It’s not too late to make a new plan if you’ve received denials so far. https://insights.collegeconfidential.com/denied-every-college
If you were denied to every campus you applied to - something was terribly wrong with your college list and you didn’t research your campuses OR there was a reflag in your application. Did you research your campuses? Did you profile place you within range of accepted students (see www.collegedata.com? Did you use the Net Price Calculator? Did you express interest in the campus? Did you research your major AT the campus? Did you spend time on your essays? Did you apply to 2 safety schools? Did you apply to campuses where you were a good fit? I have never heard of a student rejected to every campus they applied to - you had to have approached it with little effort to find yourself in this predicament. You have 3 choices 1) Consider attending a community college and transferring to a State College as a Junior or private college as a Sophomore. 2) Take a gap year, plan it wisely, build a researched college list and spend time on your applications. 3) Check out the NACAC Space Available list beginning next month and after using the NPC consider contacting campuses with space available and a graduation rate OVER 60% in 4 years.
I am so privileged that DD20 has an amazing college counselor at her school and a consultant from a community organization. Even with having so much assistance navigating this college process is not easy. Now DS09 went to a blue ribbon magnet school and I got zero help from the counselor and a young lady who she told was not college material is now a registered nurse. DD07 was a total experiment, never once heard from a counselor or received any information about college planning from her school. With each child I gained a little more knowledge. I’m just saying this to say that those who did not get accepted anywhere were not necessarily negligent perhaps they just did not have the education, assistance and knowledge that so many of us have. There are children who are being discharged from foster care, first generation students who have parents who did not speak the language or have a high school diploma themselves, or children who are doing everything on their own with no parental involvement etc. The ideas listed above are great if you are aware of the process and can get past the acronyms which here on CC are plentiful. I just think we have to be very careful not to make assumptions. I do try to share the things I have learned with others with the hope that they will be that much further ahead than I was.
You can’t know what you don’t know. You can’t know about things you have yet to discover.
I don’t know if OP means as of right now or at graduation. Currently, there are still colleges in my daughter’s email extending their deadlines and if applying for arts & sciences, many of our secondary state system schools are taking applications.
@Sarrip is correct regarding the reasons someone might have trouble navigating the process and not applying realistically or timely. It’s a daunting process for everyone, more so if you have little guidance and knowledgeable support.
Wow! I really take offense to the @CollegePathDavis that we have done something wrong in our college search and research which was so extensive my eyes were about the bleed and my legs were so cramped I almost needed a wheel chair. Now, granted he’s not been DENIED everywhere, but he has only been accepted to our state flagship thus far, 5 deferrals, 2 rejections, thus waiting to hear on 17 schools. Every single school he applied to he was at least at the 50th percentile for stats and many higher and some over 90th percentile. We visited. He wrote essay upon essay. Wrote every supplemental essay for his major that was offered. Sent supplements for his major. And on and on. What we may have done is believe the need-blind hype and/or the myth that need aware schools only factor need if you are a borderline student. These are likely lies. He has need and we believed that BS that abounds on the web that I previously noted. If he’s denied everywhere in the end besides UMASS that will be the reason ( as he’s not URM or from a rural area) not because we/he did not cast a wide net or research extensively.
It does sound like your list may not have had enough safeties on it. On the other hand, if your son likes UMass, it’ll be OK. The idea is that you should have at least one safety you “love.”
Adding that I believe @collegepathdavis’ kid is applying for theater and/or MT…those tend to be competitive majors with acceptance rates that are sometimes far lower than the school’s overall average admission rate.
Isn’t it too early to be thinking about regrouping? Most schools don’t send out decisions until the end of March. This time last year my DD19 had 2 rejections from her ED, and EDII schools, and only 1 acceptance from a safety and it was a dark time for her (and me). By the end of March she heard back from the 12 other schools. Hang in there!!
@Charlie2772 So you applied to 25 colleges? Top 20 schools are crap shoots for most anyone. Colleges in the 30-60 range often look for demonstrated interest. It is impossible to demonstrate interest in 25 or so colleges. Some nets are cast too widely.
Correcting my post in #6…I believe @Charlie2772 's kid is applying to colleges for theater and/or MT programs…many of which tend to be highly competitive, even at schools that overall aren’t the most selective. Casting a wide net is necessary in this case.
@TomSrOfBoston He applied to 20. We researched EVERY SINGLE ONE, From the stats to the student body to the types of programs. We toured 17 of the 20 ( and another he did not apply to). 3 were too far to go. He interviewed at 17 of the 20 ( a couple of alumna/alumni never called him or got in touch). A large, carefully researched, net was cast based on the selectivity of many of the colleges. 5 were reaches, 11 were targets, 4 were safeties. I love research and do it for a living. To insinuate that we did not do our do diligence is insulting.
typo=due diligence. This doesn’t let me edit.
You can edit by clicking the gear box in the upper right of your post. You have 15 minutes.
@Mwfan1921 He is applying to some audition schools, and yes he is a theatre major, but most are BAs as he wants to double major in Theatre/Drama and Government/Poly Sci. I did get the idea to cast a wide net from other kids applying to BFA programs which can be equally hard to get into as an Ivy League school. However, in my research, I did read that if you apply to 20 selective colleges, you’d probably get into 2-3 (maybe 4) so the same idea. Cast a wide net and increase your chances. The selectivity ranged from 8% acceptance rate (no not rejected from those school yet, deferred by one) to 60% acceptance rate (yes, he is accepted there.) I appreciate you’re checking my son’s college trajectory.
“If he’s denied everywhere in the end besides UMASS …”
If he is denied everywhere in the end except for an acceptance to U.Mass Amherst, then he will still have a very good university to attend in September. I have worked with many graduates from U.Mass. I know a fairly lengthy list of graduates from there who are excellent coworkers and who have done very well in life.
You only get to attend one university at a time. If your safety is very good (eg U.Mass), then you do not need to apply to a long list of safeties. If your safety is very good, then 1 acceptance and 23 rejections still leaves you attending a very good school, although the 23 rejections are going to hurt.
I do think that university admissions in the US has gotten insanely unpredictable. Higher ranked schools will deny you because you to not add whatever they want to their student body even if you are above their 50th percentile for test scores and grades and have good references. Lower ranked schools will deny you because they are afraid that you are using them as a safety and they want to protect their “yield”. I feel lucky that we live close enough to the border that we can have a safety in our in-state public university and more safeties to the north or east of us in Canada.
Your S sounds like an interesting kid! It’s great that he has the UMass acceptance.
Good luck over the next couple of months, I know the waiting is stressful. And then it’s hard for parents to not show their stress to the kid. I hope that things work out well for him.
@katliamom He has 4-5 safeties on his list. I have been told, on this very sight, that kids can be deferred who are overqualified due to yield protection/Tufts syndrome because they are likely to reject an acceptance. But, other way he has enough safties. He just hasn’t heard a final decision from all of them yet.
In my opinion you did too much due diligence and now you are stressed out. Keeping up with 20 applications and trying to “show interest” is not easy and far more than most parents, even CC parents, are doing.
IMO, it’s more important to look at overall acceptance rates than where high stats kids fall in terms of GPA/test scores. If a school has an acceptance rate below 25-30%, it’s a reach for all. Students also need to remember that a school’s overall acceptance rate may not apply for students applying for competitive majors or if it’s a state school, the differences in residency.
@Charlie2772 - So glad your child has an early acceptance at a great school with UMass! Hopefully there will be more options when the application cycle is over. There is still a long time to go for many schools.
TomSrofBoston - Charlie2772 's son is not the only cc kid who applied to 20 or more schools. It is manageable for some people (and yes, stressful). I think it depends on the student and parent(s) whether or not it is appropriate and ‘do-able.’ The common app makes it more feasible. Further, only some schools care about demonstrated interest.