@hebegebe what is a national level award? like what is an example? would that be sports or arts related? is NMS not considered national award or maybe its too common?
GT is one of the elite engineering colleges, period. Seriously! I don’t feel bad for you anymore. Think it’s time for you to rejoice! ?. I don’t think you understand how many people would love to be accepted into GT.
National awards in STEM are Regeneron (ISEF), Siemens, USAMO etc. Many of the students at the HYPSM level, have research experience and have gone above and beyond their HS curriculum, and completed Calculus as Soph.
“is NMS not considered national award or maybe its too common?”
NMSF is based on PSAT scores in your home state, so it’s really not a national award. Moreover, top end schools don’t give it much (or any) weight.
At my childrens’ large public high school, U of Michigan oos for the CoE is a bloodbath. I don’t understand why you saw that as something that was a lock? The AVERAGE ACT for Michigan CoE oos admitted at out HS is a 35! All the schools you listed are brutally competitive. You should be rejoicing at the 5 acceptances.
Here are examples of national level awards:
[list]
[] Athlete: Talented enough to be recruited (strongest hook there is)
[] History: Published paper in the Concord Review
[] Science: Research performed at a university, resulting in one or more papers with the student as a primary author, ideally published in a peer-reviewed journal. Or alternatively, finalist in a major science fair.
[] Summer activities: TASP for humanities, RSI for STEM
[] Math Contests: USAMO qualifier or better
[] Art: Scholastic Art & Writing Gold Key, plus strong portfolio submitted with application
[*] Other activities: National champion in activity
Very selective schools admit a significant amount of kids that do not ask for financial aid, especially out of state kids because they need the additional revenue–sad, but very true.
Let’s say there are 10,000 freshman seats in T20 colleges but there are 30,000 students exactly like your son.
That is why they can’t get in. With Common App, it is easier for students to apply to more colleges.
Top schools are looking for the X factor–many kids take very interesting college courses every summer to show their passion and demonstrate their interests in unique ways–not just traditional EC’s–I know you are disappointed but the competition is just off the charts right now. Good Luck!
It is just a factor of competition, supply & demand.
I used to get upset that one of my favorite schools was only ranked at #10 in the nation until I saw the competition ranked at numbers one through nine.
Georgia Tech & Illinois are outstanding options for one who wants to study engineering.
I’m probably naive but wouldn’t everyone ask for aid but not necessarily qualify or receive it? If the schools are truly need blind, it shouldn’t matter.
@mcfamilyof4 I know you weren’t serious, but just to set the record straight, the days of NE boarding schools being feeders to the ivy league are LONG over. It is better to be a straight A student and top of the class at your public high school than a B student in the middle of the pack at a very selective boarding school. (Which is very likely to be the situation for the high performing kid).
This was confirmed for me by the head of college advising at Hotchkiss and also the Dean of Admissions from UNC.
In other words, your son probably would have had a worse college outcome had you sent him to boarding school!
Why reveal personal financial information without any likelihood of receiving a benefit ?
Even if you’re in the 99th percentile ( ignoring for a moment the way a school like Harvard constructs a class) there are way more equally talented kids in that percentile than there are seats available at Harvard.
Why not getting into Harvard comes as a shock to anyone is beyond me.
Really can’t feel sorry for you here as GT is a tippy top university for engineering. GT also has the edge on UM for engineering.
Lol it seems the only way to get into Harvard these days is by buying the fencing coach a house!
“except maybe send him to a feed school / boarding school in the NE”
Nah. Even that guarantees nothing.
There are simply too few non-hooked slots for too many academically spectacular kids. But he can only attend one school and he got in to some of the top engineering schools in the country.
Why be disheartened about the opportunities at UIUC/GTech when they would literally open to a top engineering student the best engineering and technology opportunities possible?
This is even more true for someone looking to enter the military. It’s not like MIT or H would give him a leg up in the military (Naval Academy would).
There seems to be some confusion here.
- Attending a great high school isn't about getting into a specific college. it is about getting the best education possible and having a great high school experience. Did he? And, if attending private school, it might also be about having immense opportunities not available elsewhere.
- While I don't endorse legacy or development admits, I doubt they explain your son's outcome. MIT does not do legacy or development admits.
- The world is a big place. Luckily it is filled with tons of high achieving motivated people. Some people seem to select the most select schools, primarily on the basis of how select they are, and then complain that their student was not selected-and in this case the OP seems to be complaining the student didn't get into them all. It's inexplicable.
- Business and strategy factor into the admissions process for most schools. Most are selecting students on the basis of what they need-not what is "best" using some external criteria. They may be culling their pool for the personalities that are most likely to represent what they view as the school's vibe. They may be culling for specific interests. Your son, like every other amazing student out there, is unlikely to be a perfect fit for all the elite schools (from their perspective not the student's). As I've noted in these threads before, if you go to the grocery store and buy peas, that does not mean that the beans were less good despite not being selected by you.
- We've seen what can happen when a bunch of wealthy people find that their money can't get them every desirable resource out there. Yes, Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, those schools are really great but no, even with all your fame and money, you can't buy them for your children. That is true more generally; even for those of us without money or fame. Even for those of us with kids who part the seas; not every school is going to want our kids. And that does not mean our kids would not have loved that school had they gotten in. And in contrast to platitudes, it does not mean that the schools our kids are accepted to are better fits for the kid than that other school would have been. It's possible your kid was rejected from schools that, if he attended, would have paved his path to fame. But nobody gets everything. Why should anyone expect they would?
- Yhe OP post should be held out as a prototype for a problematic perspective on college admissions. Really, the OP wants to know what could have been done to bring them all home? Really?
- And about "why is he not able to get accepted at even Michigan?" That's the first time I've ever seen the word "even" before "Michigan" in text about universities. There is no "even Michigan"; it does not exist. So perhaps that was part of the problem. It might be worthwhile to review the essays to see if legacy has a double connotation here.
My son has a very similar scholastic resume as your son. He did score 800 on subject tests , 1560 SAT, first in class and is a recruited athlete. At first we were surprised our son did not get accepted at any of the 5 Ivy League schools he had on his list. His original first choice had been UNC but did not get to the Morehead finals and was very disappointed not being invited into Honors Program. We just returned from finals at UVA for Jefferson Scholarship but he was not one of the winners. He does have several full ride offers for NMS. He also has been offered Goodnight Scholarship at NCSU. Duke and UNC aid package cannot compare to what he is offered at MIT . Never been to Boston but expect I will be seeing the Red Sox or Celtics play sometime in the next 4 yrs. As much as I want him to stay closer to home it is hard not to be excited about MIT.
Hope your son gets into the Naval Academy. Sounds like it would be a great fit.
5 accepts is a win. Looking at GT as your #2 for CoE is a huge win. Take the win. You should be celebrating.