And given one of my kids got 19 interviews from this strategy and 5 offers. The other got a job with our state off indeed as well as two more one summer and 7 offers for a DC internship by using indeed - some may not agree with the strategy but it has worked for many - and not just my kids but others who have thanked me on this website for the advice bcuz it worked for their kids.
When you don’t have contacts or profs or alums aren’t helping, try something else.
I used to not care for it when people said “everyone ends up where they are supposed to” or “everything works out how it’s supposed to.” Because, in my view, it doesn’t have the virtue of being true. But, now I see it as a nice thing about human nature: we look to make the best of a situation.
I am annoyed by the platitude “you’ll never know why you didn’t get in” when it is said to students prospectively when they’re still trying to decide whether to apply to certain schools. It is a lazy response that is spouted here repeatedly. The whole point of chance me threads or threads where students are looking for some guidance as they apply to schools is to help them parse their qualifications and make predictions about admissions chances based on information we have about the students and the schools they are considering. Saying “you’ll never know why you didn’t get in” is an inane truism that is completely unhelpful as students try to figure out if it makes sense to apply to particular schools.
That said, it can sometimes be a helpful nugget of perspective after a student has already applied to a school or was rejected from a school if the student seems to be overly obsessing on the school. In that case, there is nothing more the student can do and telling them that perseverating over their perceived weaknesses is not productive could indeed be a helpful piece of advice because, alas, “they will never know why they didn’t get in.” That is the context in which this platitude makes sense.
And the flip side of that, “you won’t get in if you don’t apply”. In many cases, it’s unhelpful to encourage a student to spend time, money and energy on a potshot pie-in-the-sky application that most all here can predict the outcome.
“My student is very tolerant, open minded, and accepting but under no circumstances will they apply to schools in these states A,B, and C because of X, Y, Z.”
It would be nice if those posting the chance/match threads would clearly state that, rather than leave it out or give some vague or ambiguous statement that tends to take several posts to clarify.
Along the same lines as thumper’s comment I get annoyed when kids say cost isn’t a factor and people comment that they should “hug your parents and say thank you”. Um, ok. I’m all for gratitude but it just feels like a weird reply to a kid asking for college advice. CLEARLY not everyone agrees…but that’s my answer on what annoys me.
Do you have a suggestion as to how you want that written? Many posters say “cost is not an issue” or “my parents are willing to be full pay”. Short of saying something tacky like “we are in the top 1% and are comfortable with any cost” what would you prefer they say? While yes, applicants need to be mindful of cost and the ability to pay, especially if they are then considering professional school (which many who mention it don’t ultimately pursue), if a student has said they don’t need to address cost, it sometimes comes across as badgering when the “can you pay $300+?” type posts persist in that poster’s thread. JMO
Seems most would love free (merit) money! Who wouldn’t want tuition discounting? Seems if a kid said “we are full pay but merit would be nice”, that’s different than “I need merit money to attend.” If they don’t need the merit, then how they choose to spend their money is their business. Some don’t prefer to go with the cheapest option. They go with the best option for the student.
I can see how “no budget” could be ambiguous, but it comes across to me as “full pay ok”. Ditto with “N/A”. Maybe ask/add to the “chance me” format a specific example or two and suggest they use those in their response
And merit scholarships often come with other perks. Who wouldn’t want them?
That would be me who says that. It’s a huge gift to be given a free undergrad college education at full cost anywhere. Our kids have thanked us more than once for this. I think thanking one’s parents for this is a nice thing to do.
“All ABET-accredited engineering programs are the same.”
ABET only requires an engineering program to offer courses in certain areas (e.g., mechanical must offer thermodynamics and fluid mechanics). The details are up to the program and individual instructors — how many courses for each area, which topics to cover/skip, how fast/deep should instructors go, and how difficult should homework/exams be. These choices are affected by quality of the student body, causing an engineering student who goes to, say, Purdue and another who goes to a weaker ABET-accredited program to have substantially different academic training/experience.
