<p>Researching, congrats on your daughter’s decision! I loved Clark when we visited. I know a few grads and they are all very proud to be Clarkies.</p>
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<p>Exactly! </p>
<p>My D has a lot of interests - and I know that her major EC in high school will not be a career pursuit (theatre). So she’s exploring. Even choosing a major wasn’t a simple thing, and I seriously doubt that what she chose will stick. But this isn’t unusual. I think the average number of major changes for college kids is in the range of 3 to 4. I applaud the focus of and drive of many of the kids I read about here and maybe that is what makes the difference at tippy top schools. But that drive/focus doesn’t fit for all 17 and 18 year olds, and I’m sure many of the unfocused will be just as successful and college …</p>
<p>I meant to say how much I enjoyed the story (can’t remember who it was)of the daughter who sang slightly bawdy and insulting songs to the schools that rejected her while her sister videotaped the performance since the parent had to be away. Gosh, that gave me a giggle, and what a healthy,fun (and entertaining)way to deal with the dissapointment!</p>
<p>Congratulations to those whose kids got the acceptances they hoped for. Sorry to those who did not. </p>
<p>Happy (and envious) to hear that many of my fellow 2011/15 parents/kids are done with the whole process. </p>
<p>We are among those that have yet to finalize a matriculation decision. D is deciding among 3 schools, 2 that she has visited and 1 that we are visiting later this month. We are also awaiting financial aid info from the last school. </p>
<p>Wishing everyone a much-deserved and needed restful weekend :)</p>
<p>Hi- I haven’t been on here since the fall but something has happened that makes me need feedback. Help! I’ve enjoyed reading the thread frequently- sorry I haven’t been chiming in. My d got into Stanford SEA, no aid. Among top schools, S was the favorite so she never applied to Columbia or UChicago or Swarthmore, her other favorites. For whatever reason, partly for a possible financial backup but more because she really liked the school and her interviewer in October, she went ahead and still filled out the app for Oberlin late Dec. She also applied to UW Honors. Stanford is her dream school since childhood and she has become even more excited about it over the last few months, so for this reason and under pressure from grandparents, she enrolled at Stanford last week. She is confident about her choice. But yesterday she not only received an acceptance from Oberlin but a $18,000 per year pure merit award. I never dreamed they would ever offer that much. We should have waited to see. I had become convinced from CC that that kind of thing was impossible since every school is running away from significant merit aid. We don’t qualify for need based aid but we are not loaded. We are hovering just above what would qualify for need based aid. There is nothing we can do to change anything since D already enrolled at Stanford, but I am having severe palpitations about the offer. Please someone tell me that Stanford is worth $72,000 more than Oberlin for history/philosophy/psychology! D plans to go to law school.</p>
<p>Late this afternoon, I received an email with my d’s Monday/Tuesday schedule at a college she was still considering. It wasn’t a good email-considering the school was over 2000 miles away, sending us a parking pass but no info how to get from the airport, wasn’t good. I call and ask, and it turns out we can’t get there by light rail, she would have to transfer onto at least two buses. Or we could pay $25 each way for Super Shuttle or one of its competitors. I was about to set that up and d who had been baking in the kitchen for her honor society’s charity bake sale (Guardian Angels for Soldiers’ Pets) had heard my end of the conversation. She comes in the office and says she doesn’t want to go visit. After talking with her and getting her dad on the phone who asked some more questions, we decided that she can cancel the trip (we bought tickets on Southwest so she can apply the money to another trip in the next year). And then there were two.</p>
<p>She is definitely going to a school in Alabama now. Which school is still in question but it will be Alabama. I think she probably made a wise decision. She doesn’t like the cold and is usually cold (she is very thin). She didn’t like living in Florida that much but AL has more winter than the area of Florida we lived in.</p>
<p>Stillwater - you can always withdraw an acceptance and take another. The only thing you may not do is put deposits on two schools at once. Usually, though, you lose the first deposit. This is what happens with anyone who gets into a school from a waitlist.</p>
<p>That aside, it will be a hard choice for you all whether to pay more for a Stanford education. Certainly Oberlin is an excellent school, and this isn’t a Podunk U vs. Ivy kind of choice. </p>
<p>My D has a choice like this - several steps down in selectivity, but again, a likely $100K difference in cost. It is hard to decide, and a very personal decision.</p>
<p>What does your D think? She does have the right to change her mind.</p>
<p>When you say enrolled I assume you mean put down a deposit? Can’t you just withdraw? I believe you would only lose your deposit.</p>
<p>Congrats, MM! Sounds like fate stepped in with your D! It’s wonderful hearing that both she and your family are closer to knowing where you’ll all be next year!</p>
<p>MM: Congratulations on narrowing down the choices. I always felt that if the visit logistics were too complicated, that the school wasn’t a good choice. I’m glad you able to cancel the trip without losing $$. That’s what I love about Southwest.</p>
<p>Stillwater: I agree with Emmybet that you can still withdraw the Stanford acceptance. As she said, this is a personal decision, but since you asked for opinions, I’ll give mine. Kids all over the country would love to go to Stanford. I believe I saw it listed as the #1 dream college of students. Oberlin is a fine school, but Stanford has exceptional academics, athletics and location. I don’t think that prestige is the most important reason to select a school, but Stanford’s prestige will benefit your daughter for years to come. Many students at top universities pass up merit scholarships and full rides at other schools. If you can work out the cost, I think it’s worth the sacrifice.</p>
<p>Well things just got a bit more interesting. Bluejr was about 90% sold on his top choice, with visits scheduled to two schools next week. He received an Honors invite today as well as Honors housing at his other top option. He was asked to apply to Honors back in Feb. We hadn’t given it much thought since. Freshman are rarely offered Honors housing so that’s a pretty nice affirmation. I believe the decision has just gotten more complicated.</p>
<p>BI: Congrats on the Honors invite, even if it does complicate things!</p>
<p>I’ll remark to add to my above comment that in my D’s choices we would consider the more expensive schools “worth it” in the value of their education and their longterm benefits, too. My D doesn’t have an HYPSM acceptance, but a couple of her options are top 50 or better. If we didn’t think they could mean the world to her, and be worth the investment, we would have dropped them from the list a long time ago. But we don’t have to ruin our finances to manage them, fortunately.</p>
<p>The experience at Oberlin is very, very different. If she gives up Stanford, she’ll need to know she would be happy in that kind of atmosphere. These are two extremely different schools, more so than another pairing might be (a Claremont college and Stanford, for example).</p>
<p>^^ we are in the same boat here; a $28,000 scholarship (renewable) to a really nice school, probably a great fit, maybe a little less strong academically (though D will be top dog) vs a $11,000 grant (which will likely be reduced once D’s older brother is out of college) to better college with maybe even a better fit, but more travel involved. (But Southwest flies there!) </p>
<p>There is 3rd choice involved - more money than both of above that is falling quickly off the list, even though it is strong in her intended major and even though we haven’t visited yet. </p>
<p>Every minute of everyday my opinion changes, same for D.</p>
<p>On another note, the Amherst rejection letter was one of our least favorite, and I have a hard time really believing the line about D’s application being “thoroughly” reviewed “more than once” given the NPR piece. Does “more than once” mean that initial vote where more than one admissions person voted thumbs down and moved her to the reject pile immediately? :)</p>
<p>Maybe it’s the low after the whirlwind of the past 2 weeks, but I’m having a hard time today. Feeling the unfairness of this whole process acutely, especially after reading some of the threads about these poor kids with sha-mazing stats being rejected/waitlisted everywhere. Finding myself trying to force the happy face, look at these great choices D has (we did end up 4-4-2 as I predicted) – and she DOES have great choices – while secretly I’m stewing about the kid in D’s class admitted to the Ivy that rejected her, even though he had lower stats, lower scores, lower class rank, cannot write well, was stripped of honor societies and in trouble with the law last spring - but he’s from another country. Not to mention the Ivy athletic recruits (and believe me, I get it, as D is an athlete, but basically refused to use that as a stepping stone…) Help me get re-focused!</p>
<p>G-Mom: I’m sorry you’re feeling low. As you said it’s probably the let down after all the anticipation and excitement of the past few weeks (and months). I agree that the process is terribly unfair. It stinks that the boy you described go into an Ivy. I feel terrible for all the amazing kids whose dreams were crushed this week. </p>
<p>Your daughter sounds like a very bright and talented young lady. I’m sure that she will have a great experience wherever she ends up.</p>
<p>I think that it’s time to pass the margaritas. I’ll pour.</p>
<p>Stillwater, I would say the climate is definitely better at Stanford. :)</p>
<p>That was LeftofPisa’s D who sang the “payback” songs! What a great kid!</p>
<p>I have found this to be a very up and down week emotionally. So many feelings bubble to the surface, pop, fade, bubble up again. For my D, for everyone’s kids at our school and for those here in this lovely group.</p>
<p>I think that so much news, so much intensity, is naturally going to cause waves of elation, and of grief, too, no matter one’s personal outcome. </p>
<p>And wise missypie reminds us that the decision period will have waves of its own. I already have strange feelings of sadness about the schools we will say goodbye to, some which we visited almost 2 years ago. So many “what ifs” and “what could have beens.” </p>
<p>This is why I really like the method of spending one day mentally committed to one school, and another day mentally committed to a different one, and comparing how it feels. Sometimes you have to measure how much you’d regret something to understand how much you want it.</p>
<p>I’m a terrible hostess with drinks and food, but I’m always here for a hug.</p>
<p>Emmybet- I really like your suggestion of spending one day mentally committed to one school and another day committed to another and seeing how it feels. I will suggest it to d…who may respond with her usual eyeroll…but hey, I can try, right???
I think I am the captain of the SS Indecision. She has had her schools narrowed down to two for months, but yet can’t choose!!!</p>
<p>momjr - already into glass #2 of wine (that is well beyond my usual limit in these elderly days of mine)… thanks for the cheering up though!</p>
<p>P.S. Stillwater - I’d pick Stanford if you can swing it financially.</p>
<p>My 2 cents re the Stanford/Oberlin choice. I believe you said an 18K scholarship was at stake.<br>
My D’s merit awards (apart from additional vocal $) were all in the $17 to $25K ballpark. We expected this going in and it was a key part of our strategy.</p>
<p>She will come out of a great school in 4 years absolutely debt-free. Everyone views this differently, but as a self-employed single mom, this is huge to me.</p>
<p>IMO, no school’s name or reputation is worth sacrificing this kind of money. In fact, sometimes what you THINK you’re getting for all those extra $$ is not at all the case (read Harvard Schmarvard).</p>
<p>This is just my opinion, and you will get others. But 4 years from now an Oberlin degree and $72K in my pocket sounds pretty darn good to me. YMMV.</p>