<p>congratulations. I certainly don’t see any downside in reporting it.</p>
<p>@Mantori,
Definitely report the regional science fair award. Schools like UC Berkeley and MIT will consider that, and it will also make an impression on lesser tier schools. As an EC, successful participation in a science fair of any kind demonstrates a pretty serious interest and commitment, the sort of commitment that few students undertake. For example, of the high schools in Cupertino, California, all of which send relatively large numbers of students to top math/science programs, only a handful of students from each school participates in the Synopsis Silicon Valley Science Fair each year. It’s important. I would fax a copy of the award.</p>
<p>It didn’t occur to me that the fact that he entered a project, regardless of whether he won, might be worth telling colleges about. I seem to have had my “CC blinders” on, the ones that make one think that nothing counts except first place. Which is strange, because I usually don’t think that way. :(</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice. I will encourage my son to notify the schools he has applied to. And I’m going to make a point of telling him I’m proud of him. His project wasn’t earth-shaking, but he worked very, very hard on it and learned a ton in the process.</p>
<p>Well, this is kind of weird. My son got a welcome packet today from Rochester! Great news, right? Except that it was not preceded by an acceptance letter, and Rochester’s website says that acceptances aren’t announced until April 1st.</p>
<p>The welcome packet includes a welcome letter and a form for accepting the offer of admission, and requests a $600 enrollment fee by May 1st.</p>
<p>So what gives? Can we celebrate another acceptance or not?</p>
<p>Celebrations are in order m.s! Last year my d received an invite to NYUs new student orientation before any official letter of acceptance. It’s weird but I guess a way for the colleges to say “pick me!” before you receive news from the other colleges.</p>
<p>Congrats MS. I don’t know any other way to interpret that. Maybe it’s their version of a “likely letter.”</p>
<p>Mantori - I got the same letter today. I would interpret “Welcome to the University of Rochester’s Class of 2014!” as just a fancy way of accepting you. After all, they give you a form to accept admission.</p>
<p>Congrats to both of you!</p>
<p>Hey, great everybody. The good news is rolling in.</p>
<p>Congrats, mantori and son! With his NMF status, I think he automatically gets $22K or something close to it. Go celebrate!</p>
<p>wolfarkas, we use “Top 20” as a substitute for elite colleges. Some parents may take it more literal, as in USNWR Top 20, unis as well as lacs.</p>
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<p>Given what you listed for your son, I would not jump to this conclusion too quickly unless your son has made up his mind not to apply to them. RPI and SUNY Binghamton look like solid match for him. Don’t forget the SAT II’s. He will have more options if he does well on them.</p>
<p>Well, then, congratulations to Keilexandra, too! :)</p>
<p>wolfarkas, you should check in with your counselor, but I think you are being overly pessimistic. I checked the Scattergram at our school for RPI and for a weighted GPA of 97+ there was one waitlist and five accepts, for 95+ there were 5 waitlists and 7 accepts. The SAT range was large - from 1600 to 2300 with most of the waitlistees in the middle range of SAT. The only straight rejects had GPAs less than 90. It looks pretty safe. Binghamton even more so. Nobody at our school is rejected with your kid’s GPA.</p>
<p>Now MIT is another matter - it’s a reach for anyone - but you can’t get in if you don’t apply. </p>
<p>Lots of schools will discount a rocky freshman year.</p>
<p>We took the family out to dinner tonight and celebrated S1’s acceptance to Caltech!</p>
<p>WOW–Huge congrats to PCP’s S! Reaching for T20 does pay off. ;)</p>
<p>PCP congrats! That’s huge!</p>
<p>PCP-- WOW!! Megga congrats!</p>
<p>Awesome! Congrats to PCP and PCPSon!</p>
<p>Keilexandra,<br>
I just read in another thread that you got accepted ED to Swarthmore, yet you just posted above that you receive an acceptance letter to Rochester. Didn’t you withdraw your other applications?</p>
<p>Congrats PCP!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the congrats.</p>
<p>I guess I owe this thread S1’s MIT result, but I’d like to tell a little story about his Caltech acceptance yesterday.</p>
<p>S1 was in a class at MIT when the Caltech decision came out. He called home after the class was over and asked mom what the decision was. Mom asked him what he thinks, S1 said “Rejected?” Mom said no. “Waitlisted?” Again, mom said no. He then asked the loudest question PCM ever heard from him - “ACCEPTED?” After receiving a positive confirmation, S1 turned to the instructor next to him and screamed, “I just got accepted to Caltech!” With a concerned look, the instructor said, “Don’t go there, it’s an evil place!”</p>
<p>Now the MIT story today.</p>
<p>We were home just before 1:30 pm, getting ready for the big news. It took us a while to locate the actual decision website. S1 also made sure that he’s able to log in to the online account ahead of time. With 5 minutes to go, the nervousness in the house was palpable. 4 minutes! 3 minutes! Then I heard a cry from S2 – “Dad, our basement is flooded. Water is everywhere and it’s already ankle deep!” I dropped everything and ran down stairs to find our pump and S1 dashed out to locate our garden hose. Working in the dark with both feet in icy water, I finally got the pump going. After I got upstairs, S1 was still wet from his running back and forth in the backyard for the garden hose. I heard him say, “I got waitlisted.” Still wet and dripping myself, I told him, “I’m proud of you, son.”</p>