RD is about 10.5, 12.5 overall. Dropping from 10.5 to 7 would be a significant drop in my mind.
Acceptance rate isn’t the only thing we look at obviously. But it’s a factor.
@kbm770 Many thanks for your ACT advice! I didn’t imagine more seats would open, but much to my surprise our local public high school now had seats in September, and I was able to change to it from S21’s original venue almost 3 hours away. The school starts in-person (half capacity) on Aug 31. My hope is that they haven’t had enough of a problem to close by Sept 12.
D21 starts in-person classes next week. Schedule arrived in the mail today. She needs to request a change to get into AP Bio. But scheduling conflicts will require sacrificing some other AP course. Since her intended field of study is STEM (biomedical engineering or biochemistry) what would you suggest giving up? AP English or AP Micro/Macro Econ? Maybe we will be surprised with a work around, but have to be prepared once we get the school on the phone.
@HereWeGo2021 I would think AP Micro/Macro econ, many schools like to see four years of the 5 core subjects ( english, science, math, history and world language)
I agree – I think AP English is a better choice as an AP core course compared to AP Econ which is an elective.
Good luck with the scheduling!
Thank you @AOP1025 and @AlmostThere2018
I have been reading this thread for a long time. I did not reply to any thread so far. This is the first time I am posting in this thread. I heard that college essay mentor is good. I am thinking about using him for my D.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean they will take fewer first years, they could have a larger class of first years. Because schools are taking a financial hit this year they are probably going to want to get overall enrollment back to normal levels for next year. Since a lot of this years first years are gapping, that means next year they will be light on sophomores. So they could have a bigger first year class than normal to make up for the lack of sophomores to keep tuition revenue where they need it to be. Enrollment numbers are driven in part by beds, so they would have room for a bigger first ye class, because the sophomore class would be smaller. Of course they could always beef up that class with transfers too.
I think the posters here concerned about admit rates next year think colleges will not have fewer sophomores, that colleges filled in those freshmen gap year students with kids on the waitlist. So that means sophomore class next year will be the same as originally planned and not smaller and the incoming freshmen class for fall 2021 already has x number of kids in it - the kids who tapped this year.
@anaray Welcome! I hope we see more of you as the year progresses.
Question for you all – My H raised today the fact that we could ask a high-level statewide elected official to write a recommendation for our S due to a personal connection. We know well the person who holds office, but it never crossed my mind to ask. We didn’t use the connection when my D was applying to college a few years ago, for example. My first reaction was to recoil at the suggestion b/c it just seems like the world shouldn’t work that way.
My H agrees with me generally, but also said, playing devil’s advocate, I was being naive and that he’s sure highly placed folks like this frequently write recommendations even if they don’t know the student well. (The official has known “of” my S since he was little but it’s not like they see each other more than once every couple of years.) My H also used the example of parents asking big donors to write letters if they have a connection, even if the donor doesn’t really know the student.
I am curious to get other opinions. Do you think it’d make a difference in a positive way? negative way? no impact? Am I being too naive about this?
While I don’t doubt this happens, I would say no given your info that this official barely knows your S. Unless you write the letter for the official, the absence of personal knowledge will be obvious. Writing the letter for the official…just wrong. Just my opinion.
@AlmostThere2018 My neighbors D asked our congressman to write a recommendation, but she volunteered at his office for a couple of yrs and she was applying to a school he attended.
In your circumstances, I would not use the politician since he doesn’t personally know your S, so how good would the letter be?
@mamaedefamilia. Thank you!
@AlmostThere2018 thanks for the site. I did find it so no need to post a link.
Thanks all for confirming my gut reaction!
Exactly.
Furthermore - why would any teen apply to a school without understanding their chances of getting in?
Here on CC we discourage kids from creating lists full of too many reaches. 2021s need to understand the odds before they apply, so they can alter their existing lists if necessary to have a balance of safeties-matches-reaches. If matches are now reaches, then 2021s need to understand that.
Also, if a school doesn’t care how they are affecting the class of 2021 (significantly increased class sizes, harder to register for desired classes, crowded dorms, or just a more difficult chance of getting in to begin with), then that definitely affects D21’s desire to attend that college. Unlimited gap years have the potential of screwing over the class of 2021, changing the college culture as a whole, and impacting opportunities down the line for everyone…so understanding how a college is trying its best to make things fair for all classes (present and future) is important.
This came out this morning. A survey shows 40% of freshman are not attending this Fall!
https://insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/08/10/survey-40-percent-freshmen-may-not-enroll-any-four-year-college
This is very concerning for the class of 2021!
It’s not clear where they got that number. I don’t know one school even close to that rate of gap year or deferral. That number makes no sense. Many schools don’t allow for gap years at all or severely limit them. Even the ones that allowed it are topping out at 20 percent and that’s the whole student body, not necessarily the freshman class since many of those schools are allowing just freshmen on campus. The article doesn’t name one school with that high of a rate.
After reading the article, I don’t think this is saying that 40% of freshman are taking a gap year. The article seems to combine 1) enrolled students who are staying at home and taking courses online, 2) students who aren’t enrolling at all, and 3) students who have committed to the college but are taking a gap year. The article isn’t clear with what it is trying to say.