Parents of the HS Class of 2022- 3.0-3.4

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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I am so excited and relieved to announce that Marmozets, aka my lovely daughter '22, will be attending Smith College. Admitted ED2 today.

I want to thank so many of you, particularly on this thread, for all your encouragement. I am so glad I chose YOU to listen to.

As financial need was the main factor in this process, happy to say Smith was true to it’s projections, gave us an 18k total direct and indirect cost, and then threw in a ton of work study to fall below our FAFSA EFC. To me that’s meaningless “fudging” which I would expect from any no loans need met school, and doesn’t bother me in the least as they came through as expected.

Smith has one of the highest acceptance rates of the no loan schools, so casting an ED2 application there, where statistics show that ED matters a lot, rather than risk coming up with nothing was a rational choice. Luckily she wanted to go to a Woman’s College. Otherwise the best choice is Grinnell (which is also reputedly fully need-blind) or Washington and Lee according to this logic.

What a relief! While I still don’t share the high degree of optimism around scholarships that was common among all the very supportive people here, I guess we’ll never know as DD is out of the running. I don’t share the “it all works out” spirit, at least in this realm (not life in general), because in my neighborhood I can see that for some it does not, but I really did appreciate the support from those same people for sure, especially at crucial moments in this process. Marmozets also thanks you.

Where the support was very useful and telling was at a crucial moment when we were pivoting from merit chasing to reaching for these no loan schools. So many people here on CC were so discouraging and negative almost to the point of running on an algorithm, but many others were very supportive and understood the logic of reaching. You all know who you are, in either case.

I would encourage some people here to not try to crush others too soon with your expert opinions about what is possible, and for others I would encourage you to continue, as you did for us, to support new people in reasonable courses of action, and remember this example, and I thank you deeply for keeping us company, and keeping us from feeling like our thoughts are aberrant.

So I guess it’s no trade school for DD!

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Congratulations to @Marmozets and to you! You’ve had quite a ride. I look forward to an equally enthusiastic update on your son.

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That is such great news. I logged on just to check on her! Congrats! She will do amazing things at Smith and beyond!

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That’s wonderful news! I’m so happy for the both of you!!

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FANTASTIC!!!

One secured. One to go

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I am beyond thrilled for your daughter and you! You put your situation out here openly and you were graceful in the face of some discouraging responses ( not on this thread but the 2022 maybe? Can’t remember…). Posting on CC is not for the faint of heart in some cases, so kudos. I hope for good news for your son also and I know your DD will do great things at Smith and beyond.

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Whoo-hooo! Congrats! We have an acquaintance at Smith and I think she loves it.

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Congratulations! That’s an awesome outcome!

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Congratulations @Marmozets and @UCDProf . Thanks for sharing your journey. I appreciate your insights.

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Yay! I’m so happy for you all. What an amazing outcome.

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Teen boy finally communicated why he’s not excited about any acceptances. Nobody has heard of the schools he’s applying to, so therefore they all must be utter crap and accept anyone. The only college that he sees as worthy is UT-Austin and they don’t take students in the 33rd rank percentile, unless you can throw a football really far. Not a fit for him, either.

I guess he is now realizing that coasting for three years was not a good move. And I am realizing we have some work to do in convincing him that the colleges he applied to are indeed “good” schools. I gave him the CTCL book and asked him to read the introduction. Hopefully that helps. His gpa is below the average (sometimes well below the average) of every single school he has applied to, so honestly he should consider himself lucky that he’s getting in anywhere at all. Just a little frustrated here…

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Oh, and he has a recorded audition outstanding at Lawrence but my husband and I have been getting emails to register for admitted student events there. He also got a box of swag from the con. Good sign??

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Sorry @murray93 , that sounds hard. My kids went to schools that no one around here had heard of, although that was their choice…to go out of state to small/medium schools that aren’t top 20 or maybe even 50. But they saw it as a plus to be looking at and attending schools that were off the beaten path, I think they liked not doing what “everyone else was doing” and exploring and forging a new path. They figured out an easy sound bite to reply to people who said “what’s that, never heard of it?” Not sure if you can use that perspective to your advantage. And, especially if some of his schools are in CTCL, he may actually find when talking to adults (not his fellow classmates) that they have indeed heard of those schools and how good they really are.
At least you know what is going on in his head. It can be hard, second semester of senior year when that is all anyone seems to ask about, especially if he is feeling down about his options.
Edit: That does sound like a good sign! So maybe you don’t need this advice after all, fingers crossed! Is it something where you have to get academically admitted to the college and THEN get admitted to the program from the audition?

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Yep, we live in rural Texas where everyone goes to the big state schools. He’s never been one to follow the crowd, so I’m surprised by his reaction. He also has only received acceptances so far, so he probably thinks literally anyone can get into these schools. But I am very happy he spoke to me about what is going on in his brain. I was beginning to think he didn’t want to go to college.

As far as LU goes, yes — you do need to be accepted academically and musically for the conservatory.

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@murray93 my son went through a time where he was upset that no one in his high school had heard of his college (Vassar). They mostly send to state schools in nj, PA, DE. He got over it and is happily graduating this year. It’s a growth step that I’m sure your son will take soon.

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In my mind (but not his yet), LU is the leading contender for my son, we just have to get through the FA appeal. Not to cave into the haters, but as many know I have doubts about my son’s readiness for a place like LU, which is EXCELLENT and such a great opportunity, and has plenty of high achieving kids.

I’m not sure what to say about how to handle this situation, other than I share your confusion since the only faults LU has are climate, location, and everything that comes with a SLAC if that’s not what you want.

Maybe you could use their stats-- which are quite impressive, on jobs, med school placement, etc. Go to their marketing materials and make a case?

We’re fortunate in a sense in that my kids don’t know anyone going to great schools or whatever and have no frame of reference other than having heard of Princeton and Harvard.

Gabe Reyes YouTube videos on his life at LU (during quantine however) made the place attractive to me but for some kids maybe the opposite.

Let’s keep thinking about this. I think LU is fantastic and so too so many other schools, such a shame!

I hope someone has some good ideas about this.

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That’s so funny-- Vassar is the most prestigious place anyone has ever gone to from our CA high school!

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Vassar. OMG that is hilarious. I’m sure he got an outstanding education!!!

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Maybe Vassar will get more fame as Mindy Kaling’s HBO show “The Sex Lives of College Girls” was filmed there. The campus looks beautiful in that show.

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The thing is, it’s an individual decision and kids want to fit in. Once people at our church (different town) assured him it was decent, he felt better.

There is definitely something to be said for big state schools, especially for the networking, but having the right environment is too. For my D, we have more research to do on accommodations and support.

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