UD has a really lovely campus and I love the main street myself (nice selection of restaurants and coffee shops). Ultimately we let S rule it out not only because of the lack of diversity and urban vibe, but also because S received only a small merit scholarship so he would have to absolutely love it for us to agree to pay OOS tuition. Pitt Engineering is a much better deal for us, though it too lacks diversity. Hard to top UD’s campus, though.
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I like how the AO takes credit for the surge. Same at Tufts. “Admission has been strategically changing our operation for the past two years. This year is when all the stars came into alignment, and we’re seeing the benefit of it.”
I wonder how mid-tier and regional schools are doing. Guess they aren’t as buttoned up in terms of reporting numbers at this stage.
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Brown’s overall increase is “only” 26%
Harberson wrote that “everything colleges did to recruit (first-generation and rural) students in the past pales to going test optional.”
“For colleges that make diversity a top priority,” she continued, “it seems like they have found their answer in a test optional policy.”
Key trends largely mirrored applications to the Class of 2024 — the same proportion of students, 47 percent, identified as students of color, while 67 percent of applicants applied for financial aid, down a few percentage points from last year’s applicant class.
So, there was an increase in percentage of first gen applicants but not students of color. To clarify, the number of students of color applicants was increased, staying in proportion to the whole pool. (Last year, 47% of students applying were of color and 55% of admitted students were of color, if I’m reading last year’s articles correctly.)
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More insightful article about their increase.
A bit wealthier applicants drove an increase with mix staying same. More Asian to keep % the same but also more first gen of all types.
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Colgate doesn’t charge an app fee for international applicants and meets demonstrated need for internationals. That could have a big impact on app numbers.
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D is waiting on merit at Pitt, UD was a bit lower than expected due to using gpa instead of scores (we expected the top amount). We haven’t been to Pitt, and none of my other kids applied. My oldest loved Rutgers, can’t get any more diverse!
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I do think that virtual info sessions allowed schools to target students more.
My s21 had virtual sessions with multiple schools that were able to have a panel of students from our area, Latino and African American students, that were able to speak to their experiences at the school. Some schools even held sessions for parents. I don’t know if they were able to this before, when the AOs traveled all over.
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Just remember, there’s a lot of kids “taking their shots,” and likely have little to no chance, so I’m betting the “cream will rise to the top.” Your D will do great. She’s already been accepted to 3 great schools.
Heck, though it was on her original list, I even kinda gently pushed my D into applying to a reach that both she and I realize she will not get into.
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Just saw that on FB, that is crazy
Is that a new policy?
Yes, the son of one of my closest friends is a senior at Rutgers-New Brunswick and has had a great experience overall. S loves Temple due to its diversity and more compact campus with modern buildings/architecture. The new library is gorgeous and the science and business buildings are a wow. Temple also has some really nice dorms, which matters a lot to S, who cares quite a bit about creature comforts as he is more of a homebody (an extroverted introvert, I would say). It’s not as highly ranked for Engineering as the other schools he got into, but we are not sure he is going to stay with Engineering so it might not make sense to choose a school based solely on that major. He also received merit from Temple.
We expected to get a lot more for UD based on last year’s results, but everything changed once S’s GPA was recalculated and his SAT scores were discarded. He will not get anything from Pitt, which is OK for us since it is in-state. D17 l received a very nice scholarship from Pitt and was admitted into Honors so we visited twice years ago. It is an impressive school, and we really love the vibe and friendliness of Pittsburgh.
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I don’t know. I saw it mentioned on social media, looked it up, and posted it here because I thought it added context.
Here is the policy: International Applicants | Colgate University
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Temple is also a contender, she visited with her sister in November. She wants to study actuarial science (it seems like she’s a different major at each college depending on programs). She’s just not thrilled with the homeless situation (she spent 12 thanksgiving weekends at the downtown Marriott and was always uncomfortable). Good to know about the dorms and buildings.
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Wooo!!! I feel like we need to ring a bell each time one of us says we are done for the year! 
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This.
The number of apps is WAY up. I think the number of well qualified apps is slightly up, but probably only because many of us had our kids apply to a few extra schools this year to account for the uncertainty. Those kids still only get to take one spot, even if they have 10 acceptances this year instead of the 4 they might have had in a normal year.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a mess this year, and the uncertainty surrounding everything is at a minimum causing a lot of stress, and will undoubtedly cause a few kids to end up getting accepted at slightly different places, although I don’t buy that we are going to see lots of kids jump levels, which then pushes lots of kids down levels. Also I will be surprised if many of you aren’t dwelling in waitlist purgatory until midsummer. So I agree that this is a mess of a year. A certain kind of alliteration show comes to mind, but not one I can mention here.
But by August, I’m guessing most of our kids will end up in similar places that they would have otherwise. The path is just uglier and more stressful this year.
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There are definitely a lot of homeless near the Marriott near the Convention Center. I do know they are redoing the mall there (The Gallery), so we will see what happens. Philly is a wonderful city with unique and interesting neighborhoods, just like any city. You have to see more of Philly to get it: Old City, Society Hill, Rittenhouse, Northern Liberties, South Street, Fishtown…the list goes on. It is also a great walking city and easy to navigate, as it is based on a grid. Temple has a very good business school as you probably know.
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Omg, cruelty at its worst, someone made many accounts and played with kids on UT admission in ‘The class of 2025 UT Austin page’ here. Many people including me literally believed…
Copied it below:
For everyone trying to figure out what’s going on, the posts reporting admissions, rejections and inside information (“my husband is on the board”) were bogus. There has been no wave yet. We’re all still hoping for tonight.
[/quote]
Skieurope: All the posts claiming admissions were made by the same person using multiple accounts. I have deleted the troII posts and the responses. Carry on.
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The same trolls did the same thing on the Northeastern EA thread. I didn’t believe them actually but many did. So unnecessary.
Honestly, what’s wrong with people? 
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The UT troII and the NEU troII was the same person using 7 different accounts… I shut them down pretty quickly, I thought. But so many people flagged the NEU troII that the system closed the thread (I reopened). One kid messes it up for everyone. It happens every year, sadly.
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