the (college) class of 2025 is going to be like a nub on the bar graph of acceptance rate over time at so many schools 
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@MandH1 Right? The play is to graph acceptance rate and birth rate on the same graph. People 20 years from now will say, âHuhâŠ2003 birthrate went up a little from 2001-2002, yetâŠwhat happened to college app numbers?â LOL.
Iâm just going to go to Walmart tomorrow and buy one setting of Corelle plate, bowl (big enough for ramen), mug and start planning for my short 6.5 hour drive to UC Irvine for move in day. Just maybe start to de-select Ivy Day from my brain now.
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My niece did engineering at Purdue and loved it. My S didnât apply there b/c itâs a hassle to get to from NC and he had plenty other engineering programs he was interested in. Didnât apply to Michigan or UCs b/c OOS cost was too high for us. Heâs been accepted to Pitt, Mines, WPI, Case and NC State â and UNC in case he changed his mind about engineering 
Seems like many (most?)programs are doing the general engineering first year â NC State does the same thing. I think my S told me VT does a whole first year design course to introduce all the engineering areas while Wisconsinâs is only a semester â but Iâm not positive about that. My S is doing a lot of digging into research labs (heâs interested in robotics) and co-op programs to help him decide. Location is a factor too â VT sends so many grads across the mid-Atlantic which is a plus for him, I think.
I think thereâs a lot of commonality across engineering programs which makes it easier to pick based on campus and fit!
Iâm fairly frugal (cough cheap) and Iâve done this a couple of times. Generally I can find a clean hotel somewhere for one night pretty cheap ($75) and save a good bit by flying at the worst time.
ETA: especially when itâs the entire family
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Boiler up!
Honestly, if you have any questions about Purdue, message me. My D is a junior chem e and has loved every minute. Sounds like it checks all the boxes in terms of big school, spirit, study hard and exploring, clubs, etcâŠ
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Is anyone very familiar with UK admissions ? When D21 briefly considered schools in the UK, we reviewed the entrance requirements at several universities, and for UK students, admissions decisions seem almost exclusively dependent on the # of hard courses and standard exam results of applicants (for their AS or A courses, or IB courses, etc). I have wondered if the course availability varies as greatly from school to school there as APs vary from school to school in the US? And I assume wealthy students there have access to great test prep for standardized testsâŠso how do those universities make it work, relying almost entirely on coursework and exam results, without having it causing great disparities in admissions based on wealth?
UK universities donât rely on coursework, they rely on end of year external exams which include multiple papers testing the entire two years of the A level syllabus on a long tail test with difficult questions. Preparation for tests through self study of huge amounts of material (ârevisionâ) is drilled into UK students from an early age. At A level you generally study by yourself at home for several weeks before the exams take place in May/June (continuing the revision and mock exams that have been going on since January). That continues into college where the end of year exams determine your degree âclassâ. Before finals you will spend multiple weeks preparing 8+ hours per day for those all-important exams.
The disparities you might relate to wealth are mostly based on whether you have good or bad teachers providing instruction on the material in the first place, so you actually learn how to solve hard questions (getting into a good school is therefore pretty important). Paid test prep is much less common than in the US because it only makes a marginal difference in most cases. You canât fake your way to an A* in the way you could get help with your admissions essay and put together a nicely curated list of ECs.
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Same in India as well.
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I donât see ambiguity at all. Doing what they âexpectâ, like taking 2 out of the 3 APs offered and no college dual enrollment, isnât going to âimpressâ them. At 5% acceptance rate, only those who HUGELY impressed them get in. The Yale AOs telling us what they âexpectâ or donât is a waste of time for everyone.
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Sorry, what i meant by relying on coursework was relying on the same courses being taught at all of the schools. Thereâs something like 12 A (advanced) level subjects, if I recall, and UK students take three or four of them in the two years pre-university, right ? So letâs say one wants to take A level Biology, English, Math, and Psych. Do all schools offer classes geared toward covering the curriculum to prepare for all of those tests, or are students doing mock exams, curriculum review and test prep completely on their own ? Obviously US schools vary greatly in what APs they offer making it very difficult for students to have equal footing in terms of curriculum. thanks for your insight.
One of my kidâs friendâs followed the money to UT-D and has since graduated. It had the major she wanted, she had a residential experience, and enjoyed getting out of state. Itâs a perfectly good option if you donât have a romantic vision of college.
@MommaLue and @MandH1 I guess we can preemptively cross Brown off the list! TBH, my kid is so over this process. She seems close to be making a decision among the schools that have already accepted her.
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Mulling over the waitlists a bit today: what the colleges lose by waitlisting a particular student rather than admitting in RD is the chance for that student to visit before deciding on an offer (not to mention get excited about the school). Thinking out loud, it would make sense if waitlist yield - even from those students who accepted the spot on the waitlist - were a bit worse than usual.
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Good luck everyone who has a lotto ticket for tomorrow. 
I canât wait to see who hits! Iâm down to celebrate.
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Yes a school with a sixth form (ages 16-18) will teach all the standard A levels (maths, physics, chemistry, biology, French, English, history, geography, etc). Not all will offer the more unusual ones like further maths, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian, etc depending on size, but generally a town with a smaller number of students going on to A levels will use a âsixth form collegeâ model that consolidates kids for those two years so they can offer a full range of options. It would be very rare that anyone self-studied an A level like US students self-study for APs, because there is just too much material to cover.
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People seem to love Purdue. I wish we had it on our radar.
My S21 said he isnât taking any waitlist offers and so have many of his friends. I think this yr, kids just want the process over.
I wonder if the numbers accepting WL offers will be lower?
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Chances of winning the actual lotto are probably higher 
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Of the ones mine has received so far, he is going to whittle it down to just 2 I think. But we have a few more schools this week to hear from and tomorrow we will know the full picture. But I agree, kids are just done and Iâm ready to pay my deposit so we can start to see whatâs on the other side and unlock that door!
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Iâve been reading the publicity statements of highly selectives that have already released results and it sure feels that way. We only have one ticket and itâs like powerball odds.
My daughterâs number one choice is a waitlist. We have already decided on another school to commit to before May 1. Itâs so hard to stay neutral and not think about the waitlist spot. I took her on an overnight trip to the school she is committing to in order to try and get her excited and envisioning herself there but I know her heart is pining for the waitlist spot. Itâs not a fun place to be emotionally at all.
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