any siblings from this group got into Ivies today?
@crazym0m I donāt think they sell the exact scores but they certainly have some idea plus they have a few survey questions. The highly selective schools do tend to send out materials to anyone close to their stats because staying high in the rankings depends on getting a lot of applicants. @HiToWaMom I also have a 2016 kid and this year was a particularly tough one with a huge amount of exceptional kids. Nearly every top school has a lower percentage of acceptances. The best thing my son did was apply to a rolling admission school that notifies early so even when he got 1 deferral he was bummed about he still felt really good knowing he was in somewhere that he liked. The worst thing he did was leave all his RD apps only 75% finished so when he got into a school he really liked EA he didnāt care that much about the RD apps he still wanted to apply to. I canāt imagine how tough it would have been finishing those apps if he didnāt have a bunch of EA and rolling acceptances under his belt. Iām hoping my D17 will do all of hers this summer.
@crazym0m
OMG, two years in a row for you!? Yes, Iām planning to have my D17 finish her applications during summer, too!
D17ās bf did not get into Harvard. There is no joy in Mudville today. He requested space; sheās wisely giving it to him.
It will be interesting to see where he ends up, where they end up, and what path she chooses to take with regards to looking at colleges.
Iām currently badgering her to write some thank-you notes to her grandparents. My goodness-itās an email, just do it! (the written word and stamps are dead in our household).
@MotherOfDragons Likewise with the written word and stamps in our house. Grandparents are great texters and snap chatters, so they communicate with the grandkids that way. By the wayā¦their snaps are hilarious!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stanford-admissions-new-york-times_us_56fbe83ce4b083f5c60623c0
I gues NYT ran the article a day too early.
Today: Clemson University
We hit Clemson this morning, starting with an info session with the Calhoun Honors College. We walked over to the honors housing and grabbed a conference room. Didnāt really tour the honors housing at all, so could have done the session anywhere. I think the reason for this is that a new honors dorm is being built, and should be available for next fallās class. Sounds like it will be very niceā¦mostly 4-person suites with some doubles and singles. The top floor has a view of ādeath valleyā/football stadium. Very centrally located on campus.
Being in Honors gives you all the normal perks: small classes (they have a lot of honors courses) capped at 19; priority registration; research grants; conference travel grants; free tickets to campus events; advisement for internships/study abroad/career placement; mentoring, and tutoring. It sounded like the priority registration alone was worth being in honors, especially for freshman and sophomores.
You must take 1 H course per semester to remain in good standing. We had 2 honors ambassadors in the session, one of whom was just an awesome individual. She was a senior, and I thought she started tearing up when she talked about this being her last year at Clemson. They talked about how the Calhoun Honors students focused a lot on research, whereas departmental honors (in almost every major) required a thesis to obtain honors designation at graduation. You could do Calhoun and/or Departmental honors.
I thought it was interesting that about 1500+ applied for honors, about 700+ were admitted, and about 300 enrolledā¦a typical class size. 30 ACT was required for applyingā¦a little higher for OOS students. Sorry, not sure about SAT but I assume itās on the website. Need to maintain 3.4 GPA once in Honors. $450/semester cost for honors perks.
Following the honors info session we went to the normal campus info session. What a disappointment. A short video describing what they look for in an application, and then we were assigned to tour guides. I looked to the woman next to me and said: We came all this way for THAT!?
Our tour guide was awesome. My D immediately compared the campus to a hilly UIUC campus, which was not her favorite. Clemson has about 17,000 undergraduates, so kind of a medium size school. Very much what I would consider a state flagship (USofC being the other). It was pretty enough, but there were some rough edges, especially when compared to the 3 privates we had just visited. We had been on YikYak earlier in the morning where a student had complained that āthe only thing worse than coming out of lunch smelling like Schilletter ( the dining hall) is actually eating the food thereā. When we walked into the dining hall during the tour, my D immediately turned to me with her nose turned up. It stunk. It resembled a HS cafeteria. We saw a girlsā dorm room which was pretty typical cinder block construction. Double, no sink, hall bath. It was fine, no frills, high-rise.
All in all, Clemson reminded me of how college was when I went to UofM in the 80s. There is a VERY strong Clemson āfamilyā of alums. Students seemed to really love their school, and there was tons of school spirit. Everyone was wearing Clemson gear. It is a medium-sized research uni, and there seemed to be lots of opportunities, as long as a student was industrious, and took initiative. Sports is BIG here. My D really liked the Calhoun Honors component, but the rest of it was a bit of a let down for her. Not sure if it will stay on the listā¦weāll see.
As for scholarships, there are a few full-rides available (donāt know much about), as well as some restricted departmental scholarships. From the NPC it looked like $15K was the high end for OOS scholarships. The departmental ones may stack, not sure. The $15K would not quite be equivalent to an OOS waiver. I think they used to do waivers, but have cut it down recently, giving a specific $ amount instead.
We head to U of South Carolina tomorrow. Then home!
@MotherOfDragons sorry to hear about your Dās bf. My D16 didnāt get the news she wanted today from the ivies. A bit disappointed as I donāt know what else she couldāve done. Phenomenal stats, NM scholar, ECs etc. but just your regular white girl with no other hooks. She has a full ride to our state flagship and she is seriously considering attending so she can attend grad school anywhere and we will have the money to pay. We didnāt qualify for a cent of aid so if she does go oos now, it will use up all the money we saved for undergrad. Big decisions to come in the next few weeks. This is not fun! My D17 has witnessed this all unfold and she is taking it all in.
@greeny8 Congrats to your daughter for receiving a full ride to the state flagship!! That is an incredible accomplishment, and she is so smart to seriously consider doing that so that you can help with graduate school. How wonderful it would be to graduate from undergrad and grad school with no debt!!
The decision making time before May 1st is so agonizing. My older kids found, though, that once they made their final decisions and committed to a school, they never looked back! I also found that we had some really great conversations about the future and their own priorities as we talked through the pros and cons of each choice. We got to know and respect each other even moreā¦the beginning of an adult relationship with our kids. Sighā¦
@greeny8 Iām sorry that your D did not get the news that she wanted, but she seems like an incredible student who will achieve amazing things regardless of where she attends college. Congratulations to her on the full ride! That is so impressive!
@2muchquan wrote āIt sounded like the priority registration alone was worth being in honors, especially for freshman and sophomores.ā
Yeah, I just registered for summer and next fall, and my senior status and the fact that my department controls enrollment in the classes (fine arts) means it was a total breeze, and it has been one of the things in the past that has totally FUBARED my schedules when I couldnāt get the classes I need at the times I need them (I have to work around the kids schedules, although not so much anymore).
@greeny8 Iām so sorry your D didnāt get into an Ivy-it really is a crap shoot. Dās bfās stats were crazy good, but itās all a lottery. I hope heās able to make peace with it and choose a school he likes. Iām watching quietly to understand the grieving-ish process so I can be a good parent for the girls when they inevitably face rejections next year and the year after. On the upside, how awesome is the full ride to the flagship! Super awesome! Iād be doing the āmake it rainā happy dance :). Congrats to her!
@Felicita @BusyNapping @MotherOfDragons thanks for your kind words. My D16 is trying to come to terms with it all as she really wanted to go OOS to be away from the same mentality and her high school. She wanted to be able to brag and be proud of her college. She should be proud, as it is a great school but itās not a top 10. Also, she is on the waitlist for one of her top choices and she canāt move forward with the state school knowing in the back of her mind thereās a chance at the other. She just said she wants to commit and be done, but what if?? I donāt even know how to guide her. I just want this over already! And just 10 minutes ago my D17 comes into my room crying that she really wants to get into her dream school and how if her sister didnāt get in, how will she? And she has to take the ACT next weekend and what if she doesnāt do well, and she needs to study for her 5 AP exams, and keep her perfect gpa, find the perfect summer program to help her get into the perfect college. She is stressing herself out and nothing I say will make her feel better. Sheās so hard on herself. Not fun in my house at the moment. Iām going to have some ice cream in bed and catch up on tv showsā¦
I just read through the HS Class of 2016 thread regarding Ivy day. Yeah, pretty brutal. Itās funny, and there is a LONG way to go, but so far my Dās favorite school by far is the lowest ranked/least prestigious one on our list. Iām good with that, as long as we determine it can get her where she wants to go, and thatās to grad school. Itās an academic safety, but a financial reachā¦as pretty much all schools are 
There should be a good opportunity for merit, if it remains a leader.
These school visits have been exhausting, but good in that we are able to take some schools off the table based on what weāve seen. Itās also been a blast traveling with D. Weāve laughed until our faces hurt, and had lots of discussions about $$. Sheās also got a whole new wardrobe of shirts from all the schools we visited except one.
Ughā¦@greeny8 Maybe have some wine with that ice creamā¦ My kids found this article helpfulā¦perhaps it will help.
@Felicita great article. Iāll show it to both my girls. Iām not a very big drinker - my husband has a tiny wine glass the size of a shot glass thatās just for me because I donāt need much to get loopy, but it sounds good right now!
@2muchquan happy you are making wonderful memories with your D. Enjoy it!
@2muchquan ā¦SO very helpful! And I also love how much you have enjoyed your trip, shared some laughs and had some great talks.
@2muchquan, Iām enjoying your trip reports. We used to live in Fayetteville (or as many called it, āFayette-namā). Iāve taken classes at Duke and UNC, though many moons ago. Duke is one of the prettiest campuses Iāve ever seen.
Regarding confederate flags in the south ā I grew up in Tennessee and our high school mascot was the āRebelā and symbol was the rebel flag. During pep rallies students would run around the gym waving giant confederate flags. Strange times.
@WhereIsMyKindle, Iāve never heard of SIS, is that a specific major or a progam that contains several majors? The classes sound very interesting. (Also have to add that I love your user name ā I hate when I lose my kindle!)
@jyc1230, upstate NY was very cold on our visit too, but there was a blizzard back home that week in Colorado.
@Agentninetynine , Yes, I read that ā quite hilarious, but unfortunately almost true!
@MotherOfDragons , similar situation with my D11 when her boyfriend was rejected by MIT (on pi day of course). He ended up loving our state flagship and was named the distinguished physics graduate and is now happily in grad school there. (And not to frighten anyone, but these high school sweethearts are still together after 6 1/2 years!)
Regarding the endless emails, my D set up a separate gmail account just for college stuff, so at least she doesnāt have to wade through it until sheās ready. I think next time she will not check the āsend infoā box. No phone calls here.
Agreed that the ivy day results today are difficult for so many outstanding students over on the '16 thread. With admission rate going down every year for all top schools, I am resorting to only more difficult next year.
Not sure if DD will start any application in the summer. She will be attending a 7 week research summer internship and might want to include her experience in the application.
ReadƮng your posts stresses me out and it is a yr away!! The Ivy roller coaster is something we can avoid bc even with their great aid, we cannot afford them, so there is no point applying.
Ddās application cycle is going to be a different sort of stressā¦cheap with a strong Russian programā¦finding that is stressful enough. Admissions, otoh, that is probably not going to be stressful. Thank goodness!
@4beardolls - Congratulations on summer research internship. Where did she get the internship?