@Peach94 she loves Union. She has said it is what college was like in her imagination. But she wanted the Scholars Program for the ability to take additional classes. That way she could take dance and still make progress on her major.
I am genuinely sorry for your daughter. The plain and simple fact is there are simply too many kids who check the exact same boxes, and the randomness of when some microscopic difference between her and Very Similar Other Kids comes across the radar of an admissions reader who happens to see that thing. Within the group of kids like her It’s almost as random as musical chairs.
If she maintains a certain GPA, she can still take a free 4th class. The only downside is you can’t pre-register for it like the Scholars kids can. You have to wait until the first week of classes and go see the Professor and try to get in. Which stinks if it is a full class.
My son is shocked by the level of kids who didn’t get accepted into Scholars. A lot of his friends are strong students with strong backgrounds. Yet only a couple are in Scholars. Who knows what the criteria is.
Happy to answer any questions you may have.
@GingerLand, how frustrating and disappointing for your daughter. FWIW, I have a friend whose daughter was the #2 in her class last year, with really top stats, who was not admitted to UMass Honors… and she’s a dancer too! (She ended up going to Smith, but is still somewhat miffed at U Mass, where her brother is a senior now). Best wishes to you, and I hope she lands at a school that will be her happy place for the next 4 years.
I don’t know what to tell you @GingerLand - a similar thing happened to my son’s girlfriend. It sucks out there. If you decide to take a gap year, I can suggest College of Wooster, Hobart and William Smith, and St. Lawrence - they all gave fantastic merit offers to my son (similar stats as your daughter) and they are really working hard to get him to go. It feels really nice to be wanted - and they are all fantastic schools. Or, if your daughter is interested in STEM/Engineering, then Clarkson is another that gives great financial aid, and they are incredible with job placement.
I think CWRU waitlists a lot of kids with high stats. At least they will be coming back with a financial aid package and they will be offering admission to about 300 kids on the wait list.
Just read on CC a discussion where someone claiming to have admissions experience said that kids who have an allowance for extra time on the SAT (so they may check/treat their blood sugar for instance) are “in the wastebin at elite schools” So there is that.
How would the schools know about testing accommodations? I thought that wasn’t disclosed?
@Empireapple We had hoped for more merit aid and Scholars Program. Yes. Those are the stumbling blocks.
Testing accommodations aren’t disclosed. I suspect someone was trying to freak other posters out.
I think you’re talking about the discussion surrounding the Sara Harberson article about colleges admissions offices signing off on the fraudulent applications - if so, that’s not what she was saying. She was saying that a good AO catches inconsistencies on an application and looks to see if there are explanations for it. Nothing about throwing them in the bin if there were accommodations. That comment was by someone who didn’t understand the article.
@PetraMC hmmmm. True. I guess it is all tied up in my worry that my daughter never should have discussed the transformative effects of her diagnosis on the common app.
@Trixy34 I think things have changed for CWRU. Did they take anyone from last year’s waitlist? I know they start a weird gap year offer to some waitlist people.
I think we completely underestimated the problems of : having no hooks. Having financial need (two kids in college) The Elimination of 50% of some school’s slots because of the ED round. And the completely random nature once colleges are faced with thousands of applications.
These situations sting, and from what I see from friends, it can be extra tough for girls. If it helps you at all, I’m a MA resident, and my high-stats son was rejected from his reach, and was left with matches and safeties, including UMass (no Commonwealth honors invitation either, and as you probably know, the invitations vary according to major/gender/and other factors–it is not a straightforward process). He also wants to go grad school, and weighed the offers and chose UMass (his own decision). He applied to and was accepted to the honors program second semester freshman year. He has had amazing professors (in and out of honors college), a paid research job, and fabulous academic and networking opportunities. He is not a football/frat person–much to the program’s chagrin, football is not a huge deal at UMass and of course there is no official Greek housing so that isn’t a huge influence either. FWIW, I know kids who attend Union and love it, but it seems a bigger party place! Flip the script: the colleges you mentioned are all great opportunities, and get psyched for what’s ahead. We’ve all seen “dream schools” turn out to be not so great (although of course they can be). So many paths can lead to happiness and success–there is no golden ticket! I hope your daughter is feeling better soon.
@gingerland, just to give you some encouragement for your D’s grad work in psychology—my friend’s kids both got undergrad degrees in psych.
The D went to U of Va. the S went to UCSB (so he could play water polo). Both got into their 1st choice grad schools for applied psych masters — the D Harvard and the S Vanderbilt.
As others have said, your D may be a big fish in the pond she goes to as an undergrad and be able to have some amazing opportunities!
Best of luck!
Oh, many of us get “it”. My D didn’t have near perfect test scores but her GPA and other things made her a match to many of the NESCAC schools and a couple of higher tier schools as well. While she was admitted to the honors college at UMA, that was her safety school and she really didn’t want to land there. She was rejected at her ED (expected, it was a reach) and WL at several other high matches. In the end, she accepted the offer at another academic safety (now def a match five years later, her apps were 2014 for 2015 start) and learned to love the school that loved her. Its all worked out wonderfully. She was accepted at MoHo and it was a contender until the very end but finances won out. Your D will do fine, make sure she knows that the schools where she has been accepted are dream schools for some kids (those with the stats but not the $$ especially).
Let us know how everything works out. We are all rooting for your daughter!! I am sure she will have a successful college experience no matter where she chooses to attend!!
Here is the update. She found out from the final three schools today and was rejected by them all. She remains on the CWRU waitlist with an offer of money (but I think they took no one last year). Union confirmed she is not invited to the Scholar Program. We really thought Vassar or Tufts were possibilities. But no. We just don’t understand college admissions at all and wish we could do this over. Having no hooks, we would use the only power we do and use ED (on Bowdoin.) We would also apply to more colleges but so few had ballet. What was the point in having a 1550 and 4.0 and the involvement and awards? The hours inventing. The hours teaching after school? Something went wrong and no one will ever tell us what it was. She doesn’t want to go to UMASS. With child number three, it is ED. And Canadian schools. Or even German ones. I can’t go through this again. These arent institutions of higher learning. They are businesses. And I have woken up to this late. A year ago we were filled with hope. But hope is for desired commodities.
If your family’s attitude is that anything under a “top 50” is “nowhere” and it came through on the apps that could be part of the problem.