I’m sorry that January is feeling hard. If it’s the patience (or lack thereof) waiting for the last decisions, perhaps just focus on the good news while waiting? Your D’s got four great acceptances: Arizona, Clemson, Baylor, and Mines. Spending time learning about all the wonderful opportunities at those schools and what is particularly appealing for your D might help wile the time away.
Or if thinking about colleges is stressful, then perhaps think about things that you and your D can do together over the next 8 months? Movie nights, cooking together, going for a hike, or whatever sounds like a good way to spend some quality time together.
It’s all of it—the waiting, the processing of the acceptances, the decision making, the realization that she will be gone and nothing will ever be the same again.
And while I am over the moon happy for her—she deserves this! — I am sad for me. I’m going to miss her so much. In some weird way, it feels like the end of parenting, even though I know that isn’t true.
I have a snare player on the drum line also pursuing engineering. Take a look at Ohio State depending on how serious/competitive she is. There is a great documentary on YouTube about the time and dedication their band members have to put in. Osu is sometimes very generous with merit to out of state kids. The YouTube documentary is called tbdbitl 141
Accepted to CU Boulder, with merit, but placed into exploratory studies instead of Engineering.
It’s disconcerting to say the least to get one letter saying how exemplary your achievements are (scholarship letter) and another letter saying you aren’t good enough for Engineering.
I’m going to bet you dinner that the letter didn’t say you weren’t “good enough” for engineering. There are different levels of preparation that students bring to their university after HS. If your prep is not as rigorous as most kids in the program, they are doing you a favor. Engineering is tough with a high fall-off rate even if you are superbly prepared.
Of course those were not the exact words. It was along the lines of we cannot offer you admission to Engineering, but we’re confident you can still be a good student overall.
Yes we know engineering is hard. Her dad is an engineer; most of her cousins are engineers. Her stats are well within guidelines for Engineering at Boulder. Plus she has acceptances from other very fine engineering colleges.
If she got a scholarship to CU, then that’s great news! Was the scholarship sufficient to bring the school within budget? I have read reports of people who were originally placed in exploratory studies who ended up getting offers for the school of engineering as the spring went on, so I don’t think all hope is lost. Prior to the decision coming out, was CU still her first choice?
I don’t know that my daughter has a first choice at this point. Not getting a direct admit into Engineering at Boulder (especially since they have that particular program she was excited about) is initially very off putting. They are also possibly the most expensive, except we are waiting to hear how much Clemson will give her.
Of her acceptances so far, she is most thrilled about Clemson. She is extremely interested in Miami; a rejection from there will be very disappointing. I don’t have a good feeling, but hope I’m wrong.
We are trying to stay focused on finding the best combination of fit, major, location, band, and cost. We will know more soon, following a visit to Baylor soon and a decision from Miami.
The criteria do not seem to be too high – basically take the prerequisite courses with at least a C or better in each course and a 2.700 (B- level) or higher GPA in technical courses. The page says that “The Engineering IUT process is non-competitive; meaning, if a student meets criteria, admission is guaranteed.”
