That’s a great group, such a hard choice. If you’re museum people and have the time, make reservations at The Clark in Williamstown and/or MassMoCA in North Adams. The hiking trails behind the Clark are lovely, too. (Not that I’m trying to sway your S to join my D 
)
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Correct, and if so, how sad that submitting a high score would disadvantage a student 
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We are done too! S21 wanted a southern school Football, tailgating, Greek life, very social etc. He attends an exclusive private school in FL . We are full pay although he did get a lot of merit. He is a good student 3.83 UW took honors, 5 AP’s but nothing that would blow you away didn’t test great had a 1250 SAT but ended up with some good results. 8 acceptances, 2 denials - both big reaches and 1 waitlist at a reach.
Accepted: Ole Miss (merit), Mississippi State, Auburn (merit), FAU (Honors and merit) CU Boulder (Chancellors Scholar), Clemson, FSU and UF
Denied: UGA and UVA (legacy)
Waitlisted : Wake Forest
He is attending FSU although both my husband and I are UF alum. Took a little convincing that FSU is the best choice for him but he is thrilled and will be with 40+ of his friends from different schools in the area and already has his apartment and roommates (his very good friends) all picked out. FSU must be doing something right as we know of a lot of kids that are turning down UF for FSU - don’t understand it as a Gator but who knows!
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No, not really. She just felt the weight of the world on her shoulders, like everything in her whole life was riding on this choice (which is, ofc, ridiculous). Now that she’s 99% decided, she’s happy and excited about the future, though.
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Our S23 has been the unofficial secretary for S21’s application process. He has been a full participant in the process…only thing he didn’t really participate was in the essay portion.
We will probably take a similar approach with him, though I fully expect he will end up with a somewhat different list than S21; they have different interests and sensibilities. S21 was seeking academic heavy schools that were good in math plus some other field. S23 is interested in math, but not as sure what field he wants to study. He is interested in a more balanced college experience (good at sports would be a plus for him) and has a preference for warmer weather. He has a broad list of about 20 schools in mind that will likely get whittled down to about a dozen over the next year or so. Curiously enough, he would like to not go to the same school as his brother, though he’s softened his stance in the last couple of weeks.
One learning from the process. S21 got a lot better at essays later in the process, which is tough because the ED/REA essays go out first. We compared the essays he wrote for the later schools with the earlier and there was a stark difference. Practice makes perfect I guess.
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There was a lot of waitlisting at UCs for many higher stats kids and not just for stem majors.
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I’ve seen the same thing! It’s not that UF has dropped though, so it must be FSU doing a great job.
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Adding stats for context: 35 ACT, 3.98 UW GPA (B plus in 9th, rest As), 6 APs (on the high end but not the highest at his school).
Honestly in a different year he would have likely gotten into GT (we are in state) based on Naviance data and info from counselors. Very competitive year. Just heard of a local kid from a different school who got into MIT and is also waitlisted at Georgia Tech in state.
UNC was always a high reach as OOS and so few admitted OOS.
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A couple more things I liked about applying broadly…
My D changed a lot between October and now.
We didn’t waste time falling in love with an eventual rejection. She is now watching videos, reading curriculums, and checking out clubs at the schools that want her.
Her last few essays were miles better than her first few. Her rejections and deferrals were mostly from the first apps written.
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Son will be a Business Major. We are in CA, 4.0 uw/4.4 weighted, athlete but not recruited
Accepted - ASU (Barrett $14.5 merit plus $2500 WPCarey & sister goes there), UofA ($34.5 merit, guaranteed no tuition increase, direct admit to Finance major, honors best cost option), Alabama (no merit, no SAT score, declined), Utah (Wue and acceptance to Biz Scholars with 12K merit), Chapman (Merit), Cal Poly SLO, UCSB, SDSU, and UCD.
Waitlist - Cal (legacy although they don’t care)
Denied - UCLA
Hard decision ahead. Whoever described this like goldilocks (nothing is quite right) is how he is feeling. I think he would have jumped on UCLA but maybe is just saying that since it isn’t an option. I think UCSB, Cal Poly, Davis and ASU are the top of his list. Maybe Cal if he gets off the waitlist at some point.
Good luck on all of the decisions and thanks for all of the advice.
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Thank you so much! We do not need any persuading. Williams is at the top of the list. We are mostly going to confirm his feelings. He also has a connection to Carleton and wants to see Northfield. I am surprised I have not seen Carleton on anyone else’s list. If anyone has insight on Carleton I would love to hear it.
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Yes a crazy year. Both my S19 and S21 cast wide nets and we don’t regret it. You have to do so if looking at selective schools regardless of stats. The eldest got into 9/18 schools including 2 safeties, Cornell, Georgetown and several of the selective LAC’s- chose Bowdoin ( he was very high stats 1580 one sitting and 1 st in class, 800’s on subjects, student body pres etc. ). Some folks were shocked he was not admitted to one of big 3 ivys ( waitlisted at all) but in the end I was not. It IS a crapshoot and much worse for class of 21. My S21 too had high stats ( 35 ACT and 5th in class blah blah again:). He did not go for ivys but applied to more LAC’s. We had only visited Bates before and after I saw the early ED stats come in, he chose to go ED 2 at that time there. It seemed RD would be bloodbath to me and I wasnt sure I could encourage him to chose a school he may not get to visit. We pulled the rest and he is happy. Will say that almost all of my S21’s friends who were decent students have been totally happy where they landed. Here’s to hope they all thrive!
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What a year indeed! My son in at Bowdoin after being deferred ED1. We’re thrilled. Really feel for these kids.
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I wish I had read your advices back in October. We let our daughter applied to so many out of state schools mostly private with a price tag
70 K+. Now, she is so disappointed she can’t go to a school that she worked so hard to get in. And believe me. We are upper middle class but we have a second child and we have to think about her as well. She did get some merit scholarship in some small private schools but the two that she is considering, WashU and Michigan she didn’t receive anything. Breaks my heart but I think it’s my fault and I learned my lesson. She got into our state school and with scholarship we only pay for room and board. Thank you for your advices.
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Perhaps we’ll see you at Hamilton. We’ll be there this weekend. Heck, maybe we’ll even be on the same flight from SeaTac!
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Thanks for the kind words. I’m sorry if my post came off whiny; I really didn’t mean to sound like ours is a sob story. S21 is pleased with his acceptances and I know he’ll do fine wherever he lands. I do admit that, as a parent, it’s hard to see his disappointment, but you’re right, the sun came up today and we’re moving on. He will send a LOCI to one of his WL schools, but may remove his name from the others. He is comparing his acceptances, crunching the numbers, and will make a decision soon.
I said I wished for a “do over” primarily because it’s such a different process now than it was so many years ago when I was going through it. I feel we’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way and maybe could have approached things differently. But you live and learn, and with D23, we’ll know the process better. (And I’ll check in to this forum a lot earlier!)
I appreciate your insights, and it’s good to hear them today. It’s been an exhausting year and a long process for all of us - most especially for our seniors, who’ve been through so much. It’s important to keep things in perspective and be thankful for what we have. We are right to celebrate their great achievements and the wonderful young adults they’ve become!
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Hey! We fly out Friday at 6am, but are going to MN first. We fly into Syracuse at 8pm Sunday. Staying in New Hartford. If you are around, let us know!
I think I am the only Huge merit chaser here.
Major: electrical engineering/minor CS
Only applied to 3 safeties, one of which is our local school.
University of Alabama OOS: merit:146,000
Mississippi State merit OOS: 118, 639
Texas Tech University (local school) 110,000
stats: ranked 3 our of 478, GPA unweighted 4.0, weighted 4.96 1590 SAT, 36 ACT, NM commended,Presidential invite, 14APs, rigor that reflects future engineering major. NASA outreach program, Research in engineering research apprenticeship. 3 yeas Academic Decathlon, No leadership, minimal volunteering.
Attending Texas Tech University
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D only applied to 3 schools. All safeties. Chased HUGE merit.
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No big reaches here either.
My daughter was accepted to:
Alabama
Clemson
Elon
Tulane
UIUC
UofSC
No waitlists, no rejections
As soon as she got the Honors College acceptance at UofSC in December, I knew she had mentally found her school, but we waited to commit until all the FA came through.
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