@Kelvin82 - Thanks for the updates…we’re all rooting for you!
I’d be happy to look over any of your essays, btw.
Love your Zen approach to it all!
So glad to hear the interview went well. Thanks for keeping us posted.
I had my Princeton interview yesterday; I think it went well. Next week I have completely off, and I’m probably going to use that time to finish applications for UCs and USC, and also going to make pastries for Thanksgiving
Congratulations on the interview - rest and bake as much as you can!
Always excited to see new posts on this thread. We are all rooting for you! Happy Thanksgiving and a special good luck wish with the USC app. The research and time you have put into your app season has been very impressive, along with your great attitude throughout the process. (And fun to follow along!) A college will be very lucky to have you as their student. Just look how far you have come and what you have done since you titled this thread and wrote that first post.
Ups and downs are a normal part of the college process - so stay strong! The finish line is in sight. I feel confident you will have choices that you are happy with and will end up just where you should be.
Deferred from Princeton
Aw, I’m sorry. It’s not a rejection, though. Did you finish up your other apps?
I’m sorry… Tough and unexpected (at leat as fsr as I’m concerned). BUT not a rejection. So, focus on your other apps. You ARE going to college. It can still be Princeton, it can be elsewhere.
Sorry to hear. Deferred is a bummer in that you can’t mentally move on, bc you really may still get accepted – or not!
Time to move on. Are you working on your RD stuff for QB? Is it too late to do an ED 2 somewhere else ( and in that case, are you willing to give up on the possibility of Princeton)?
You are an exceptional candidate and it is just a matter of time and strategy for you to end up at a great school. Hang in there!
@Emsmom1 @MYOS1634 @momcinco Thank you! Finally, everything is done. All that is left to do is wait.
For reference, here is the list of schools I applied to. (Some notes: my list is very reach heavy for two reasons: I need major financial aid and I like my safety schools. Um, I also probably applied to way too many safeties)
reach schools
Yale University
Princeton University
Dartmouth College
University of Pennsylvania
UCLA
UC Berkeley
UCSD
Swarthmore College
Amherst College
Williams College
Pomona College
Carleton College
Rice University
Colby College
University of Southern California
Wellesley College
Haverford College
UCSB-College of Creative Studies
Grinnell College
Macalester College
match schools
UCSB- regular admittance
Dickinson College
Scripps College
Pitzer College
Cal Poly SLO
safety schools
CSULA
CSU Long Beach
Cal Poly Pomona
And more notes! I had my Dickinson interview yesterday. It was awesome; I loved chatting with my interviewer about the whole women in science aspect, life at Dickinson, our mutual interests in chemistry, and study abroad. She said that she received a lot of flak for choosing a LAC, but she doesn’t regret her decision. She’s at Caltech for grad school and she says she wouldn’t be where she is without the support of her undergrad advisor and mentors. It affirmed my decision that LACs would give me an intimate environment and mentoring from professors.
And more tangential sidenotes: after my interview, I got to thinking about being a big fish in a big/small pond, or a tiny fish in a large/small pond. I’m not sure which way I want to go yet, but it’s been interesting mulling over them.
My next steps are to apply for scholarships, study for finals, apply to summer programs/internships, apply to jobs, and hang out with my friends.
Also, does anyone have any experience with people with disabilities in the science fields? I’ve been reading and researching online, and virtually everyone says that people with disabilities are under-represented in STEM, especially in higher academia. I know that I would like to be in a supportive environment.
and even more tangential notes: I was contemplating about Cornell and Brown. I felt Cornell was way too large and competitive. I loved Brown, but after running the NPC, the EFC was unaffordable, so I struck it off my list. I also loved the nerdy aspect of CMU, Harvey Mudd, and MIT, but felt that a small LAC would be a better fit. They would be hail-Marys, and I already have way too much of those. My relatives overseas pressured me to apply to Columbia and Harvard, but again, I felt they would be terrible fits. I feel burnt out, to be frank.
Thank you to everyone for following on this journey.
Thanks for the update ! Yes, now, all you have to do is wait. Not as easy as it sounds.
Oh my goodness. You have certainly been doing your homework! I can’[t wait to hear yoru next updates as those apps start rolling in. I hope you can take a break at least on weekends and enjoy some time off from apps, and rest up a bit so as to be ready for the next phase. Of course there’s always schoolwork, too 
but the apps can be stressful and time-consuming – I am glad you are done with them! Thanks for including me in your update.
By all means, schools whose NPCs don’t show enough fin aid should come off list right away.
Glad to hear that you are moving closer to defining the learning environment you think would best suit you, an LAC. That should help as you approach decision making time.
Another parent reading your story and wishing you well.
Thank you! @mamomof3 @MYOS1634
To be honest @momcinco I’m unsure right now if I like the smallness of the campus sizes of LACs. Most of the LACs I’ve applied to are smaller than my high school. I love the small class sizes of LACs and the really close relationships I can form with the professors, but after visiting Swarthmore, I felt that I wanted a larger campus? Sigh, still hesitant.
I’m also having the nagging feeling of thinking there’s a school that I might have missed, a school that is perfect for me but I haven’t stumbled onto it yet. I’ve been trying to tamp down the feeling; I feel that my current list is already pretty lengthy and that I fit the schools on my list. I guess I’ve been comparing myself with others and am having buyers remorse.
In my area, college admissions is treated like the endgame. Virtually everyone around me is competitive and they are gunning for the top 20 universities on USNWR. It also doesn’t help that all of my old afterschool teachers expect me to matriuclate to an Ivy or top 20, after seeing a fellow classmate get accepted to Caltech EA. Only a handful of kids have chosen to matriculate at LACs in the past 4 years. And being first generation and low income, I feel the pressure of attaining perfection. It’s like that I’ll only have one chance, and I can’t afford to mess up. I’ve been doing my best to ignore my doubts and repeating the mantra to not compare myself to other people.
And since I’m considering graduate school, articles say that grad school admission officers like to see graduate courses, which LACs usually don’t have.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
28 schools is a daunting number. You will love wherever you end up.
Thanks Kelvin82. You have explained a lot of what you are thinking. I remember your saying before that after a fly-in you thought an LAC might be too small. That is also understandable, You will get a bunch of acceptances, and then you may want to make another round of visits (as fin aid pans out and those offers come in). You’ll be fine.
@Kelvin82 - Long time, no hear!
While your list is already too long, I think you should reconsider Mudd – for STEM, it’s beyond superb. It’s got the best aspects of an LAC but as part of the consortium has the resources and population of a research uni. And the Claremonts are wonderful for with people with disabilities with respect to accommodations, and support.
Wow, congrats on getting all those apps in, interviews done, etc!
Some links for you:
https://youtu.be/_3hNKwaKMoc?t=2m14s
http://blueline.ucdavis.edu/2ndTier/3rdTier/Accessibility.html
It’s going to be an interesting decision process once you know what all of your options will be!