We’ve seen similar results: getting in most places that we had targeted for merit but not getting the level of merit expected, at all. In some cases, admitted to very small honors programs or cohorts but given little or no merit. Hard on him, because there seems to be a sizeable shift this year in competitiveness and how schools are awarding merit.
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@huango whatever the kids want. I just tell kids they got about 2-5% chance in regular decision, depending on the school so managing expectations wisely.
Also, less than $2k for 3 essay coaches is a steal. It’s usually $2k per coach on just essays.
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Apart from the fact that you are crediting the coaches for the outcomes, do you think the coaches made a sufficient difference on the essays? I am curious. Maybe your student’s profile were good to begin with, and the coaches may not have added much?
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Yes, we definitely got great pricing on essay coaches.
It took 2 tries before finding the right fit of essay coach to work with son.
So we only paid for the initial price with the 2 coaches.
@neela1:
My house is very STEM, not amazing writers.
The essay coaches were life-savior in brainstorming the right messages: what should he write about? How to describe WHO my son is to Admissions.
We didn’t really use the coach for minute editing, more the high level messages, so perhaps that would be additional cost.
Note: he wrote 38 essays (as short as 50 words to 650 words).
My thought was that my son spent:
- Years to produce his high GPA
- months to score high on ACT
- Years to achieve Eagle Scout rank
- Years to achieve Captain of his sport
so he should invest just as much effort on his essays,
not something that you whip out in 5 hours before the deadline.
These are the stuff he can control.
He can’t control his Letter of Recommendations, but he can choose the message he crafts about himself.
For colleges with less than 30% acceptance rates, his high academics and ACT qualified him.
But his essays and ECs and LoRs and LUCK (and ?affirmative action?) are the WHY he stands out amongst other amazing applicants.
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This year seems to be crazy for waitlists. It’s been a bit of a disappointing year. It will be interesting to see how many students get pulled from these lists. I feel like it was a difficult year for seniors. Historically looking at DS’s school history he was was waitlisted at schools he would have normally been accepted to.
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Waitlist? What about rejections? Rough
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@huango I completely agree that the essays carry a lot of weigh and help a student stand out amongst other great applicants, which is why I’m looking for an essay coach for my younger student. Would you please share your essay coach contact details with me? I don’t know how to dm you.
You put it right. Mine is not a writer kind as well. For MIT itself she wrote 9 essays in total (5 short answers, 3 research essays and 1 cultural background essay) which spanned over a 2 month period of several drafts, redos and what not. She did just a month long self-prep for ACT but essays went longer than that (she started early last May and finished it December inclusive of RD). It helped in all the ways. @huango did you join the MIT’s class of 2026 parents FB group?
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Just curious if you see a connection between waitlists and test optional. My kid applied with test scores and has gotten eight admits and two rejections—zero waitlists. Their two best friends both went TO, and are roughly two WL for every denial/acceptance.
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You could start a business for all of us once we’ve got our kids down to two choices! Make some bank!
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That’s interesting. Anyone else seeing this pattern?
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That is super interesting
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Congratulations on all the acceptance, especially MIT. Which school is he choosing? Do you qualify for financial aid or full pay? If you can please post his stats, all the school he applied and the merit amount. Would be helpful for my next child.
We didn’t spent any money on test prep but she got 1540 SAT taken once.
She is a good writer but I don’t know how good her essay was compared to other kids. She is also shy kid but I saw her happy after interviews.
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Mine submitted ACT and got WLed by 4 UCs
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The UCs are test blind.
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There’s still a place to enter SAT/ACT scores in the application. I know they are test-blind but the scores are used somehow I feel.
They are not used in admissions decisions. They can be used for course placement after you are enrolled. For example, if you score high enough in English, you might get out of your lower div writing course.
The scores are used for course placement. UC application readers never see the score.
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Same thoughts here in NYC, my child’s friends who got 1200-1300 sat but has really high gpa (many has more than 100 averages) because they went to local high school did get admissions to top colleges. She is at specialized high school really hard to keep gpa above 95 she and many of her classmates did very poorly with admission to top colleges.
Thank you!
We’re still waiting for 4 final decisions, but son’s pretty much committed to MIT.
Sent you PM.
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