Thanks, you too!! Gonna go freeze my butt off on the diag…fun fun!
My twins were very competitive but did not have skyrocket stats. EA admissions are the proverbial big fish they go after to sway them away from other USNWR high ranked schools.
I’m not sure release date is anytime soon. The interview process has to be finished by 3/20.
Which interview are you referring to?
Maybe diversity……
Our school had students with high stats, great community involvement and a diverse pool
Of
Applicants both racially and socioeconomically. Some went test optional some didn’t. It’s interesting how some parents in this chat act like they are the ones who are attending or because their child did not get accepted yet. it’s the fault of the Umich admissions team. The world is changing and the universities need to step up the admissions decisions. There’s more to real life than a high SAT score. Haven’t we learned that these last two years?
11 Likes
Hail interview
My spouse and I are high school teachers/counselors. Common App evaluations and LORs matter a lot. SAT and GPA are important, but many kids get acceptances because of their recommendations. Assuming you waived your FERPA rights, this part of the admissions mystery because you don’t know what is said about you. It is so much more than SAT, GPA, and ECs. There are many kids who have slightly lower “numbers” but I give higher recommendation to.
I’m not suggesting that students who have not been accepted have poor recommendations, but the admissions process is much more complicated than people realize. Good luck to everyone today!
7 Likes
Anyone seeing any change in portal yet?
So on the Northwestern thread you think it is great for parents to be aware and involved but not here?
I am sure there are many students who which they had engaged parents. This process can be overwhelming for 17 & 18 years olds. I agree parents should not be personally insulted when their child does not get accepted to a certain school, however, I disagree involvement is bad.
4 Likes
Great, often overlooked point. Applicants know 90% of their application, but that 10% can either be tremendously uplifting or catastrophic.
Our D’s GC actually nixed a potential rec for her. She had a wonderful junior year teacher, but GC said that he often phoned in the recs he wrote. That they were the same base format, and he simply added a few small tidbits about every student. AOs would see essentially the same rec year after year.
We have a good friend who is a teacher at the local HS. She is well-liked and teaches an AP course, so is asked by at least a dozen or so kids each year. One or two she’ll be honest with, and tell them that she’s happy to write one but that she doesn’t know them all that well (maybe they were quiet or didn’t put forth much effort). Often they still ask her to write, and she’ll write nice things but to an AO it would be pretty telling that she didn’t know them or think all that highly. Others she will spend days crafting drafts and curating wonderful notes attempting to show the candidate’s personality and drive.
People compare stats because that’s what they know. But recs almost certainly play a HUGE part in most decisions. I imagine many are similar, especially with the size of some of the HS. But a special rec (or one where the teacher allows the school to read the negative through the lines) probably sinks or swims a lot more apps than we care to admit.
4 Likes
HAIL interview is informational, not evaluative. Has no bearing on admission decisions
1 Like
I am curious if you think this is a good thing. I personally struggle to understand why a third party should have this much influence over the admissions decision. As an example, in my school there is a parent run foundation that provides grants to teachers. The opportunity for quid pro quo is obvious- not saying it is explicit, but a fat grant presented by a parent certainly has the potential to influence LOR for their student.
There are also fundraisers that involve recognizing teachers- same situation as above.
On the flip side, should someone’s bad mood or nefarious intent derail a solid student? I find this entire practice troubling.
4 Likes
Wife and I constantly attempt to extricate ourselves from D’s experience, and every time she pulls us back in immediately. It is the topic of conversation at dinner, before she leaves for school, and often through texts during the day. This is front and center for so many kids right now, that having close parents to share the experience with can be extremely helpful.
I’m on here to help offset some of that personal burden. I’m mostly retired, the weather still stinks here, so I’m absorbing a lot of the stress that other family members feel. CC and other outlets are cathartic, and D really enjoys reading (and critiquing) my contributions. I ask her every day if she wants me to back down, and every day she says it feels really good to know I 'have her back" and am invested in her process almost as much as she is.
Some people see this as meddling or living vicariously through their child. I’d agree if they were uncomfortable or asked us to stop.
19 Likes
I wonder how much the colleges try to investigate who had a helicopter parent that did everything for them. I know I can tell pretty much right away when I mistakenly hire a kid like this- (a lot of these kids grow up to have self-motivation and dedication but some still expect someone else to do their work for them). But I wonder if sometimes the colleges turn away a high stat kid because they can’t tell whether it was the kid or the parent…
3 Likes
My daughter has killer letters of rec. The only bummer is that the UCs don’t take them.
How does she know? Every student in our HS has been told their recs are excellent by the GCs and teachers that wrote them. I am pretty sure not all of them are.
I hear you. My D22 is very busy with her school and EC work, that keeps her mind off from stressing out about admission decisions. She doesn’t have time to look at portals. So i am doing the background work for her. She has shared all her portal passwords and her email with me. I have been keeping an eye to make sure that nothing is missing, but I make sure that i don’t see the admission decisions. I have her open the site when decisions come out - she enjoys the experience.
3 Likes
When does Umich start releasing decisions for people that were deferred??
Alumni