S23 first admission out of the way UCF.
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Congrats!!! Thatās
awesome!
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IMHO: Mailers from Elite Schools: (sorry if this has been mentioned)
Why would an elite school like Harvard feel the need to send out marketing?
Lets assume they take 750 students this year. A vast majority of high stat students already apply and most non qualified students do not. Yet they spend millions of dollars on their mailers.
Still, they take advantage of ACT/SAT scores and send these mailers to thousands of students they have no intention of accepting.
IMO They wish to generate an abundance of applications and then reject them and claim they have a lower acceptance rate than competitors and are therefore more prestigious. Their competitors do the same thing. They achieve this by mailers that unsuspecting parents see in the mailbox and think āgee Harvard is interested in my kidā. The proud parent decides to make Harvard a reach and pays for the application fee.
Secondly, the application fee paid by the unsuspecting parent generates millions of dollars from working class Americans, which is really shameful as they have billions of dollars of endowments.
Which Elite schools needs to market their university?
I throw them in the garbage as fast as I receive them. As others have pointed out, it isnāt very green!
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Agree with this, but clearly it is working. It must drive an increase in applications from certain regions or populations they are targeting. They need the hype to drive numbers up.
With programs like Bridgequest they have an applicant pipeline of highly qualified, low income, URM to help meet some enrollment goals, but they still all send so much.
We were getting full magazine like mailings from Dartmouth highlighting things like the collegeās environmental programs - the irony. It is mind boggling the amount of physical mailings still sent.
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I wonder if the mailings from high-prestigiosity colleges serve two purposes:
- Drive up applications from students who donāt really have a shot at getting in, thus driving rejection rates up, erm, selectivity higher
- Get more applications from qualified students who wouldnāt necessarily have ever thought to apply to a hyperselective (e.g., from places like Alaska, where there isnāt nearly the sort of focus on those sort of colleges as there is in, say, New England, or from first-generation students anywhere)
(1) is evil, but (2) is reasonable.
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Students apply for MIT/Harvard etc. from the poorest most remote places in Africa.
Questbridge etc. fills the lower disadvantaged needs for all these schools. If their methods were honest then applications would be free of charge.
I read once from an elite school selection committee member that they valued community service hours as they felt these students might consider being big donors someday.
SMH
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Need some insights here.
Kid is accepted to Pitt, Bama, UNM and Montclair State. Probably accepted to LoyNo in the next few days. Loves Pitt. Has not visited the other acceptances.
Heās got other irons in the fire.
But right now Iām concerned that UNM, Bama and LoyNo are getting short shrift on his part, and that all three could be major bargains if ā¦ if ā¦ ifā¦ he just did the extra work for honors/scholarships at those schools.
But because heās in at Pitt, heās taken his foot off the gas.
Now, we did tell him we could afford Pitt, regardless, and we can ā just.
But I look at the possibilities presented by so much $$ at the other schools - he could study abroad multiple semesters using just Bamaās auto-merit scholarships, e.g. He would be a good candidate for top $ at UNM and LoyNo also. And I just know he would adore New Orleans (heās never been).
But I canāt seem to goose him to do the extra work for those applications - honors, named scholarships.
Should I just back off? I hate leaving money on the table, but this is his journey after all.
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Where do you live? I would guess heās truly not interested in those other schools. Are they further from home? If heās happy with Pitt and you told him you were fine with it, Iād leave it.
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We live in PA. Heās not averse to traveling far for school, though - one of the possibles on his list is Uni of Melbourne.
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I am starting to panic about my (homeschooled) sonās recommendations. In July he asked his (online) ELA teacher from last year and she said she would do it and to send her the info when the Common App opened. In August he put her info into the common app and sent her a short email, letting her know that he had done it. Then, he didnāt think about it.
She still hasnāt done anything, and he hasnāt heard anything from her since the July email. He sent her an email last week just to check in and she still hasnāt gotten back to him. He wants to apply to three schools EA, but I think weāre going to have to pull the plug on those if he doesnāt hear from her. I donāt know how he could get a different recommendation in before the November 1 deadline.
For his other rec, one of the schools he is applying to said they really wanted a recommendation from a teacher who had actually physically had him in a classroom with other students. Because of Covid this is the first semester of high school he has that since freshman fall. I asked if the AO really wanted a recommendation from a teacher who had only had him for six weeks and they said yes that would be perfectly fine. Unfortunately, neither of his in person teachers this year are super on top of things. We thought we picked the better choice of the two, and he did say he would write the letter but, again, no movement on it yet. Since he was only asked two weeks ago, I donāt feel like we can follow up with him for at least another week, but Iām feeling very tense about it.
Can your son reach the ELA teacher by phone? I know this is a hard thing and kids hate making phone calls but this might be the time to grit his teeth and do it. As for rec #2, suggest talking in person at school to say that time is short - stress the deadline, but mention you needed a couple extra days to finalize things, so youāre not on tenterhooks the night of the deadline ā apologize for the short notice and offer to provide a short list of accomplishments/goals/attributes if that would help.
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What is he interested in studying?
My student also applied to UNM. During a college tour arranged through an academic department, we were encouraged to complete the supplemental scholarship application by November because thatās when that department starts to review them. It āmayā be one of our studentās front runners. Since friends are talking about college applications, there seems to be some second-guessing on the college application list. If you would like my thoughts about our UNM visit, message me. We enjoyed it and may be traveling back for a re-visit, closer look at housing options, and a basketball game.
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S23 applied to UNM as well. They have some great facilities and programs that match his interests. He sent in the basic application very early on, and was happy to receive his acceptance, but hasnāt even thought about putting any effort into applying for honors or additional scholarships. I think one reason that he isnāt taking UNM as seriously as the other schools on his list is that it was so easy and quick to apply and be accepted. Thanks to both of you for bringing up UNM, as this reminds me to talk to him again about it.
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Thanks, am messaging you!
Heās interested eventually in law school - philosophy or poly sci for undergrad.
Is it OK to share your thoughts here?
Haha yes!! We have been the lucky recipients of both and my kid is still a junior 
. Even he commented on how fancy the High Point stuff is.
How do we signup for their mails?
LORs have been a source of stress here also. D23 asked two of her teachers last spring if they would write her letters. Teacher #1 said absolutely! Teacher #2 said they werenāt writing letters for any students over the summer, due to personal reasons. D then asked Teacher 3, who happily agreed to write her one. Fast forward to September, Teacher #3 informs every student theyād agreed to write LORs for that they are moving to a new job in a different district and canāt write them now. D was panicking since she didnāt really have another teacher she could ask, especially at the last minute. Teacher #4 overheard her talking about it before class and nicely offered to write her one. D says this teacher is great and teaches a class only open to seniors so is never asked to write LORs. They hardly know each other but he was confident he could write her a good letter. Fingers crossed!
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I was pretty impressed by multiple aspects of UNM and it will probably be one of D24ās safety schools. The Dean of Admissions pretty much personally handed everyone on the tour a scholarship so Iām not sure why it doesnāt come up here more when āmerit huntingā is the topic of conversation.
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Oh, I pushed it strongly for D19. It was a serious contender, but sheās a homebody and it was too far. Their auto merit chart is worth a look! There have been some really good parent reviews of the place also, in the UNM section of the colleges & universities at CC
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