There are only two reasons that I can think of for a school to pressure a kid for an early visit. The first would be for merit aid consideration. The second would be if fly-in programs were only arranged for a specific dates or time frame. Beyond that, I find it unconscionable for a school to pressure an applicant to visit before he or she is ready to do so.
Do these EA schools know that your D is waiting on an ED result at StO?
@homerdog there is NO reason the ED school needs to know about ANY other pending applications. It’s nit their business!
It doesn’t reflect very well on that school. I am wondering if they know there is an ED arrangement elsewhere, and are aggressively hoping to poach that student (get them to change their ED to RD) before the ED decisions are released. That still doesn’t reflect well on the school.
@homerdog No, they do not. I didn’t think it was relevant to tell them. She applied to them before she signed an ED agreement.
If the FA is right and StO is a no than it will be Earlham and I will be thrilled.
I do t think her other favorites are going to be able to close the gap. But who knows…
@Chembiodad I just checked the USNWR for the one school in particular and they are just on the outside of the the top 100.
Thanks for that insight. I think you might be onto something. There is nothing really that special about my D it’s just the federal funds…I mean I know there’s lots of things that are really special about her but that helps me understand. Let me check the other ones that are digging deeper I don’t know where they are on that list.
I meant do the other schools know about StO? Not the other way around. I assumed StO does not know about the EA schools. Just wondering if OP is over sharing.
Didn’t she apply to a couple more “meets needs” schools near the end? I would NOT lurch from favorite to favorite (especially sight unseen). I(f she does not get into St. O, see where she does get in. See what the offers are. Have her visit the ones that could work financially and offer fly ins or visits.
Don’t be so impatient. There may be some very good offers at schools your D would love. Hate to sound like a broken record, but don’t let distance be the driver, and don’t just let perusing the websites make her decide not to see a school that is affordable pays for a visit… If she isn’t in at St. O or their package isn’t workable, then see EVERYTHING on the table and VISIT before making a final decision.
One of the roles of the parent in this process is to keep things on an even keel. Don’t allow your kid to close off options until the information is all on the table if she does not get into St. O. Insist on visits to schools that are affordable and if they will pay for the visits if there is more than one. Don’t “take sides” as a parent, except to insist that she check out all her options. 17 year old can retreat into their shells during this process, but that truly is not in their best interest. You need to take the role of encouraging her to explore ALL the options she has if she is in the RD pool. No decision has to be made until May 1. And these are not schools where your kid will lose out on housing, orientation dates, etc. if she waits to decide.
@homerdog Actually the schools that are reaching out and I literally just hung up again with the one I was referring to AGAIN, with a little more money added to the equation, are not schools I really had on the radar, just put in the app and was surprised by the acceptances and willingness to offer more money. She was really only vested in 2 schools and those were the ones we had communication with before StO.
@intparent yes, a few more meets need schools were added at the last minute but they are probably a reach and she’s worried about the distance. I can’t make her see what she hasn’t experienced yet. One of the meet needs schools she applied last minute she actually loved the campus but it’s very very far. East Coast. And if StO won’t accept her why would any of those?
Are any of the schools calling as soon as the app was submitted highly ranked schools? If yes, that would be very unusual, but as your DD’s circumstances are more unique maybe they want to take a more personal approach - if not, thank them and ask them to notify her in writing of the merit award and you’ll get back to them as RD acceptances are received.
Be careful about the use of the word “merit” scholarship. Many schools, but not all, use merit scholarships as a way to capture the remainder of the cost - if a school needs to give away $20-30k/year to pick up the other $30-40k from a full-pay student that’s better than the leaving the seat empty…
East Coast schools get fewer students from Kansas, so the more selective schools like distribution from across the country because it adds different life experiences. Because of that she may have the opportunity to be admitted to a higher ranked East Coast school than one from the Midwest - I am not saying a higher ranked school than Grinnell as they have highly qualified students that apply from across the country and the world, but maybe one that is in the next tier - so in between Grinnell and St. Olaf.
That said while its a holistic process, I don’t believe that a higher ranked East Coast school will accept her RD if St. Olaf doesn’t through ED - maybe a women’s college as they pull from a smaller pool of applicants.
@intparent and @homerdog I don’t think they know about the ED agreement, how could they?
Again, they are calling me, the one in particular I’m referring just called again as mentioned in the above post and they are making my head hurt. I just told the AO (not the dean of admissions this time) to please put the numbers in writing, because I wasn’t really processing, and I would get back to them if I had any questions.
Why would anybody want to poach my D?
She doesn’t have a perfect ACT score, she isn’t an athlete…
This distance thing – once they are on campus, they are on campus. They rarely leave except for breaks. And you don’t know what these other schools will do. A student from Kansas might be much more appealing to a school on the East Coast than to one in the Midwest. St. O might have more applications from Kansas that don’t have as much need. You just don’t know. No one can determine which schools will accept vs which ones don’t when they are in approximately the same academic range.
If she is worried about navigating the transportation, she can learn to do that. Both of my kids did. One was a pretty comfortable air traveler before going to college, but the other wasn’t as much. Once she’d done it a couple of times, piece of cake. And she was at a school 2,000 miles away. After all the effort the two of you have gone through, it seems nuts to let distance make a big difference, especially if the aid is best from one of those schools. Push her on this if she doesn’t get into St. Olaf. Make her wait for ALL acceptances, compare aid at ALL the schools, and visit the ones with the best aid if possible no matter where they are.
And the car… that is maybe where she is getting hung up. That is really a terrible reason to turn down a top notch education if one is offered, that one might not be able to drive to and from school, or because one might have to get onto an airplane instead of a train. She does NOT need a car at any LAC. They are all set up to have a lot of activities on campus, regular transportation to stores if there aren’t any within walking distance of campus, etc.
She loved a campus on the east coast? How so…when she hasn’t put a foot on the campus?
@intparent She knows she isn’t taking her car to StO or Earlham, we covered that. It’s something else about the distance I can’t put my finger on and she isn’t articulating.
@homerdog She visited the website and said it was the prettiest campus she’s ever seen and happened to be a school my mother wanted her to go to. Which is probably the ONLY reason she put in the app.
We don’t have to continue to reiterate my lack of ability to send her to visit. We have to count on YouTube videos from other students and schools and the websites as of right now.
Be aware she may not even be able to take her car to college. St. O. has limited parking passes and priority is given to those with a demonstrated need (medical need, commuter students, etc.), then by class year starting with Seniors.
(Never mind! Cross posted with #932)
@Momof2girlsandafrenchie, being uncomfortable with distance, farther than a long drive, isn’t unusual. We are East coast and our DD’s were accepted to several great Midwest LAC’s, but couldn’t get their head around being that far away from home. They both ended up a a great NE LAC that’s driving distance and they love the flexibility - and we get to see our student athlete DD compete, so all good.
@Sue22 We already talked about after it came up here, she’s aware. And I might add some of the schools that she wants to take off the list are within 3 to 4 hours distance. So I don’t really know what is going on in her head.
I understand that right now. But some schools provide vouchers to cover visits when they accept a student. My kid got one from Kenyon and from the West Coast school she decided to attend without even asking. I suspect if she had asked, she might have gotten more – and a low income students definitely might get more if they ask. I wasn’t saying you should spring for a visit right now. Because there is still plenty of time. What I am saying is, if she doesn’t get into St. O, wait and see what other offers come in. Try to have an open mind, and ask your D to have one as well. Be patient. Explore all the feasible options once you know that they are.
There is no reason to take anything off the list until late April unless she gets accepted at St. Olaf.
I don’t know if you GC could be any help with this, but maybe they could also encourage her if she doesn’t get into St. Olaf to make sure she knows ALL her options and checks them out before making a decision in April.
Bottom line she just wants to focus mainly on 2 maybe 3…I’m fine with that because she’s been accepted to 2 of those 3. I’m just worried about the gap.
She and I both continue to get calls and emails from others she wants to eliminate. It’s just too much for her. Maybe as time goes by she’ll get more comfortable with thinking of others if those 2 don’t work…I don’t know?
My younger daughter visited 8 or 9 (yeah, I know) schools during March and April of her senior year. Most of the visits were paid for by the schools. It’s definitely worth asking about if the reimbursement isn’t offered right off the bat. Also, while the school’s location and the type of travel needed to get there won’t necessarily be decisive factors, in some situations, they can be enough to take a school off the list. Actually visiting the school and experiencing the travel might be the thing that makes obvious the significance of these factors.
Earlham is paying for a visit…I’m sure some of the others would too. But they’re relatively close so maybe not. But those are the one she wants to take off the list. That’s what’s confusing to me she talks about distance but she’s eliminating some really good schools that are fairly close.