I will also say that applying for 2 to 3 with interview rounds is intense for seniors. I would love to see the stats on success rates for those up to bat with their first school v. their next attempts.
D21 applied to 2, plus one specifically for her major/college that she did not know about until after EA acceptances. She almost did not do that third one because she was so overwhelmed with the other two. One she really wanted and made it through a couple rounds. The other, was at a safety and it became clear to her other students wanted that one way more than she did, but that did not stop her from being hurt/upset that they did not offer it to her.
Those 2 first ones prepared her to shine and also be much more relaxed about the third one focused on her major. She had already had to talk about herself, her hopes and dreams, research interests, etcā¦multiple times. She was beyond successful with that one.
Yes I am worried it may be too muchāmine is applying to 3 with interview rounds at the end/semifinals which if course she might not get to. D21 did not apply to this level of top-selective merit scholarships known nationally, but did try for some smaller ones with extra essays/supplements and rounds.
Congratulations to your D for being competitive and good luck. I think it important to keep in mind kids competing at this level have very high expectations of themselves and have experienced a lot of success previously. They donāt apply and try for things expecting to get denied regardless of how stacked the odds are against them.
While they are undoubtedly smart, resilient and realistic it is helpful to remind them of just how impressive they are to be considered and how talented the other kids are to avoid disappointment. In our experience being at a few finals weekends helped calibrate that everyone was deserving and reset expectations. Equally important is not to over stretch during the application process. Much better in our experience to go an inch wide and mile deep in terms of prep.
Each kid is unique so respectfully just sharing based on what we experienced.
Oh she knows. She wouldnāt have considered applying to these if the school hadnāt really encouraged it(and nominated for one)ā¦her EC leads to lots of repetitive disappointments which has built a resilient character. She has zero expectations.
VERY competitive. Out of the group they finally choose, there are always a few kids from out of US (3-4)and a few students already in the college- freshmen from Duke/UNC, so the amount of available spots is small. My D was a finalist 4y ago ( didnāt get it), If I remember correctly, at semifinalist stage you still donāt know to which school you are being consider (if you applied to both), but at finalist stage they do know to which school they are being considered. Iām assuming of you are a semifinalist, you can assume that you are accepted to the school
Interviews for First Year (class of 2026) Semi-Finalists were last Friday and Saturday (Feb 3-4). Finalists were notified Sunday evening (and those who did not make finalist were notified as well). Finalist interviews were yesterday and today (Feb 8-9), and winners will be notified by Saturday I believe. They basically complete the First Years process before they start interviewing the prospective class of 2027. Last year 3 current freshmen received it. I assume it could be anywhere between 0-4 freshman recipients after the finalist interviews and then the Class of 2027 semi-finalist interview round begins. Good Luck to all who applied.
Good for you, unfortunately I havenāt heard anything so I donāt think I made it. Its extremely disappointing considering this was the only way I could afford Duke.
Thanks for aharing this info, so the Feb 4th we were seeing on the website was for the freshman. They did begin the process on that day.
Thank you once again.
I think there was the first round of notifications on Friday - nobody has said theyāve gotten one after that, so hereās hoping the rest of us get good news in the next week
it gives hope, holding on