I remember the University of Washington used to rank high schools according to the success of their students at the university. For many years, Northwest Yeshiva High was able to boast they were #1 for having students maintain the highest GPA at the UW.
@sushiritto I’m guessing the algorithms are pretty amazing.
Same here -happy holidays to all of you! It’s been so nice to have some relaxing time with D19, D21 and S23 this week, not thinking about college, just having fun together!
Yes, that was me. I’m a Reed grad and we looked hard at Reed for my D21 but she ended up not applying. Reed is intensely academic in a very traditional liberal arts way. The intensity of the academics can be brutal for those not ready or seeking it. They recently added a Computer Science major mostly I think so they stop losing the Steve Jobs types to Stanford (which is what happened) but otherwise it is an exceedingly traditional liberal arts curriculum. It is also a very liberal and eclectic place with no varsity sports, Greek life, or any of that sort of thing.
My daughter ended up not applying because: (1) they don’t do merit aid so we would be full pay at $75K+ per year compared to more like $35K/year at Lewis & Clark or Whitman with merit aid, or $25K per year at UW in-state. Is it better than Lewis & Clark or Whitman? Perhaps, but not $35K/yr better, (2) she wasn’t sold on the intensity of the academics and wants to have a bit more well-rounded college experience with at least a full year study abroad and other experiences. Year-long study abroad is tougher at Reed because of the rigor of the departmental demands, (3) it is maybe too close home for us as we are in the Portland metro and Reed is 25-30 min away, and (4) they had a burdensome application with a lot of extra stuff added to the common app including a portfolio requirement that annoyed my daughter and caused her to not bother applying.
If your child is ultra-academic and looking to pursue a PhD and life in academia then Reed is one of the best places to make that start. If they aren’t so sure and are just looking for a good solid college to figure things out it might be more intense than they are expecting.
What is your definition of a large LAC? Bowdoin only has 2000 kids. And what is a SLAC? Just curious.
Congrats!
Happy Holidays, everyone! I’ve been busy with Christmas stuff over the past few days. I logged on this morning and saw all the new posts - it’s been a joy to read about everyone’s admittance news. For the deferrals - hang in there. I have said this before, but I truly believe all our teens will end up at the places that are ultimately right for them.
D21 turned one of her RD apps into an ED2 app (though we have yet to receive confirmation from the college - I assume we will after the holiday break). She feels good about her applications and has told me she was relieved about the Harvard deferral. She applied REA there because she partly grew up in the area and has a lot of connections there, and she would always wonder “what if” if she hadn’t applied…but she likes her ED2 school (and a large handful of others) so much better than Harvard for many reasons. She is more of a small university/liberal arts college kid. She said if she had gotten in then she would have felt pressure within herself to go there. I kind of feel the same way, actually. So I am glad she applied REA so she won’t walk around with the “what if” feeling later, and I am glad she was deferred. I do hope she gets into her ED2 school though, because I think she would love it there. But if she doesn’t, she applied to so many schools that she would genuinely like to attend that it will all work out. She really likes UVM and would be happy there, and she’s already accepted, so everything is now way less stressful around here.
And your post is a great example of why I miss the “helpful” button!
Okay, so now that Christmas is wrapped up, we can go back to obsessing about admissions 
But seriously, I hope everyone has had a nice and safe holiday season with loved ones. Here’s to lots of good news in the new year 
Are we going to discuss a 4.0 is a 4.0 today ? 
5 200 word reach essays to do this week, then he’s done!
Does anyone know what the deal is with common app and your other recommenders needing to submit a pdf? He was able to invite his elective teacher earlier as a teacher LOC to most schools but it needs a pdf if that teacher only fits under other recommender. Thanks!
LOL @NateandAllisMom - I read your post quickly and thought it said he had to do a 5,200 word essay. I was thinking what kind of crazy school would put that word limit. Time for more coffee for me…
For our recs, our GC said not to do anything on Common App. We let them know who is writing recs and the school takes care of it for us.
So D21 has told D18 where she wants to go but D18 is sworn to secrecy. Infuriating…
Yesterday one of the tags on my gift was to “merit money seeker”. Lol.
Hope ever one had happy and safe holidays.
This is so funny!!
Hope everyone is having a happy and safe holidays. Does anyone know about the ASU Cloud Scholars program? My daughter was selected for that, and we are not sure if participating in it would mean committing to ASU. The program sounds interesting, but she is still not sure about where she wants to go. Still waiting on decisions from a couple of colleges.
Is a rose a rose if called by any other name?
My D received that as well. She is interested in the program but not planning on signing up for it. Looks like she has to commit to ASU first.
I’m not sure if anyone has seen the below-mentioned article, but it is an interesting read. Wishing all of our kids the best of luck as decisions continue to be released in the upcoming weeks!
I can’t seem to post the link here but the name of the article is 2020 Early College Application Numbers Defy Expectations by Josh Stephens.
@bay999, that’s is exactly what we thought, she was not ready to commit to ASU yet.
“No matter what, I encourage students not to fall in love with any one school, especially in the regular round, and especially if that school is highly selective. It’s far healthier for students to get excited about their entire slate of applications and about what they’re going to learn in college, not where they’re going to go.”
That quote is perhaps the most important part of that article. It should be in every article about appying to colleges. And the Post-Script should also be required reading for students and parents going through this process every year.
Thanks for the nice read @H0llyw00d
Good article. I mean we kind of know all of that though, right? We all spend time here and know what’s up! But nice to see it all wrapped up into a well written article.
I thought the most important part was that, with the increase in apps, the decisions might be more random. AOs being slammed with too much to read will likely make this year a bit more unpredictable. It’s always good advice to not fall in love with a college before acceptance.