Class of 2014 Results: Celebrate, Discuss, Support Here - Page 11

macaroni · 10-30-2009, 02:04 PM

Son: Average student in HS; excelled in college with double major. Go figure.
Dau: Completed applications to 4 UNC schools and U Mich. Accepted so far at UNCG (last choice).

2boysima · 10-30-2009, 08:20 PM

Parent56: I'm not a big fan of applying to lots of schools...and I don’t know how many more your S has to go…..but what a wonderful group of early/rolling admissions your child has: University of Alabama - Birmingham, University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa, Auburn University, University of Texas - Dallas, Tulane University, Indiana University-Bloomington. A great way to reduce so much of the senior year stress! (Now…just the stress of choosing!) Congratulations!

Maybe you can share some thoughts on what tactics you or your son used to actually get those applications submitted so early? (Just the relief of stress doesn’t seem be a particularly motivating factor with some of our kids!)

parent56 · 10-30-2009, 09:00 PM

2boys, actually i would have reduced the number if it was totally up to me (and he still has a few rolling to hear from and then the regular decision ones). We knew his safeties would be instate Alabama and that they would offer good merit to him. But he had no particular favorite of the 3. He likes different features of each one, and has many friends at each. But each offered a specific honors program that interested him, so if it comes to instate it will depend on what honors programs he is admitted to.

He has always wanted to go out of state and for those we researched extensively on schools that offered significant merit to students with his stats, or offered a selective scholarship to which he could at least try for. We will not qualify for any need based aid, but the reality is we can not and will not pay out 220K for undergrad. We then specifically looked for rolling admission schools (only 4 are not, and most likely they will not be financially feasible ie University of Pennsylvania or Vandy...but I agreed to let him apply as long as he understood acceptance DOES NOT mean he gets to go...he just felt he needed to know if he could be accepted)

Alabama school apps are very brief apps not requiring essays and were quick and easy to do. Other schools offered him the preferred/priority app and those did not require an essay.
Indiana was one that had a selective scholarship he applied for (so did have a very specific essay) but did not get nominated , however still offers significant automatic merit aid and possible further scholarships we hope. Texas is another program with selective scholarship that did have 3 essays (finally completed today) but if not selected still offers instate tuition if you receive any merit aid. The others are common app schools so just the common app essay and supplements for those.
Essays are not my son's strength so we took advantage of any preferred app that waived the essay if on our list. And saved the stress for essays for selective scholarships or honors programs. Not to say that the stress level has not been high.

He has great schools to choose from, but we spread a wide net, basically choosing carefully from schools that had great programs,possibly honors colleges and where merit aid would make it feasible to attend. He knows how much per year we can contribute and if the school he chooses fits in that range, he can go.

parent56 · 10-30-2009, 09:23 PM

one other thing i should add for perspective, son attends a school 6 hours away so we arent in each others face about college all the time. Because of the distance, I didnt feel helicoptery when i put together a binder of the apps, necessary forms and timelines and mailed it to him. then i would text him a to do list for the week... sometimes he did it, other times he didnt. When he was filling out apps, he could call me while filling it out if he had questions, or just call for the handy dandy credit card number. He emailed his essays to me for review and unfortunatley those often ended in phone calls with higher stress levels. While on the one hand it was a frustrating process to do from a distance, perhaps it made it easier?? He of course felt i didnt understand the level of other work he had to do, if he didnt get certain college things done, and I felt like he could have spent time more wisely. However so far it is turning out wonderfully for both of us.

2boysima · 10-31-2009, 10:21 AM

Parent56 - Thanks for taking the time for your detailed response. A very well thought out plan..and...very open discussions with your S. So many famlies could benefit from this approach.....

Hope your S now realizes how helpful your suggestions and guidance have been.....!

parent56 · 10-31-2009, 11:01 AM

2boys i can't take all the credit for the gameplan. it started with momfromtexas threads, but we modified it. We were not adamant about full ride but did want possibly full tuition. so therefore didnt feel a need to move down a tier or 2. In fact i was just reading the world ranking post and see a number of the schools he applied to in the top 100. And i certainly have to thank a couple of posters who were so generous with their information about specific schools and allowed me to communicate by pm!!!!! couldnt have put together a final list without their help.

squidgerwinks · 11-01-2009, 01:46 AM

I hope you mean months and not kids. :-)

sgdude · 11-02-2009, 08:28 PM

Louisiana State
Arizona State

waiting on Arizona, Ohio State, and TEXAS. I'm OOS from NM. The only one I'm worried about is UT. I have a ~3.2 UW (took APs, but school weighs funny) and ~1900 SAT.

BfloGal · 11-04-2009, 02:10 PM

Can anyone recommend any posts, here or elsewhere, that give great advice for creating a list of schools for kids with say a 2.8-3.1 GPA?

Or, is there a magic dividing line once you hit 3.0, such that a much bigger world of choices opens up? (In other words, all else being equal, do a 2.9 and 3.0 kid have the same chance of being accepted?)

Thanks.

elizabethh · 11-04-2009, 05:21 PM

Once upon a time there was a thread that I had started regarding my son's acceptance as a 2.9 student. It's been absorbed into this thread (I think?). Anyway, here are the schools we looked at for my son, though of course he didn't apply to them all - they are all within reach, though some are a little more difficult than others - if you look them up on Collegeboard.com or PrincetonReview.com, you can get a better idea of the mid-range for gpa and sat/act scores. Also, if you look up their common data - google the school name and common data - you will get a detailed report of who got in and with what stats. Don't be discouraged - our B/C students can find a school!

University of Arizona
Arizona State
Northern Arizona (accepted already)
Colorado State/Fort Collins
University of Hawaii - Manoa
Hofstra University
Syracuse University (only some schools)
University of Alabama
University of Nebraska
University of Kansas
Kansas State
Washington State
Seattle University
Chico State
Sacramento State

there are tons of other schools out there. My son was only interested in applying to big schools with football teams, so that limited our choices, but you can find lots of smaller schools and especially privates that might work for you. ALL of the schools listed above have average gpas above 2.9, but don't let that discourage you - NAU where my son was accepted has an average gpa of 3.4.

BfloGal · 11-05-2009, 02:29 PM

Thanks elizabethh. Not sure my son wants a big school, but your list is a great start.

Anyone have a list of smaller schools (ie, ones that would consider a 2.9 kid)? Public/private doesn't matter.

Thanks.

Lafalum84 · 11-05-2009, 03:07 PM

^^^ Your in-state college system might be a good place to start. Not necessarily the big flagship state U's, but the smaller local college system.

SusanMiranda · 11-06-2009, 12:20 PM

Congrats to all of the parents with kids who've received their first (of many??!) acceptance letters. My D received her 1st, yesterday; Chicago's Loyola! Yippee.

Tmac18 · 11-09-2009, 08:43 PM

So far I've gotten into University of Iowa, along with a few local schools that I really have no desire of going to. I'm still waiting for UIUC (December 11th decision date), Minnesota, Purdue, Marquette, Northwestern, and Tulane. I got most of my apps in just in the last week or two.

Aerienne · 11-09-2009, 09:37 PM

I got accepted to 2 of my safeties today--big surprise that results came so quickly! A nice phone call and a boring letter haha. Quincy University with a big merit scholarship and potential for full ride, and letter of acceptance to University of Utah.

Just makes me smile that I'm going to -A- college, haha.

Congrats everyone! Way to get on this college business early!