As my son just finished the college application process - I’d thought I share some thoughts to all the other parents out who are trying to “help” their kids with this completely insane process.
We live in Northern California and Stanford is definitely the “dream school” for a large number of kids at my son’s HS. His HS is a private school with a dress code - but you can wear college sweatshirts - and Stanford gear is everywhere.
Basic facts - 1st in class, NMF, 2360 SAT and 35 ACT. All the usual stuff for high achieving kids, plus a heavy dose of authentic community service work with a faith-based community service organization. He applied to 10 schools - got into all of them except Princeton.
Cal (Regents)
UCLA (Regents)
Rice
Yale
Stanford
Washington and Lee (Johnson Scholarship)
Claremont McKenna
Notre Dame (half-ride scholarship)
Loyola Marymount (Presidential Scholarship)
It came down to Stanford and Notre Dame. He said he didn’t expect to get into Stanford, and therefore hadn’t given it much thought. We’d only been to campus once - for a football game when he was 9. On the other hand, ND had flown him out to visit the campus and interview for scholarships twice. He loved everything about ND, except two things. Weather and distance.
He went to Stanford and liked it alot. People were great, very intellectual vibe, great location and the weather is about the same as home. He had about 10 days to think it over, and he said he flipped flopped alot. We sat down one night and did a PRO/CON list for each school. That helped focus the things he liked and disliked about both schools. He flipped back and forth - and received alot of input from alot of classmates, teachers, mentors, etc. Some was unsolicited.
It came down to these two main questions: 1.How can I turn down Stanford when so few are given the opportunity? Should college be about my academic growth - or should it be about my growth as a person?
He answered the questions as follows