<p>LOL Shrinkrap that was priceless!!! DS announced he is rushing a frat. A co-ed mixed race frat. Whatever, as long as he is happy. Since I was proudly No Phi No (broke my poor AKA mother’s heart) I don’t have a leg to stand on.</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>My kid, despite the pink and green legacy of grandmother and mother, has declined to pledge (for now).</p>
<p>Great wailing and gnashing of teeth :(</p>
<p>Eh the kid has her own mind :)</p>
<p>My D is also the first in awhile not to pledge, but I’m fine with it. Grad chapter is always in option and nobody gets hurt.</p>
<p>Any updates? Anybody else with a rising senior? Son finished last semester with a 4.0 ( but cum is still about 3.1), and a decent (at least in the real world) SAT. </p>
<p>Received m invite to come check ort Pitt today.</p>
<p>Kind of an odd feeling posting on the “Middle Class” thread because the cost of education greatly matters to me, but I am also not eligible for Questbridge. So… here I am.</p>
<p>My D is in the process of narrowing her much too long list of 15 colleges down to 10. Unfortunately, these ridiculously low acceptance rates have caused me to break my own pledge to only allow her to apply to 7. Now, I have agreed to “around 10”. Somehow I think we’ll end up with 12 or 13 :(</p>
<p>My D is in the (un)enviable position of possessing stats that are within the 50%, 75% or even higher range for every college in the U.S., so her list is reach heavy. We are hoping that if she applies to all of the “big guys”, one of them will accept her, and I really want that “guarantee to meet demonstrated financial need” clause.</p>
<p>But, with acceptance rates as they are, we have to pad the list with plenty of safeties as well.</p>
<p>Anyone else in the same boat?</p>
<p>"Anyone else in the same boat? "</p>
<p>Only the “reach heavy” part. Son’s SAT’s are probably in the 75% of any school that would even CONSIDER his GPA, so it feels like EVERYTHING but CC’s are a reach. Not true though, and things are MUCH better than i thought they would be ist semester sophomore year!</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, if your S is a black male his SATs probably are in the top 1-5% of all black students. I’d also bet that his curricula is tougher than that of most black students.</p>
<p>He probably easily could get into any tier 2 college he applied to, and could get into some tier one colleges. Many colleges would be happy to give him merit aid.</p>
<p>I haven’t looked on the College Board site in a while, but in the past, they’ve had a racial breakdown of SAT scores. It was either in their counselor or research section. That will give you a good idea of where your son stands.</p>
<p>^ Thanks NSM. I did (guiltily) notice that(it’s the counselor,“data” section), but it has been my impression that there is more leway for SAT’s than GPA. And his curriculum is not rigorous, although that is in part due to his small school. There are about so Kids in his grade, the school offers no honors classes, and you have to be “on track” from 7th grade or so, to get say junior AP’s.</p>
<p>The other thing is, he would really like to go to a certain public here, and the odds of that happening are really small. That school current has 1% African Americans.</p>
<p>Berkeley? I was shocked to see that the AA rate at UCB, UCSD and UCLA hover between 1 and 3%. But, if he satisfies the Top 4% rule, he might have a chance.</p>
<p>Not Berkeley (puh-lease!), Cal Poly SLO. Admission rate there was supposedly 28% this year, maybe lower than Cal.</p>
<p>From the Cal Poly forum</p>
<p>“My son applied as an aerospace engineering major. He had a 4.0 unweighted, 4.22 weighted, composite ACT of 31 with Math in the ACT a 35. He was waitlisted and eventually not offered admission this year. So, hard to say even though your stats look excellent. He was admitted to UCLA though with those scores.”</p>
<p>^and that is exactly why I am allowing my D to apply to between 10-13 colleges (many more than I had hoped). There are no sure things anymore. She has friends who were rejected from UCLA, but accepted to Princeton. Others who were rejected from Duke, but accepted to Harvard. It has truly become a crap shoot.</p>
<p>Glad to see this thread revived. My D is a rising senior. Her cum GPA is 4.0+ so we are good there. SAT is within 50-75% at all schools on her list. She will only apply to 5-7 schools because of her desired major and her criteria. I am hoping for merit aid but not sure what we will get since test scores are not “stellar”</p>
<p>Three years ago when D was formulating her list of schools, we closely looked at each school’s 2nd year retention rate along with the graduation rate for AfAm students.</p>
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<p>I couldn’t agree more. I’m relieved my D did NOT receive a “minority” scholarship, just the standard college merit scholarship.</p>
<p>"The “minority” thing always have a million strings attached. I personally resent some of it. "</p>
<p>I haven’t seen that to be the case. I’ve been involved in giving some minority scholarships, and I think one of the scholarships that older S got from his college was for minorities. The “strings” attached for the minority one that I was involved in giving included paid summer internships for 4 years and a guaranteed job after graduation. Those seem to be good strings to me.</p>
<p>S’s minority scholarship didn’t come with any strings. </p>
<p>I also know of other minority scholarships that come with paid internships. That seems to be a darned good “string” to get.</p>
<p>^I certainly wouldn’t turn it down. I think it is absolutely understandable and necessary that these scholarships are being offered to high-performing minorities. If the mere presence of my D in a top tier university can help other minorities younger than her believe that they too have a chance at greatness, then isn’t it worth it? Isn’t that also a form of community service?</p>
<p>I’ve seen a scholarship where you are expected to demonstrate fostering inter-cultural (is that a word?) activity both before receiving the scholarship and after.</p>
<p>I think SMIA had a problem with “strings” in post #741.</p>
<p>I love this thread.</p>
<p>gamomof3 - We were in the same situation as are currently in. What is your D’s intended major? What schools is she considering applying to?</p>