Geez. Around 16% of first year seats will have already been taken by gap year kids at Williams. Is this right? Somebody. Fix. This. Now.
I donât think taking a gap year automatically means all those kids roll to next year. They may have to reapply? Also, Iâm thinking after a gap year a number of kids may have a change of heart and decide to go a different route - closer to home, commute, continue to work or whatever⊠Either way, it is what it is. I refuse to stress when itâs out of my control!
@Meddy we do not know that. We donât know that all colleges filled up their gap year freshmen. Bowdoin admissions office specifically said multiple times that they do not want to adversely affect the high school class of 2021. Do I think they filled some of the spots? Sure. But not enough to make a huge difference in the acceptance rate for next year.
On the other hand,
Williams yield for RD is 33%. They took 867 in RD last year and 289 enrolled. They had 46 freshmen gap. So, if they did replace all 46 and assume same yield for next year, they would only need to take 736 in RD next year. (Iâm assuming same number of kids accepted in ED which may or may not be a good assumption.) That is 130 fewer kids accepted in RD.
I donât know if there is any way to find out how each school is working their enrollment strategy. And we also donât know who will apply next year to compete with our kids. I just donât think trying to figure this out when it comes to making a list is realistic. I really think kids should stick with applying to the schools that fit them best. See where the chips fall. And then, maybe, we will know how many kids were accepted in our class before the kids have to choose a school on May 1. We can ask those schools a lot of questions about if the class will be bigger, if housing could be an issue, etc.
Why would any student not apply just because they think their chances will be less? I understand the concern about accepting an offer and what the campus will be like when they get there but, at least if a student is applying EA or RD, they can apply and get those answers later. Likely, the colleges donât even know the answers to our questions right now
Many on this forum have gone around this admissions merry-go-round with an older child. This is the first of three for us and its feeling a bit like a minefield. Trying to keep my personal anxiety down and sift through what is worth the money and what is hype. Are private college counselors worth it? Should we hire help with navigating the CA and brainstorming essays? D21 is only applying to one highly selective school, but we do want to maximize competitive merit based scholarships to whatever schools will offer a F21 spot. And we would like to make the best possible showing at that selective university.
For those who have a private CC, do you have recs? Are we too late to get any real personalized attention? What do you think is reasonable re: cost? Sara Harberson is all over my FB feed. Rule of repetition - its starting to feel necessary to get outside help.
The last number I saw from Williams was 15% of first years taking a gap year, but that number may go up after yesterdayâs announcement. In light of the stricter rules, e.g., two negative COVID tests after arrival before being released from quarantine, they are reopening the opportunity to defer or switch to remote enrollment. The parents FB page has gone from sleepy to frantic in the last 24 hours.
I stand by my statement that most of the kids who were going to go to Williams will go. If they are still having kids on campus, those freshmen who didnât yet gap are all ready to go - have their stuff all ready and their airline and hotels booked. Good luck convincing any of those 18 year olds to change their minds.
Most of the good private counselors we know donât work with brand new students (rising seniors) in the fall only. More typically they start working with the student sophomore/junior years (over 1-2 years). Our counselor required a retainer deposit but she only charged hourly instead of a fixed fee. IMO, she was worth every penny and I have referred several CC members to her who pmâd me for her contact info.
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Huh? Iâm not sure whatâs unfriendly about it? Just saying that itâs harder to change course this close to going to school. Iâm just imagining one of my kids with a pile of their college stuff in our living room all packed up and how it would be so difficult to discuss changing plans. Williamsâ plan hasnât changed that much.
I deleted my comment after re-reading your post. I apologize. I was just trying to share what Iâm reading on the Williams parents FB page. There are a lot of first-year parents concerned about their studentâs mental health since they wonât be allowed to leave their rooms to go outside for about a week. (All students are in singles.)
Williams has lacked first-year specific communications that address the concerns of this group. From what my friends with first years headed to Bowdoin, Amherst, Vassar, and Middlebury tell me, there have been several detailed communications sent to first years and their families about orientation, mental health support, activities, etc. These schools have also held town halls for first-year families; Williams has never done this.
On a separate topic, I got an email today saying I got refund from the College Board for Dâs cancelled June test. When we decided to cancel instead of reschedule the sitting, I contacted CB about a half dozen times, in various ways (email, phone, contact form on website) to request a refund. I received no replies to emails, and no one on the phone would commit to anything. Then, out of the blue, a notification from PayPal. Hope springs eternal!
We also got an email from ACT this afternoon. Out of curiosity (weâve abandoned the idea of further testing) I looked to see if theyâd added sites, since there were none within 75 miles when I checked earlier this week. There is certainly more availability⊠including now for September and October dates, at locations that have already announced remote learning through early November! Sigh.
For those who are still hoping to snag a spot, it may be worth checking the site again. There were several new sites available, including some private schools that are, as of now, going back for in-person classes. Just double check before you book!
D21 is my first and since we are focusing on 100% meets needs schools and have a lot on the line, I felt I needed someone to guide us through this process. We started working with Sara January of sophomore year when there were about 30 families in the class of '21 group. She got to know my daughter very well due to the small number and helped us with course planning and learning the ins and outs of setting D up for success and establishing a timeline. The group stayed under 100 students until mid junior year and started to really grow in early 2020. Now the group has grown to over 500 (about 100 new families in the past month alone). Her deadlines have well passed for guidance on selecting a balanced list of schools (she reviewed my Ds unofficial transcript and resume and test scores back in January and helped us choose schools to focus on). It is also too late for main essay review. She guided selection of ideas and approved topics in June. She has us on a strict set of deadlines. Now we are on supplementals and just went over filling out the honors list. Next up will be the activities list. For a first timer, she has been immensely helpful. Iâm not sure how much benefit anyone joining now is going to get. As a lower income family, she is very affordable ($69/ month), we have 2 Zoom calls a month, tons of resources, all questions answered within 24 hours, usually much faster. Plus I have learned a lot form our private group members.
@AlmostThere2018 âBut the scores are fairly balanced and his got a 30 on Math which heâs heard is a cut-off for some engineering programs.â How did you learn this. Would love to know the SAT # is. We have the exact same issue on my sonâs one lopsided score. Congrats to your son! He should be proud of that score.
FYI in the common app dashboard there are links to each collegeâs TO policy and some FAQs on their website. Some also give the former admitted class or sub-school #s for your convenience. A couple specifically say you canât submit as TO and then submit a later score. One says please donât test unless you can do so in your hometown safely. A couple say that they have not yet decided if scores are required for automatic scholarships.
TLDR: Yes.
To a certain extent, D is applying to the schools she most wants to go to. But there is also some consideration for how likely she is to be admitted. There are a couple likelies that wouldnât be on her list if they were a high match, and some matches that wouldnât be on as a reach. Also Williams is a bubble school for her to put on her list anyway, if they are droppng to single digit acceptance rates next year that makes it easier to just cut them off completely.
She has probably 8-10 schools she is ok with but not super excited by that are in the 40% acceptance range. They are very different from each other, but all have things she likes/doesnât like that make them appear roughly equal in desirability to her. A few will go on the list to make sure she has a good option next year. If one of them takes a big increase in selectivity or has policies that I think will hurt the 2021âs that is an easy one to take off of the list.
Also if we can see now that a school is going to have a not great situation with an oversubscribed class, I would rather cut them BEFORE she goes through the pain of the app, and the emotional rollercoaster of applying and getting in, just to realize that she doesnât want in anyway after she gets an acceptance.
Your point about the colleges not knowing yet is a good one. I think that we will have better info in Sept/October than we do now. Until classes start, I donât think anyone really knows who will show up. And you could have schools like Williams reopen the opportunity to defer after it has closed. Once the semester starts I doubt that will happen. I donât see Dâs top 4-5 choices changing. I think that the rest of the list is probably a bit in flux and could change prior to 12/31 based on several things, probably most prominently on how they appear to be handling the problem of 2020âs dropping into the 2021 class.
@dadof4kids Williams did re-open the possibility of deferring in their updated plan released on Thursday.
âIf, after you read our updates and protocols, you feel conditions are such that you would prefer to study remotely for the semester or take a leave or gap year, we certainly understand. Please contactâŠthe Deanâs Office as soon as possible if you would like to change your enrollment option. Between now and arrival, we will continue to monitor the situation to determine whether we need to change course.â
It doesnât sound like theyâll approve every request like they did for those who requested by the July 10 deadline, but who knows anything these days?
Hereâs the link to the full update:
https://www.williams.edu/coronavirus/campus-emails/students-important-information-about-the-fall-semester/
@dadof4kids pretty sure Williamsâ RD acceptance rate is already single digits.
@NateandAllisMom â My S just âheardâ through the grapevine about the 30 math cutoff for engineering at NC State since his HS feeds a lot of kids there. Donât know if itâs true. However, interestingly, I read the same thing about Virginia Tech on a CC thread sometime in the last year or so. I donât know the SAT number but I supposed you could use the ACT to SAT concordance table? Again â this is not something weâve seen officially.
Tks for your nice words â Iâd feel better if he got a 32 (which he did twice on his mock tests leading up to test day), but oh well. I did look up Naviance and he seems to be in good shape for both NC State and UNC (which has CS) based on the swarm of green checks for that score and his GPA.
Did I share with you the American Association of Engineering Education profilesâ weblink? You can find test scores for enrolled engineering classes. 2018 is the most recent on there. Of course, not all CS programs are in engineering schools. What has surprised us is how similar the test score ranges are across colleges. Let me know if youâd like me to post it.
@homerdog Williams acceptance rate is around 12-13%, still slim odds, but not at Bowdoin levels. Amherst is similar. FWIW neither Williams nor Amherst offers ED2 so they probably have to take more students RD than Bowdoin. Also, until this upcoming year, Williams and Amherst were not TO.