Unfortunately it is probably going to be the most expensive of D23’s options which will take it out of consideration. In her case, I wish it was not such a good fit! My oldest D applied as well but went elsewhere that gave her better merit. As much as I love Fordham, as was discussed above by other posters, for our family, the higher cost was not worth it when we compared to D17’s other options. We will wait and see what happens with D23’s package, but it is unlikely for her as well. However, she knew it was a long shot and is more than happy with her other current options.
@worriedmomucb same feeling for me about Fordham. I loved my time there. Really enjoyed going back this summer with my daughter. Amazed that Pugsley’s is still there, but so much has changed both on campus and off.
Yes and extended it after the deadline past which doesn’t make sense at all since most kids worked up to the deadline time to submit. One of my DD schools deadline was extended to two weeks longer and they informed the public after the initial deadline was over. Maybe to increase application submissions, but did not make us feel good, we could have had more time to work on it if they had made the change at least one week earlier.
This happened with a prestige program at one of my son’s application schools. Getting into the group may very well make the difference between accepting the offer or going elsewhere. Yet they extended the deadline maybe a day ahead of time, but by then son was “done” with the essay and wasn’t going to spend another week on it. I thought the deadline should be the deadline since he could also have improved if he hadn’t rushed to get it done by the “deadline.” Don’t know how that will turn out yet. Still waiting, but it frustrated us, and no excuse was given for the extension.
Chances are they have many more submissions than spots - so no big conspiracy this year.
However, China and other parts of the world were affected by Covid outbreaks and/or other natural and manmade disasters. So a number of colleges extended the deadlines into January, to afford candidates the time needed to finish up what they had been prevented to at no fault of theirs.
Those “missed deadline” candidates and their counselors were advised via email directly.
For candidates with regular circumstances the original deadline didn’t suddenly “jump up” at them, and college applications might not be the best time to play the 23:59 game.
The idea was to accommodate those who had an unusual need this year, not a conspiracy to give everyone else extra time for something that should long have been done.
I understand their decision but the COVID outbreak was happening all of Dec over there that an extension could have been given to students much earlier. Even on the day of the deadline the IG page sent a reminder of the midnight deadline only to find out a day or two later that the school extended the deadline. If the extension was because the power outages that occurred on the east coast during the holidays I would have been totally agreeing with the decision since we also lost power for three days during Christmas and New Years - my DD also happens to go to a school system that only gives one week winter break between these two holidays and an advanced notice of extended deadline would have relieved a lot of stress instead of us having to drive to another state in order to make sure we had power for her to work on her college apps.
Yes, I knew you were just listing two schools that are well known. However, it isn’t completely private vs public. Berkeley is a very different type of school/culture. If one is considering Berkeley, take time to look into the culture and decide if it is the right social fit. In my opinion, UCLA is a healthier social environment than UC Berkeley.
But, the stress your family suffered doesn’t justify suggesting nefarious reasons for the extensions that colleges granted.
Let’s just look at the numbers, please.
If a college gets 12,000 applications but can only accept 1,000 (8% acceptance), what would be gained if out of nowhere 100 additional people decided to start applications to that college, when they hadn’t been interested before, just because they had accidentally encountered an announcement in the news.
Result: Still an 8% acceptance rate.
I fail to see the motive to whatever scheme you are implying.
Well… that’s a big blanket statement. Any large university environment will have many “microclimates” that affect individual student experience. I don’t have much experience with UCLA, but as far as UCB is concerned, student experience can vary a lot, and much of this seems to depend on the specific department and program.
Not to mention the lift in mood that comes from better weather. When you are in tiny triple dorm rooms, it really helps to be able to go outside and lie on the grass at nearly any time of the year.
But you still need to be pretty independent and socially capable to thrive at UCLA. There’s no hand holding and many of the best known clubs like SAA are highly competitive.
Barnard was one of the first schools we visited, spring break of her junior year. She really fell in love with it, so it’s been on the list since early days. As I learned more, did NPCs and got my FAFSA EFC, as well as dug into the CDS data - I realized it’s a full pay, no merit option for us. I do have some benefits from work to offset about half the tuition, which is a big deal, and the only way it’s still “on the list”. If she got into Barnard, you might think she’d obviously get into one of the better UCs too – but we all know it’s no guarantee. In a scenario where she was blanked from the top UCs, but also gets into Barnard, it has to be considered and compared to the other privates she applied to.
My daughter’s final choice several years ago was between Berkeley and Barnard! I know exactly the kind of things you’ll have to weigh if it comes down to this, or a similar choice.
D17 toured Barnard and was so in love! She ended up staying in California, but had she gotten in, it would have been hard to pass up. She had dreams for years of going to college in New York.
It is and I made sure to state that it was my opinion. I went back and edited my post to clarify that I was referring to the social environment, not the academic environment.
FYI - Just saw on SMU’s Admission instagram page that “SMU is extending its Early Decision II (binding) and Regular Decision (non-binding) deadline to January 23.”
She chose Barnard. And, in the way these things work out, it really did. She was undeclared, and ended up going in a different way (Econ and Classics) than she planned, which was super easy at Barnard. She made full use of the entire Columbia ecosystem, and explored all over NYC, working various jobs, dining on the cheap, and hitting up all the free stuff for students (including Broadway!). She’s now an investment banker (something we NEVER foresaw and such a Barnard-Columbia thing) at one of the big banks, loves her job, and has a beautiful apartment in Manhattan. And she has a cat.
She would have thrived at Berkeley, but her current life suits her so perfectly. It was a really hard choice though, because Berkeley just is… Berkeley. And she had to have student loans, although again, it worked out since she wiped them completely out with her signing bonus.
My oldest D applied as well but went elsewhere that gave her better merit. As much as I love Fordham, as was discussed above by other posters, for our family, the higher cost was not worth it when we compared to D17’s other options. We will wait and see what happens with D23’s package, but it is unlikely for her as well. However, she knew it was a long shot and is more than happy with her other current options.
