@TheGFG you stated that your D majored in Economics at Stanford. Did she find the coursework too rigorous? How was her social experience? Would she do anything different? ie take less classes in the first quarter. Any insights will be appreciated.
Make sure your S has very good math preparation coming in. D was a three season athlete, so I can’t ascertain how tough the coursework actually was, versus the effect of time constraints. But I do know the math requirement was objectively pretty hard, since a friend’s son who was not an athlete and was very good at math (majored in engineering at Stanford), also struggled with the same courses.
Whether S is killer or not really depends on the individual student and his/her prior HS preparation.
While the sampling of S graduates I know is admittedly skewed, none of the relatives, HS classmates, or friends/colleagues who attended S found the pace to be overwhelming. Including those who were engineering/CS majors.
Granted, they came from an exceedingly strong pool of students as from the way they described their undergrad experiences, it sounded more like they had a fun 4-year party-school-like experience with elite college academics rather than a stereotypical grinder school.
Incidentally, one thing some California-based S alums use to pick on their Cal rivals on is their impressions Cal students take their studies and activism far too seriously and need to learn how to relax and “lighten up”.
As for Pepperdine, while it has a gorgeous campus and a few friends got a great education while on full FA/scholarships, they did recount that the “rich kid’s school” atmosphere and social cliquishness of the mostly upper/upper-middle class conservative student body made them feel socially out of place during their 4 years there.
Granted, all of them attended 10-20 years ago so things might have improved since then.
Note that Stanford economics offers only a math-intensive track (with multivariable calculus). So a Stanford economics major needs to have good math skills at a higher level than economics majors at most other schools.
Does anyone know what date my son might hear back from UCB UCLA and USC? I think that if my son waits until the last weekend in April to visit Stanford and he doesn’t like it, he then has only 2 days to decide where to attend. Cutting it close!!
So go visit Stanford before the end of March. Why are you waiting?
He may be going to accepted student days. Some colleges have a couple of dates for them.
So what? If the parent thinks two days isn’t enough time…they can schedule a visit sooner.
Especially when the parent is pushing Stanford. But allow him to have his doubts and, in fairness, maybe visit UCLA and/or UCB, if you haven’t.
Most schools notify by the end of March so the students have about a month to decide. He won’t be notified on April 28 and have to decide by May 1.
Well now you want me to be firm with him and schedule a visit? April 29 and 30th are his admitted student dates and that’s when he wants to go. He has already toured USC and UCLA. We’ll hit UCB right before Stanford. I gave him the responsibility to chose where we wants to go as long as he did it by May 1st. I can’t start to reverse and pressure him now. I should have just sent his Stanford acceptance myself 
No one is saying to pressure him into choosing Stanford. No one is even saying you should force him to visit sooner. What I said was…if you feel the end of April is going to be too late, visit there sooner. That does NOT translate into pushing him to choose that school. It just gives him more time to think about it…after visiting everywhere.
But really…it doesn’t matter.
He will make up his mind before May 1 regardless…right?
USC -
For 2016 they are saying the mailing will occur on Wed the 23rd with the portal updated 26th which is Saturday.
@menloparkmom March 23, right?
yes
thank you @thumper1 yes before May 1st. thanks @menloparkmom
My brother visited MIT and hated it. Wouldn’t even apply.
If the accepted student days are two days before the decision deadline, that should be fine. There is no reason for him to decide now if he wants to go to the accepted student days and not just mess around campus himself (as that is pretty much like the pre-application tour).
Treat this as not knowing whether he is going to Stanford or not until May 1st. He shared with you that he got in, and now it is his decision. If he is smart enough for Stanford, he is smart enough to decide whether to go there or not. You should be smart enough to buy the tickets for the accepted student days, and be happy he is waiting to decide because that is the mature thing to do.
One of my doctors has a son who went to the “easy state school” instead of one of the Ivies he was told to apply to and got into. He ended up deciding he didn’t like it, and transferred to Columbia. He graduated at 25 because of course Columbia wouldn’t take all of the state school credits, but he learned a lot and ended up where he wanted to be when he was ready. His life didn’t end from going to a state school, and he did end up where he should have been. My doctor is very proud of him, and that he was allowed to make his own decision even if his parents did not agree.
USC regular decision being sent on 22nd/23rd, with portal update 25th, scholarship results for those that interviewed and already accepted will be posted this weekend or by Monday the 21st.
UCLA and UCB are always the last of the UCs to get results. I have seen them as late as the March 29th/30th and as early as the 23rd over last few years.
Stanford admit days are very late this year.
I do think that’s very late for the admit/revisit days, but really it’s fine. Both my kids waited until the very last day to make their decisions.
There’s word that UCLA decisions will be coming out this Friday (Mar. 18).
And I think Stanford admitted students’ weekend is always at the end of April–at least it was 4 years ago when DS went. He also waited until April 30 to make a decision, especially since he didn’t expect to get into Stanford and was fully prepared to go to his other top choice (Pomona College).