Question…now that people have acceptances in hand and decisions to be made…can anyone share if there is a “pattern” of letting the school know…for example 20-25% accept/enroll immediately, 10-15% enroll sometime between M10 and A10 and the rest right before or on A10?
Just curious as we are new to this world and don’t want to inadvertently send the wrong message by not responding in an expected time frame. Thanks in advance.
@D1swim2kidshoop We are new to this, too, but so far we have turned down 2, plan to turn another down next week that we love, but probably is too expensive. We are really struggling with our decision between three others, and probably will not make a final decision until very close to the deadline, in part because all of the virtual tours and meetings are spaced out, so it is harder to get a feel for fit.
I do think that our pattern would have been different in the “regular” world of revisits. We would have picked the schools to revisit, bought plane tickets and booked hotels and then maybe pushed the decision a bit to wait for the revisits. Yes, gathered info and talked to students and parents and such, but probably we would have reserved the real decision-making for revisits which for most schools began next week.
Without revisits, we jumped right into major evaluation mode right away. Some schools started virtual revisits quite quickly, while one of our schools hasn’t done ANY virtual revisit stuff yet – they said more info to come this weekend for revisit stuff next week. (Meanwhile we are like: what? we have pretty much finished all the revisit programs at all the other schools!).
The result: we are making decisions probably a lot sooner than we would have had we be hopping on a plane on Sunday to go to a week of revisits.
Basically –
Old world of revisits = 80% of the info happened in first week of April
New world of virtual revisits = 90% of the info happened in the two weeks following M10.
The deadline is April 10th and I think it is totally fine to take that time if that’s what we really need. Where I do think it’s extra kind to communicate on the soonest side possible, without compromising decisions, is in the FA situation. So many schools are so very generous, so the sooner we can let them know, the better, in my opinion. So we are doing our best to communicate sooner rather than later. But, I think it is totally fine to use the time if truly needed.
@Calliemomofgirls Which schools have you ruled out?
i agree! the virtual revisits really bombarded me with information
It’s April 1st!!! April 10th is coming so slowly! Good luck to all of the waitlist people and also to people paying deposit for schools!!!
In the interest of cheering you all up as April 10th or decision days approach, I have crafted one of my nifty CC poems to turn your frown upside down:
It was the week before April 10th
And all through your room
There lay acceptances with invites
School Revisit Days on Zoom!
The elation of March 10th -
More acceptances than rejection
But making a choice now feels like dejection!
Too much info, you say
Too much hype from each school?
Keep your eye on the positive
A choice - gee that’s cool!
Choose a school for the people
Not just the big name
Be happy with the “fit”
Academics? The same
Don’t worry what your friends think
Don’t worry about rank
Do worry about FA, and of course
Is tuition $ in the bank?
Pressing that button
Accepting with “Yes”
You may think to yourself-
“Why did I get myself into this mess?”
Accepting that offer
Means one journey has ended
Don’t be sad, be glad
A greater path to be ascended!
You will soon increase status
As BS “experts” you’ll see
Don’t worry, don’t fret
You have great friends on CC!
@Golfgr8 i must say, you hit all of the important issues in an fun way.
Absolutely agree! Another great poem @Golfgr8 (:
Love it @Golfgr8 !!
I had a question that may sound sort of dumb…
Next year, I definitely want to take a foreign language at BS. I’ve never taken a language before, so I pretty much can pick anything I want. With that being said, is there a language that’s more beneficial to take or maybe colleges look at more?
i really want to take either German or French, but I don’t know if those are useful. French looks easier to learn, but as someone who wants to pursue a career in STEM, I’ve heard German may be more helpful.
Any advice?
These are the languages I can choose from:
Classical- Latin + Greek
Modern- Chinese, French, German, and Spanish.
@ens2006 Latin is awesome (so are German and French but Latin is the best language out there) but the ultimate STEM language to study is Chinese tbh
Great poem @Golfgr8 !
@ens2006 This may be obvious but I would think about where you live or potentially want to live and that might help choose a language to take. For example, if you have a dream to live in Paris, French makes sense.
Good luck with your decision.
@CavsFan2003 thanks for the advice!
@DandSMom thanks! I honestly have no clue where I plan on living (so much is going to change during hs/college too) when i get older. i think i might choose languages that are easier to learn haha.
Question: I am on a few waitlists, but have an acceptance to a school that I plan on attending (assuming I don’t get off any waitlists). Should I accept the offer now, or wait until April 9th just in case?
There is no harm in waiting to see if you come of a waitlist. However, if you are accepted at a BS that is your “favorite” then why wait. Just make sure that you reach out to waitlist schools to check status/possibilities around April 7th so they know you are interested and still have time for you to officially accept your invitation to the school that offered you a spot.
It is so interesting to see how not being able to visit changed the timeline. Schools that were on spring break at M10 (and who extended due to covid 19) just got students back on campus to do virtual revisits. Normally, if you had booked a real life revisit, you’d be fine with that timing but it seems less the case now. This seems to be the pattern for colleges as well. (And some of the colleges who are getting “dinged” for this are some that traditionally have run some of the best, and most convincing, revisit programs.)
Really curious to see how/if this changes what schools and colleges do going forward (when we don’t have a pandemic!)
@ens2006
There is no language that will make your college app look better.
Latin is the worst, sorry, unless you are a classics person it isn’t fun.
All foreign languages are going to be hard in some way, the grammar and sentence structure is often hard to learn if you’ve never taken another language. I’d say pick a language that you are curious about in some way - being interested is the best way to be successful!
Have any of the boarding schools mentioned the possibility that the fall semester will be online?
I have not heard anything except from one of the BS my son was accepted. In the virtual revisit “talk” with the head of school he said they are currently planning for school to start on time and in person and they are currently planning to have their summer programs on campus. He then of course added that they will follow the direction/orders from local or state government.