Hey @snoozn, there wasn’t a lot of bragging going on at the party, it was more of a pity party, ha. I think the parents finally realized their snowflakes weren’t going to achieve the “prestige factor” they were hoping for. I think reality had set in for many parents, and I’m assuming it might get worse for them when their kids have to “settle” and the parents have to shell out the cash.
@picklesarenice are nice, relax and don’t worry. It will all work out in the end. My wife had a similar experience. She did some college “research” the other day and decided to read some real life college student review sites on all of the schools my son is interested in. Most of the reviews were horrendous and 1/3 of the kids hated the schools and thought they basically sucked. My wife was aghast. How could we send our son to schools that suck?? Upon further review, virtually every college my wife searched had brutally bad reviews to go along with some better reviews. But if you were to believe the web site, every college stinks, the food is horrid, the teachers don’t know anything, dorms are gross, and there are a lot of idiots on campus.
For any of you with DC applying to Virginia Tech for engineering, the engineering specific scholarship page has opened today. It has two stages. The first stage basically asks for resume type information, then you wait for stage two. Here is the link…
I agree that college review websites (by students) are HORRIBLE! Seriously, the only kids who bother to review are the ones who hate the place. AVOID AT ALL COST! They will turn you against your top pick instantly.
@picklesarenice Ignore them. The only opinions that matter are the AOs. We cannot predict how they will view applications. Our students can only submit an overall application that reflects who they are. That is the long and short of what is under their control. once submit has been hit, they need to just let go of the process.
@RightCoaster Sounds like your wife was on niche.com. HUGE grain of salt with that site, because you have to consider who is motivated to go there and write a review of their school Typically either the super rah-rah kids or the ones who are bad fits. Not that this site (College Confidential) is perfect, I mean I feel like my D17 is the only one in America who didn’t get a 36 ACT sometimes after reading posts here, but niche is more problematic. That’s why tours and campus visits are so important when they are feasible.
@BigPapiofthree Oh, what a bummer for your son! That’s bad timing. Are his stats and all that in line with typically admitted kids, or is it a big reach?
For me, part is curiosity getting the best of me… where DS gets accepted/where will he chooses to attend. DS is my 1st and only to attend college so it is a pretty big thing. Clarity of the financial impact, whatever the number, will remove that nagging question mark in my head. Looking for closure on the whole process, and an answer to “Did DS play the game well enough?” Closure- DS can move on to other things. Visualizing DS in “next step” can begin.
I feel like I am going to burst like Violet Beauregard, in need of the juicing room. =))
Sorry to hear that @BigPapiofthree…we experienced a lot of turnover in the summer between junior and senior year, but that was still enough time to make new contacts. Now’s an odd time for the AO to make a move, but I’d encourage your S to reach out to someone new. Fingers crossed.
Only one college email today. Serious doldrums going on around here. Lots of time to think about choices, many of which are keeping me up at night. Thinking…wouldn’t it be nice to just say F it, and enroll at one of the admitted schools? Be done with it? Even scholarship decisions that don’t come until March or later really stink.
@picklesarenice I learned the hard way 2 years ago to mostly avoid the Stanford threads here. Everyone’s essays are amazing, their letters of recs are 10/10, and their national-caliber ECs fill a 30 hour day. I think for most of us it’s like stressing out over whether we have the right lottery numbers.
I feel like a bad parent every time DS’s classmates’ parents talk about college. Those who are planning on college are going to the in-state publics or local private colleges, and they have applied, been accepted and made their decision. I truly doubt that many of them have heard about ED/EA/RA and I know most of them would never think to send their DC out of state. I try to avoid talking about it as much as possible, but some nice parent inevitably tries to bring me into the conversation by asking where DS will go. When I say he hasn’t quite decided yet, I get “Really? When is he going to decide? It’s getting pretty late.”
@IABooks --haha they are probably on another forum somewhere talking about you and how you don’t seem to have a clue and haven’t even decide yet lol!
I have realized I am annoying in real life and my new rule for anything public (grocery store encounters, holiday gatherings, etc.) is not to bring it up unless asked. But in order to make sure people don’t think I’m clueless, I DO say “she has a few options to wade through–in-state and OOS…just waiting on things to settle in before she makes a decision.”
Which is a TOTAL lie because while she DOES have some OOS options, as of today she has NOT been admitted to engineering at our two state flagships so she really has zero in-state options at the moment! :((
@carachel2 2020! I only laugh because that 2017 thread was so active and such a time-suck. I bailed early, ‘luckily’ when it looked we would be just shy.
@MACncheez I’m right there with you on just enrolling at one of the admitted schools. It would make D happy. Why I’m holding on to “options” when we are both tired of the process and both love her first choice keeps me up at night.
Hi guys! I’m not a regular, but read the posts every few days. I have a question for you all about updating an ED application. D just received a school-level senior “scholar athlete of the year” award. If she were a tippy top kid applying to a tippy top school, I’d definitely say it’s a nothing and not worth a mention. However, she’s a very good but not great student, applying early to a very good but not elite school (think 35-50 range on USNWR) and is trying for a lower tier merit award. So I really don’t know how to judge if it makes sense for D to e-mail her admissions officer about it or not because I have no idea what her “competition” might look like. If it weren’t for the attempt at merit, I’d say it wasn’t worth it. Right now I’m leaning toward not because it doesn’t communicate any new information about her since they of course have her transcript and already know about her athletic caliber. Thoughts?