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<p>I think cost is an issue a lot of people aren’t considering when looking at top schools. But I think that top schools do have a perfectly fine choice of majors. I doubt that someone who is interested in them is likely to end up majoring in Construction Management or even Criminal Science if they went to a school that offered them.</p>
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<p>[Michigan’s</a> 2011-2012 common data set](<a href=“Office of Budget and Planning”>Office of Budget and Planning), section C7, indicates that it does consider “level of interest” in admissions. This is less common for public schools than for private schools other than the ten or so most selective, but if “he didn’t really want to be there”, it looks like they guessed correctly.</p>
<p>Michigan considered “level of interest” for at least the last several years. In 2010-2011, they listed it as “important” rather than just “considered”.</p>
<p>Chaos-
If you think the idea of fit is inane how did you decide which schools to apply to? And if you get accepted to a few different schools how will you decide which one to attend if you think they are basically interchangeable?</p>
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<p>I think my list was sort of arbitrary. I found a couple of traits for each school that appealed to me. But they’re all really different. For instance, I applied to CMU, NYU, Bowdoin, and Rice. I don’t think any “true believer” in fit would think I made the right choices. And I think I could’ve easily been happy at Harvard, Duke, Boston College, or the University of Mississippi - as long as I put my heart into it. And I could easily end up dissatisfied at my top pick if I don’t bring a good attitude. </p>
<p>However, I think my experience would be significantly worse if I went to a university that was lacking in resources and a good student body. But don’t try to tell me somebody would be unhappy at Grinnell vs being happy Dartmouth if they were truly open-minded. (Note that being open-minded is the key term here)</p>
<p>As for how to sort out choosing between my acceptances, personally I don’t think I should put the cart before the horse. I think I might not even get a single acceptance letter come April. So then I guess I will have to choose between Alabama and UT-Dallas, and I have no idea with that.</p>
<p>kelsmom–“less academically prepared” is all in the eyes of the beholder though. I would consider someone that is in 3 sports/activities though the school and maintains similar stats to your son more academically prepared than someone that comes in with no EC’s. It shows that they have time management skills, can work with others in various situations and that they can study and do well in college. Colleges agree with that. They don’t want someone that is going to sit in their dorm and study all the time and when kids don’t participate in school activities, that is the exact impression they give to the admissions staff. It isn’t all about grades and test scores.</p>
<p>One student from our high school got admitted to 8 tippy top schools, every one he applied to. He wasn’t #1 in his class, his GPA was “only” 3.8, he didn’t have perfect test scores but what he did have was outstanding participation in school and in the community. He excelled at everything he did yet he also had plenty of failures and other things to overcome in his life. He is just a all around great kid. He had the whole package and that is what schools want.</p>
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That’s what fit is. Preference based on factors that are important to you. It’s just a matter of how finely you slice it. Maybe fewer things are important to you, but that’s not necessarily true for everyone.</p>
<p>For example (and my list here is arbitrary) even putting aside the school itself and just considering size, geography and climate, to think there is no difference between attending and living at Caltech, Stanford, Cornell, Duke and Columbia - to me that’s inane. I’ve been to all the cities where those universities reside. IMO they are significantly different lving experiences even if you aren’t attending college. Sure, people can adjust. But sometimes they don’t and end up transeferring. I’d say it’s better to try to avoid that if you can.</p>
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<p>I don’t feel like there’s no difference, but to me, those differences are mostly arbitrary as long as you’re flexible. Some people do transfer based on fit - but those people are inflexible, or maybe by chance, they ended up not finding the right people or other things that would’ve made their time great. Even if you have a 99% of being happy somewhere, there’s still a 1% that you won’t. And I’m sure that some people didn’t do their research. But there’s other people who found their dream school to be different than what they thought it would be.</p>
<p>And right now, I’m not certain whether the schools I applied to are going to be the right places for me. For example, I liked Claremont McKenna’s strength in economics, but I’m not sure if I will really enjoy the party attitude. I like NYU for being in the city and its Gallatin school, but I’m not sure if the environment won’t be too isolating for me. I like UChicago for the “life of the mind”, but I’m not sure if could handle the schoolwork assuming I got in (ha), and I’m not sure if everyone will be too pretentious or whatever. </p>
<p>So I don’t think you should select your college completely randomly. But I think it’s more important to have an open mind and be flexible.</p>
<p>And I think in the context of Yale vs Tufts, I think there the differences there are really superficial. I’m not sure what one has that would make have a significantly better time at Tufts than at Yale. Is it Boston? The lack of residential colleges? The smaller size at Tufts? </p>
<p>But to Pizzagirl, Tufts will always be a better fit simply because it isn’t an Ivy. :)</p>
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There is a lot of wisdom in this statement, Chaosakita. As holocaust survivor Victor Frankl noted in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” there are many things in life that are out of our control, and many things that can be taken from us. But the one thing that no one can ever take from us and that we control ourselves is our attitude.</p>
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<p>Operative phrase - “to me.” I still think it depends on the person. My wife likes a particular brand of yogurt. I can’t tell the difference. But she can. Even if she can’t quantify the reason, it’s not for me to tell her that her preference is capricious. </p>
<p>Since Pizzagirl applied to at least one Ivy League school when she was a kid, I suspect she doesn’t harbor the sort of antipathy you ascribe to her. She was merely complimenting another poster for having a good attiude, acutally what I would call a “flexible” attitude. The poster composed a list of schools she would be happy at, and when she failed to gain admission to her EA schools she found reasons to be happy with the selection she had.</p>
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I was just about to mention the same book but to make the opposite point. Just because people can adjust to anything, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t plan for the best outcome. </p>
<p>By that logic, chaosakita should just withdraw all the other applications and go to the community college. Or more to the point, I believe she’s already got a couple acceptances, so why sweat the April decisions if it doesn’t matter?</p>
<p>Sure, I can wear a pair of pants three sizes too big, but why shouldn’t I look for a pair of pants that fit when it doesn’t cost anymore.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think that I had could have a good time at community college if I wanted to. (I don’t think I’m that flexible though) But I was looking at fit in the context of Yale vs Tufts, not Yale vs a school that clearly has less resources and opportunities.</p>
<p>Not really worst rejection stories so much as an odd one:</p>
<p>One was how I received rejections from SUNY Binghamton* and Stonybrook in senior year of high school only to receive direct mail in solicitations to apply as a transfer student after one year as a scholarship student at a respectable Top-25 LAC. Just chuckled a bit before tossing them into the trash…especially after hearing a lot of unhappy/negative experiences from other HS classmates which prompted many to transfer up to LACs/universities ranked at or above the one I attended. </p>
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<li>No surprise in a period when minimum GPA to get in was higher than Columbia Engineering, NYU CAS/Stern, and several elite unis/LACs.</li>
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<p>Similar to rejection stories - and reassuring for those of you receiving rejections/waitlists/deferrals from your “safety” schools - soon we’ll be seeing the annual “This makes no sense” threads about kids getting accepted to more selective schools and rejected at supposedly “easier” schools.</p>
<p>Chaos-
I took a lok at the W EA thread. Your SATs appear to be significantly higher than most kids who got likelies, and your GPA appears to be basically in range. So it’s possible that you got bumped downline for yield management. Ironically, you may have recieved the so-called “Tufts” treatment. I bet you have other acceptances come April.</p>
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<p>Thank you! I really hope it is the case.</p>
<p>I think this is what you worry about.
How bad is the downward trend?</p>
<p>Will you hear from any of your remaining schools, chaosakita, any earlier than April? I’m rather eager to know how this story ends!</p>
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<p>Freshman year - All A’s
Sophomore year - 5 A’s, 1 B
Junior year - 3 A’s, 3 B’s, 0.5 C (my parents took me out of the class after that happened)
1st half of Senior year (if my college grades are counted) - 5 A’s, 2 B’s</p>
<p>On my transcript, you can easily tell that my GPA goes down a little after each year.</p>
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<p>All the schools have a reported reply date of 4/1, although I’m sure some send there things in earlier. I’m also sure I could find some earlier online, but I’m not going to check.</p>
<p>Let’s just wait and see your results. Worse comes worse, you can transfer to better colleges if you don’t like where you’re going for freshman year.</p>
<p>For my older son the only fit that counted was the quality of the computer science department. He said all dorms looked the same and he didn’t care whether he lived in a city or out in the boonies. He doesn’t like hot weather so he did eliminate some good southern schools (but did still apply to Caltech). He said this after we visited Caltech, Stanford and Berkeley and pronounced them all equally fine. The only thing he made use of off campus where he ended up was the public library and some places to buy takeout.</p>