<p>Shrinkrap, I also hope we meet one day.</p>
<p>Madville, I tried to get my DS to visit Williams. It sounds like a wonderful school!</p>
<p>It's over! DS Has chosen Amherst!!! I'm just glad it's over and so is he. I know that some wonder how it could be so difficult to pick from so many coveted schools, but when you enter the process 1. Having many favorite or dream schools as opposed to one, 2. Get accepted into most and 3. Love something about almost every one. It gets hard to say no. Case in point. As of the 29th, S had whittled down his list to 4 schools. Now mind you, he had to chose one by today. He visits Williams out of respect for their tremendous reputation, recommendation of teachers and friends and how can you not visit the school that is showing you alot of love($$$$). The night before the visit he was leaning towards Amherst but Rice and Middlebury were very, very close. When we get there, it's rainy and a liitle cool, but the campus and landcape was beautiful. We had a sit down with one of the admissions reps and he had a long conversation about what considerations S should have in making his selection. Very personable and professional. No hard sell, no why Williams is better, just keeping it real, telling S there is no wrong choice. After that convo, lunch at a sandwich shop near campus and the campus tour. </p>
<p>It was the last tour of the day and the guide was asked by another student if she would take the last tour. She agreed, although you could sense it had been a long day for her. There was only one other individual in our group, a non traditional student, and we were on our way. This young lady summoned up energy from somewhere, because when the tour was over, you could tell that she and others that we spoke to along the way absolutely loved being there. Facilities, library, food, dorms, were awesome and the sun came out and with the Berkshires as the backdrop you could understand where Norman Rockwell may have been inspired. 4 hours later, DS asked to buy a T-shirt. He was sold, Williams would be the place. Cool with me, but since Amherst was only 50 miles or so away we planned earlier to give them a second look the next day. As we headed off to sleep, I asked DS, what would it take for Amherst to get back on top? DS replied, "a miracle."</p>
<p>Now comes D day and DS sits down with the Amherst rep. By chance, and this only happens in the movies, Amherst and Williams share a common history, and are rivals. This adcom is the spouse of the Williams rep, so there is that connection, but to their credit, and professionalism, no mud slinging. Just honest candid talk about what DS wants from his undergrad experience and how each school fits his needs. I will say that the Amherst rep did play the "Tony Jack" card, lol, and DS had met Tony on a couple of occasions during his first visit and was duly impressed by him. I stepped out for about 15minutes to take a call and voila! DS was signing the Amherst papers! He was happy and relieved. Ironically he had taken the advice that the Williams adcom had given him, " make your choice, and no regrets. Focus on what's great about the school you choose, as opposed to what you may be missing out on the ones you didn't. You'll drive yourself crazy." Apparently the "miracle" happened and it's a happy ending! Thanks to the CC community for their support and guidance, and special shout outs to FLVADAD, Northstarmom, texasmama, lmpw, and last but not least, SYBBIE 719! </p>
<p>God is good!!!</p>
<p>Peace,
madville</p>
<p>P.S. DS has decided to give the Williams T-shirt to another accepted classmate!</p>
<p>Congrats. Have a child who had the same choice last year and picked Williams (a tour guide there). Met the same people with the same overlaps of schools. Amherst is a great school. The schools meet all the time, a lot of it in athletic competions. Good luck. You should have gotten the Williams t-shirt that says Amherst on the front (on the back it says "where losing to Williams is a time honored tradition... LOL). D will love it at Amherst. We were up there last week for a sporting event. They had a big celebration going out in front of the school, sunny day, great stuff.</p>
<p>Yeah saw that one and chuckled at it myself!</p>
<p>These links are somewhat related to some of the issues in this thread and the original one</p>
<p>Time's</a> Up on Multiple-Choice Test for College - washingtonpost.com</p>
<p>Madville,
congrats to your son. I remember when you first came to CC asking for advice. Seems like things worked out well.</p>
<p>Madville, congratulations on your DS making the right :) choice! 'rent of2 and I are going to try to meet up for coffee when we get up there in August, maybe you could join us!</p>
<p>Haha, I wonder if the big festival you were talking about was the extravaganja!</p>
<p>Been off this site for awhile and havent read all 18 pages of posts. A big congrats to madvilles S and all the others Ive missed.</p>
<p>D finally made her decision after attending Bull Dogs Days and will be attending Yale in the fall. Im relieved the process is finally over. She applied to eight schools and received eight acceptances. They were all schools she wanted to attend so this made the process of selecting just one, hard.</p>
<p>The current problem is what to do this summer. This is the first summer in eight years in which she hasnt attended at least one summer ballet intensive. She is considering applying for camp counselor jobs. Ill keep you posted. ;)</p>
<p>Congrats, Madville and everyone!</p>
<p>Update: Daughter greatly enjoyed her trip to Northwestern. In the end, however, the financial aid package just could not stretch enough to make it affordable. She's going to the University of Texas at Austin. I'm hoping she'll be very happy there. It's my alma mater, and I entered there as a transfer student a whole lotta years ago. Husband is very happy she'll be less than three hours from home.</p>
<p>wow,</p>
<p>Just catching up and such great outcomes. The joy, the joy, the joy that came in the morning after such along night!</p>
<p>I wish all of your amazing kids a wonderful 4 years at their new homes (yes, homes, because your house will now just be the drop off point).</p>
<p>madville,</p>
<p>Gosh, I know all too well the sadness in turning down Williams. 4 years later and I still have a soft spot for them. Chicky still has the Williams jacket she won the year she went up for admitted students day. Yes, Amherst is also an amazing place and look, you are going in with your own CC posse.</p>
<p>Once again, congrats to all. Lets hang around and help the '13s</p>
<p>Hey all, </p>
<p>I too want to say congrats to everyone. I'm going to use the Royal "We" in proclaiming that "We" have some great kids with great futures ahead of them. This thread has been a real joy! </p>
<p>Well, D2 was also accepted at all her schools, and subsequently, had a difficult time choosing. However, after the smoke finally cleared, and in the 11th hour, she decided on Washington & Lee. </p>
<p>W&L is quite a departure from the kinds of schools she originally profiled, but after spending last Summer at Dartmouth -- which she loved but felt it was too far away-- the similarities at W&L really resonated with her. Obviously, being closer to home and getting a scholarship didn't hurt either :).</p>
<p>Wow, I'm just checking in to see the decisions of all of your kids (I went through this last year) and I just want to say how impressed and proud I am of all of your sons and daughters. I'm particularly happy to know about the Amherst acceptances. My daughter is just finishing her first year there and it has been wonderful. Tony Jack is an inspiration. My daughter told me she was talking with him the other day and he was deciding between Harvard and UPenn for graduate school.</p>
<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>Now that the decision has been made, I think everyone in my house is breathing a sigh of relief. </p>
<p>sybbie719 and Madville, I join you in having a warm spot in my heart for Williams. </p>
<p>FLYVADAD, I was wondering what your D2 decided about W&L. My DS also received a great scholarship from them and was strongly considering attending until the acceptance from UPenn came. It was a very hard decision but I believe that once he visited Univ. of Penn's campus again, and attended some of the business classes, he became more convinced that UPenn would be a great place to study business. So, I also have a warm spot in my heart for W&L.</p>
<p>It's my understanding that Tony Jack is going to Harvard for a PhD program. Congratulations to all and let's share our pearls of wisdom for the next group of up and comers. Man, if some really knew how tough it was for DS to choose. Many more excellent choices than what we believed realistically and then the people were so nice and inviting. Williams, regardless of the rural location, is beautiful and has top notch everything. The visits I will remember for a lifetime. I'm really sold on the LAC's now. This college experience from an academic emphasis with DS as opposed to an athletic emphasis with DD has really been enlightening. Reading the link in the Washington Post about the young man choosing between Bates with a killer FA package and some others, little FA if any, I was glad he chose Bates. (Bates pulled out the stops for DS as well). He'll have unique challenges but also some unique opportunities. I'm defiitely encouraging more of the people in my social circles to utilize you guys, and really want to encourage other AA to look "outside of the box" when considering schools. There is no doubt in my mind that there is really an emphasis in making the elite institutions a viable option for many people of color on so many different levels. To my new Amherst fam, holla at a brother, and let's do this! (get together) To the rest of my CC brethren, let's not be strangers! Quoting Stephen Boyd in Ben Hur, one of my favorite movies, speaking to Charlton, "the race is not over, Judah Ben-Hur". Let's keep on keepin on.</p>
<p>Peace,
Madville</p>
<p>Wow, I am so impressed. Your sons and daughters are truly an inspiration. Gives me hope that in fact the Social Security system might not go bankrupt :)</p>
<p>So while all of you are hoisting a glass in celebration don't forget those of us still digging the trenches........ </p>
<p>DS took his second round of SATs today. His grades are great, His ECs sparkle. His standardized testing is way low. I don't know what to do. Yes, we hired a tutor. Only minimally helped. I don't know how to help him pitch his efforts b/c his grades are not quite Ivy but certainly good. His boards are not quite community college but way off the traditional radar.</p>
<p>Insights?</p>
<p>I'll be watching you for my S Triguena. No insights here.</p>
<p>Triguena,</p>
<p>In addition to using the college board's blue book (Real SAT Tests) for practice, DS also used college board's question of the day and also college board's online test program which I believe costs around $69.</p>
<p>Triguena</p>
<p>My daughter is a senior this year. She excelled academically and in EC's, too. Her SAT scores were considerably low. I spent over $2,000 in SAT test prep that I really didn't have. My daughter suffered from SAT overload. If I can offer any advice it would be to not push your S too hard. If I had to do it all over again, I would have used that money to go towards her college fund. My daughter received 2 full-rides from a private in-state school and 1 from a instate-public. She received some merit from an out-of-state HBCU and has chosen to attend there. She received a host of outside scholarships both locally and nationally. My daughter applied for 40. Have your S apply for as many outside scholarships as possible. It will help a great deal if he doesn't meet the criteria for merit award from his top choice school which was my daughter's situation. I wish you and your S much success. Most of all relax and let the decisions be those that are in the best interest for your S.</p>
<p>Triguena</p>
<p>Your son may want to try the ACT. My understanding is that the questions are more straightforward than SAT questions. Also, if he isn't happy with the results, no harm, as he does not have to submit the scores.</p>