Absolutely, but everyone wants the process to be open and fair, and someone is going to be ‘hurt’ or feel I isn’t fair no matter how they do it. If schools give out thousands of free applications and then get thousands of applications when the school only has room for a few hundred kids, how is that helping anyone? And why should it be the fault of the college when they just wanted to open the process to everyone?
Personally, I think they should do away with ED.
<<<<<<<, who I did not realize was need-aware. That’s my fault. And, while we would have been full pay, they very well could have looked at our application and figured we were merit hunting>>>>>>>
This had me LOLing though. Really, that is pretty funny.
I’m thankful my sons applied EA. I’m thankful they took waitlists as rejections and moved forward with the schools that wanted them. I’m glad that my older son’s high school program encouraged students to post rejection letters to normalize that even stellar students don’t bat 1.000. I’m thankful they both picked based on fit vs. name. I’m relieved that we planned for the worst case financially in determining our budget, because it happened.
They both had bumps in the road, but became stronger from the adversity.
We had a very unstressful process. We were full ride hunting. D was auto admit to UT, which she loved and was affordable, though we were looking for a full ride. She had a full ride to a school she loved in October and guaranteed full tuition to another by then as well. She knew she’d get accepted to all but 1 school (her lets-just-see school) since we weren’t interested in anything but a full ride. Everything after that was gravy. We sat back and enjoyed the wining and dining (literally) in the spring, weighed the pros and cons of all of her full ride offers, each of which was an excellent school where she could thrive, and she picked the best fit among them. She never discussed college applications with her friends at school, because she wasn’t obsessed with the topic and didn’t see it as a competition. Besides, what was there to discuss with this chasing prestige when she was not.
The college admissions process is only stressful if you let it be.
No disrespect @itsgettingreal17, but your situation is nothing like the average students. Getting multiple full rides is not something over 99% of students are dealing with. Congrats and obviously your child is a very special kid, but I think it is much easier not to be stressed in that situation.
So I have to disagree with the judgement on those who do have a stressful college process.
Lots of schools seem to have gone to their waitlists this year.
^Most schools go to their WL in most years. To what extent differs each year. This is how schools end up at capacity and not over it.
Lol. The constant bashing of colleges- and now some projected schadensfreude at them oh-so-desperately wringing their hands over yield- is silly. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Yup, apply to easy schools to get admitted to.
So many tell kids to just be themselves. Why don’t they choose college targets where they can just do that?
“It amazes me how in just about every thread, there are people who insist on blaming parents and kids for their own anxiety, disappointments, stress. Everybody’s situation is different. Sweeping condemnations are not helpful.”
But note how easy it is to just turn the sweeping bashing to the colleges. “Oh, they didn’t tell me,” “Oh, it’s so much pressure to have to learn what they’re about.” I suspect too many want a ribbon in every game they play.
This isn’t high school, there’s no mandate. You don’t get assigned, based on your district. If an individual or his parents can’t moderate the anxiety, why is that supposed to fall on the colleges? Some seem to want everything from them. Handed to them. Doesn’t make sense.
You really want to just roll out of bed and find that perfect college sent an admit letter?
I agree the system is a little crazy, and I think both the applicants (and their families) and the schools suffer as a result of the current fixation on USNWR rankings, etc. I imagine there can be no more stressful job than that of an admissions officer. But I am also grateful for the holistic admissions process. Looking at the UK and Canadian admissions systems, for example, they may seem fair in principle, but it is important to remember that they are focusing on a narrower range of attributes than what a US school may consider, and there are many worthy kids who benefit from the holistic approach. (Speaking as the parent of a traditionally well-rounded unhooked kid.)
@Leigh22 You missed the point of my entire post. It wasn’t about full rides. It’s about choosing a less stressful strategy. If your kid has 1 or 2 schools that they truly would be happy to attend early in the process and you aren’t obsessed with rankings and prestige and viewing college admissions as a competition or trophy hunt, then the process doesn’t have to be stressful at all. My D was excited about college back in October. Now to sit back and say you hope colleges are paying for the stress you experienced … silly and wasted emotions.
No @lookingforward, I don’t expect an admission letter to be handed to anyone. I do expect a more sane, rational process that most of the rest of the world manages to accomplish ( Which is also true in areas like health care, but that is another thread).
I thought most of the rest of the world admitted based on stats alone. Is that inaccurate?
Just to clarify, as many seem confused on this point, both Canadian and British universities are aware of and take into account for admissions disadvantaged status, indigenous status, etc. Oxford publishes its data annually on admissions of disadvantaged groups, no doubt others do the same. So it isn’t as if are just using numbers only.
Sorry, rational begins at home. You don’t get to nationals, (much less. Olympics,) by just wanting it. Multiple recent threads complain it’s just too hard to get a read on what the colleges want. In those, no one of the complainers says how they tried to learn this. They just gripe it’s not transparent.
Oh let’s not reargue the transparency thread.
If it is so rational, @lookingforward, one would expect consistency in results. The very randomness and unpredictability of admissions decisions is strong evidence that it is not rational at all.
@roycroftmom, If the admissions of Canadian and British universities are also holistic then how do they differ from US admissions?
Well, to begin with, although they include some disadvantaged categories, admission decisions do not generally include clubs, activities, sports, volunteering, or courses irrelevant to the proposed field of study ( so fewer students do those, and when they do, the time commitment is much more manageable). The schools often publish minimum test scores recently successful for admission, so far fewer applications by those with no chance of admission, thus more predictive acceptance rates.
It seems we want it all. College admission should be based on stats alone but it should take our particular kids’ special circumstances into account. It should be affordable but not require higher taxes. We want strong disability services and counseling, readily available statistics, and responsive FA and housing offices but complain about bloated administrations. Housing and meal plan costs should be kept low but we need tasty food and gluten free and vegan options, and God forbid our kid has to share a bathroom with more than one person. We complain about the advantage development admits enjoy but not the financial aid dollars they bring in, athletes, but not the games they win. We insist the system is unfair but lust after the exact colleges that employ the systems we rail against instead of the many that do it the way we say we want.
“admission decisions do not generally include clubs, activities, sports, volunteering, or courses irrelevant to the proposed field of study…”
In holistic, of course they do. Of course. They reflect a kid’s choices, which reflect thinking, openness. It is distinctly not about unilateral.