Agree, we’ve found so many of these haven’t been updated or broken out into the differences between ED and RD. Very misleading.
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that’s tough - at 75% the kid feels like it’s pretty much a sure thing.
To be fair, they obviously can’t take into account the essays and letters of recommendation - and those DO count, for alot. And they’re so subjective - what one college values in regards to “character” and gives a “boost” for, another college may not; and there’s no way to really KNOW.
And of course, probabilities are tricky - 75% still means 25% of candidates just like him didn’t get in; it just sucks when you’re in that 25%.
Best of luck, there are still alot of colleges still to annouce.
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I’ve heard of this, but the school I asked thought I was crazy. 
Exactly this.
My #1 recommendation to those who might be reading this thread with a '24 applicant or beyond: really take note of each college’s CDS and the “what we are looking for” section on each college’s website. One college my D applied to said they were test optional but when reading deeper on their website they were pretty clear that they highly valued test scores. Another college indicated that they don’t read LORs or the common app essay, but they put a lot of value into the answers to their supplemental essays. Some want to see a lot of demonstrated interest, others don’t care at all about that. Colleges are getting more and more competitive each admissions cycle so knowing what matters to each different school can only help.
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That’s awesome to save so much! Very goal oriented, which will serve him well in life.
Make sure he tells future employers this. Hard work, goal oriented and perseverance are excellent qualities that are very attractive to companies. I did similar to put myself through school as well as student loans since knew from a young age that my parents wouldn’t be able to afford any contribution. Of course it’s much harder now a days for a student to do that without any parental help. Anyway, I believe it was a big factor in landing a job with one of the most sought after employers in my field, especially since my grades, although still good, were not as stellar as others.
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Hi! We are traveling from California to the NE to look at colleges the first week of April. Flying into and out of Westchester White Plains HPN airport and will be looking at schools in Hudson Valley, Vermont near Burlington, Maine, Rhode Island and Connecticut, not necessarily in that order. We are going to rent a car and drive a loop. Question is, this year, in about 2-3 weeks, driving that broad area, do you think I should rent a 4wd vehicle? I assume the highways will be mostly clear, even if there is weather, but we want to explore and some of these schools are in small towns. For those of you that live around there, what do you think? Thanks!!
It all depends on the weather. If there isn’t an active snow or freezing rain storm, I doubt you would have any trouble getting to any of the schools, even the rural ones, with a regular vehicle. In the very unlikely but not certain event of a storm, you would definitely want AWD. We have 3 cars, one of which (minivan) doesn’t have AWD and we don’t use it during/after fresh snow if possible.
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You may want 4WD for Vermont and Maine. Google maps had us on dirt roads when we drove from Middlebury to Burlington, and we ended up with a punctured tire. You may also get snow in northern New England in early April.
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So I’ve been thinking about these fly-in scholarship programs and what the benefit is to the schools. My daughter flew in to what was her first choice school, was impressed, wrote the extra essay, didn’t get the scholarship, and now is mostly just angry she wasted her time and our money. She’s decided not to attend the school. If the school had simply left her with the original merit offer, I think there was a much better chance she would have decided to attend.
I don’t want to call out this college in particular because a lot of schools do it, but I guess I’m trying to understand how it benefits them? Is the idea that if you get all of these kids to campus, they’ll see how awesome it is and want to attend regardless of a scholarship offer? Or do they just care about impressing the kids that will be offered the scholarships? Anyone else given this any thought? 
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I don’t know! And I feel like it is different than when I applied to college 30 years ago. I remember I had a scholarship competition opportunity at Case Western, and I know I did not pay anything. I was flown out there, they put me up in a dorm with a student, they took us to the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame, provided us nice meals over the weekend. I know that when I decided not to attend case western, I felt really bad about it! And I have had positive feelings about the school ever since.
I can’t believe the scholarship competitions I’ve been reading about where students are responsible for everything on their own. it has not been consideration for us directly, but reading about them definitely gives me a very negative opinion of schools that do it.
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I remember last year, there was a school that routinely gives out 15k-30k in automatic scholarships based on GPA and SAT for all admitted students. They then ask a few of the admits to come to in-person weekend, and in the end that gets the students only an additional 5k or so other than the 1-2 people who got free tuition. I never understood why they gave 25k automatically and then asked students to jump through hoops, spend money on travel, lodging etc. for just 5k more.
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We were very surprised to look at the different wages paid for campus jobs. The minimum wage in a state where one college possibility is, is HALF the minimum wage in our home state. It definitely affects the calculations!
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Yes! This is how I remember it as well. To be fair, Hope College flew my daughter out and covered her hotel, so it isn’t all schools. But I think it instills more of a negative feeling about the school in general.
Very similar to this situation as well.
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They fly you in to see the school and you’re with others - how can you not be impressed?
Unless they guarantee you the win up front, there’s no guarantee.
Still what an awesome opportunity. It’s also akin to their first formal job interview. A great experience. And they get to experience the school for an extended time - another win. You may fall in love or out of love - either way a good thing.
It’s a win win - even if you don’t win.
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My question was about the schools that don’t cover expenses. The ones that have scholarship weekends where many are invited and most aren’t awarded much of anything. I guess we see it differently. But maybe that is how the college benefits? I’m just guessing.
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We feel the same here. S23 just found out the two weekends he attended, with 300 “finalists” at one and about 1000 competing at the other, did not result in any more scholarship money, and like your child, he too feels worse about the schools than if they had just made them a “visit” weekend with no money on the line! Now he feels rejected by schools that had already accepted him with good merit money. I prefer either of those two schools to the one he thinks he “should” pick now because it is least expensive even though the visit there showed him that it is really large and chaotic for him.
I have commented before that I prefer the schools that narrow down to a small number of finalists before doing an invite weekend. That way, you know you are really in the running and in my experience, when the schools have 50 finalists on campus for 25 wins, they are careful to actually run fair, coherent competitions where each student is getting interviewed by the same panels, etc. Once you are talking about hundreds of people, the winners seem almost like a lottery.
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Ohhhh. It was an invite. Not on their dime ? Yeah that’s tougher then. Still a great opportunity.
My daughter had one at Charleston. Went virtual due to covid.
I think we had to get her there if it happened and we would have. But they picked up once there.
She didn’t end up winning but then won later as an alternate.
I’d still say there are positives but of course everyone can see it differently. Of course the kids want to win.
Life is full of rejection though so at least there’s a lesson there - I think.
Sounds like she found a school she loves. So I’m the end at least she’s won !!
I’ve thought about this too. I think those who get the scholarship feel great after the process and about the school but sours those who don’t. I suspect the college would like all the finalists to choose their school and not just target the scholarship recipients. However, it seems like they could potentially create the opposite. So again, back to the original question, what advantage does this have for the school?!
My child was selected as a semi-finalist for the university scholarship to a school they absolutely loved. Didn’t move on, then didn’t even get accepted into honors and nothing, zero, zip $ in merit. Wasn’t expecting that! Went from feeling the love to rejected. Also went to a finalist day at another college, great experience. Loves the college but got the scholarship. Not sure they’d feel the same if didn’t get it. The first one had hundreds in the pool, whereas the later was very narrowed down. Much better odds by the time we found out we were even in the running.
It is a great experience for the student but what’s the advantage to the college? I’m curious as to how many kids end up going to the college that didn’t award them the scholarship.
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D19 competed in three scholarship competitions and didn’t win. 2 were in person. 1 did tell her between the lines that they would have upped her merit if she committed. In the end she wasn’t enthused about those three schools after she didn’t win. She was upset at one because her odds were less than 5%.
D23 on the other hand competed in one. Had a 5% chance for a full ride and 15% chance for full tuition. We drove up the day of leaving at 4:30AM. Almost got into a car accident. Us parents got in an argument on the way. Competition was write in person essays. Food was less than stellar. Drive home sucked due to weather. She ended up winning full ride. Maybe it was meant to be.
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