Thank you!! We both cried when he got into Berkeley. I feel like right now that’s where he wants to go.
But we had not seen any of the schools so we visited UW Seattle last weekend. He really liked the campus. The cherry trees were in full bloom and the admitted student event was exciting but didn’t give us enough information to make a decision.
We will visit Berkeley next week for the first time as well. UW is supposed to have the #5 Japanese dept in the country and Berkeley #3. So I think it will come down to vibe of the campus and student body.
We have all our results now.
Accepted - Michigan, Rose-Hulman, Alabama, U of SC, MSU, Pitt, NEU (NUin), Case Western, Purdue, Iowa State, Arizona State
Waitlisted - Carnegie Mellon, Cal Poly
Rejected - MIT
We have only visited a few and elminated a few for price. He’s down to Michigan, Rose, and Alabama. I would like him to go to Alabama. While we can afford Michigan, it’s the top of our budget and I think Alabama will give him more opportunities overall because we’ll be able to do more for him for extras while in college and after.
We did not use a private counselor. We barely used the school counselor. I considered the private counselor, but decided against it. I don’t know if any of his results would be different now and I’m not sure where else he would have applied. I like reading/researching things, so that was good for me. My son and I have a decent relationship, although there were definitely times I wished it wasn’t me bugging him about deadlines! I think that part would have been the biggest benefit.
I may consider using a counselor for my daughter, because her interests are all over the place and in things I’m not knowledgeable about. S22 is going for engineering, which I understand and can manage. But my daughter has already shown more interest in the process than he ever did, so maybe we can do it together.
Congratulations to your son! His is what a solid, well-rounded list of colleges should look like (without being 20+ colleges long). I think you all did a fine job on your own!
I totally agree with this. These days education is working only for wealthy except for few extremely talented kids. In my neighborhood, even sports are for wealthy. There are few families who spend $600-700 per month and enroll in them in private coaching for sports and get into Ivies in sports quota. The funny thing is that they are not interested in continuing with the sport later but recently people found this as another alternative to get into top colleges.
I don’t know anyone who has used a tutor for anything but a struggling kid. All my kids have been in advanced math and English classes without any tutoring to get there. They do have the advantage that their parents are very good in math and a dad who is pretty good with English topics. It never occurred to me to get a tutor to get them ahead. I can see why people do that though.
Congrats !!
He visited Georgia Tech on February Gold Carpet Day & UIUC this week.
In UIUC he shadowed a CS student 11-6:30PM, went to classes together and lunch etc. In Georgia Tech, we know someone who is Junior CS. So he had “special” tour of CS.
He feels both are equally good. Both CS are very rigor & collaborative.
GT has threads, in UIUC you can select the courses accordingly.
GT all kids work hard since its STEM school. UIUC is big10 school.
Of course UIUC CS kids work hard too. No big difference, except weather & location.
BTW, he is leaning towards Georgia Tech now.
I think socio-economics works in many ways. Where we live only about 15% go to college out of state. There is only one university in state and you are an auto admit as a resident. So nobody talks or thinks about college. Very few are planning ahead for advantages in the application process.
It sounds like most parents on here, like myself, dedicated a lot of energy and focus to learn everything they could about colleges and the process and guided their students on their own. I’m a bookkeeper so I had time to poke around the internet and learned a ton. I also kept track of deadlines etc. S22 has a good friend whose dream school was UW-Seattle , but he missed the deadline (I think they were Nov. 15, so earlier than most) He’s raised by a single mom who works retail and on her feet all day and doesn’t have access to a computer during the day. And was not involved with college process at all. I think because she didn’t know it was so complex. Anyway, it looks like my S22 might not even go to UW though he was accepted. While his friend lost his chance from the beginning. If his mom were a bookkeeper like me and had access to a computer all day and had time to poke around the internet, maybe she would have noticed the early deadline for her son. And maybe he could have gotten in. I’m just saying that you don’t even need to be wealthy to create advantages for your children. Just knowing enough to know you should do some research and knowing the process will be complicated can be a huge advantage. And having access to a computer all day.
I’m in North Carolina. Private tutors and college counselors are not the norm here either. I know of some homeschooled kids who used them but I don’t know of any public or private school kids who did. Definitely don’t know if anyone who started private tutoring in 4th grade to get ahead.
But maybe it’s happening here and just not in our circles. We do have plenty of Mathnasiums and Kumon centers and the Princeton Review.
Here in NJ many people hire tutors and private college counselors or essay coaches, but my kids both were volunteer tutors for peers through our school district going back as early as sixth grade and up through twelfth. Our district is very diverse racially and socioeconomically and has students at every income level.
I don’t know of anyone in my kid’s circle who used a private college counselor, but in the higher-income suburb next door, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few do.
We are in a coastal state. Maybe less of a coastal phenomenon than a certain metro areas phenomenon?
Sadly, I think more families around us try to get in via the athletic route and pour their money into youth sports with dreams of D1 scholarships that don’t materialize. That’s more our local kids’ version of not getting into an Ivy disappointment.
Congrats to your son. My S22 applied to only four schools (he was somewhat disinterested in the process and did not really want to apply to top, competitive schools). He applied to and was admitted to Alabama, ASU, Iowa State, and A&M. As a NMF, he chose Alabama (for several reasons). The scholarship is incredible. He has a guaranteed seat in his major (computer science). He has been accepted into the STEM/MBA program (which he has shown interest in). He loves the Astrobotics team. Of the schools, none has shown as much interest in him. One thing stood out on our tours there. Suffice to say, someone would always say something to the effect that, “wouldn’t it be great for the university if your son came here.” Compare this with other tours we had where it was reversed. I appreciate that Alabama wanted him. He did too. Of the other universities we looked at, only Iowa State seemed to care as much.
We used a tutor when DD had her math teacher quit/got fired (unclear) then the teacher assigned to her precalculus class greeted them with “I’ve never taught this before and I’m not sure what I’m doing” The tutor found out there were many gaps and addressed them. I wouldn’t have called her struggling–she had an A all year. I would describe it as educational malpractice, and I was glad we were able to find the right tutor.
Thanks for the details! We are visiting UIUC mid-april and shadowing too. Like you pointed, most top CS programs seems almost comparable. It comes to fit at this point for your S, I guess. It must be tough to choose from so many choices he has. I am sure he will do amazing at either school. Congratulations for all the great choices! Not many I know have so many options to choose for CS.
I’ve strongly felt that our kids should not have tutors unless absolutely necessary because a) the parents become less engaged with the kids thinking that the tutor is taking care of things, and b) the kid stops being self reliant – this second element is especially pernicious. They lose self confidence.
When I was young, I had a tutor for one year, and my grades dropped 20% that year. They went back up when my mom let go of the tutor.
Thanks!
I think, shadowing will give a great overall perspective.
Also Mid-April weather will also be good. Good luck.
What are the colleges your kid is considering?
