My kid is a freshman at Richmond. He was in quarantine for a few days last semester, and he said the food was okay, he didn’t mind it. But it was clear from his experience that they were figuring out the whole process as they went.
And I do think their policies have been too lax. At the start of last semester they didn’t plan any testing after the initial arrival tests, then moved to prevalence/random testing, but some kids never had another test. And yes, they let the kids go home if they test positive–not sure if other schools do that or not.
At least this semester they are testing everyone every other week. That’s a big improvement. But still not enough, based on the numbers.
So, let’s talk strategy, thinking out loud. We know that, generally, full pay applicants have better odds on the waitlist than students needing FA, because schools may not be need-blind for the waitlist and and because the school may be out of aid to offer. Might that also be the case for RD - presumably that could only be possible if the school is need-aware, though, right?
Separate question, does anyone think the mix of TO and score submitters may be different among the applicant pool and/or the admitted pool than it was in the early round, for any particular school?
She was on some waiting list for it and then her name came up. It’s open there for 16+ as part of 1b with medical issues. Crazy because my county is only open to 1b but 1b that they’re doing right now is only educators as part of essential workers and maybe other essential, but not even doing 65+ yet. I had to find vaccines for my parents in other counties. I got it last week in another county as well (educator) because my county only opened yesterday for me and at that time we didn’t know when they were opening.
Also in TX there are many anti-vaxxer’s and surprisingly a lot in 1a don’t want it. Students in certain majors can get it, just by volunteering for some nominal amount of hours.
Question about waitlist and deposits in case we ever get to that point. If I put a deposit to the school S21 is accepted in, can I withdraw if he gets off the waitlist somewhere before school begins?
I have to be honest I didn’t know if S18 would. But I have the best relationship with him now that I ever have. Same with his brother. S19 never really did the “soil the nest” thing. But the 2 of them were barely on speaking terms the last couple of years they lived here together. Now they are friends and talk frequently.
Part of the issue is that S18 had a girlfriend who was helping poison his relationships with everyone. So having her gone definitely helped. She just got engaged. We are all really happy for her, mostly to make the chance of a relapse relationship all the more difficult!
Yes, in my experience they come around! I think part of it is getting some distance and them appreciating all that we have done for them, but also once they are out we presumably don’t hassle them on a daily basis like we did when they were in high school. When we took my middle back to school a couple of weeks ago we were all ready. Believe it or not you get used to them not being around everyday, and then it’s a little bit disruptive when they are That said, I was in a store the other day and heard a little voice say mommy (strangers) and my eyes did well up a bit.
Honestly, testing every other week is a joke. You test negative one day and could be positive the next day and then you are walking around for 13 days before another test. I guess I’m just annoyed because, for $75k a year, I want the school to have the best plan for everything and this one is not holding up. And you can’t let kids quarantine at home. Who knows if they are really quarantining then? They could be pretty lax and catch Covid while they are home and bring it back to campus.
As to the first, I think that full pay always has an advantage. If the school is need aware, they are more explicit about it and probably have some hard targets that they have to hit. If a school isn’t need aware, the targets are probably softer, but they are there. If need truly wasn’t considered, you would expect the number of kids on FA to vary quite a bit year to year, but you don’t see that happen. They may be forming the class based on other things, but they are also looking at need even if indirectly. You could probably read 80 or 90% of apps and guess reasonably close to whether there is need or not. Works during the school year at McDonalds? full need. Has a bunch of “typical” activities, some travel but nothing crazy? some need. Competes in fencing tournaments in Europe? full pay.
Those are all extreme, but you get the idea. I do think now that Pell grant numbers are tracked, that may actually be a benefit at some schools. They would rather take a kid that cost them $60,000 that gets a Pell grant over a kid who costs them $50,000 who doesn’t.
That’s all just my guess. But it makes sense I think.
Testing every other week is really to gauge the virus activity in the community. For preventing spread it needs to be mandatory twice a week with a penalty if you fail to test.
Friend’s kid has a 3.5GPA and 30 ACT (full pay). DS was deferred at three privates (ranked #50-90), admitted to five publics (Arizona, Houston, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Indiana) and CAP’d at Texas. I suggested he go ED2 to one of the two higher ranked privates but he said, “He won’t ED anyone. Wants to wait for [three top 15-25 RD results].” Son also wants to visit campus before committing to anyone. I believe he’d definitely switch to a top 15-25, or maybe even one of the two 50-60 ranked ones, especially if he got into the b-school of a waitlist option in the summer.
I have a son at Ohio State and on-campus students are required to test weekly. In fact, they had to mail in a test one week prior to move in last month, then test again the day of arrival and quarantine in their room until they had results (it only took about 5 hours to get notified of the negative result, but they provide every student with a bag of meals and snacks just in case). No system is going to be perfect, but that one seems pretty robust.
Using common app data is probably the best way for the schools to estimate yield this year. They know what schools they are in competition with for students and if a student is likely to choose them over another option. Using common app aggregate data of how many of their applicants applied to x or y schools also will help them determine the number of offers and waitlists.
Hopefully, it isn’t used too much to deny kids for yield protection but to estimate the total yield based on the crazy application swings this year to keep their final number in target.
Nobody knows what the percentage of quality apps was overall. Like how many people were swinging for the fences TO.
Second tier down probably has a lot of people with multiple apps out I’m guessing. If their app numbers aren’t great, they are probably going to have to think hard about how to handle yield this year. Especially if they have been more closed during Covid. If they feel vulnerable, they might admit more and not play the waitlist game so much. Top tier schools will do that more I expect.
I agree with @homerdog that I expect small, expensive privates to have their Covid stuff together this spring. There are models now on how to do a good job. Here at our local U, the greek houses have been the problem. I like the idea of making them test more frequently.
This is all spinning wheels except I see an opportunity for successfully asking for more merit in this crazy year. And, I kind of want to guess what April-July will be like for us.
That said, I was in a store the other day and heard a little voice say mommy (strangers) and my eyes did well up a bit.