<p>Yes - I meant stats alone do not get you into Smith and other top schools - with 2 at Smith on significant financial aid - and I don’t think money is the only issue. We too had to swallow dissapointment for our daughters. D1 probably didn’t get into Tufts because of their small endowment and losses due to Madoff. D2 didn’t get into Trinity because of their suddenly increased applications (her classmate did - with similar stats and needs - but that girl wants to be an engineer). Sometimes it’s tiny pieces of the puzzle that make it a yes or no.</p>
<p>Mimi, sorry. I re-posted not realizing you had replied.</p>
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<p>Nice spin, but there’s much more of an important reason for diversifying the college.</p>
<p>Article originally appearing in the Chronicle Of Higher Education</p>
<p>From the issue dated May 12, 2006
At Smith College, a Mission to Serve the Underserved</p>
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</p>
<p>[DameNation:</a> May 2006](<a href=“http://damenation.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html]DameNation:”>DameNation: May 2006)</p>
<p>I certainly understand that my daughter could have helped herself by volunteering more, or being an all state violinist, or a soccer All-American. I really do understand that, especially since…like all schools, Smith has to have all of those things.</p>
<p>VADAD1-- Your daughter appears to have solid academic tickets. Early this week
why not call the admissions office and have a conversation about her file?? Within
the past month I had a friend ask me about their son who seemed destined to be
rejected from the university where I work. I told them to make an appointment
in admissions and chat about the file. It turned out that they have a “bridge” system
where a student is admitted on probation taking 2 summer course and if successful
receive a full admission for fall term. I didn’t know about the bridge program. Kid is in!</p>
<p>You have nothing to lose by talking with admissions at Smith.</p>
<p>Just my .02 David</p>
<p>VADAD, when someone with stellar grades and test scores is not accepted by several schools that are easily within her target range, it’s possible that something about the application may have inadvertently sent an unintended message. It can be something as simple as a throwaway line in an essay - I don’t know if you caught the NPR story about the Amherst admissions committee last spring, but they rejected someone out of hand for saying he wasn’t passionate about much other than music. (Apparently, the successful applicant to an elite LAC needs to be passionate about everything.) Maybe she didn’t have enough EC’s, perhaps she didn’t have enough community service, perhaps a recommendation struck the wrong note… who knows. It’s painful, but it happens to very deserving kids every year. (An interesting thread on this topic can be found here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-year-later.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-year-later.html</a>.) If your daughter gets into a school where she will be happy, that’s great - six months from now this will all be forgotten. If not, I suggest you take a few days to vent or grieve, and then look further than your finances and try to understand what happened, so that your daughter can eventually turn her situation into a positive. College acceptances or rejections don’t have to determine your daughter’s future for more than a year - she can take a gap year or transfer if she’s not happy with her choices this year. However - as another parent on this site so wisely said - she will look to you to see how she is supposed to handle this disappointment, and if she carries resentment and anger over the college decisions, it may color her experience for the next four years. I hope your daughter is accepted somewhere wonderful, and I wish her the best of luck!</p>
<p>Hey VADAD and all participating in the stats argument, I just thought I’d give you my little side of things! (: </p>
<p>I am thoroughly convinced that I didn’t get in because of my stats. I was afraid of rejection because of my less than stellar grades (except at final exams), SAT score of 2150 (not great), no work experience except an internship, and ECs that are limited to soccer, cross country and track. </p>
<p>I don’t understand how I am, in any way, half as qualified as any of the amazing people rejected or waitlisted over here. The only thing that could’ve put me through was what I conveyed in my essays, and the alumna (Skype) interview. </p>
<p>This makes me so so thankful to Smith for taking a chance on me, despite everything - despite the fact that my grade profile was consistently showing Bs, Cs, even Ds till my eventual straight As. </p>
<p>I understand that I’m a full paying international student, but I strongly believe now, if I didn’t believe before, that Smith is a college that picks her best fits after giving every single applicant a thorough, fair shot at showing their persons. </p>
<p>Thank you, Smith. I have nothing but gratitude. It means the world to me, to be granted a place out of Singapore.</p>
<p>I sympathize with all of those who have been waitlisted or rejected and am very grateful to have been accepted. Like melissa ^, I am sure I was not let in because of my academic record. I’ve not taken any AP classes and have, perhaps around a 3.4 GPA. Additionally, my SAT scores are very average (with the exception of CR). But - I think my recommendations were pretty great (one from a Smith grad) and I feel strongly about my extracurriculars.</p>
<p>A reminder to parents there is a parents group on F***book. I can’t link but just search “Smith College Parents and Families.” ;)</p>
<p>When do we find out about financial aid? I’ve tried looking online but it hasnt been posted yet?</p>
<p>@StarbucksBarista I believe that the email Smith sent out about a week ago said that all of the FA would be in the official welcome packet that will arrive in the mail sometime this week. So, look for it sometime Monday or Tuesday.</p>
<p>Accepted! I am surprised, but so happy I got into my dream school. Hopefully I will see some of you next year, future Smithies :)</p>
<p>You should get a letter with your financial aid award either today or tomorrow. Good luck to all and congrats to those accepted.</p>
<p>Here’s another take on the situation. We are, hysterically enough, through the FAFSA system, deemed to be able to pay full rack rate for our daughter for college. She is a first year at Smith now, but last year applied to 10 schools, got rejected by Amherst, waitlisted at Johns Hopkins, accepted to the other 8. 6 of the 8 were privates, and she got some merit money from 2 besides Smith, not a dime from the other privates. So we had to immediately write off those schools that offered her no merit money, because we can’t pay $50,000+ a year for school. So we’re caught in the middle of not being “poor enough” and not being “rich enough”. I know there are lots of others in the position we are in. So my daughter is at Smith because she is a Zollman recipient, which allowed it to be in her short list of 3 possibilities (2 in state options and Smith).</p>
<p>My point is: the whole college scenario is hard. You get in but can’t go because you can’t afford it. You don’t get in but your portfolio looks like you should be accepted with no problem. The concept of “safety schools” is another whole topic. My daughter has a classmate who ended up going out of state because the in state options he applied to were not really places he wanted to go, and the one out of state option gave him enough aid to make it possible. </p>
<p>They’ll end up getting good educations but right now I know when these decisions come out, accepted, waitlisted, rejected; aid or no aid…it’s very emotional when things don’t seem to be working out how you thought they would.</p>
<p>I haven’t received my packet yet :/</p>
<p>Give it a day or so and then call the admission office. :)</p>
<p>I am just anxious ;)</p>
<p>My friend got hers before me (she actually got all correspondence before me) and she lives thousands of miles away!</p>
<p>Mail delivery times vary widely. Yours could have been sent out with a slightly later batch or taken longer to sort. It’s definitely on its way. Deep breathing.</p>
<p>I live in the south, and I just got my packet in today! It comes with a giant sticker that says “Smith likes me!” It’s so cute. If I accept their admission, I’m putting it on the back of my computer haha.</p>
<p>Same here theamazingemz! Got my package and I’ll put my sticker behind my new laptop - when I get that is. The FA they provided was much more than expected, so I’m pretty happy.</p>
<p>The Smith packet arrived in Florida. David</p>