Yes! ED kids are committing to go. Your son is keeping his options open and so is Villanova.
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Kind of what we figured. Still frustrating “logic” that it seems like a better chance that he would have been accepted EA if he didn’t have quite as high SATs or GPA. We do understand Nova accepting ED students wt lower stats … Every school seems to do this. Harder to understand accepting other EA students at lower stats though as they have not committed to Nova either. We also think that being legacy and NOT going ED is worse (to Nova) than not being legacy and not going ED.
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I wonder if Villanova is looking at legacy the way that some of the other elite schools do: you get a Legacy bump if you apply ED but it doesn’t move the needle if you apply EA or RD. It also seems that yield is driving college policies everywhere. So many school are taking bigger percentages of their classes ED and ED2, it leaves fewer EA and RD spaces.
Your son has stellar stats and schools use sophisticated software to calculate their yields and the likelihood an applicant will attend.
Yes I think that is all true. At his school he has one of the highest GPA/Sat combos to apply to Nova (and other schools like BC, BU, Northeastern) over the past several years and all in his range are accepted. I think his range is a challenge in that it’s on “cusp” for ivy league and T20 so the assumption of the Nova, BC etc schools ate that he will aim higher at 1st. (Which he did… denied ED from Cornell). Our biggest concern as parents is that his college counselor, advisor etc all have his “safeties” as Nova, BU, Northeastern, Wake Forest and Holy Cross. None of these seem “safe” to me. Especially after deferred from Nova.
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And by the way… thank you for your feedback!
My daughter is in the same boat - 1510/34 SAT, 4.0 UW with bunch of APs and ECs. Hoping it’s yield protection instead of an indication of what’s to come in the next few months. Naviance had this as a safety and the XY graph from her school had her at the top right of accepted students. Was pretty surprised at the deferral. Tough year with the amount of applications.
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Yes each year seems tougher for these kids. At least for some. This year is in a particularly strong class at his school and he is probably 5th or so (they don’t do class rank but he was inducted into Cum Laude Society which is top 7 kids). In a prior year his GPA would have put him at #2 or so. In this strong class (of 68 boys), so far they have 5 accepted to Harvard (1 athlete), 2 to Duke, 2 Georgetown, 1 Notre Dame, 2 Amherst, 3 Villanova…). They were all ED or REA. So now he is second guessing his decisions of where he applied. Where else is your daughter applying?
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I think Naviance is struggling a bit these days. Especially since the introduction of TO. Couple that with the situation many schools, such as Northeastern, found themselves in regarding over-enrollment and re-absorbing gap year and deferral students and that’s skewing a lot of the enrollment stats.
The good news is it’s a deferral not a rejection. An excellent continued interest letter can go a long way to re-emphasizing interest and intent! Best of luck to your son!
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She was deferred at Notre Dame for REA and that is her top choice along with Wake. UVA and BC are right after that and we are in FL so UF is a good option too. Apps to Duke and Vandy, but more to see if by chance she’s lucky. A bit of second guessing on not going ED for Wake. It’s a bummer that retention is such a driver in rankings. Plus the tidal wave of kids who gapped out last year for Covid - and test optional submissions.
Notre Dame loves REA so that’s great that she was deferred and still in the running! Did she do EA to UVA? When does that decision come out? Our son’s biggest choice was between ED to Cornell vs REA to Notre Dame and Georgetown. He chose Cornell and is now kicking himself a bit as he thinks he may have lost out on Notre Dame since they love REA (Georgetown doesn’t seem to care about REA very much…)
UVA and UF decisions are mid-Feb. Everything else is late March. We’ll see with Notre Dame - we personally know three kids in the last two years that we’re deferred REA than accepted.
……I suppose this shows if they’re worried about protecting yield, they may be on to something. But it’s still a bummer that a candidate’s merit may not be driving acceptance.
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Thr Presidential scholarship is merit based and applications were due earlier in the month. I believe this is the only merit based scholarship offered by Villanova.
Meant to say that three kids were deferred, then accepted at Notre Dame (not than).
Legacy here (parent/sibling also attended)- also NYC metro area. 35 ACT (one take- no super score). 4.0 UW/4.6 weighted. Varsity sport- captain. Mission trips/other volunteering. Summer jobs. He was admitted EA.
I would not second guess applying REA to Notre Dame. They had a record number of applicants this year. Crazy! Record numbers at Boston College for ED also. Probably true for Villanova as well. It is an incredibly difficult time to be applying. Hang in there!
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correction: I would not second guess not applying REA to Notre Dame…
What part of the country are you in. Son also deferred from Augustinian school with high stats
Son was accepted to VSB. 3.98 UW GPA and 1490 SAT.
Co President of his school, Mock Trial Lead Attorney, Captain of the Cross Country Team, DECA treasurer. Solid recommendations, 8 APs and multiple honors classes.
We are in MA. Suburb of Boston
Does VU favor catholic schools EA? I almost feel like they just defer most public hs kids