well whatever interest he had he lost when they waitlisted him. he was not the type of kid to just apply to a school to see if he could get in. Hence, among the Ivies, he applied to only 4.
OP, I sincerely mean this. Your attitude, disdain for schools decisions that went against your son, and overall rhetoric is overboard. Have your feelings that he has somehow been cheated from top schools affected him? For Pete’s sake, he is going to Haverford. Thank your lucky stars that you have a smart kid who got admitted to a top school. Celebrate his achievements, don’t make him feel like he was a victim of what you perceive is unfair admissions.
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Even before this year’s outcome, I had some muted disdain for ‘holistic’ admissions and the don’t ask don’t tell SAT policy many schools have adopted, and I wholeheartedly support diversity.
For some places, like MIT, it is clearly misplaced. Good thing they now require SATs again. Freshman intro physics there is no walk in the park. If you don’t have very high math ability, you should not be there.
My wife has sensed that he was a little disappointed with how things turned out. I am thrilled he is going there. Having gone to a big school myself and especially knowing him, I think a small school would be best for him, and yes Haverford is a great school.
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That is assuming that college admission decisions are independent random events.
In reality, they are not independent, in that many of the same factors are seen by all of the colleges, even though the colleges weight them differently.
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If you need an ego boost for yourself or your son/daughter:
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Haverford is a fantastic school
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UConn sends a ton of kids to their local branches and not their main Storrs campus. The rumor is they want full pay OOS kids. So if your kid is OOS and they gave them a $25k scholarship, it means they value them so much, they were willing to take them ahead of really qualified in state kids who were branched.
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@ProudDad721. I don’t know all the schools your child got into, but Haverford is a VERY selective school, that I would classify as Reach odds for any top student! Getting in is a huge achievement!! I don’t know their acceptance rate this year, but it was 14% last year (likely lower this year) and that is overall acceptance rate (ED and RD combined) which means the acceptance rate in the RD round was lower. It likely was below 10% in RD. Very difficult odds.
While your thread is about being “rejected,” the fact is that your child landed some acceptances you said, including a highly selective school, Haverford. This is a common outcome when applying to highly rejective colleges…a student may land just a few of their reaches, and get into a few targets and their safeties (Case Western was a target/match, which means it could go either way…I have top students who were WL there who got into more selective colleges). I didn’t see your child’s college list. Perhaps it had too many reaches on it, which would likely result in a smaller number of acceptances, but they did land options, including at least this reach school (Haverford) and apparently some others. He did well! Highly qualified students are denied in droves at highly selective colleges. It is the nature of it! Come to expect that! I haven’t seen your child’s applications and only know the little you shared, but all As in rigorous classes, while great, is super common in these applicant pools, and 1500 is a great score but many have higher ones, and their activities sound quite solid but many have extraordinary ones or some very significant achicvements in these activities. This is the nature of it. I say your student fared well given all of that. Congrats to them!
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Haverford is one of the most selective schools out there, because fit with the Quaker heritage matters enormously. It is a school where being a “good” person, being a valuable member of a small community, is at the top of the list, along with being intellectually curious, successful, and driven. I hope your student and your family can recognize that they hit a home run, and get excited about the next four years. Haverford is a life-changing experience, congratulations.
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He would have been full pay out of state so that makes sense. I’ll take any advantage for my kid.
They would thank you I think.
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For all those reasons, we are actually thrilled!
So why all the griping on this thread?
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We actually have a 6.0 scale in SC, but it would be impossible to have a 6.0 since not all classes would be AP and/or DE.
But yes, it is confusing and ridiculous.
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It’s possible to be happy but also feel like your kid deserved more and gripe about it a bit.
It’s still raw I can imagine.
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Since the OP has stated that they and their child are happy with the child’s choice, I do not see a reason for this thread to continue. Closing.
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