We had a suicide at our HS last year due to this pressure - didn’t get into an Ivy but friends did. I wish there wasn’t so much talk.
Yep - just like #s of acceptances. It’s a smart strategy to have options but in the end you go to one.
The districts brag. How bout the kid who goes to the army or who gets a job?
It’s like they are diminishing them.
btw - our superintentdent at the time - and not saying he did it - is now in Fulton County GA. When he was here he was a rock star. Perhaps they’ll get similar.
I’m assuming they benchmarked another district in doing this.
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It’s advertising, basically—it’s a way to signal to parents who have higher-education aspirations for their kids but who don’t have the knowledge base that those of us conversing right here have that they’re a good high school at which to foster those aspirations.
This isn’t just private high schools, either—in my kids’ public school district, there are a number of lottery programs (and one magnet program), plus space-available transfers between schools (and there is almost always space available), so those schools and programs really are in some level of competition with each other even before factoring private high schools into the equation.
And so I get it—it’s a stupid measure, but it’s one that people understand quickly while you have their attention for three seconds, and many folks, anything that requires any further explanation means you’re not going to keep their attention long enough to be able to get across a more meaningful measure.
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I wish there wasn’t so much pressure. I just don’t know if kids talking less would reduce the pressure.
Some conversations seem to leave my son feeling more grounded and comfortable with making his own choices. For example friends who have a specific less popular major in mind, and choose schools strong in that major (which might not be big name schools). Or friends who are very up front about budget considerations. Or just talking about practical aspects of the schools they are considering, like housing.
The talk that seems to unsettle him is the constant ticker of “who got in to big name school of the week?” That’s hard on everyone. Of course it’s hard on kids who are getting deferred or rejected, but even for kids who got an exciting acceptance to their ED school and are done, then some other kid gets in somewhere else and they have a moment of FOMO, did they choose wrong?
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Uof A gives excellent merit aid. And I am sure ASU must give it too.
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Yeah - this is a public district…
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Both - but U of A better but is totally based on an unweighted GPA.
Not rigor. Not test scores. Not activities. And you know from U of A what you’ll get b4 you apply. ASU has a calculator - or at least used to.
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Absolutely have had people in real life comment unsolicited about college finances, but it is not terribly common. I don’t mean in a one-on one discussion with a good friend, that is different and to me is not unusual. But a mom with kids not even in the same year as mine loudly said at a school event with many around, “(your kid) looks happy at (college)…but I can’t believe you would spend 80 thousand dollars a year to send her there…we would never waste money like that.” . I hardly know this person. I just said something generically nice and shrugged. DH was getting his car back from the dealer after a repair and a sports-friend he does not know well told him unsolicited that she was buying a brand new car for her soon to be graduate of (flagship U),and wasn’t he sorry he was throwing away that amount of money every year by having D go to (the college her kid did not get into). Oddly enough the younger one will be going to a private top20 for full-fare, so it seems she has changed her mind on what is worth it. I don’t think people mean it to come across how it does, but it is surprising folks bring it up.
Wow, just wow. I would’ve said sweetly, “Right, I totally agree, that’s why we’re so happy she got that full ride.”
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He got into LoyNo with 32k. That brings tuition down to 13k a year at least. Fingers crossed that his dad will throw in money!
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Congratulations!
Woohoo!! 
That’s so exciting. How long did it take to find out? Did they email?
@BeverlyWest Email with notification of admission update in portal. He applied back in November. Did a virtual uploaded audition for Music which I think led to the delay.
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Congrats!!
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May 1, 2024 is the super special extended deadline!
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My impression is that kids talk about these things without knowing the underlying financials; they’ll say they got such and such a scholarship from X and this much from Y, but they don’t go on to talk about if they or their parents are taking out loans for some (or all) of the rest.
They’re mostly just excited about scholarship amounts and don’t talk about those amounts in context.
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The journalism kids run our high school’s college acceptance insta. Students submit a picture and postgrad plans and the journalism kids create a post formatted in the college colors. It’s a fun way to share with the greater community. They used to just list college plans in the final newspaper of the year.
I always enjoy seeing the non-traditional posts too like “working on a cattle ranch” or “joining the circus” (two real examples from recent years). Every kid’s journey is different and it’s important to recognize and celebrate all of our seniors, not just the college bound ones.
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RPI is not the only school that had this type of emails into my son’s inbox. I am wondering, are they really trying to get more applications, try to hit a target number, or they are trying to collect more application fee? There was one school that got my son’s application this way even though it was not on his original list. That school waived application fee and didn’t need supplementals:)
I feel like most are just trying to lower their acceptance rate at this point, as the vast majority asking for applications now are saying “no application fee!” “no test scores!” “no essays!”… I think they just want another name in the bucket.
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