As is the young homeless man. I just wish the media would stop with these stories all together or do a story that will actually be useful to some of the most vulnerable students going through the process These stories amount to nothing but a whole lot of made up sensationalism on a slow news day
My D18 was admitted to 7 schools and was offered $506,000 in merit scholarships. If she had applied to enough schools to be accepted by 50, she could have been offered over $3.6M in scholarships! We’d be rich I tell you…RICH! We really undershot our application number but I will be sure not to make that mistake again with S23!!
I talked about this on a similar thread last year, but the reasoning behind the media is typically one to motivate younger students in those communities to believe that college is possible. My neighborhood high school had an average ACT score of 15 when I was in high school and still today places top ACT scores at the school (tends to run between a 26-28) on the marquee sign outside of the school every spring. That school also encourages applying to as many colleges as possible and look for media attention (student last year got into over 100 schools even though half were from the Black Common App which can be done quickly). The expert opinions and advice that occurs on CC are not the real world for students like the one in the article. The expert advice would help in some ways (explaining that the sticker price is not actual at full need schools). But I have talked about one of the dirty little secrets of top colleges in America (they tend not to chose kids from low performing schools over a low income kid who opted for Magnet or Top boarding schools on scholarship) because those kids are more prepared for both the rigor and social aspects of attending college with a well off student body. Kids from my neighborhood high school very rarely got into our non elite state flagship, so what are the chances of them getting into a full need institution?
I know that the kids profiled in these articles are not “CC level kids” but I am always surprised when we jump on the kids lack of knowledge versus the systematic issues that cause such disparities in the American educational system. We all know that applying to so many schools is pretty much a waste of time and resources, but I prefer to reach out and give my experience back to those communities rather than to mock the achievements of a student who worked so hard (even if was in vain).
@pishicaca. I laughed so hard when I read that. Too bad they just don’t send us the money first… Lol…
Yea, I thought the amount she was awarded total was very low. Same thing with my two kids applying to like 10 schools… The numbers were around /over what you stated.
As a parent I do hope she finds a college that is affordable though.
@sybbie719 - completely agree that the sensationalism is inappropriate and misplaced. That was the point of this thread. I did some volunteer work with the Kipp schools. Wish other schools would encourage and help more with the whole college process.
This is what should be labelled as fake news as it misguides ignorant readers and undermines admission results of better students. It also raises unrealistic expectations among prospective students and their families. It burdens admissions process with too many useless applications and pushes genuinely interested students to waitlist.
Inspiration porn is what a lot of this is. A lot of times the news gets stories wrong. I know this because I’ve read too many stories with glaring fact errors and omissions.
As far as this young woman’s story: Good for her and enjoy her moment in the sun. Get the best deal and get to work. I don’t look at the “black swan” cases as something expected, though it gives us all some lesson on how it is possible to get a number of scholarship offers, if you can find your niche. I’ve known many kids, including my youngest, who had multiple free and nearly free options to college, or very reasonable costs for college, by looking in the right places. It’s often possible to do.
I agree with @ChangeTheGame . This student is very different than a val headed to Georgia Tech or Yale. Her school hasn’t prepared her for that and I have a feeling she’s okay at volleyball but not D1 material. I did watch the signing video and the principal WAS using her experience to motivate other students. Is the goal to motivate them just to finish high school and go to some college? Probably. If it takes a big signing ceremony and going on Good Morning America to do that, that’s what the principal is going to use.
I hope she does well at Penn State Beaver.
Georgia teen accepted to 50 colleges makes her choice
https://www.wthr.com/article/georgia-teen-accepted-50-colleges-makes-her-choice
It doesn’t say Beaver in the article, but the letter of intent she is signing says PSUAC(Penn State University Athletic Conference).
@twoinanddone Except Penn State Beaver isn’t even affordable. That’s how so many first gens end up in debt and with no degree. No one is criticizing this young woman. We’re criticizing the system that is playing this up without giving all of the relevant details. This is not an example for others to follow. This is an example of how to apply widely to colleges you won’t be able to afford even if you get in and aren’t your best options. I’m very familiar with GA, and she had a number of options below UGA/GT. For a first gen student, getting a good education is the priority, not playing volleyball. She could have played club volleyball at a number of schools, and compared to Penn State Beaver, that’s what she should have pursued and what a good counselor would have recommended.
“No one is criticizing this young woman.”
This should be true and I wish it were, but this is proven false in this very thread.
My question is a little off topic. How did she navigate her SAT/ACT scores? Do a lot of colleges not require official scores until you want to accept? Also, I wonder how she managed the FAFSA. If they are indeed not savvy with college admissions, how would they know the PIA way you have to get more than 10 schools on it? (Side question - how do they deal with this on the common app for HBCUs?)
@MomOf3DDs I can speak to my daughter’s experience using the Black Common App last year. On the Black Common App (BCA), it asks for 4 primary schools (my daughter used it for 2 schools she wanted to apply to but she filled in the 4 primary schools). You are able to use a PDF copy of your transcript and SAT/ACT scores to attach to the BCA . I believe that PDF copy was good enough until one wanted to accept admittance at most if not all of the schools and then an official copy of the SAT/ACT scores would need to be sent. When it comes to adding more than 10 schools on the FAFSA, my daughter and I did not know how to go past 10 schools initially and just looked it up right as we were doing the FAFSA and it was easy to find on the FAFSA website and online. My daughter initially only added her 2 BCA schools to the FAFSA list, but got accepted into another 10 schools, most who offered her full rides without adding them to the FAFSA (although all said they would need the FAFSA completed by a certain date) based on her transcript and SAT scores alone. If she wanted all 53 schools to evaluate her info it would have taken maybe another 10 minutes to mark all of the boxes saying she wanted all of the schools to look at her information and some of the schools looked at the information and gave decisions and full rides scholarships anyway.
@Postmodern I concur. The only solace I take is that I know she does not care what CC folks think about her (along with the other soon to be announced school promoted and sanctioned media stories about low income African American students from low performing high schools who have massed applied and received scholarship dollars) It is sad in a way because the knowledge on CC could have helped her target and focus her applications like @itsgettingreal17 pointed out for a better outcome.
I see sensationalized media stories on bad things done by and happening to people of color in inner-city areas on a daily basis (just turn on the news in Metro Atlanta), but a story about a young African American woman trying to achieve something is a problem for some? Really?
The point is there is no need to this to be national news or glorifying the admissions process as is. The community can celebrate her success all they want. Her process is understandable, I haven’t seen a lot of jumping on this student. It would be nice if there were more resources to guide low-income students. I also have no issue with her school choice. There are advantages to being a big fish while doing an undergrad degree.
I’d much rather see shows like GMA do exposes on how the current process is harmful for students, how the FA system doesn’t actually work for many real family’s budgets, why do some elites have 20% of their student from the top 1%, what the real stats are on a kid in the bottom 20% actually getting into an elite school vs. the top 1%, discussion on what be in the top 20 vs. the top 100+ actually means at most schools, the reality of student debt, etc. Let’s demystify the process and stop glorifying the student rat race.
@MusakParent They are not glorifying the student rat race. That girl is not really part of the race our children are a part of. If she was part of the student rat race, the young lady in the article could not compete with 90% of the students who frequent CC. What they were doing is trying to motivate a student body (and those like it) who have a much lower success/outcomes with higher education. I don’t like it (the school using a top student for their own purposes), but I understand it. My kids and your kids are definitely not competing with her because they had already have a good portion of the race won due to our backgrounds as educated parents. The conversation that you would rather see from GMA would have never touch that young lady or her school. The only other time that I see schools like hers in the media is when something bad has happened.
It seems that she probably could have used some of the time she spent applying to reflect on what she wanted to get out of college.
It seems equally likely that she could have devoted some of that time to improving her SAT scores or whatever.
For example, my kid wanted urban. So he only applied to urban schools. He didn’t waste anyone’s time racking up acceptances at schools in our region he would never end up attending.
I feel bad for the unknown kids on the bubble who didn’t get any merit aid because someone who would never wind up at that school hoarded the slot.
Well here’s an interesting note: It appears Janekia has an OLDER sister, Danika, who signed a letter of intent a year ago and is playing basketball at Johnson University in FL on a full scholarship (this says academic and sports) https://www.wrdw.com/content/sports/Laney-basketball-player-signs-to-play-in-college-479728203.html. So this was not this family’s first rodeo when it comes to the college application process. While it looks like the older sister was scouted and there is no indication that Janekia was (at least not from reports), its not clear whether or where the older sister might have applied elsewhere as well, but since she wasn’t recruited until January of her senior year, hopefully they had applied elsewhere as well before then. There are aspects of this process that might have been more familiar to this family. And, with 2 in college, even with the older sister on a full scholarship, the EFC this year should be halved.
And now Janekia has a GoFundMe page, to raise $10K. This is so sad on so many levels.
I looked that Johnson University up. Makes even less sense than current student’s choice. Someone needs to offer them some college counseling for the younger children. I’d gladly work with them, as this is ridiculous.
Can you do Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m?