<p>No, bovertine, I don’t think they do that with specific applicants. But I’m sure they do assume that a certain percentage of applicants will go somewhere else, and they increase the number of applicants they admit accordingly.</p>
<p>bovertine, no not at all. My older son was asked at his Harvard interview why he hadn’t applied early action. (Which was available then.) He responded that Harvard wasn’t his first choice. They accepted him anyway, and he ended up picking a more techy institution anyway. Even Harvard doesn’t get a 100% yield.</p>
<p>Well. PCM reminded me today, yet again, that I was the one mainly responsible for the B- in Calc 2. I encouraged…okay, directed son to take Calc 1 at UMass Boston during the summer because 1) it was free for him, and 2) it would free up a block in his high school schedule later so he can focus on his lab research. S1 easily cruised to an A in Calc 1 and was recognized as the best student in the class. He complained about the quality of students in his class - a few were there for the second time. The prof never really covered all the material. The exams were focused only on simple or straightforward concepts with very little depth. After first week of Calc 2 at Harvard Extension, S1 noticed a significant knowledge and problem solving gap. He had to re-learn much of the calc 1 material on the fly, but giving the other things on his plate, the damage was already done. So while I agonized over the B-, PCM told me she was glad it wasn’t a C because she had braced herself for it. She said, “Your son pulled it up to a B-, give him credit for repairing the damage you did with that UMass Calc 1 class.” </p>
<p>mantori, almost all the remaining colleges on S1’s list require the mid-year school report, including Harvard. Let’s hope his Intel award can more than compensate for this.</p>
<p>Re: Harvard vs MIT. S1’s interviewer did mentioned about taking heat from the admissions office last year after one of his highly recommended candidates turned down Harvard for MIT…</p>
<p>Re: ms and Post 1793 - Be sure and keep copies of your FAFSA and CSS/Profile filings. You’ll want them next year.</p>
<p>Regarding Harvard: they were the only school to have sent an unsolicited application by mail through the Student Search Service. Every other school either sent an email or a brochure, but none went ahead and just sent an application like that right off the bat. We didn’t take the bait, but I think that what they did fits right in with the thinking that if someone gets into Harvard, they’ll go to Harvard, so of course, if they get an application, they’ll apply to Harvard.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yield is about 75-80%, if I remember. Hardly astronomical.</p>
<p>Per the Common Data Sets, Harvards yield for the Fall 2008 was 76%.</p>
<p>Others were:</p>
<p>Stanford 70% (using Fall 2009 )
Yale 68%
MIT 66%
Princeton 59%</p>
<p>You don’t think Harvard’s is high??? How many schools have higher??</p>
<p>^Based on the number of apps received, I’d say Princeton will easily break 60% this year. MIT/Harvard/Stanford will probably inch higher too. Yale, otoh, may drop a little. The biggest winner will be UChicago.</p>
<p>Actually PCP, the increase in applications will probably not have that much influence on yield. Yield is the % of acceptances which then matriculate at the school. If anything, yield at many schools may decline because students are applying to even more schools than ever before. UChicago may be an exception because of their EA acceptances and the potential for those students to say that’s good enough and not bother to finish the balance of their potential apps.</p>
<p>Chicago went to the common app last year and went through a 9% jump in applicants. I remember reading some article that said the biggest jump from switching to the common app comes in the second year when “everyone figures out that it’s out there”. I just wonder home many of the “new” applicants really want to attend Chicago and how many added it because of convenience. Selectivity will increase but I’m not sure yield will change dramatically.</p>
<p>Michigan will start using the CA next fall, so I suspect their statistical selectivity will be increasing over the next two years even though the average accepted applicant’s stats won’t change that much.</p>
<p>^Hat, you’re right. I was thinking about the admit rate. Thanks for the correction.</p>
<p>According to the other thread and Chicago Tribune, UChicago freshmen applications went up 42% this year with common app.</p>
<p>PCP and others…given the forum title and some of the discussion…I am not surprised to find that my S has let one class slide badly and may get a C this semester…I am sure there are a lot of the sub-3.6 kids who get senioritis a little early. What to do?! </p>
<p>It was mainly his fault…late homeworks plus a couple of poor tests (due to not doing homework)…he tried to dig out of the pit but too late and now his reaches will be really reaches so he is upset. Personally, I figure if he still has this pattern of attack for academics…reach schools should be out of reach…knock knock on forehead of S…“hello?! still clueless in there?” </p>
<p>I was brutally frank about my opinion of the effect of the C on his apps. However, I did suggest the following remedy…talk to teacher, take full responsibility, show devotion to the subject over the next few weeks and ask for teacher to write a letter with a late mid-term report after 3 quarter midterms (mid/late February). S was a very good student in prior classes and even in the first quarter and does a lot of math extra curricula (matheletes) …head of counseling heard his tale of woe and also offered support with a letter since she felt S commitment to a lot of school activities was partly a contributing factor as well as a nasty bout of swine flu. Personally, I think this may explain a B but not a C. </p>
<p>Would this overcome a scary C on a midterm report? I am skeptical but would be interested in what the parents of under-3.6 applying to top school think? opinion?</p>
<p>I think you should be glad he got one C instead of three like mine did. :(</p>
<p>But seriously, I think your advice is sound.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>One B does not need explaining. The information you mentioned is adequate explanation for a C. It will be a sad world when we feel we have to explain an occasional B.</p>
<p>fineartsmajormom, sorry to hear about the “C”. Given the real reason is “not doing homework”, I do not expect the teacher to do a complete about face in the update. This said you should certainly try to have the teacher and the GC submit an “improvement report” for the next marking period if your son shows serious improvement. You never know until you give it a try.</p>
<p>Another thing to do is to compensate this with another bright spot or two. Would he be able to nail down a math award or other recognition? an outside scholarship? How about completing a significant project? </p>
<p>In my S1’s case, he is hoping that his Intel award can cover the B- hole he dug. But, I’m worried because the B- is in MATH, a core subject dear to his top schools. Btw, what was the problem subject?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>True, but the word “occasional” does not apply to our kids :(.</p>
<p>Listen to us, I would have been more than happy with a 3.0 in my day…and I wasn’t taking anything near the course load that our kids are taking. I was okay going to “state”. But it’s what we want for them, even if it’s by the skin of their teeth. </p>
<p>BAH! How can I find my cane without my specs???</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Amen. Is everyone here always a straight A student at your work place? Every single hour of the day, every single interaction with everyone else?</p>
<p>I’ll be the first to admit that I was a B+ student with very little EC’s to show in a relatively non-competitive public high school :(. S1 is a much better student than me in a much tougher curriculum. PCM told me one day that S1 said to her, “We’ve already won a lot more awards than daddy ever did, right?”</p>
<p>My son would have mopped the floor with me if he had gone to my high school when I did. I honestly think he knows more now than I did after my bachelor’s degree. I remind myself of this sometimes in order to keep from pulling my hair out over his grades.</p>
<p>S’s C was in BC Calc…but he says he also will be bringing home a B in his art class which is “his” subject–applying to art schools as well as unis–. Spanish (native speaker) is also in doubt…His other grades should be fine but ironic that he does the worst in his strongest subjects since he always thinks he can pull it out based on ability rather than effort.</p>
<p>But, there is no doubt that the decline in grades second quarter was due to burn-out with academics, over involvement with ecs, and plain old carelessness… I have no intention of getting involved or speaking to the teachers but I want to use these last months with him to show him how to develop alternative action plans (AKA damage mitigation steps) as well talking to him as a captive in the car to discuss “this is a learning moment”… I think he will have more of these in college and life so he needs to be prepared on how to handle them…</p>