Wesleyan is known to the general public, if at all, mainly for the number and range of its alumni accomplishments for such a small place. In sports (Bill Belichick of the Patriots, and Jed Hoyer of the Chicago Cubs) entertainment (“Game of Thrones”, “Mad Men”, “Transformers”, “Toy Story”), popular fiction (“The Bourne Connection”, “Leminy Snicket”), the performing arts (“Hamilton”, MGMT, Blue Man Group) and politics (one governor and one senator, both from Colorado.)
There is some disagreement about the importance of undergraduate research in gaining admittance to medical school and even to graduate school, @juillet who has been posting to CC since she herself was a graduate student and who now occupies a teaching post somewhere in higher ed, argues that it isn’t all that crucial. Nevertheless, there is a lot of concern about LAC science majors “burning through” electives and not having enough advanced courses. That was one of the reasons Wesleyan started awarding PhDs, primarily in its STEM departments, beginning in the 1960s.
Does anyone have to justify to themselves when considering ROI and choosing high-priced schools vs. an affordable school, that the ‘return’ is your child’s and the ‘investment’ is yours?
(unless you plan to have student pay you back for the out-of-pocket difference).
Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting an elite, but don’t talk ROI. I especially hate to hear the scenarios where parents are borrowing against there 401K etc.
For those of you who are concerned about grade deflation at the school where your child may attend, I found this website a while back that has been helpful to us in trying to figure out the truth about grade deflation and inflation. I hope it helps some of you.
@thshadow Yes I know about Cal Poly looking at freshman grades. Although it was a shock to me when we visited. But I also spend a bit of time this fall on the Cal Poly board and looked into their complex ranking system and decided he had a better shot that i first imagined. It’s one of his reaches… He is allowed to have reaches. He applied to another Cal State as a safety, so why not…
Rose Hulman sounds wonderful for your D and I bet my son would like it if he hasn’t restricted his searches to the West. It’s even more restrictive than that… West but not S. California nor the southwest. This really limited his choices. But all we need is one perfect school. I’m crossing my fingers UCSC will let him in. He’s borderline… but I think it’s a great fit for him for a number of reason.
Wow, you got to see Cal Poly’s formula? That’s amazing!
I was only pointing out that Cal Poly looks at frosh grades because I thought you didn’t know. Though it turns out you know the formula much better than I do, and you should have been giving me advice instead of vice versa…
Regardless, my DS19 sounds like he might be similar to your S. At least with geographic preferences - maybe with stats too. TBD.
So I’ll be back here in a year and a half to get more info…
Not sure if this information has changed for this year.
My son wouldn’t max out those points but would get higher than I orginally thought. It all has to do with who ends up applying and where the cut-off is there year. I’m not counting any chickens. And honestly I think my son would be happier at UC Santa Cruz and I think he’d have a lot easier time getting into CS there.
:)>- :-bd Good luck to everyone waiting on Case tomorrow! :-bd :-bd
Hope all of our kiddos get in with $$ $-) $-)
so that we can meet at Vegas. I like the idea because it is the cheapest place to fly to, stay and eat. :))
@Mom22DDs I am so sorry your DD got injured! DD14 has a girl she rowed with last year graduate and attend medical school and there are two more rowers who will be graduating this year and heading down that road. I don’t know if DD14 will end up there, but she knows she would like to work with athletes in some capacity. As you know with rowing, you are working out and/or competing all three seasons and then training all summer, it doesn’t leave much time for internships etc. I am hoping this summer she can explore some careers and finalize some choices.
Congrats to all on continued successes and scholarships. To loop back to the question I posed re: raiseme several days ago, I won’t ever know if it was worth completing the scholarship application. As was stated, the student would receive the higher of merit aid offered or the amount generated by raiseme. We specifically targeted an in–state school where I did not necessarily think he would receive any merit. My son did receive a small merit scholarship, so that “replaced” the raiseme scholarship. So, it’s all good! Also, he was accepted to Umass Amherst, which was somewhat of a reach. @Motiv8tedmom23 It sounds like our kids have similar schools but different majors!
** All eggs in one basket: ** S is having mixed emotions recently. He is pleased that he took a broad application strategy and now has several decent options in his pocket, with several more on the way, hopefully. He wants to celebrate, but he is feeling sad for his dear friends who took the opposite approach and put all of their emotional eggs into their Early Decision choice. He’s finding himself helping his two best friends deal with ED rejection, while keeping his own joy at bay. Both his friends (Yale and Johns Hopkins) were denied and are just now scrambling to get their “plan B” apps in before Jan 1. I explained that these are life lessons, not only the “all eggs in one basket” lesson, but also the importance of being humble as others are suffering. He gets it.
@STEM2017 --good lessons for your kid but hard to watch his friends I know. Ds friends who come around the house all the time are like second kids and it’s hard to watch them upset.
So did his friends not even apply to ANY other schools? They are allowed to apply to other ED and SCEA schools, right? It just seems crazy not to have a backup plan!!
@carachel2 I may not be getting the whole story from S because I cannot believe their parents (or guidance counselors) would let them run with one super reach ED choice. I think the truth is that they may have started other apps, but in their hearts there was no need to put in the effort because they WILL get accepted to ED choice. Now they are both crushed…and I worry that it will show in their remaining apps.
ETA: One of his friends said, “I’ve wanted to go to Yale since elementary school.” I can imagine that all advice to diversify the risk went in one ear and out the other.
So son got a 2nd deferral but got into UMass biz school. He wasn’t all that thrilled truthfully. He was certainly qualified to get into EA school with grades, stats, ec’s so getting deferred again stinks. He had 2 friends apply to same school with similar stats and info and all deferred. According to naviance and common data, my son was well into the good range top75% or above. Kind of crazy.
My son said most of his friends are getting deferred all over the place EA. These are good kids, high honor type kids, plenty of APs and ECs.
It’s good he has some acceptances already and the rest of his schools are more matches than reaches. Now we just wait it out until Rd round.
Bleh.
So grand tally 3 for 5, only accepted at NE state schools so far, no private acceptances.
@STEM2017 those poor kids and parents! It is hard. I do think in many cases you can try to tell these kids over and over and over again what they need to do to hedge their bets and it goes in one ear and out the other. I was at a concert/recital for S19 yesterday and met a boy from a rival HS. 13 schools on this kids list and he has yet to turn in ONE application. And some of the schools are pretty darn selective. All I could think was really? You’ll get in 13 in the next 30 days all RD? Are you nuts? Mom was beyond frustrated with him, you could tell.
@RightCoaster That stinks. It is good that he has 3 in to lessen the sting and how frustrating when the data really shows it as being far more solid than that. If he likes the acceptances he has better anyway than it is all good I imagine but it is still not fun.
