Not to add to anyone’s stress - but we just had a Zoom school panel today for parents of seniors - there were 4 AO’s present and it was set up in a Q&A forum by our college counseling team. For sake of confidentiality, I don’t want to name the 4 AO’s - but they were from a very diverse group of colleges/universities covering different regions and selectivity levels.
When asked about spring acceptance day visits with so many kids not having visited the colleges - all the AO’s said they would love to be able to promise these events will happen - but are actively planning based on last year’s learning to offer robust online visit options for accepted students. All schools are based in 4 States that are trying to aggressively manage the spread of Covid and some had travel restrictions in place this summer. They didn’t say these visits wouldn’t happen - but they also said they are planning the alternative.
It was talked about how part of this will make the process more equitable with the increased online info session offerings and visits and they see this becoming a part of the process and allowing kids to “visit” without having the spend the $ in the future.
Of these 4 schools - only 1 had a full % of students back on campus now and the overall thought was there would have to be a huge decline nationally in cases to allow a large population of kids/parents on campus in the spring.
For ED, they said that they imagine they will see more applications, but agreed that the increase may be in students that are not qualified and are just “giving it a go”.
Test optional means just that and they were saddened to hear that students from our school travelled to different states to test.
I asked if they had heard about an ED3 option coming as based on something said by Jeff Selingo in his CC Q&A and all of them said they were not planning on an ED3 and didn’t know what schools those were - at this time.
No negative impact if you fill in the Covid essay and it goes beyond the prompt of hardship - but may not get read if that is the case.
The overall message was “we get this is hard and it is new to all of us”. As much as I appreciated their kindness, humor and understanding - it is still hard for this control freak planner to go with the flow this year. Maybe I will become more flexible when this is all over and D21 x2 and D22 x 1 are safe and happy at college.
One day at a time…, one day at a time…, one day at a time…
Maybe if I repeat it enough it will sink in.
I’m usually pretty chill and honestly do more things than I should at the last minute. But there are 2 things that I hate not having a 18 point plan for, along with multiple contingency plans. Helping kids with big decisions (college planning being one of the biggest) and travel. Not being able to buy plane tickets ahead of time and knowing that we are possibly having to make decisions based mostly on CC and Fiske this spring may put me over the edge.
I’m already pretty edgy about not doing any more visits than we did. At least we saw Hamilton, D didn’t expect to like it but it’s one of her top choices now. Plus I think Bryn Mawr may have stayed on the list if we hadn’t visited. The Cornell visit was probably the most helpful. She didn’t like it at all. Which was great, because other than a few big schools that have something major going for them as a counterbalance to the size, we were able to strike all of the big U’s off of her list.
Apoligies if I get anyone unnecessarily worked up about worrying about stuff they shouldn’t. But I have to get it out somewhere, and I don’t need to get D or my wife worked up too. When I panic in front of them they start to panic. So far they are staying pretty chill, which is good.
I do thing @123Mom123 is right that things will probably come into focus a bit more before we hit the absolute end of the process. @JanieWalker I’m not sure how much she is prioritizing things right now, but once apps are in I will start trying to get her mind working that direction. For some schools I think that won’t be that difficult, and she probably has the LAC’s in some rough order in her head. And she is applying mostly to LAC’s. But a few of her choices are outliers (looking at you Tulane and Northeastern). It’s a lot easier to compare Vassar and Carleton than Northeastern and Macalester. They are just two completely different experiences.
I’m sure that like most things this will work itself out. I really need to think about something else for a bit. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. It helps.
@3SailAway 2x congrats to your kid. It’s great to see the studying pay off! She must be thrilled with the result.
@dadof4kids Relatable! While we don’t have to work around a sports schedule, D’s preferred schools are scattered all over the place and most aren’t drivable. Of course, we might not be able to visit at all, depending on how COVID continues to unfold.
@coffeeat3 that actually makes me feel a bit better, even though it is more bad news than good news.
I did want to do more visits than we did, but we are also not near any of her choices. So the reality is that she probably wasn’t going to do a visit last spring or this fall to Bates/Bowdoin/Colby or Tulane anyway, just due to their proximity to other choices and limited time/money for visits.
One, it avoided the stigma of not visiting. But more importantly it forced the colleges to have a more robust online presence and meetings. Tulane especially wouldn’t have stayed on the list, but she really liked what she saw when she did their online things, and they had a ton.
If the schools do that for admitted students too, that would be easier than trying squeeze in than flights to 3 different schools that are all not near each other.
Ok, I’m out for a bit. I have to be careful and not let CC get me thinking about all of these isssues and consuming my day. Today I didn’t do a great job of that…
@dadof4kids your posts are cathartic for me so I sure hope they are cathartic for you! It really is nice to know I am not alone spinning in all of these questions and uncertainties. Would you mind sharing more about what your D didn’t like about Bryn Mawr? Mine is trying to decide whether to EDII Bryn Mawr or Vassar having not visited either so we are collecting all the info we can.
@Dadof4kids -Keep posting and venting. I totally get it. I really do. This is the place for it. We all relate. ? (My head goes from being in the sand one day to asking hubby if we can somehow drive to Vandy for a visit just to even see it! S21 doesn’t care to that degree, but I sure think about how we can make things happen.)
So I preach to you bc I’m really preaching to myself. I’m sorry if my attempts at support were possibly seen as dismissive. Truly want to help not add to your understandable anxiety. These are our kids and we want to do anything and everything possible to try and anticipate how best to help them make decisions, etc.
Thanks! It’s not the test taking that can be stress to him, it’s the studying. The ACT is an official HS event on a Tuesday, just for Sr’s at his HS. If they cancel it, it’ll be just a normal school day for him.
S21 would much prefer spending a few hours taking the ACT vs normal classes, especially if he can get the score he wants
It was weird sitting through a HS presentation this morning listening to this rep talk about their study abroad programs, etc. I’m just thinking is he even going to be allowed on campus next fall?
The rep also seemed to have zoom fatigue. We were the only ones from his school to show up and I couldn’t help but feel like she was hoping we would say she didn’t have to go through the presentation. She offered to just answer questions instead. I asked if they had a guess about how many would apply test optional. She said many in her California territory did not have a score and some other places too.
@dadof4kids wrote: I hate to say this because I’m sure that I will get called out for it, but her ED school is one of the ones we weren’t able to visit. Oh well. It really seems to check all of her boxes, and the ED boost is too good to pass up. So she is commiting to ED without that valuable data point. Without that it’s a super reach, which also means that even in ED it’s not super likely. We had plane tix for that trip purchased too.
This is my D21’s situation exactly. What a club to be in.
It is strange that a number of schools are still promoting their first year abroad programs (D21 just got an email about one today). Would love to consider those, but it doesn’t seem realistic.
Update for my D21. She took the ACT on Saturday at a school about 30 miles away after her HS cancelled. She said it was very well organized and there were only 5 or so kids in her class room social distanced, masks etc.
However she found the test be harder than the one she took in February of 2019. She got a 36 on reading on that test yet found her self struggling to finish so does not expect a 36 on that section again. She got an overall 34 the first time which obviously is a great score. However She was really just taking it again to try to match her D18 sister who got a 32 the first time and then got a 35 the second time. Also hoping that she could luck into a 36 and the Bama free ride. Although I believe her older sister practiced much more the second time. But we will see. No down side with a 34 already banked.
On a different front D21 got a mailer from UNC. D18 applied and Was rejected. D21 going to apply as a total lottery pick.
. I am sure many of you got the same mailer. Outside of bifold mailer it says “our best application advice”. Inside there is a header entitled “the essay”. It then goes on to describe the essay of a studenwho was interested in beekeeping. According to the flyer his essay described how he was struggling and nearly gave up until he he remembered a lesson he learned from his “great grandmother” about winning and quitting. “Nick learned how to raise thriving hives but also how to push through a problem with no easy solutions”
Then the flyer talks about other applicants extracurricularS who were accepted. “Emery worked part time at Bogangles to travel the world”. Whatever that means.
Kelsey performed a on “A championship clogging team which gave her joy and a connection to her southern Appalachian heritage”. Finally Marco tutored his brother while his parents looked for new jobs.
Am I crazy or does this type of mailer just cause kids not to apply. I think this mailer sends out all the wrong messages. Unless you invent a cure for cancer you are not getting in. And maybe that is the reality but why so starkly advertise it.
Oy. Virtual admitted student days?? Cannot wrap my brain around that. All of the colleges on D’s list have all kids on campus now except the two CA schools that have NO kids on campus and no way are we sending her all the way to CA for college without her being able to visit campus beforehand with students there (even if they are all in masks).
I guess I knew that this could be a possibility but now I think it’s time to think through a plan. Some of her schools are having tours now but they would just be regular tours, of course, not an admitted student program. There are kids there on these campuses so that’s good. We had decided it was dumb to go look at schools before acceptance at this point but what if spring is so bad that kids aren’t on campus and the schools don’t have admitted student days on campus? Are we going to regret not visiting now? It’s not so easy for us to go to these places. All require flights.
No going to lie. Kind of freaking out. Spend the money and visit now when we don’t even know if she’ll get in? Or wait and risk it that there will be no visit at all? And which schools do we try to get to this fall? Maybe her matches and not her reaches?
I want to say I’m over this but I feel like that’s short changing D. We do want to try to get this right.
@amsunshine - same here! (WF?) I found myself even scrolling through the curriculum for the specific semesters when abroad and then pretty much halted and thought, “Who am I kidding?! It’s not going to happen for awhile”.
@burghdad - Got that UNC flyer today, too. Tossed it without opening it. Took it off list a few weeks/months back for variety of reasons and now wish all the schools’ snail mail offices would somehow know we are no longer interested.
(We have unsubscribed from emails.)
D21 finally got to take the Aug SAT after canceled Mar /May /June(subjects): she got a little less than recent practice tests BUT now has one-sitting score that is in the 50th %ile range for all of the reaches, and near or above 75th for everything else… so…might be done! Applications are well underway–looks like it may be pared down to 10 from 12, which still leaves a lot of essays to write.
@mamaedefamilia We did get to tour the athletic facility at Mac. We were really impressed! As to the liberalism of Mac, the coach said that the AD joked that activism is considered their 21st varsity sport! My D21 is liberal but low key.
@burghdad If we had more time on our hands, I’d say to start a new thread for lame brochures. We recently received one brochure addressed to our D18 from a school she was accepted to (3 years too late?)
Maybe next year when I start the strangest replies I read to questions in a zoom chat by an AO, “Naw.” I will spare you the school til then.
