Parents of the HS Class of 2013 - 3.0 to 3.3 GPA

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
1501

<p>MyLB, I agree with you about Guilford’s acceptance letter: very personal. And showing up at her school to deliver it? Just wow. My DD feels “wanted” by them.</p>

<p>I am struggling because even though their scholarship offer is generous, the school is much more expensive then her in-state choice. Trying to weight the advantages of a small, personal college vs a larger, more impersonal experience. </p>

<p>How does one go back to a college and say while the scholarship is wonderful, we will need more $$? Are these things negotiable? And if so, should my DD be the one asking for more?</p>

1502

<p>Yes, aid is negotiable at many colleges. I’m assuming you haven’t done the FAFSA yet (since you can’t until Jan 1). You may also get need based aid on top of the scholarship. My advice - complete the FAFSA asap, and if you still don’t get enough, contact financial aid and explain the dilemma. Just make sure on need based aid you recognize how much of it is a grant (not paid back) and how much is loans, and find out if it continues past freshman year.</p>

<p>I’m driving through Greensboro today - I have an urge to pull off and drive through Guilford, though I don’t think my family would appreciate an unplanned college visit!</p>

1503

<p>Just echoing the sentiments about the lovely and very personal acceptance letters from Guildford. Such a nice touch! Our letter from Earlham was equally personal-gotta love the Quakers!</p>

<p>Stillnadine,
We asked for SOME $ from our D’s school and were turned down. It doesn’t hurt to have a conversation with the financial aid department-they won’t know you need more support if you don’t ask. Of course, many schools determine what you can afford via the CSS profile and the FAFSA forms. You can submit these after January 1, I believe.</p>

1504

<p>Congratulations on all the acceptances. At last we parents can relax a little. DS was accepted at Fairfield, Stonehill, St Mike’s and Merrimack. Deferred at Providence College. No decision from SUNY Geneseo (financial safety) until March.
He received decent merit $ from all but St Mike’s where the merit aid decision is pending.
It has motivated DS to finish his reach applications to HWS (his fav) & Gettysburg. Still working on Union and F&M.
Now the financial reality: I told DS if he gets a combo of merit & fin aid from one of the LACs that bring the cost down to the cost of our in state flagship (UMass Amherst) he can go that
LAC. Good luck to ever one, here’s wishing 2013 brings many more acceptances and $$ aid!</p>

1505

<p>New here, looking for guidance…I have loved reading this thread. Have a DD who doesn’t “fit into boxes” well at all – but you all seem like a normal group of parents (hard to find on CC…) and this thread might be a good fit. Sorry so long, would appreciate any thoughts.</p>

<p>DD was rejected EA from her first choice school (Wooster – on Christmas Eve, no less). She had made two 12-hours round trips to visit, sat in on classes, interviewed, was in love from first step on campus and never pictured herself anywhere else. Slowly getting over the disappointment and trying to move on, but having a really hard time understanding why they wouldn’t want her.</p>

<p>On the plus side, she’s in to OWU with an excellent scholarship and in to Beloit with a decent scholarship (less $ than OWU, to be expected, but still very nice). Beloit may indeed be a great home for her but didn’t “click” when she first visited…she will be going back for another look.</p>

<p>I saw some posts about weird interview letters from Wooster…have to say DD’s rejection from Wooster came as a bit of a surprise but obviously I don’t know what any of these colleges want or why.</p>

<p>Short version:
DD is AA/multiracial, high SATs (2100+, 800 CR), in a very competitive/demanding IB magnet school going for full IB diploma, president of 2 active academic clubs, accomplished musician, has done 2 internships in her intended career (museum work/history-related) blah, blah, blah. Here’s the “but” – she has a weighted GPA of 3.41 and an unweighted GPA of 2.88. Yes, GT and LD, ADD, etc. Brilliant, funny, amazing and most definitely not perfect. Really struggles with “executive function” issues – time management, planning, organization, etc. Really has no business being in the high school program she’s in (extremely competitive, fast-paced, unforgiving) but she loves it for the intellectual challenge and for amazing teachers and peers. And she’s tenacious and has refused to quit when it’s been suggested.</p>

<p>Junior year GPA was 4.0 weighted/3.3 unweighted with 5 IB classes; freshman and sophomore years really dismal, a lot of Cs and Ds (all in math and science).</p>

<p>So being naive, we pretty much thought the big improvement in junior year, the demanding curriculum, the SAT scores, and the letter we included talking about her ADD and how it affects her ability to manage the workload (not in terms of intellect but in terms of volume and speed of work) would be enough to outweigh the crappy GPA, at least at Wooster. We know nothing :)</p>

<p>So here is where I would love some advice:</p>

<p>1) Should she apply somewhere else last-minute? Any suggestions?</p>

<p>She did apply to Lawrence (visited knowing nothing about it and really loved everything about it) but I’m thinking a no from Wooster will mean a no from Lawrence. Lawrence’s trimester system, with 3 classes at a time, would probably work really well for her. Any other ideas? I came across Kalamazoo on another board and it looked interesting. But don’t know much about it. Definitely need a school that thinks outside the box a little bit.</p>

<p>2) DD would like me to call Wooster and try to find out why she was rejected (not to try to get in, but just to understand). Any thoughts on this?</p>

<p>Thanks, and best of luck to all your kids, who sound awesome.</p>

1506

<p>I’m sorry to hear about Wooster. I’m not sure much would be gained by calling admissions.</p>

<p>It’s good that she is in at both OWU and Beloit. </p>

<p>If you really want to add a school, Cornell College in Iowa might be a good choice for her. It has the ‘one course at a time’ block scheduling. A friend’s S who has ADD and a LD applied there and was accepted, and they think the block scheduling would suit their son.</p>

<p>It"s regular decision deadline is Feb 1.</p>

1507

<p>If you have a good guidance counselor I’d have the GC call Wooster on her behalf. Although I wouldn’t want to get her hopes up, you never know. And the GC calling may be able to get a more straightforward answer. I work at a small private high school and our wonderful GC frequently calls if there’s an unanticipated rejection.</p>

1508

<p>mdnhmass,</p>

<p>Your daughter sounds wonderful. Here is a great list of programs to prepare for museum careers. Most are grad programs, but there are a few undergrad programs mixed in.</p>

<p>[Museum</a> Studies Training Directory](<a href=“Smithsonian Learning Lab: Discover, Create, Share”>Smithsonian Learning Lab: Discover, Create, Share)</p>

<p>Your daughter might also consider a school like Pitzer, where there is lots of support for doing an individualized major, and no need to do Math/Science breadth requirements. She might be able to create some sort of Art/History/Curation hybrid. Pitzer is highly selective, but committed to diversity, and tolerant of folks who are a bit lopsided. Pitzer is super focused on fit. If your daughter falls in love with it and can explain why Pitzer is the place for her, it could work. Though they are test optional, they are also very clearly on a drive to improve their ranking. I think they would be very happy with your daughter’s scores.</p>

1509

<p>The new revised edition of Colleges That Change Lives is worth a read for you and DD, for the approach to finding the right college but also for the information on those 40 colleges. The CTCL website, meanwhile, can give you information about deadlines, majors, size etc. all in one convenient place.</p>

1510

<p>mdnhmass, welcome, and congratulations on OWU and Beloit. Those are both great schools (and ones that we are hoping DS gets accepted to). That Wooster rejection has me scratching my head (and wondering if my son should bother applying).</p>

1511

<p>mdn–we’ve had something of a funky response from Wooster as well (and I do love love love that school). DS#1 was waitlisted, which was really surprising to us given kids he knew who got in + the other schools he got into. (In the end they did offer him admission, but he’d already decided on another school.) DS#2 was admitted (although did not attend), and we’re still waiting to hear from them for DS#3 (I told you I like that school). I kind of got a sense that Wooster maybe doesn’t offer admission to kids they think are not going to attend? No idea if that’s true or not. I also wouldn’t assume a no from them means <em>anything</em> about the other schools you reference.</p>

<p>Are you sure your D was rejected and not just deferred to RD? I’m not a fan of contacting admissions to find out what went wrong, but if she’s not <em>sure</em> she was rejected, she might just send an e-mail to her admissions counselor telling him/her she was disappointed and that Wooster is her #1 choice (I do think schools like to hear that).</p>

<p>However, back with my oldest it was a good “okay let’s move on” experience. I still firmly believe most kids end up where they were meant to be, so you might just focus on where she’s in. OWU ended up being a close second for DS#1–he would have been happy to attend there. I also really liked the feel of that place.</p>

<p>As to other schools, I’d also echo I like the CTCL schools and it’s a good place to start if she decides to throw in a few more apps.</p>

1512

<p>Checking back in now that holiday madness has died down. Reading several pages in a row was like reading a suspense novel! Congrats to those who have received acceptances and condolences to those that are nursing rejection wounds. Hang in there - you are in the home stretch now!</p>

1513

<p>Oh my goodness, thank you all so much for your responses. And for the person who PM’d me, extra thanks…will respond when I get a chance.
Yes, OWU and Beloit are really good choices and I suspect she will be just fine at either. So we are grateful.<br>
Yes, she was definitely rejected (not deferred) at Wooster. The letter was kind but could not have been clearer – “we are sorry to say we cannot offer you admission” or something like that.
Have read the CTCL book and actually that’s where we started our hunt from the very beginning, hoping to find schools that were more open/forgiving to complicated kids. I think we may have misjudged Wooster in that department. Still love that school, though.</p>

<p>May have also erred by narrowing down the list too much from the start – only applied to 5 schools total (and one was an in-state option which she never had any intention of going to).</p>

<p>Thanks again, and will look forward to participating here.</p>

1514

<p>mdnhmass,if you’re D is interested in applying to other schools, you might check out UNC-Asheville. It’s the liberal arts school in the UNC system. A neighbor’s D is there majoring in art history in hopes of doing museum work. She loves it. Asheville,NC is a really nice town. Application deadline for regular decision is Feb. 15.
[UNC</a> Asheville :: North Carolina?s Public Liberal Arts University](<a href=“http://www.unca.edu/]UNC”>http://www.unca.edu/)</p>

1515

<p>Hello - I am glad I found this thread. I’m looking for advice. My D is a young classical singer with a very strong resume and B+ average grades. She has been quickly accepted to the schools of music but the admissions process is a little different. Some schools have deferred her some are waiting for Fall grades. She was accepted to Baylor U so we know she has one so far. So if your child has talent, decent grades and school of music wants them what do you do?</p>

1516

<p>Add me to the list of people who are surprised by mdnhmass’s daughter’s rejection from Wooster. That is not at all what I would have expected. </p>

<p>I am preparing to help a friend with her son’s college app process next year (he’s a Jr this year) and I was absolutely going to refer them to Wooster because he is a twice-exceptional kid and I thought Wooster would be awesome for him. Now I am thinking twice.</p>

<p>How about Earlham? Centre College? Guilford?</p>

1517

<p>BTW- My D may very well be attending O W U next year!</p>

1518

<p>Also have a twice exceptional kid. Awhile back I called and spoke with the head of disability services at Cornell College in Iowa, who was a lovely person and offered a great deal of helpful information in general about good fit for bright kids with some differences. We talked at one point about other colleges as well, and she had suggestions - I believe she has worked at other colleges, but mostly she is just aware and interested in the options. Cornell’s one-course-at-a-time approach may not be right for your child, but a conversation with her may be helpful if you think it might. (Sorry, I’ve forgotten her name and I’m heading out the door, late!)</p>

1519

<p>mdnhmass - I second Earlham & K-Zoo, also suggesting Knox, Hiram, Truman, Wittenberg, Coe and Bradley.</p>

1520

<p>Sorry about the rejection-- it is impossible to figure out what admissions offices are thinking and you can drive yourself crazy trying to analyze it (at least that is my opinion) It’s great your DS has some other good options-- others have already mentioned this but if possible visiting the accepted schools again can help. My middle S visited his school several times and liked it better each time he visited</p>