Jumping in for the first time here. We are in Los Angeles and even though my son got into UCSC it was never considered because my son wants to be 100% in person in the fall. He has no interest in Zoom University! The average GE class size at UCSC is 200-300 students and at UCSB it’s 150-300 students. If all classes over 150 students are remote in the fall, it’s quite likely that all or the majority of first years will be remote. This is one of the main reasons my son chose a school that is currently in person and where the average class size is 17 and the max class size is 30.
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Thanks. They did say too that past priority for housing other than special needs groups was based on those with in person classes.
I would expect it will likely occur after the date students need to officially commit by. Maybe after May 3rd? Last year the waitlist movement occurred in May sometime according to this thread:
Like in India, where they look at your grade from the exam during the last week of school (School Leaving certificate) and the college entrance test grade decided your fate. It is also pathetic in a different way. Just test happens during one week decides your fate.
Yes, we should keep in touch. I have a son graduating in 2024, and so I will be in college confidential for longer. Do you have other children graduating in a couple of years?
I was seeing the acceptance rate for Georgetown and it is 2.5%. Nearly impossible. Fortunately they have Early assurance program for GT undergraduates and it seems like 40 percent acceptance.
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I meant for Georgetown Med School
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@anaray if I recall your daughter got in to GT. What a great achievement!
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She did get in to Georgetown. Thank you!
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Can anyone give me some brutally honest insight into University of Miami?
I’m concerned about it being a party school, lots of money and distractions.
Also, after freshman year are kids still on campus having an undergraduate experience or does everyone move into Miami and live a more commuter student lifestyle?
Any advice appreciated!
I enjoyed reading all the final results so I will post my son’s. Thanks for all the help here, it’s a great community and resource. we were all a little bummed for a week or two due to the tough year for acceptances but we are moving on. Son is engineering/STEM
accepted: Purdue, Pitt, Bucknell, Case Western, Rochester, U Mass
waitlist: Michigan, Villanova, Northeastern
denied: Dartmouth, Brown, Tufts, BU, Wash U, Northwestern, Notre Dame
Most of the denied schools we knew were very competitive, and so were realistic about our chances, but still, when you buy 8 lottery tickets, you hope maybe one would come through. But this was not the year for that strategy.
He’s VERY undecided, having not visited ANY of the schools he got accepted to, so it’s going to be an interesting few weeks…
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Just an FYI: A friend’s S just got off the USC waitlist, with excellent FA.
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Yes, it has been a very tough year and it looks like your son has some very good choices. Congrats! I do not have a viewpoint on the other choices but I can say that Umass is well respected for Engineering and CS, and graduates tend to find decent employment in MA. It has become very competitive to get in to their CS program. I do not have any affiliation with Umass, other than having hired students (EE and CS) from there.
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USC (Southern Cal) doesn’t have a WL. They have Spring admission, which can be “bumped up” to Fall admission, if space becomes available.
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I have visited the campuses of CWRU, Pitt, and Purdue (where my son currently is a junior in engineering). Very different places! I will send you a PM with some notes about the campuses that I made about 4 years ago when I visited CWRU and Pitt with my son; perhaps that may give you something to consider, if not your son.
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Ah, ok thanks for the clarification. 
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My nephew was an engineering major at Univ of Rochester. Beautiful campus, he had a great 4 years there, studied abroad, and had a very good job shortly after graduation.
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First, congrats to your son at having three wonderful, but very different choices. FWIW, I have a friend whose two sons are at Colgate and they absolutely love it (BTW, the father went to Santa Clara for undergrad and law school and the kids are very academically inclined). I don’t think you can really compare Colgate to Santa Clara or UCSC as it’s like comparing an apple to an orange to a banana; they are so different in type, rank, size, location and focus of study.
I went to Santa Clara for law school and the undergrads all seemed happy and having a good time, but they didn’t seem to be particularly academically focused. (Now obviously this has changed some especially with how competitive the college admissions circus is today). The majority of the kids seemed to come from parochial schools, and my friend said this is the place where the kids who sort of screwed off in their parochial high schools ended up. Now, it’s been over 25 years since he was there, but that’s what he told us back then.
UCSC is a fine school, as are all the UCs, but your kid will not get the individualized attention he would get at Colgate, or even Santa Clara. Obviously if they are remote again in the fall that is a definite con. The “no grades” policy is unique, and the place seems very laid back, and Santa Cruz is a nice little town with some good restaurants. (I went to UCLA for undergrad and my husband went to UCSD back in the late 80s, and while my D21 applied to a bunch of UCs, I did not recommend that she attend as she is used to very low teacher to student ratios and wanted a small liberal arts college experience, no sports, no frats, luckily she got some great merit aid back East, so that’s where she’ll end up.) My D21 loves that UCSC’s mascot is the banana slug and was so happy to get in for that reason. We know a lawyer who chose UCSC over Stanford about 15 years back because it was a more laid back, non-competitive place, and she did not want to graduate with all that debt. She’s smart as a whip and a very successful trial lawyer today. If $$$ is a major obstacle, and you are a CA resident, of course UCSC is a fine choice and your kid can get a fantastic education there, it just takes a bit more work to get it at any of the UCs.
Has your kid looked at the course catalogs or taken a shadow class? Those two things are helping my D21 decide amongst a number of women’s colleges back East. She’s also joined the admitted students’ facebook and other groups to chat with the other admits, which again, has helped her get a feel for the other admits who would make up her class and get her closer to solidifying her final choice.
Good luck to your son in making the final decision!
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Thank you for sharing! Yes very different choices. You’d think that would make it easier to figure out. We are looking at courses now. The admissions landscape has really changed and Santa Clara has become reasonably competitive for CS and business. If he were certain on CS he could do very well there with internships. But he’s not certain and is also interested in bio so this has made it more difficult.
Not sure on the Greek thing / fit / conservative vibe at Colgate. Like everything else my S is neutral on that. Trying to learn more about that.
He did join a group on social media and that’s a good suggestion to look into virtual events or classes. The students have been friendly. Our search was so backwards and research late due to Covid! Hectic year.
Good luck to your D.
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My oldest of four too! I’ll see you around here in the future! LOL
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Is it not possible to visit now?
I don’t think the vibe at Colgate is conservative. That’s not the info we got from any of the students we know or met with while there. Of course there’s a mix but it still leans left.
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