If you’re the “hot” schools though - it’s not broken.
It’s working like a charm!!
You have created a product with high demand and low supply.
And it’s all a mirage.
Because there is a high supply of education and low demand to use it.
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OP - so sorry to hear your story, but sadly not surprised. I also live in a state with a really competitive flagship (and a similarly competitive 2nd-in-line public that many apply to in addition to our flagship, resulting in both being a very tough admit).
My younger daughter graduated in 2021 from a high performing HS and although her stats met the flagship requirements, there were too many students in her HS who had better stats, and the flagship has to cut off somewhere - so my daughter didn’t make the cut. Her older sister, with lower stats across the board, got in. It just gets harder and harder every year and more times than not, seems to be a true “roll of the dice”. It ends up being easier to swallow if they have some admits under their belt that they like, but the disappointment takes time to move on from - especially when they all have worked so hard, only to get a “no” from someplace that on paper, should be a “yes”.
All I can say is that she will be okay. The sting eventually subsides. My daughter is at a university that said “Yes!” and was in her top five, that she loves and is doing well at. I asked her after both her freshman and her sophomore years if she wanted to attempt a transfer to the flagship that rejected her (she has maintained an excellent GPA) and she said “nope”. It’s so much stress, anxiety and drama leading up to the decision, but it really is just a quick four years of their lives.
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Well put.
I wish more states offered an equivalent to the CAP program at UT. If you are qualified for UT Austin but not admitted, you are offered CAP, whereby you attend a different state university, take certain courses and get good grades, and automatically transfer at the end of frosh year. Some choose to stay where they are, and of course not all get good grades, but it is a path to admission to the flagship. Texas A&M has a similar plan.
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I’m in Maryland also. I think the problem is that there are a lot of schools locally with inflated grades and Maryland is a state with lots of kids with high test scores. At some Montgomery County schools, 20 percent or more of the class has 4.0s. Do you know what her approximate class rank is? Did she apply to UMBC or Towson?
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If UMD is her top choice Maryland does offer a pathway for her.
“Students who participate in MTAP have access to transfer advising resources, can take discounted courses at UMD, and are guaranteed admission to the university upon successful completion of the program and submission of a transfer application by the early action application deadline.”
" To be eligible for MTAP, students should have graduated from high school and must be enrolled at one of the MTAP partner community colleges listed below. This program is geared towards students who intend to complete 30 credits or an associate’s degree at a participating community college, then transfer to UMD to complete a bachelor’s degree.
Participating Community Colleges:
- Anne Arundel Community College
- Carroll Community College
- Cecil College
- Chesapeake College
- College of Southern Maryland
- Community College of Baltimore County
- Frederick Community College
- Harford Community College
- Howard Community College
- Montgomery College
- Prince George’s Community College
- Wor-Wic Community College
The following types of students are ineligible to apply to MTAP. Please review our MTAP FAQs for more information.
- Spring admitted freshman
- Students who are re-enrolling at UMD
- Students currently enrolled at a four-year institution
- Students who have been academically dismissed from UMD
- Students who apply for MTAP and admission to the university at the same time
- High school students who are dually enrolled at a community college
- Students who have previously earned a bachelors degree"
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So it is a 2 year commitment requirement with CC attendance? That is long
Social media adds to the problem. There are countless videos and posts of kids who get into 50+ schools and the merit received…it’s all a “look at me and how great I am” and how many likes can I get. Applicants with not even a hint of intention of possibly attending are applying to tons of schools, clogging up the admissions process, all for the hope of going viral or some nonsense.
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I imagine she feels very demoralized and you, as her parent, feel her pain.
I am not trying to be unhelpful, but I don’t believe the system is broken. There are many fantastic colleges out there that would love to have 50-100,000 applications. Your daughter has a college to attend. The one offer is really all she needs, right? Believe it or not, we’ve seen students on this board who have no college to go to at all because they only applied to reaches, or assumed their stats were so high that the match schools would be safeties. I don’t know how many apps your daughter submitted, but it isn’t true that more apps=equals more acceptances if the list of colleges isn’t balanced.
For years, there have been posts similar to yours. This situation is unfortunately part of a vicious cycle that has become worse since the pandemic. More uncertainty breeds more uncertainty, so kids submit ever more apps, assuming something will work out. It’s the balanced list that really matters. The part of the system that is broken is the societal expectation among various demographics that a student must aim for colleges in the USNWR top 50 or so. That’s what needs fixing.
Yes, it would be helpful if all guidance counselors limited the number of apps a student can submit, but high schools have egos too. Some high schools do actually have limits. When students are now routinely submitting more than 20 apps, which was considered excessive just a few years ago, it’s at least partially the high schools who have let things get so out of control.
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It’s transfer after 30 credits or an AA. I’d think students pursuing a 4 year degree would transfer after the 30 credits, basically freshman year.
That’s similar to programs here in Ohio. In CA they require 60 (that’s two years), so it’s definitely possible if more students end up utilizing this pathway that eventually UMD could bump the requirement up. But, usually incoming classes can get grandfathered into policies.
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Well, yes, anyone with a pulse can be admitted to some college somewhere, so if that is your definition of a working system, I guess it is met.
I think it is reasonable for in-state students who are high performing to expect admittance to their flagship, or know ahead of time that it will not occur. It should not be a shock.
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I agree. It is so disheartening. Our state flagship schools are incredibly hard to get into to and so we look to neighboring state schools which seem to be the “it” schools that everyone is applying to. I find it beyond crazy that some are applying to 50-60 schools. We have had all deferrals except for 2. It is tough.
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I don’t think limiting would be fair to those who need merit for oos public’s or privates, fit many the only way to know if it’s affordable is to apply. My kids applied to some of the same schools, my 2014 HS graduate received higher merit from some than the 2019 and 2021 grads even though her stats were lower. It stinks having to complete all of those applications and essays, but if you aren’t eligible for FA and can’t afford full price? Some are blessed not to have to worry about affordability.
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For UMD, sons friend with SAT over 1500 did not get in. In state.
Prior year friends daughter got in with 1450. Her friend with same stats and ECs went TO got into honors. So friends daughter wished she went TO.
It’s a crapshoot.
Firmly believe most things happpen for a reason and it will work out.
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Thank you everyone - what a wonderful community! I do believe it will all be ok, and I do see a bit more now about the odds we didn’t fully understand we were up against with TO. She was so stressed out with 20hrs a week in dance rehearsals we decided to focus more on grades rather than a standardized test we believed was optional. BTW I did look at the CDS for many of these schools before making that decision and they all ranked GPA & rigor first. Not complaining, just trying to understand so that I can help explain it to her in a measured way. I appreciate the encouragement to help her go all-in on whatever school she ends up at.
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One student who is active on CC applied to over 50 schools! Their stats are excellent so they were accepted into a lot of schools. Now repeat similarly hi stat students applying to the same public universities and you get some kids who are shafted b/c they didn’t look as good on paper.
I don’t see this college admissions thing getting any better anytime soon. Next year’s applicants are already freaking out saying they need to apply to even more schools.
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Tennessee is ranked outside the top 100 and used to be 75% acceptance rate and applicants there suffered the same shock. The phenomenon is a problem IMO. Why? For us who are actually in school, we have no predictability because the data is changing and past data points are becoming useless. I look back on my applications (only 3) and I was lucky af that I’m from a rural part of my state so my hi stats were not as common versus the big counties.
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Closing at OP’s request