<p>Hello all! I'm new here to CC but I had read something about CC before and decided to gather an opinion.</p>
<p>My family and I are from Georgia and my son (or S as I've seen denoted) is a senior in high school. All year he has been planning and pining for University of Georgia (UGA) and we were met this March with a waitlist decision. None of our family was happy with the decision but we have been trying to encourage him to move on with plan B.
Unfortunately, as you all may know, teenagers are stubborn and he refuses to let go of his slim chance at UGA.
He has already been accepted to Kennesaw State University and Georgia State University with Georgia State being his plan B. </p>
<p>We took a tour of GSU and we are really trying to get him excited about attending but every day is just more moping about UGA. At this point I think I would have rather had him denied so he wouldn't be going through this but we are still holding out that chance at his top choice. </p>
<p>I feel I have told him all I can tell him and we just need to wait for the waitlist decisions mid May. It'd be great to get a second opinion, although I think I'm right ;)</p>
<p>Can't wait till I go through this again with our daughter! </p>
<p>If you’ve already sent back the forms to Georgia State, then there you go- plan B in action. At this point, he either will or won’t get accepted off the waitlist, but it’s not like you need to know that in order to craft plan B.</p>
<p>So try to model positive behavior; ask him if he’d like a sweatshirt from Georgia State; start to focus on his HS graduation and let him get used to the idea that UGA is likely not going to happen.</p>
<p>he will move on… give him another few weeks to pine.</p>
<p>Let him pine. Presumably he has now chosen the second choice. He should do everything he must for that choice - housing choices, summer course registrations or whatever. Maybe UGA will come through, maybe it won’t. I’ve known kids who got off waitlists in August and happily switched gears. And many, many more do have settle for second choice and end up loving it. </p>
<p>Thank you all so much for the responses!
@Youdon’tsay Wow. What a realistic view of his chances are. He wouldn’t let us see his waitlist letter for this information but looks like Georgia State is where he will be!</p>
<p>@blossom I think we will take another trip or two down to GSU just to give him a better feel for the campus and hopefully ignite some positive attitude. He got into a college and I think that should be an accomplishment on its own.</p>
<p>@mathmom I hope he does end up having a great time at GSU! He has already mentioned transferring to UGA as soon as possible though </p>
<p>It’s ok to have a possible goal of transfer… good incentive to keep up the GPA. But in the meantime he just might fall in love with GSU and not want to leave his new friends.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I have a old college friend in Georgia whose daughter had her heart broken when she wasn’t acceptd to UGA…she <em>very</em> reluctantly went to <a href=“http://www.gcsu.edu/”>http://www.gcsu.edu/</a> and you can guess the end of the story. After 1 quarter, she fell in love with the place…and even after visiting friends at UGA for the weekend, told her mom, “I am <em>so</em> happy I didn’t go there.” </p>
<p>@colorado_mom He’s been telling us he will try and get all A’s at GSU to be the best transfer applicant. Let’s see how that goes ;)</p>
<p>@SouthernHope Sounds like a happy ending! We visited GCSU as well but unfortunately didn’t apply before their April 1st deadline. Seemed like a very quiet LAC with lots of Mac computers! So happy that your friend’s daughter has had a great experience!</p>
<p>My kid was deferred for ED at her top choice. When it came to RD, her local admission rep said to her GC that they could WL her, but she thought it was better if they just outright denied her so she could move on. D1 was very heartbroken initially, but after one week at the school she matriculated, she couldn’t imagine to be at her ED school. Kids move on, just give them some time.</p>
<p>That is a tough thing. My D got a few wait-lists including her number 1 pick. She did accept a spot on the wait-list for the favorite but she also knew that financial aid wasn’t a sure thing for wait-listed kids. Even if they gave her a spot, it was not likely she could afford to go! Thankfully, third choice came through and after admitted students day, finding lovely room-mate and a school sweatshirt, her affections shifted big time. At this point, even if top pick gave her a spot, she wouldn’t likely take it.</p>
<p>Is Georgia State the local option? Is it the school where a lot of kids he grew up with go? If so, it may take him actually starting school to feel better about it. Lots of kids fear that the local college will just be “more high school” without really understanding how large those local states are! </p>
<p>I suspect it’ll get better after high school graduation and certainly after he starts!</p>
<p>@oldfort So glad to hear all these kids becoming satisfied with their plan B schools!</p>
<p>@turtletime Georgia State is in the heart of Atlanta like Georgia Tech or Emory and will be a 30 minute commute for him. I think part of his reluctance is still living at home rather than in a dorm at UGA. I think most students in his school are going to KSU, however. </p>
<p>But GSU is very large; UGA comparable in size. Hope he finds a niche there!</p>
<p>My suggestion is to consider wait list as rejection. The chance of getting off wait list is rather low in most cases. If that does happen, it will give you a joyful surprise. But do not expect anything that is going to happen and move on as it is a rejection.</p>
<p>I didn’t have a second-choice school because I didn’t have a choice, period. I was told I was going to the regional state university in my hometown. But I do feel like I made the most of what I was given and my college experience was great. Most people are able to bloom where they are planted - I hope your son can too. </p>
<p>This may be a nice article for you to read. Many students to go a school other than their first choice and end up loving it. Hope that is the case for your son if he ends up at GSU. I agree, all you can do is keep things positive.
<a href=“http://www.thecollegiateblog.org/2013/07/24/student-stories/”>Loading...;
<p>My son had to choose between his 4th and 5th ranked schools and he had a rough time. He still has some hope for a waitlist phone call, but he knows, deep down, it is unlikely. I’m not sure he will fully embrace the school he’ll be attending in the fall until that mid-May deadline passes. </p>
<p>@sitamom - Some of DS’s friends go to Georgia State and they like it. Does he have to commute? I would think that might be part of his reluctance. </p>
<p>@Bestfriendsgirl I agree! A lot of college is what you make of it! I think I read on this website that it’s 20% where you go and 80% what you make of it. </p>
<p>@happy1 What a great experience from the article! Second choice schools can be just as rewarding! </p>
<p>@MichiganGeorgia He will have to make about a 30-45 minute commute every day so we agreed, no morning classes 
He really wants to full college experience with dorms and the like but due to our financial situation, commuting is our best option. </p>
<p>Because he earlier poster referred you to the UGA Waiting List Stats for their common data set (2007) but didn’t just outright save you the time and give you the information, I will:</p>
<p>Number of qualified applicants offered a placed on waiting list: 1.206
Number accepting a place on the waiting list 732
Number of wait-listed students admitted 4</p>
<p>That’s about a .003 probability of acceptance. Noted.</p>
<p>@makennacompton Thank you for the data set! His chances are indeed slim. Schools just get better and better at predicting their yield! </p>
<p>@sitamom - It sounds like Georgia State is his best option then since I can’t imagine he would be able to commute to UGA and you would have the dorm expense.</p>
