya, and on and on… At the very time when the world is challenged to understand an international relations crisis with huge religious-cultural roots, here comes an applicant with those very interests. A lot of psychological research on salience and recency effects would imply that such a candidate would be really compelling. I think that dumb luck of timing allowed him to do better than probability would lead one to expect. He did not get into all of his schools, but he got into more than the odds would have indicated.</p>
<p>So we made a bet by emphasizing a particular focus. Another year, it might have been a bust, but this year it may have had an inside track.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Awesome. And of course, when you have a focus, you have to realize that it may be more appealing to one type of school (e.g. LAC) and not to another (e.g. research U.)</p>
<p>From the couple of you who have dared to answer my query (and of course, I don’t see it as bragging because my D was nowhere near ticket-eligible), could we maybe generalize that it is a greater admissions benefit when your passion relates to a probable major? For example, national debate recogntion may play well for a potential poly sci major but maybe not give a big boost to a music therapy major? Robotics champion may help the future engineer more than all state choir or high jump champ?</p>
<p>Dignified: I’m glad your D had a great GC who thought “outside the box”. I sometimes think that GCs are programmed to be conservative so as not to raise expectations that may later result in failure or disappointment. The GC at my S’s school pushed the envelope for S, and while he didn’t get all his acceptances, it really opened up our eyes to the overall admission process. We’re definitely happy with the choices available and will need to face the SS Indecision within the next 30 days.</p>
<p>When D went through admission process 5 years ago, there weren’t that many tough choices then and she was admitted to the only school she really was interested in (on the east coast), notwithstanding my gentle persuasion that she should consider the admitted schools in California. Oh well, can’t win them all.</p>
<p>missypie–
I would say that in general, I think the more coherence there is across all parts of the application, the better. How would it have helped my son to study Arabic this summer, and then say “I want to be a biochem major?” So yes, I believe it is better if the passion supports the major.</p>
<p>I’ve been following this whole thread on my iPad all week while sick in bed! </p>
<p>Soooo…huge congratulations to everyone with acceptances this week (including to so many amazing schools!) Big, big hugs to those with rejections–although my son has been set since ED, he had many close friends waiting for decisions this week, including a few who were rejected from some of the “lottery” schools that they were in love with, and so we ran the entire gamut of emotions with them this week as well.</p>
<p>A special shout-out to Emmybet for her D’s Bard acceptance–Emmybet was one of the first people I got to “know” here on CC, and Bard was a favorite of my S! </p>
<p>I’m finding it hard to believe that part of the journey is almost over for all of us. As a mom with a kid who got into his first choice ED in what seems WAY back in December, it has also been instructive to see how my S reacted to all the excitement this week. Happily, he’s as excited as ever by his ED to Wesleyan! </p>
<p>Uh oh…I just started bothering my sophmore daughter about SAT IIs and such things… : ) Who’s bracing themselves for the 2017 ride as well?</p>
<p>GreatKidsMom, hope you feel better!</p>
<p>I have a high school freshman…she hates school (is an A/B student) and loves athletic activites (currenly school and all star cheer) and choir and boys. She has a sweet and winning personality, so I think if she finds a profession in which she is intested, she’ll do well. With her, I want her to stay in the top 20% of the class so she’ll be an auto-admit at every state school but the flagship.</p>
<p>It is interesting to reflect on some families who seem to have cookie cutter kids and others whose kids are all over the place. I was talking a mom with three kids: 1) quiet brainiac, 2) outgoing above average, and 3) a real handful who will be a supreme academic challegnge.</p>
<p>missypie, to answer your question, I think that highlighting a student’s passion is not a top flight student thing, it’s just in general what any student should do, no matter the level of college. My son intends to major in Information Science or Information Systems so he took classes at HS in programming and technology, and became active in technology oriented EC’s. He also started his own IT business. His aims were not to look good for colleges as much as doing what he wanted to do. IMHO, that’s what all students should do. Find what they like to do, pursue it and then find the college that fits the student.</p>
<p>Anothermom3, congrats on Chicago 2015!</p>
<p>Fog, did I miss this earlier? Your kiddo’s going to Yale? Yee-ha!!! Wonderful, wonderful news! Kudos and my very best wishes!</p>
<p>Keylime, OMG! What fabulous choices! How will he ever choose? So very happy for you!</p>
<p>
. </p>
<p>Oh, I LOVE this!!!</p>
<p>AvonDad, sorry they didn’t all go your way, but your son has some GREAT options! Best wishes to him!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s great if it works out that way, but many college students don’t know what they want to do, much less middle schoolers or high school freshmen. And that may be why the rare students who have a consistent path are so appealing to colleges.</p>
<p>Here’s an example of what can happen. Friend’s very bright D wanted to be a veterinarian. Had all kinds of community service working with animals. HS course work in sciency classes. Then, when she was old enough, she got a job at a vet clinic. HATED IT. Decided to switch to pharmacy. So even kids who have a plan may change their minds. </p>
<p>There are all kinds of kids who adore the fine arts…devote their high school lives to music or dance or theatre or art…but they know how difficult it is to make a living at it and that they aren’t the best of the best, so they don’t pursue that in college. I can see where their passion/ECs wouldn’t help them be admitted to a top U, but I sure wouldn’t ask them to give up their high school experiences.</p>
<p>Greatkidsmom - I wil also be with you for the 2017 ride! I hope you are feeling better…</p>
<p>Greatkidsmom - Yep - another 2017 here. And what a ride that will be for us - let’s just say I’m glad D is the older one and not the other way around. So I’m looking forward to sharing that journey, on which I will probably looking for a LOT of support. </p>
<p>In the meantime, big congrats to Emmybet’s D on Bard - that is just awesome. What a great way to wrap things up. Looking forward to hearing about everyone’s destinations.</p>
<p>I have a question. My friend has noticed that most of the kids that were offered spring admission to our state flagship applied “undecided.” She thinks it hurt their chances for fall admission. Did most of your kids select an intended major? Most of the colleges we visited emphasized that it was fine to be undecided, and pointed out that many students change their major anyway.</p>
<p>missypie, I was responding to this,
A hook, is a hook, no matter if it’s for the lottery schools or a normal LAC. I think the difference is that the kids that make the lottery schools (you guys can tell me if I’m right) take the hook to another level like winning a state competition in their activity, AND do it while getting all A’s and near perfect SAT’s. And if they can overcome something along the way, bonus points. I admire those kids because I know how hard my slightly better then average kids 
worked and can only imagine the drive that the high achievers must have.</p>
<p>I remember my ah-ha moment when I read one admissions book and I realized that the trend of a well rounded student had given way to the well-pointed student. You might not have a real focus, but it’s better to have something that you are “known” for. It’s not something that a lot of kids can pull off, but even my computer game obsessed son realized that it would behoove him to highlight his scouting career that culminated in an Eagle. He wasn’t going to do anything with it career-wise, but scouting showed an interest in community service and being involved in the outdoors. #3 Didn’t have to think about what his focus was - it stood out naturally.</p>
<p>“That’s great if it works out that way, but many college students don’t know what they want to do, much less middle schoolers or high school freshmen. And that may be why the rare students who have a consistent path are so appealing to colleges.”</p>
<p>This was actually one of the many things I learned from CC. The idea of showing *demonstrated interest *in a topic. D has taken 6 honors or AP science classes in high school and 4 honors or AP math classes. She is also an officer of the high school science club, the high school math club and has won numerous science and math awards. So, it naturally followed that her summer activity would mirror this and she was accepted to a summer science program at one of the UC’s. So, the choice of major becomes easy, right?</p>
<p>Well, suddenly in her junior year she started toying with the idea of majoring in… English! What? Sure, she had also taken 4 honors or AP English classes, but, other than that, there was nothing that showed demonstrated interest in it. No clubs, no activities, no internship, no awards, nothing humanities-driven at all. So, thanks to CC, I advised her to apply to college as a science/engineering major (something she was good at and could show genuine passion for), but then, if desired, change majors once she was admitted. The majority of the schools she applied to advertise that they expect the kids to change their minds a few times anyway.</p>
<p>It worked. And now she has all of her options open. And, by the way, that “English” idea was dead in the water ;)</p>
<p>So, long story short, showing passion and *demonstrated *interest in one or multiple topics is very important. And, it would not surprise me if D’s passion significantly helped her receive so many acceptances.</p>
<p>yikes, I will be back (ok still hanging on) in 2018.</p>
<p>momjr - my S applied with a known major, finance. I think it can go both ways. Some majors are harder to get into than others like engineering. OTOH, some schools, thinking of PITT seem to have lower standards for those undecided and going in into “arts & sciences” than those going into nursing or engineering. OTOH, if you don’t start off in engineering of nursing or one of the other selective majors it is very difficult to transfer in after the fact. </p>
<p>I suspect that LAC’s are more open to undecided kids than big U’s.</p>