<p>Shrinkrap,
Any idea about where your d will go?</p>
<p>What was her final tally of apps and to which did she apply?
Acceptances; UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, Smith, Mills ( $), Spelman, Scripps, University of Santa Clara ( $$), Pepperdine, Duke, Emory, Occidental.
Rejections; UCLA
Decision; looking like Duke ( lots of "people like me"...but drunk) , but maybe Pepperdine ( if $$) or Santa Clara...any advice?</p>
<p>Great schools Shrinkrap! My family and I have visited Duke a few times. D1 was accepted there but took the full ride to UVA instead. I remember wife and I briefly considering paying for Duke - we were really enamored and thought it would be a nice fit for D. In retrospect, I can tell you that I'm glad we didn't spend the money. She had such a beautiful experience at UVA that I can't imagine it could have been any better elsewhere. It all really fell into place for her there. I was worried at first though. Even when we dropped her off I was still questioning whether or not we had done the right thing. But you know what? She never did. She never looked back once, never even brought up the subject. I think once they get wherever they are going, they just jump in, get involved and become far too busy to contemplate some other school at that point. So in her case no regrets among any of of us, and of course, I can only say this in retrospect, but the thousands on top of thousands we would have spent at Duke would not have bought us anything more than what we got for free, and maybe even a little less. However, I'm not sure we ever would have imagined that to be the case back then. Life can be funny that way, and picking between these schools, even funnier. </p>
<p>Now, D3 loves Duke and has been claiming it for the last few years. Um, one word for her: scholarship!! She's been working awful hard to get there too. So hard in fact, that even if she doesn't get one, I'd probably still try to make it happen for her, assuming she gets accepted. She still has some time to go before it's her turn though so who knows? </p>
<p>D2 is not interested in Duke but as you can see from my other posts, she's applied to most of the schools in VA and NC. As of today, she's been accepted to all of them. Unfortunately, the scholarships didn't pan out the way I hoped. So now we are looking at possibly paying full boat at some of these schools, or having her go to local State U for free + 9k per year in her pocket (what a deal!). However, out of nowhere, and completely unexpected, she gets a full tuition grant from Washington & Lee. We've never been there, but D liked it enough to apply, it looks okay to me, but the wife ain't really having it -- can talk about that one later, I guess. </p>
<p>The major thing we are trying to ascertain here, is value. Frankly, trying to place a dollar figure on the value of a given experience is very tough. So much of ones given experiences are really a product of the individual rather than a particular institution. Yet, certain institutions do have the capability of facilitating better experiences. No guarantee either way though, so how much money are you willing to gamble on that equation? My personal opinion is that there is little correlation between the costs of attendence and the value of most educational experiences. Nor am I one who believes there is substantial value in prestige as it pertains to an undergraduate degree. I mean, if you can get it inexpensively, I say great. But I don't think it's worth $100k -$200k more for the brand unless you are wealthy enough that such costs are irrelevant. Loans and such? Forget about it - usually not worth it if there are other alternatives. </p>
<p>However, putting a value on a B.A. or B.S. degree for a student who will be going to grad school, I think is fairly easy. The degree itself is merely a commodity for most undergrads. A degree from most reputable institutions can be the same gateway to opportunity IMO, and in that sense, economics should be used to influence choice. However, I think there are notable exceptions for students who might specialize in a specific area, especially in engineering technology and other sciences. Otherwise, it's just a matter of preferences and costs, not far reaching opportuniies beyond degree completion. </p>
<p>People on CC seem to forget sometimes that it's the person that counts most, not the school they attend. The schools don't make the students, the students make the schools. Don't you think it funny that the top schools take so much credit for the success of their grads, when in fact, they only accept the very best from across the nation in the first place? It's not as if they are taking average students and developing their talents more greatly. They only take the best from the beginning -- everything that follows is just a natural progression. However, the best can succeed from any number of venues - they don't need a top 10 school necessarily, and their parents certainly don't need to go to the poor house trying to make it happen. I pointed out to D that even our "lowly" State U' by CC standards, has produced Presidents of other colleges, the mayor of our city, senators, famous entertainers, etc. </p>
<p>So, those are the discussion we are having in our house right now.</p>
<p>Just curious, are any of you who are counting on FA, planning on visiting the schools that accepted S or D prior to receiving FA offers? We are still waiting on FA offers from several schools S has been admitted to. Also are most of you accompanying your child at all or most of the schools your child is considering attending? Why or why not.</p>
<p>Occidental gave a little money; they are also paying for her to visit; I happen to have a sorrority meeting nearby, so I will accompany her. If Pepperdine gives aid we will all visit. We have visited neither at this point, but have visited most of the others. We did not visit the UC's other than Davis and Berkeley which are nearby. D went to UCLA on her own last summer, but I did a fellowship there...before she was born. In fact, she was born there! She visted Smith on her own as well, but we would have gone if it became a "contender" (= $$). I would have to say we were more into some visits then she was. Still true. Sigh.</p>
<p>To answer the second part, we visited all the schools together. Although D's thoughts carry the most weight, we consider the selection a family activity and it's easier to help them talk it out if we have actually seen the schools.</p>
<p>Madville, I'm part neurotically overreacting, part just nosy but -- I think I posted somewhere on CC awhile back about my D's weekend invitational visit to a certain ivy. I put her on a bus, waved g'bye, and next thing I knew, she was calling me half-guilty about "ratting," half-terrified of her situation, when she found herself stuck at a drugs, alcohol & sex frat party w/a passed-out host and nowhere to go in the middle of the night in a strange town. </p>
<p>I KNOW that she'll be exposed to similar situations once she's on her own wherever she goes, but at least she'll have her own dorm room & key; giving her the freedom to leave and somewhere to go back to. Until then, wherever she visits, I go. It's expensive, but I don't ever want to hear my child's (oh man -- I mean, <em>adult's</em> :) ) voice sounding so scared and forlorn ever again!</p>
<p>Plus -- D's not the best communicator. <em>chagrin</em> She tends to be factual and concise, telling a story without all the dirt -- I mean DETAILS -- I need. So, I sort of like to see the campus, grab a campus paper for all the juicy gossip (who knew Yale had a "sex week" where porn stars gave lectures & demonstrations?!) and ogle the other admits myself. </p>
<p>Since H is a dud who doesn't like to travel, what else am I gonna do with my vacation days? Plus, the frequent flier miles & travel points are off da chain! <em>grin</em></p>
<p>Great points, especially about perusing the school newspapers. I should get a jump on it by reading online copies now. Just a little frustrating that some of the FA info is lagging behind the acceptances. Don't want to invest additional time, money and days from school and work if a school isn't a serious contender financially. We're going to visit UVa or Rice regardless because we think so much of what we've heard about the schools. But this will be the first and last trip without all the information in front of us.</p>
<p>Madville,
D is going to Northwestern for an admitted student visit. They are footing the bill. Husband and I will go if there are any empty seats we can get for standby on the plane. (I work for an airline.) But it looks very unlikely right now. We don't know how the FA will look at all and we are trembling a little to think that she may fall in love with it and then find that we just can't do it.
We live in a suburb of Houston, so if you have any questions about our town when you come to vist Rice, let me know.</p>
<p>Re: Follow-up on middle class AA male (from previous black middle class thread.)</p>
<p>who: AA male high school senior in inner city
what: Originally applied to Univ. of Penn, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins, Univ. of MD at College Park and Howard. Harvard sent a reprersentative to his (and my D's) Upper School school campus this year for the first time in at least 5 years. The guidance counselor encouraged the AA male to apply to Harvard. The AA male was hesitant because he wasn't sure that he would "fit in" socially. He ultimately added Harvard to his list of schools.
when: He recently received outright acceptances at all schools except Columbia. Howard offered him a full-ride.<br>
where: HE IS OFF TO HARVARD!
why: It's not going to cost his family as much as they thought it would cost to attend.
how: AA male is a wonderful young man with a terrific personality. He and my D and S met at a JHU/CTY event about 5 years ago so the local academically talented AA's could meet one another; they have been friends since then. Ironically, they all ended up at the same elite prep school. This AA male is extremely well-rounded. He has a B+ average, plays basketball, loves theatre and can't get enough of hip-hop. He also has a ton of commuinty service hours tutoring inner city youth. I don't know his SAT scores but as I mentioned in a previous post his SAT scores from 7th grade were at least high enough to allow him to be involved in the JHU/CTY program. </p>
<p>It's amazing just how "chilled" this young man was about the entire college admissions process. I don't really know that he even started with a preference for a specific college or "dream" school. He indicated that he would have been happy at any of the 5, then 6, schools to which he applied. </p>
<p>P.S. Skeewee to Silvermoonlock, Shrinkrap and Harmony2! I understand that our own Barbie doll (special edition) will be out for our 100th.</p>
<p>Just spent two days at Disney World with D for her choir's trip there to perform. The first day, I tried to keep up with her group and had my tongue hanging out by 4 p.m. The second day, I gave up and hung out mostly with other chaperones. The experience really reminded me that she doesn't need me very much anymore. I was texting her every couple of hours, but she was fine. It gave a little glimpse as to what my life will be like in the fall, and I'm feeling kind of lonely. Who I really feel sorry for is my 15-year-old S, who will soon find that I have twice as much time to scrutinize his life.</p>
<p>..... and DS is only a junior. For years I have joked that the minute he went to college we would turn his room into "Mom's little Eden". Well now that the day is suddenly in sight (2009 seemed SO FAR AWAY when he was in kindergarten!) I am realizing that I might not handle this separation in the manner I expected. </p>
<p>He is a well travelled young man so he has been away before without me. But that is so different. I am already starting to worry that he will not remember to floss or some other great life tragedy.</p>
<p>Now I see young parents and for a brief minute I grow nostaglic for the days when I picked out his clothes and read him a bedtime story and made sure that the clean underwear actually were folded in the drawer (instead of now when they never make it out of the clean clothes hamper). Then I snap to reality and remember crying about how the baby sitter cancelled at the last minute on our wedding anniversary or how DS would never sleep past 6 am (this is really tough on my Dracula like sleeping habits).</p>
<p>Oh well, hopefully he will find a nice (smart!) girl and will give me adorable grandchildren.......</p>
<p>I don't know if the link will work so I will post the entire article from the Chroncile of Higher Ed</p>
<p>U. of California Reports Big Increases in Black and Hispanic Admissions</p>
<p>The University of California system announced today that it had admitted substantially more black and Hispanic freshmen for the coming fall than it had going into the current academic year, with much of the increase being driven by a surge in the number of applicants from those minority groups.</p>
<p>The preliminary admissions numbers that the university system released show that about 16 percent more black Californians applied to one of the systems campuses and just over 13 percent more were admitted. The number of Hispanic Californians admitted increased by nearly 18 percent; the number applying, by 16 percent.</p>
<p>The university provided a racial and ethnic breakdown of such numbers only for in-state applicants. But because California residents account for nearly nine out of 10 of the systems students, its figures suggest that the systems efforts to reach out to minority communities, in the wake of a decade-old ban on affirmative-action preferences, appear to be having some effect.</p>
<p>The picture varied substantially by campus, however, with much of the systemwide growth in the number of black and Hispanic Californians admitted being driven by sharp increases at the less-competitive campuses at Merced, Riverside, and Santa Barbara.</p>
<p>The University of California at Los Angeles also posted significant increases in its black and Hispanic admittees, a pattern that officials there credited partly to the campuss adoption last year of a holistic admission system that considers what opportunities applicants have had in life. But on the Berkeley and Irvine campuses, the share of admissions offers going to black and Hispanic students rose only slightly, and the actual numbers admitted declined, as the campuses scaled back the number of acceptance letters mailed out to state residents.</p>
<p>Over all, the number of California high-school seniors offered admission to one of the systems campuses rose by 4.7 percent, to just over 60,000. With applications up by 7.7 percent, however, the acceptance rate among Californians declined from 77.4 percent to 75.3 percent.</p>
<p>In announcing the new admissions numbers, Susan Wilbur, the university systems director of undergraduate admissions, warned that the system cannot continue to take in growing numbers of students without substantial increases in its state appropriations. Peter Schmidt</p>
<p>Where is everybody? How are those college visits going? Madville, what did you think of Rice.</p>
<p>DD is a Northwestern. Just left this morning. Financial aid offer was about what I expected. They offered a $22,000 scholarship and some small loans. That still leaves our EFT at $23 K.</p>
<p>S absolutely loved Rice...and Amherst...and we are currently at U Va as I type. Very impressive, and we've only spoken to students on campus! Lawn Days are tomorrow and he's looking forward to it. Each school has its own dynamic and they are all very appealing. The only school that didn't resonate as well with him was Swarthmore. It wasn't that Swarthmore isn't a good school, he just wasn't "feeling" them. Rice, the weather was beautiful, campus pristine, and the people are awesome. Amherst, off the chain. When president Marx gave his speech, it was so impressive, I wanted to get on the waitlist! lol! So committed to their students and the academic environment and diverse. It felt like you were at the United Nations. Now U Va. Another beautiful campus, beautiful people, and people just as at the other schools, love being there and are full of school pride. Maybe more so than at the other schools slightly. There are some variances of FA at the various schools, but not so much that if S chooses one of schools offering a little less it wouldn't be doable. I must admit though, Amherst and Williams are the head of that pack, and with the no loan policies hard to say no to either. If I had to guess it's between Amherst, and U Va. Williams gets the last opportunity to make an impression. (Well other than that insane FA offer) Next weekend S will let some of the emotion simmer down, and then make a decision based on feel and other more objective considerations. As many have said, there are no bad options, and to that I once again thank the CC community for their support and guidance.</p>
<p>Hi all! Thanks for the updates! For D no money from Pepperdine, Occidental visit was better than expected, but Duke is still number one.</p>
<p>Hi all. I'm just about through with this whole process, as D will be graduating from Bryn Mawr in less than a month:eek:, but I just wanted to let you know that I am so enjoying reading this thread, and have been silently celebrating the stellar successes of each and every one of your wonderful kids. Congratulations to you all! I'm so envious of you, remembering how exciting it all was a mere four years ago. It feels like I just blinked, and suddenly it was all over except the shoutin'!:(</p>
<p>Poet, you'll have to get us started on a whole new thread -- one with internships, fellowships, and best cities for young African-American college grads!</p>
<p>To the rest of m'peeps. I've got th'blues -- since D's decision has been well and truly made, she's gone into Senior Slump extraordinaire! She's staying up till 3am cramming, then skipping class the following day to catch up on sleep. This is totally new behavior. My former A-student says she's sick of high school and can't wait to get out -- is this normal???</p>
<p>Supermom,
I must have missed it. Where's your D going?</p>
<p>I don't think the senior slump is abnormal at all. I see some signs in D, as well.</p>
<p>"sick of high school and can't wait to get out " has been repeated a few times, also some variation on sick of me and H. I don't see much cramming at MY house...I am really worried about "foundation" and study skills though, and not sure about whether to pass my worries on.</p>