We are in NJ and are only looking at OOS schools as S24 is waitlisted at Rutgers. We liked USF when we visited in Feb. Given S24 stats 3.5W / 1270 SAT, we have really good choices and are very grateful for that. Purdue was an absolute reach and, given its reputation in Engg, is one of the frontrunners along with Minnesota. COA is similar for both.
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We went to the admitted students day at USF Tampa today.
It was a typical FL spring day with cloudy and rain start with sunny finish. He got his 2nd free USF t-shirt!
S24 got his questions answered about Pre-law and political science/ international relations programs. Everytime we visit the campus we are impressed more. It was more relaxed as the admission decision on both sides are done.
S24 wanted to get a souvenir mug and parents got our own. Go bulls!
Now, on to spring break…
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Getting back from an admitted students day in New England this weekend. It poured rain out and we all were still excited for the visit, and left even more excited that this was the right fit for S24 and good decision he made. He’s made a few connections already. The stress now is finding a roommate and dorm assignments. Now to start cramming in all the last senior year activities.
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Urgh. Our weather in MA was horrible on Saturday! I had to put on rain pants and a parka when walking the dog. When we visited boarding schools one Head of School said he loved when the weather didn’t cooperate, because if you love a school when it’s cold and rainy, you’ll really love it when it’s warm and sunny.
The joke in our house was, If you want to know what the weather will be, just ask the Lizardfam if they were going on a school visit. Between boarding school and 2 in college we probably did close to 20 visits and only had good weather for maybe 5 of them. The BEST weather we had was a sunny 65 degree day in February at CSU while it was -30 in MA. Must have been a sign as S23 ended up there.
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It was a soaker and I was glad I wore rainboots. I agree with the Head of School’s opinion of if you love a school when it is rainy, then you will really love it when it was sunny. Our first visit was a perfect day. I don’t think it was a mistake that your s23 ended up somewhere that didn’t have -30 degree weather, 65 degrees in January sounds lovely.
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Well, it is Colorado and they did have -30 the weekend before. But it was definitely a sign that it was our one school visit with perfect weather.
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It was nuts- we got 3" rain and our friends went up to NH to ski and they got two feet of snow!! I guess I am glad at least it was rain for us and not snow.
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Final results! D24 3.0/1070 (applied TO everywhere) 1 AP, handful of ECs, applying for art/ education or a combo. No hooks - not a UM, not first gen/low income, etc.
Here are her results (and acceptance rates)
SMCC 100 - Accepted rolling (community college)
Lesley 86.2 - accepted EA
Wheaton MA 79.5 - deferred EA, accepted RD
College of the Atlantic 60- accepted RD
Endicott 73.3 waitlisted EA
University of New England 96.3 Rejected EA
Top two are Wheaton and COA, waiting on final numbers for both but will attend admitted students days for both. Wheaton has already provided a great deal of financial aid but she is eligible for a tuition waiver though CIC, COA has not provided any numbers yet at all but our SAI is 7500.
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For future reference for others, with University of New England, is there a chance the application was missing a component or attachment? It does not seem consistent with the other admits.
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It was common app and complete. Same app as all others.
ETA: we have pondered so many things as to why she was rejected - a lot of classmates applied (and she was probably near the bottom of those stats wise), did they know she was a TE applicant and that they’d never give her the waiver so might as well cut it off at the head, are there programmatic changes coming so the major is limited (art education)? Or… something else?
I will say, I ended up in a meeting in my professional life with someone connected to the university that was gobsmacked that she’d been rejected and even asked for her name to look into it - not to change the outcome for my kid, but just to investigate for the program’s purposes. It wasn’t her favorite anyway, and would not be doable without the waiver (where I think we can probably make others work) but it was such a shock when it had been considered a safety, and made waiting for the decisions of her top two - Wheaton and COA - even harder! If UNE wasn’t a sure thing, WHAT WAS?
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Thanks for sharing, that is a mystery! I work at a school and will see some that do not make sense and it is usually something simple just overlooked, but who knows.
Glad she has some wonderful options!!
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We’ve been joking that it is a SUPER selective group that gets rejected by UNE, so clearly she is extremely special!
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She broke their algorithm, clearly!
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That is definitely tough outcome with 96% acceptance.
With S24, we had 1 safety (FAU 81%) and 1 match and 3 reaches. We had St.Leo (80%) as our backup for safety. There is no real safety.
My understanding is it depends on the criteria for acceptance and CDS provides insights on that in the previous year.
I believe it has more to do with number of applications received that year as the acceptance rate is usually same year over year.
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I have loved reading this thread as we have guided S24 through this process. He is a very different kid from our oldest, who had a very straightforward college process. So I figured in would do a post for anyone with a similar kid.
Male
Debating Mechanical Engineering or Business
Only ABET certified ME programs
Large, top 5 niche ranked public high school in New England
4 year JV/varsity athlete
Ref for community sports
Part time job
GPA: 3.25 unweighted (struggled with consistency in work ethic)
One honors class, no AP’s
SAT: 1200- one sitting
Safeties:
Saint Anselm College- business- accepted with 29k merit
Merrimack College- ME - accepted- 21k merit
Quinnipiac- ME- accepted- 25k merit
Roger Williams- ME -accepted 25k merit
UMass Lowell- ME - accepted
Nova Southeastern - ME - accepted 30k merit
Target:
UNH -accepted arts and sciences with a potential path to ME or business
URI- waitlisted
James Madison- waitlisted
Michigan State - rejected- applied later than was wise
Bryant University - accepted - business- 22k merit
Reach:
UMass Amherst - rejected
UConn- branched to Stamford
WPI- rejected
He is down to his final 3, Umass Lowell, UNH and Bryant. If Bryant had engineering, I think we would be done. But it’s still up in the air because of the major debate.
Husband and I loved the labs and faculty at Quinnipiac, but son just wasn’t feeling it. So I would definitely recommend checking out QU for any kid in the same range who is interested in engineering or comp sci.
All this to say, even if you have kid who was a bit late in understanding that school and grades matter, there are still lots of great, relatively affordable options out there! Good luck in the final stretch everyone!
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Thank you for your results post. My S26 is not consistent with school work right now. He spends all his time creating apps and assets than homework. I am starting to think about college options for him in case he matures and decides he is interested in going to a 4 year college.
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FWIW, I have heard that it is actually a lot easier to get into UMass Amherst as a transfer student than as a freshman. That might be the same for URI, but I’m not sure. If your son either goes to UMass Lowell & doesn’t like it, or tries Bryant and decides he wants to do ME, he might be able to transfer to UMA. (He’d want to take the right classes during his freshman year be on track & do well in them.)
I know it would be another transition but something to maybe keep in mind as an option.
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Congrats to you and your kid! And thanks for posting this, super helpful and I am going to show my '25 who is a bit down on their chances and I think this will be reassuring (also in same region, also good (though not top 5) PS)…
Curious if he reported his SAT at any or all?
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I am happy to share because we were really nervous, and it all ended up working out. I think it’s hard for kids when they are surrounded by high stats classmates and all they hear about are top 20 schools. I think realizing that there are a lot of great options out there (that give merit!) is really helpful for these average kids. Best of luck to your kiddo!
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100% spot -on!
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