<p>Congratulations momofthreeboys!</p>
<p>@northeastmom - that is indeed a strange email. What state? Is it from a school we would all know?</p>
<p>Don’t want to name the exact school, but it is one of the publics in NC.</p>
<p>Wow! That just convinces me even more that college admissions is a crap shoot. I’ve always found it hard to believe that they read all
of the apps they receive.</p>
<p>Well, they did not officially state that he was accepted. They just asked him to send in his deposit and register for orientation! Every year I have read about a few students being accepted or rejected to schools they did not apply to. I always thought that they sent in partial applications. I can tell you that my son did not apply to this school, but he I think THAT HE DID SEND HIS ACT SCORE to them. He never sent any other part of their application.</p>
<p>nightchef, Goucher is looking more and more like my son’s choice, too. For him, it’s not a saftey. More like a match.</p>
<p>He did an overnight last weekend at Susquehanna, and I write this from the Comfort Inn in Huntingdon, as he overnights at Juniata. He’s not saying, but I can tell he’s worried that both schools are too rural. My secret favorite has always been Juniata, but I can see his point. These kinds of locations are not for everyone.</p>
<p>NE-living in NC, I have several guesses as to the school. There are two state schools in NC that spend May doing what they call redirection-picking up kids that were turned down everywhere else. They show up at the high school at an appointed time and the guidance counselor rounds up the all of the kids who don’t have a school admit but want to go and they are admitted on site (with transcript in hand). They also do a similar thing with the community college transfer students. I do think it is a brilliant marketing strategy and it helps a few floundering kids.</p>
<p>Wow, That’s ^ a GREAT idea! A win-win situation for the kids that still want to go to a four year university and a college increasing their yield without a lot of effort.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone about wanting my son to find a good fit. For me, I pictured him at a small LAC somewhere with cool quirky students. He pictured more of a medium sized university that was anywhere but in our home state or neighboring states (we’re in the Midwest). I fell in love with Goucher on paper, and liked it a lot when we visited. My son didn’t fall in love with it. It was his first interview and didn’t go that well - all he could remember was that she asked him his favorite quote, and what popped into his mind was a Gandhi quote he thought might offend, so he mumbled something else, etc. A few days later, when he interviewed at Clark, the lady finished the interview by saying she thought he’d be a great fit. I told him I thought she really meant it and wasn’t just being polite. I told that the ‘polite’ answer that didn’t really show interest was more like, “well, thanks for interviewing and good luck on your college search!” He said that was pretty much what the woman at Goucher had said - LOL. I still wanted him to apply, but he didn’t. Goucher & Beloit were the two schools I had trouble letting go of in my heart, but I think he landed in the right place for him, although it’s also one that no one from around here has heard of (including us before we started looking) - U of Rochester. It’s one of two schools that he actually fell in love with the campus and said he could envision living there. </p>
<p>I think part of the reason he wasn’t drawn to small schools is that he goes to a small high school (88 graduating with him) and he wanted a different feel. My second son goes a to a mega school (4,400), so maybe he’ll be more drawn to a small college!</p>
<p>Pinot: Your son should be very happy at UR. My oldest is there and is happy, even though it wasn’t his top choice. Also know kids very different from him that are happy. It is big enough to have a lot of different “groups”, but not overwhelmingly large. Good luck to him!</p>
<p>Gweeta, Goucher is a very good school and Baltimore is a good city for college kids. I think a lot of kids look at small rural schools and fear there will not be enough to do or that they will outgrow them or not find enough kids like them. He will also have a great female/male ratio working for him.</p>
<p>Juniata, in its materials, puts a lot of emphasis on its many traditions. I suspect that may be a love it or hate it factor for kids.</p>
<p>In addition, thanks to good tourism marketing, rural New England has a much better image than rural Pennsylvania, although the rives and mountains around Juniata and Susquehanna are lovely.</p>
<p>Pinot, I am curious what the Gandhi quote he thought might offend was? I would think quoting Gandhi, rather than The Office or or Jay-Z, would be an automatic plus.</p>
<p>By the way, with a i.d. like Pinotnoir, how about passing on your favorite Pinot Noir around $10 as these kids’ indecision and senioritis drives us to drink?</p>
<p>yabeyabe2 - it was “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” I thought he could have said it, but i can see why he hesitated. It was just one of those moments where that popped into his mind, and wouldn’t get out, so he couldn’t think of anything else to say.</p>
<p>And no Pinot comes to mind right now (I’m really no expert - just enjoy wine!), but here a Petite Sirah we took to dinner at a friend’s house that we all loved - Petite Sirah 2006 Paso Robles Jardine. I think it was more like $20 tho…</p>
<p>I understand his hesitation, but think it might well have scored points–it also sounds as if Gandhi had channelled Mark Twain.</p>
<p>With tuition bills coming up, I feel blessed never to have devleoped a plate which could distinguish between $20 wine and $10 wine. In th elatter Pinot Noir category, Virginie is nice.</p>
<p>PinotNoir, that’s interesting–our son’s experience has been almost the exact reverse of your son’s. He had a great interview at Goucher and a weird one at Clark (I actually think if it hadn’t been for that weird interview, which came after he’d already applied, he might be considering Clark a lot more seriously at this point). And while he was accepted at Rochester and likes the curriculum and the facilities, he just didn’t fall in love with it like he did with Goucher.</p>
<p>It’s fascinating to me how these places have different impacts on each kid.</p>
<p>This is why we all have these very thoughtful chats here (yay 3.0-3.3 thread!!) because there’s more to all of this than any quantitative choice.</p>
<p>It reminds me of when my H and I were looking for a house, and we listed all of them by objective criteria (location, price, size, etc.) on a point system. When we calculated the house that “won,” we looked at each other with disappointment. It just wasn’t “our” house! So we added a subjective 1-5 rating (I know this sounds compulsive, but had a very short trip to do this job!), and EVERYTHING changed. Considering a house and college are pretty comparable in price (at least around here), and you’ve got to make your life there, the decisions don’t seem so awfully different.</p>
<p>And continuing the metaphor, I’d say wanting a guarantee before you buy about a house’s resale value in 4-5 years will only make you crazy. Same thing with “will they get a job, or into grad school?” So much can happen. A happy kid can make things work beyond anything we can imagine.</p>
<p>Thanks for the testimonials after the fact, folks. These are the stories we need to hear.</p>
<p>Clark may be ‘the one’ for my son. I’m just dying for this to be over so we can get going on the details. It’s interesting that so many of us looked at similar schools, no matter where in the country we seem to hail. A good friend of mine’s d just accepted at Juniata, as well. We had Goucher as a strong possibility, until my son cancelled the trip there saying it was just too far away. Better to know now than next fall for sure!
Clark doesn’t do overnights, but my son will sit in on a class in his major next week. Hoping that will do it. I’m not crazy about the idea of his state college choices with low grad rates, or paying a gazillion dollars at Roger Williams since he missed the merit by 10 points on his SATs (thank you admissions for telling me that, and having me appeal, only to have you deny it!! :(</p>
<p>One thing that’s noticeable is that many of the “same schools” are Colleges That Change Lives schools. Loren Pope has done us all a very huge service, and a lasting one. While his list may need updating and/or enlarging - and he admits this will end up happening - he did teach us all to look differently at our criteria for schools (and for life) and to examine our own values in the admissions process (and in life…).</p>
<p>I’m so glad my D was willing to go to a CTCL Fair in the fall of her Jr year. She was very inspired by their information session - and I was impressed that they stressed the values rather than just promoting their membership. Talking with the colleges got her off to a very good start. While I’m not sure she’ll end up applying to any of them after all, she learned an enormous amount about what matters to her and that she’s a valued applicant. It meant a ton to hear both that her stats are good for good schools and that stats are quickly brushed aside in focusing on the individual’s qualities.</p>
<p>LOL re quoting “The Office.” Could easily have been my son. I thought the Ghandi quote was great, but it’s always tricky with religion. </p>
<p>Got a kick out of the spreadsheet for picking a house. I had to resist doing that for the college choice. I’m type A. Son is not. You can see the potential for conflict!</p>
<p>I did maintain a fairly elaborate spreadsheet during the college-choice phase, which provided me with hours of harmless amusement. I don’t think the son ever even saw it, though I was able to refer to it to answer a few questions along the way.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve started one already. I’m a blend of the organizational and the creative. But I do like to keep my facts straight. My D is horrendous at making charts, and while she should learn to, I feel this is the one job I can do for now. She’s thanked me and does find it helpful. She knows about CC and thanks you all, too! </p>
<p>We had to look at 10 houses in 2 days and really didn’t want to waste a paid-for move into a rental. Evenings at the hotel were very interesting! But what I learned most was that the subjective HAS to play into these decisions, at least for us.</p>