<p>As cptofthehouse says W&L wants demonstrated interest. I know because my S also applied there, visited, etc, etc, etc. He was rejected. Anyway, if after all the colleges report in she still wants to go there, let them know and get on the waitlist. Have your GC call. If I remember correctly they were one of those schools where stuff had to be submitted a certain way. Check to see if you can submit more info and if you can do it. Then decided on another school, send in your deposit and start loving the school you sent the deposit to in case W&L doesn’t come through. </p>
<p>Every school is different so don’t assume others will look at your D with the same eyes W&L did. Good luck and I am sorry your D did not get a yes from W&L.</p>
<p>This is bringing back horrible memories of the last 2 weeks of March '09. Brutal. </p>
<p>ucla<em>usc</em>dad is absolutely correct; don’t extrapolate from one result. Admissions is a black box, and very few students will ever know precisely why they were accepted, denied, or wait-listed at a specific school. But your D would be a catch for most any school, so hang in there.</p>
<p>Based on our experience, I would concur with many of the posts here. Your D is at the top of the heap for W&L and was probably viewed as a long shot to attend. She will have many good choices. </p>
<p>Our family went through this stress (and quite a bit of heartbreak) last year. As jc40 said, your faith will be tested. But she will end up in a good place and she will do fine. Have faith in yourself, that you have raised her well. </p>
<p>Not to pour salt on anyone’s wounds, but for parents of kids who will be applying in the future, I have to agree with this. I cannot imagine how we would have gotten through spring semester of D’s senior year if she had not had a few good acceptances early int he process. There are many, many good schools that if you apply EA (not ED), you will know in January whether you have been admitted. Spend the time to find a few that your kid would be happy to attend. And if your kid believes that she would not be happy attending anyplace other than HYPWhatever, then you need to fix that.</p>
<p>it’s not time to panic yet, but if it does become time to panic let me suggest taking a gap year. I am currently taking a gap year and I really think the experience I’ve gotten is pushing me over the edge at schools I wouldn’t have been accepted at before, plus I am just more mature in general and it’s been a good experience for me.</p>
<p>So agree with Amesie about choosing safeties you can love! We did similar, so when S opened the “Congatulations” letters from safeties early winter, we said, “All right! You ARE going to college! Somewhere–and somewhere good!” So pressure was off, and now that matches and reaches are coming in, those safeties actually are looking good–they come with the great merit scholarships!
Powerpuff, not to worry–it probably was that your D was to some extent over-qualified and the school believed she would choose elsewhere. The school that has WL S is the safety that we thought would die to have him. So much for hubris!</p>
<p>this has been a weird app season. I’ve seen kids with good, but not top stats or ranking get accepted to schools where kids with better stats/rankings got rejected. </p>
<p>I think those who are from highly populated areas and/or the northeast/west coast have it the toughest. When thousands of kids from your own area are applying to the same schools, getting accepted becomes a lottery.</p>
<p>If your child doesn’t have a safety that he/she likes, get one now! :)</p>
<p>JC40’s post is more common than we may think…and the outcome is too! As for the “love thy safety” chant, the first kid through teaches this concept. Because when it is a parents first time in the vice grip of college admissions, parents of high stat kids think this is very wise advice FOR OTHER KIDS, but secretly they know it just does not apply to them because their child worked so hard (and they did) and has the whole package- so yeah, throw in a few safeties, but there is never any thought that after all the kid has achieved, the safety would ever come into play. And how much can you love a safety once rejections have come in. It is just mind bending at the time, so no, they never like the safety or even low match at this point. But as JC40 states, with time, if the student ends up thriving at the “disaster back up school” the whole feeling sort of disappears. Not possible to be thrilled during the process of being rejected and stunned out of your mind. Takes time. Maybe if it was called a “sure thing” and not “safety” it might feel better.</p>
<p>This seems to be trickle down from ALL the schools having way more applicants than they can accept. When every other student applies to 12 schools, what do you expect?</p>
<p>But nobody wants to be disadvantaged by being the first to apply to only 3 or 4, like we did back in the dark ages.</p>
<p>Agree–having at least one rolling admissions school in your pocket is a great help.</p>
<p>I’m probably one of those weird dark ages parents who after going through applying to 10 schools with S1 limited it to 5 very carefully chosen schools with my D - so far it’s 3 yeses out of 5 with 1 to go. Rejected at what she thought was her first choice because of a less than stellar audition, just got into her revised first choice (Vanderbilt) with an enormous grant-only FA package. After visiting all of the schools she told me she would be happy to go to any of them, and I knew she stood a good chance of admission to 3. Of course it’s a lot different with music students because of auditions, but I think there is something to be said for a more targeted vs scattershot application process.</p>
<p>Moonmaid- congrats on Vanderbilt! If you need any help or advice (or want to have coffee or lunch when you come to town) send me a message. My daughter is finishing up grad school there and her H is a dr. there. I live for Vanderbilt basketball. (I moved here from Texas, too…)</p>
<p>You know what amazes me, is after spending months putting together what we felt was a solid list of reaches, safeties, and matches, she may not get in at any of them, except the one she’s already got. And yes, she’s not crazy about it (don’t want to get flamed again for violating the love thy safety rule), but who wouldn’t rather go to their reach than their safety? </p>
<p>I think a lot of it has to do with the personality of your child. Some are more realistic about the “fit” between them and a variety of schools and more accepting of a broader range of schools; some aren’t. I can already see a much easier path with S, who accepts information and advice much more readily. Plus I’m learning so much as I go through this delightful process. It makes labor and delivery look like a breeze. Or maybe, once she’s off at school, I’ll adopt triplets with food allergies.</p>
<p>One question if anyone cares to answer: what is the world of transferring like? Just as tough as getting in as a freshman, or it depends on the school? Is there an “ED” option for transferrees? All I know is that fin aid options are more limited (not sure why).</p>
<p>Didn’t mean to flame wrt “love thy safety”. I just feel bad for your daughter, although I really think it will work out.</p>
<p>Transferring is not particularly easy, and it is quite a process. It is also a bad idea to enter a school with the mindset that you are going to transfer. That said, my son hated his Ivy freshman year and did do transfer applications. It was a hard process because you need to get all sorts of certificates of good standing AND letters or reference from profs who don’t know you at all since you were in freshman intro courses. Of course, you need to have a good GPA. My son did get a transfer acceptance from UChicago (after turning them down the first time) but was not accepted at UGeorgia (my son thought I was kidding when I told him the letter had come) after turning them down the first time. In the end, he stayed put and had a great next 3 years.</p>
<p>Classof2015 - don’t go to the world of transferring yet. You haven’t even received all your D’s results! You’re still waiting for more colleges! Take a deep breath and calm down - you’ll know a LOT more in a mere week.</p>
<p>And if it does turn out she only has the one acceptance (if you did the work you said you did, that is unlikely) then you need to be positive about it. Your D wouldn’t have applied there if it wasn’t a good school for her, right? It might not be her favorite, but it has to be at least a reasonable option. TALK POSITIVE about it. Let her mourn the others, but then get excited about the bird in the hand. Move forward. By this time next year she may LOVE it there. If she goes into it with the idea that “I’m just here until I can transfer, I’m too good for this place,” then what kind of experience do you think she will have? Self-fulfilling prophecy!</p>
<p>Wait a week for all of the rest of your decisions. You’re counting dead chicks before the eggs begin to hatch.</p>
<p>Well, the game’s not over yet. So, if, when she gets all of her acceptances, she doesn’t want to go to any of those schools, you really can set up a great gap year for her, and do the application process again next year.</p>
<p>Less than ideal, but maybe better than going to a school you don’t respect and don’t want to stay at…there’s less rush to get through or to college than people think. Good luck. I hope one of those reaches comes through.</p>
<p>ETA: Maybe one of the old-timers here can point this poster to that thread about the kid who didn’t get in anywhere and then reapplied the next year and did very well? I can’t recall the name of it.</p>
<p>I think the reason that your daughter was waitlisted is that school probably thought she was using them as a safety and would most likely not attend if admitted. This would have been further evidenced if they did not visit, attend information sessions, or apply to them during either one of their ED cycles.</p>