Is it just me, or is it a hard year?

Parents Forum
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<p>^you are so smart – I wish I’d known to seek out more schools on the west coast for that same reason. We need financial aid. D applied to 13 schools. So far, in at 2, WL at 1, rejected at 6. Ow.</p>

<p>Would your daughter consider Smith? Great engineering program; good financial aid. I make this pitch every time!</p>

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<p>I just finished helping S1 (high school senior) wrap up his college search, and am knee deep in embarking on a similar journey with D1, who is a junior.</p>

<p>Each of their high schools use Naviance/Family Connection software to help find a good academic fit based on where graduated alums were accepted/waitlisted/denied…but there is no credible data for some of the schools I am putting on D1’s list due to limited frequency of submitted apps by kiddos at her school.</p>

<p>If you are looking for help in targeting an appropriate array of schools for your student’s abilities, wants and interests, I stumbled across this, similar tool, which can be used by anyone - and it’s free. I haven’t explored all the functionality…but it appears to be a great way to shop for appropriate schools, based on academic stats, areas of study, geographical location, size, religious affiliation, etc. Has anyone else used this tool successfully?</p>

<p>[College</a> Search - College Admissions](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/]College”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/)</p>

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<p>MaryOC, thanks for sharing that site. I’m going to show it to my D when she gets home from school. It’ll be interesting to see if it comes up with the same matches as other sites.</p>

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<p>I cross-referenced the mean SAT/ACT stats and class rankings to a half-dozen schools on D1’s list - and the Cappex data was accurate.</p>

<p>I suspect if you build a profile and conduct your analysis there, you will get a bunch of solicitations from the schools… so it may be wise to create a new email addy, should you decided to register.</p>

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<p>Thanks about the feedback on Cappex. Our schools don’t have Naviance, but D2 brought home some info on Cappex a few weeks ago. Hadn’t been mentioned during D1’s time at the HS. will be checking out this week.</p>

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<p>Cappex is a great resource – and those acceptance charts can be real eye openers for pie-in-the-sky type kids (as are the scattergrams within Naviance).</p>

<p>I’m glad that after tonight, this angst fest will be essentially over. Then some real decisions will be made.</p>

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<p>You’re welcome… I hope it proves useful & reliable for anyone who has 2012 HS grads, and beyond. I have one down…and three more to go. I may actually get pretty good at this by the time the last two are in the mix. :)</p>

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<p>Plus, there’s CC’s own [College</a> Search - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/)</p>

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<p>Just came upon this through one of the topic listings here on CC:</p>

<p>“We already know this will be the hardest year in history for college seniors,” says Hernandez. She cites more kids applying, while most schools aren’t increasing their class size. It’s an unforgiving formula. “A few years ago, kids were applying to four or five schools,” says Greg Roberts, dean of admission at the University of Virginia. “But now it’s not uncommon to apply to 10 or 12 or in the extreme even 20 or 30.”</p>

<p><a href=“The Daily Beast: The Latest in Politics, Media & Entertainment News”>The Daily Beast: The Latest in Politics, Media & Entertainment News;

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<p>Is the percentage of HS grads applying to college increasing? The number of HS grads is decreasing now. As the number of match and reach applications per student goes up, the number of rejections must also go up if more seats are not being added. So I wonder if it’s actually harder, or just seems harder due to the increased number of rejections. I dunno.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the link Befuddled! </p>

<p>My thoughts as I read it, keeping D2 who graduates in 2013 in mind:

  1. “Next year should be much calmer, as the number of high school seniors in certain parts of the country is dwindling and Harvard, Princeton, and University of Virginia will reinstate early-admission programs—getting the brainiacs out of the regular admissions pool.” Yay!
  2. “College Applicants Are More Interested in Southern Schools:” Yup, D2 doesn’t like the cold.
  3. “More Applicants Are Interested in Creative Writing” Well, great. That means when D2 applies she’ll have that much more competition. Oy.</p>

<p>Guess we’ll see :)</p>

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<p>may have but we have heard nothing.</p>

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<p>megdog, same experience here for my son.
As internationals, my only advice to international applicants in the future: Do not ask for aid.</p>

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<p>Yep, I see it’s official. Didn’t think it was just my imagination. My son actually had an easy go of it this time, mainly because he was not applying to the big reach schools, but my feeling from his classmate’s families and others was that it was a rough year. </p>

<p>One trend where we did benefit was that DS liked a bunch of OOS publics and was pleasantly surprised at his reception at them. He was borderline stats wise, but still was accepted at all of them. He did not apply to our state’s most selective SUNY, and it looks like it was a rough season for those who did, and he wasn’t interested in the southern schools and kids who focused there had an uphill climb.</p>

<p>Moneyp, if an international applicant has to have the money to attend, not applying for financial aid isn’t going to help him/her if accepted. The money has to come from somewhere. Like US students, such kids need to look for those schools they can afford. If they have high stats, there are a number of colleges willing to “buy” such students. It’s just that the schools with the name recognition are not likely to give out the money.</p>

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<p>No matter how hard you think admissions were this year, just give it a couple of years. Then you’ll be hearing how tough admissions are for that year and you’ll agree. (personal experience from a HS class of 2009 mom…)</p>

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<p>^ Right. If the number of seats remains the same, the schools have nothing to do with it being a tough year. It’s the kids’ own doing; the schools admit according to predictable yield ratios, which depend on the number of apps the kids send out (in case someone thinks the schools have something to do with it).</p>

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<p>@2girlzmum: “… We looked only at smaller schools that have good financial and/or merit aid stats…”
Where can I find a list such as this?</p>

<p>And what is the Common Data Set that I hear about?</p>

<p>But first my story :-
D1 will be joining a university this fall and I have found much help here throughout this process.
We are American citizens currently in India and being outside the system, have had a harrowing time since August 2010 – SAT’s, more SAT’s, the apps, the fee waivers, etc etc.
I thought I understood reach and safety but now realize that I know nothing.
She has been accepted to 5 (BU, SUNY stony, UConn, Hofstra, Rider), waiting for two more and rejected from I don’t even want to say how many. This is hurting me more than her!!!</p>

<p>Can’t understand what I did wrong.
• Did our FA status work against her?
• Were we treated as internationals inspite of our citizenship status?
• Did the grade deflation in the XI th grade hurt her? (In India, we do the XI and XII grade in a different school. Very competitive environment with all high achievers hitting rock bottom – just a bit of history)</p>

<p>I need to understand my mistakes and learn to do “something” better. D2 is in Xth grade now and will be reliving this in 2 years.
What do I need to know and how can I learn?</p>

<p>Replies appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks, a</p>

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<p>I’m another survivor of the class of '09. We were told that '08 was the year that things really changed; kids who, a year or two earlier, would have been all but guaranteed admission to UC Davis or Stanford found themselves staring at a pile of rejections. The '09s heard horror stories of IB Diplomas ending up at the community college, and almost all of my D’s friends submitted several extra “just in case” applications. So '09, in addition to being the peak of the echo boom, was also the year that the “panic application” phenomenon kicked into high gear.</p>

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<p>The Common Data Set is standardized information many/most colleges publish which is meant to improve the quality and accuracy of information provided to all involved in a student’s transition into higher education. Sections C9 to C12 describe the most recent matriculating class, useful as a first approximation to show if a school is a reach/match/safety for a given applicant, through comparison of test scores, GPA, etc.</p>

<p>To find it, enter both “college name” and “common data set” (including the "s) into your favorite search engine. Keep trying various schools.</p>

<p>Right now I’m thinking of five acceptances this way: a local girl was rejected by every school to which she applied. She either received bad advice, or didn’t follow the good advice given. :(</p>

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<p>@cptofthehouse: how do we know who offers automatic scholarships based on stats? </p>

<p>I have just posted a bit before as well – so my story is there
It does seem as if the schools which say they are need blind are not really so.</p>

<p>Who knows?</p>

<p>thanks,
a</p>