I’m on several College Parent Pages and various Facebook ‘how to apply for college’ type and I have seen several ‘my kid got off xyz dream school waitlist recently’ … so the waitlists definitely DO move prior to May 1st. One theory I have is schools, in order to protect yield, but in some cases to also guarantee first year housing as advertised, have cut the number of acceptance offers down from previous years. I do believe that students are coming off waitlists prior to May 1st and it is directly driven by those schools being declined by students they originally made offers to, which is why students should tell colleges the moment they decide to attend another school - there may be someone waiting and hoping and pining for your spot!
Others will certainly disagree but… that’s how I see it playing out.
I am really tired so maybe that is why this comment is confusing me. Are you saying that the more selective the college, the more people have heard of it? The one my daughter is leaning towards had an 11% acceptance rate past year but no one I mention it to outside of New England or NY has heard of it.
That’s many of the LACs. Little name awareness from the masses. But it’s clearly not impacting their success. I wouldn’t let that bother you.
Edit - I think the post is saying everyone has heard of name your flagship - Ohio State, Oklahoma, Florida. Or even local or regional - Wichita State or Northern Illinois.
Few are aware of Colby or Kenyon or Wellesley (who most I find think is Wesleyan).
Obvious all are top notch so that the masses don’t know doesn’t matter. The folks that need to know do know and these alums are desired.
There’s many publics people don’t know too.
W Liberty anyone. Lander. Frostburg State. Washburn
Hamilton is a very well regarded school - very well regarded.
And we have a winner. We both loved the tour today at Hamilton. The admission officer’s talk was NOT boring at all, it fully explained their educational philosophy and open curriculum, advising, and many opportunities. The campus is lovely and makes it feel like a larger school than 2,000 students. She hasn’t sent the deposit but bought the sweatshirt. It’s going to be Hamilton. We think it checks all the boxes. She can major in something mathy-computery while still dancing and having the opportunity to take other courses that interest her.
I’m so glad you asked for the FA review with the Colgate offer. I know you were hesitating a little about asking asap about that, but so glad it became affordable and your daughter loved it!!
Awesome! So excited for her. I have heard such great things about Hamilton. The open curriculum sounds perfect for her. My son wanted the larger school at first as well. But he did visit a couple schools that were small in student population but my son said felt much larger.
Congratulations on a decision! We toured Hamilton, and I liked the campus and the open curriculum (and yes, the info session)…my D didn’t apply, but it sounds like a wonderful match for your D (glad you were able to negotiate the price).
My D23 has narrowed her list to 3 finalists, and we are currently in New England for the final visit. A week ago we were in California. And the week before that a trip to see 2 others in New England (one of which has since fallen off the list).
The options are:
a New England Ivy that we are visiting now- she loves it for size, academic programs and resources, and New England… she is still feeling out the people fit - she has a student host for the next two days who seems like a good match, and she should have lots of student and admitted student interaction in the next few days, so hopefully this will help her decide. Incredible financial aid - our least expensive option and below budget.
a New England historically women’s college that is very clearly a strong fit. She loves it and knows she would be comfortable there. Vibe is very much her. She does find the idea of attending a historically women’s college appealing, but I think she prefers the size of #1 along with some of their programs. She got top merit here and a guaranteed research opportunity. Considered doing ED2 here but decided to gamble in the RD round partially to see if her ED deferral would come through in RD (it did not) and partially because she was really curious about #3 (below) and wanted a chance to consider it. She also had a long list of SLACs that she loved and didn’t feel ready to commit to just one of them. Financial aid here is a combination of need based and merit based. The most expensive of the 3 but still within budget and a no-loans school. And I cannot get over how great the library is (new building integrated with older building and just gorgeous).
a Southern California LAC - wow…amazing - we all loved the campus, the town, and the people. Very diverse, incredible academics, strong LAC mentorship. I think she just isn’t 100% sure about going to the West Coast and about the percentage of students from California…but she loves the school, and I sure am curious to see if she’ll choose it. If I could go back to college and had to choose a different one than I attended the first time, maybe I’d want to go here? Great need-based no loans aid.
If #1 shows strongly the next few days (especially student fit which is her main question here), I predict she will pick it before we get on the plane home. If the student fit doesn’t feel like it’s working for her, I think it’s going to be a loooong 6 days figuring out where she wants to enroll.
She was deferred and then rejected from her ED school (Brown) but bounced back pretty quickly. Once the decisions were all in, she narrowed to a top 5 which included Vassar - which was another school she had once contemplated ED2 at - but has eliminated it already. She is glad she gambled with RD rather than going with ED2 because she ended up getting into the 3 schools where she considered ED2 and now might not choose any one of those in the end??
Hard to believe we’ve been discussing so many of these schools for so long, and we might have a decision 2 days from now (and for sure by next weekend).
Congratulations to all those with decisions at this point and moral support to all those still wondering where their kid is going to end up!
As others have noted, I’m saying the opposite, at least in abstract. To do this, I used a concept from economics known as utility. In the case of Hamilton, it reports — to use a simiplification based on standardized scoring — a median ACT of 34, which represents the 99th percentile of test takers. There’s little practical reason (utility), then, for the vast majority of high school students to be aware of the school, or rational reason for guidance counselors to recommend it widely — most HS students would not be eligible for admission. In contrast, a knowledge of more accessible schools — such as those with more modest student profiles and higher acceptance rates — has greater utility for typical high school students, their counselors and their families. As a consequence, less selective schools may be known to the greater public partly because of their relative accessibility. Aspects such as sheer size and the presence of nationally prominent sports programs can influence name recognition as well, of course. Cost, too, can be a major limiting consideration. Nonetheless, anyone who professes a knowledge of colleges should be aware of Hamilton, although to presume this to be universally the case would be . . . optimistic.
To change the topic to something fun, when your family is together, you may enjoy watching a film set at “Harrisonville” (Hamilton) College to consolidate your college-search adventures: https://youtu.be/IwZ9yy-jFzk.
Loved our S21’s visit to U of SC Honors. Unfortunately, it was not a good fit for him… Niche Engineering that when mentioned to Engineering guy he said, “Oh I never heard of anyone doing that.” If he had a different path in mind it would have been his top choice! We send a few students from our H.S. in NJ there every year.
Congratulations!
I’m really enjoying the discussion of people’s reactions to some school decisions. Kids’ classmates are mostly going to well-known schools, but many of them also have plenty of money or major hooks. People are shocked when I say where my kids are going - one of my kids was the only NMSF at his school, which is the number-one rated high school in the state.
“But your kids are so smart!” (They are!)
“Are those two-year schools?!” (They aren’t)
“They didn’t get into any Ivies?!” (Hard to get in when you don’t apply to any!)
And don’t get me started on what people say about the fact that one of my kids has chosen a school in the south (GASP!). Turns out it has a higher ethnic diversity index than any of the schools their kids have chosen.
I don’t get why people can’t just celebrate something instead of responding by insinuating that we didn’t do a good job in choosing, didn’t try hard enough, kids aren’t smart enough, etc.
The really funny thing is that many of those parents are also the same parents worried about “too many people applying to the ‘good’ schools” and “T/O ruining admission results”.
I would think so many of these people would be happy to hear others aren’t chasing the same schools they are - less competition that way. And yet…
We went to the accepted students day at Berkeley yesterday. Wow, do they know how to roll out the red carpet. We had a jam packed day with a welcome in the football stadium with the marching band and speeches, followed by department advisory panels, student department panels, lab tours, campus tours, pep rally with cheerleaders, ethnic dancers, the band, club fair, etc… Honestly the entire day was so inspiring and informative. My kid was able to talk to students and faculty in his major, map out class selections, etc… He could really see himself there by the end of the day. Berkeley is obviously cognizant of the fact that they’re competing with HYPSM for students. It was a stark comparison to another UC event two weeks ago where his department didn’t even show up, let alone have any arranged talks or tours. Kudos to Berkeley. I will say six years ago we attended Cal Poly SLO’s accepted student events and they really bring it too.
Congrats to all of the people who have made the final decisions! Good luck to the few who are still waiting!
We also get funny looks when people ask where S23 is heading. Most people around here have not heard of Eckerd even though it is just on the other side of the state! I always just say, “Eckerd- it’s a tiny college over in St. Pete” and then sometimes go on to explain why he picked a small college since most of his friends go to the FL state schools.
I’ve had so many people think we are crazy for letting our girls go out of state when they both got in to UF with full tuition through the Bright Futures scholarship. To be honest every time I pay a tuition bill I wonder the same thing but I know we made the right decision.
My D23 had a lightbulb moment the other day when it suddenly occurred to her that the “Cal Day” she’s grown up around, attending sometimes for various family & kid-friendly events, is actually an admitted students day . Now that she’s attended some of those in other places, she is reflecting back on Cal’s, and yes they really do do a wonderful job!
She was waitlisted at Cal (which is fine — she doesn’t really want to stay within walking distance of home) and was busy with rehearsals in SF yesterday, but I think she was a little sad not to go to Cal Day just so that she could view it in a new light now that she knows what it really is! I found some old Cal Day photos from 7 or 8 years ago of my kids oohing and ahhhing at the student-designed race cars from the various engineering teams and had to send them to my oldest who is now involved in the Bruin Racing program at UCLA (on the business side — he’s not an engineer!)
Anyway, I love Cal Day. Glad your son had a blast!
My friend’s kid will not be graduating from high school. Friend attended HYSP, and I am sure this situation is not easy.
My spouse said all the right things as I would expect!
Although friend’s child will not follow the same path as kids mentioned here, they have had quite a life so far, are VERY brave, and will find their way.
At a recent party, I deeply appreciated the aware person who said, “What is the next step for 23?” instead of “Where are they going to college?” That is such a good way to ask the question without making assumptions.
We have multiple kids going into the military at our school every year and they try to honor and celebrate that too. Not every kid has the same path, my four kids are all certainly very different.
That should be the default. “What are (student name)’s plans after this year?” Not everyone has the same path and all students deserve celebrations of theirs. While my S23 is college bound, it is highly likely that S29 won’t be. It’s obviously too early to know for sure, but our goal right now is just to get S29 to graduate high school. Two amazing kids raised by the same loving family who have very different paths and interests.
