a)you don’t know her grades
b)you didn’t read her essays/recommendations
c)this reads as kinda racist
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Herbessence, don’t do that.
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Sometimes kids have external factors in play - death/illness in family, etc. We know of a student who made up for it by taking dual enrollment classes in 4-5 dual college courses receiving A-s over the summer and in the fall online, the one-semester was a blip. As others have mentioned, Penn sees the whole application not just what people at school see. We were also surprised when we initially heard the result to later learn the student had taken so many college courses externally, with tons of rigor.
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Calling someone you don’t know a ‘racist’, is a big deal. Don’t do that.
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They said that the post read as kinda racist. They didn’t call the poster racist.
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My son did not get into first choice M and T but did get into SEAS. No mention of M and T anywhere.
Congrats to your daughter! Can you explain what you mean about financial aid and concurrent sibling split? What is this and what law are you talking about? Thank you!
fingerscrossed83: A recent piece of legislation from the US Congress (sorry I don’t remember which) included an overhaul of the FAFSA to make it simpler. These changes were originally to take effect in the '23-24 academic year but I believe have been postponed to '24-25. The FAFSA questions are being reduced from about 100 down to 35 or so. Also included is a change to the way the FAFSA computes the EFC to ignore other siblings that are in colleges. Today, if my total EFC were $30K with three college in children, it would appear as about 10K on each child’s FAFSA. When the changes take place, the EFC will no longer be split. Each child will have an EFC of $30K. In other words, the parents will now be expected to come up with $90K.
Keep in mind, however, that this refers only to the FAFSA determination. How Individual colleges will handle this is unclear and likely to be varied. Also, unclear is how this would impact the CSS Profile.
Apparently, this was done in the name of ‘equity’. Congress felt it wasn’t fair to those parents that had children 4 or more years apart. Ridiculous? I sure think so but that’s probably not for debate on this forum 
I meant three children in college
“This reads as kinda racist” is not calling someone racist. And it does read that way.
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“DaySays” provided a great explanation on the split. It only impacts federal aid (e.g. Pell) with institution aid (college’s grants) being up to the college whether it will maintain split or follow the new law. Other schools on D’s list didn’t know yet when I called a few months ago. Public school enrollment will be impacted most as they use only the FAFSA .
My contribution would be $15K for my D’s freshman year. Since my wife started working to pay for oldest’s med school, my D’s EFC will go up to $30K her sophomore year. If Penn didn’t maintain the split after the law change, our EFC would be $52K/yr her sophomore (23-24) and later years, which creates a problem in my managing D’s and D’s 3 older siblings’ tuition/room/board (med school + 2 already in college next year). My D would have had to decline Penn’s ED and take a full scholarship elsewhere all want med or law school (more costs). For details, see:
Penn follows the typical CSS Profile split: 100% EFC 1st child, 60%/each for 2 kids, and 45%/each for 3 kids, BUT if 2 kids in college and BOTH attend Penn, then it drops to 50%/each. (per Penn Fin Aid)
Some current deviations: Stanford: 55% (2 kids), 35% (3 kids); Vanderbilt 60%/55%/40%. So check with private colleges of interest. I think SMU indicated they’d include my oldest (grad student) in the split calc. despite the law change.
Note: ONLY undergraduate students count. So my oldest starting med school is excluded from the split under old and new formula, but she does reduce my EFC by $800 as she’s still part of my household number.
You can play with inputs for expected EFC inputs here (accurate to within a few dollars):
The EFC formula is available online. Savings in the student’s bank account take the biggest hit per formula.
ALWAYS run a college’s Net Price Calculator prior to applying early decision anywhere.
@PV22, not sure if you got this information already but according to a page on UPenn website I came across while looking for something else, if you apply to two colleges as a part of combined program (such as M&T) and get a deferred letter from one college that means you are only in the running for the college that was mentioned in your deferred letter in RD cycle. I hope this answers your question.
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for the people who got rejected-- what schools are you applying to now?
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I can relate! We’re still in a bit of shock here. My thoughts…the universe is saying “Kid, enough with Penn. Go find a new road.” The sad thing for our “rejected” student is that he didn’t even care about the fact that Penn is Ivy or that it’s considered elite. He just really wanted to be at Penn. He’s taken classes there and has some credits going into college from Penn, but I guess the degree will have a different name on it.
There are indeed many fine institutions elsewhere. Best of luck!
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I was really banking on Penn so now I’m struggling to do RD apps. I ended up adding UChicago, WashU, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, BU, and a few others.
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Omg…Almost the same list (quickly added to my portal after my Penn deferral :)) for RD except WashU…
As someone who got into UPenn last year (and is currently attending), I can kinda see why you didn’t get in based on the arbitrary, surface-level assumptions you’re making about someone who did get in and why…yikes
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I sure hope the few others include matches and safeties so you don’t get blanked. That list below is heavy reaches for all RD.
Never bank on a top school. And love those that love you back.
Hope you planned properly. Don’t know anything about you other than the list u just posted is overreach for most anyone.
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I’ve already gotten into my 2 safeties, one of which I’m perfectly content going to 
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