<p>That sounds great! His safety is also his first choice! The rest is just gravy then. But I still wouldn’t be surprised if some other schools offered him some real bucks, if he’s interested.</p>
<p>I know a few kids from our HS that attend RPI and from comments from their parents, all got merit money. Same for another student from our school that is at WPI as well as Case Western. Have you looked at them through this site? [College</a> Navigator - Case Western Reserve University](<a href=“College Navigator - Search Results”>College Navigator - Case Western Reserve University) I see that 96% of the students that attend Case-Western got financial aid.</p>
<p>Thanks, I wasn’t familiar with that website.</p>
<p>Hi all - I have just found this thread. I have a D 2011. Nice to find some supportive and positive parents on the same journey. D has just finished the brutal junior year. I agree that this year was killer - hard classes, lots of tests, driving, prom, etc. D reaches are set; now working on matches and safeties. Wants a non-midwest (we are in MN) medium size school where she could swim (slower DI or DIII); not a recruited swimmer, but pretty good. D has strong academic stats but weak ECs because swimming takes 20 - 25 hours a week and she goes to a ginormous high school where opportunities to lead are overwhelmed by the population. Will probably so one SCEA, a rolling safety, and 6 - 8 others. Standardized tests are done; just waiting for the AP results in early July. </p>
<p>phbmom - our girls are at SLS together! My husband is a WP grad and later worked in admissions there; if you have any questions, pm me.</p>
<p>Our students list is pretty top heavy as well…hopng to find some happy matches/safeties…</p>
<p>As far as SCEA is concerned–doesn’t that eliminate any other EA/ED schools?
Meaning all other apps must go RD only?</p>
<p>Personally I think SCEA is bad–because it uses up the EA option.
I know of a student who used up her SCEA at a school–did not get in. She is happy about where she is going next fall–however she had high hopes on the SCEA…
and couldn’t apply EA anywhere else.</p>
<p>Hi - my understanding is that D could do SCEA and then regular at state safety, which is effectively rolling. Will confirm this summer. Agreed that SCEA is complicating factor. Her plan is to get a lot of the applications work done over the summer; but I bet in late August lots of the rising seniors will be regretting how little got done…HS swimming starts mid-August and is killer at her school. Glad junior year is over, though!</p>
<p>Kajon - Have you considered Carnegie Mellon? Just a thought. Less selective than MIT, but very, very strong.</p>
<p>fogfog - I think you are right about the SCEA restrictions. We are also top heavy - every school is a reach, in reality, for just about anyone. Like I said, we shall see how this plays out …! We have seen, and do like, several colleges that have nothing to do with her sport - of course, all the ones of those that she likes aren’t exactly “safeties” either…sigh…!</p>
<p>Yale has a FAQ about applying to other schools when applying to Yale SCEA [Early</a> Action FAQ | Application to Yale College | Freshmen | Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“Single-Choice Early Action | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions”>Single-Choice Early Action | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions)</p>
<p>If a student really loved other EA schools like Georgetown and Caltech and MIT and U of Chicago, I’d think they’d get more leverage out of leaving Yale for RD. If they really really love Yale and/or are hoping for one of the other Ivys that doesn’t have EA or ED, then SCEA makes more sense.</p>
<p>mayhew and kathliep - I’ll have my S2 take a look at the schools you suggested. There are so many fabulous ones available and I agree that we need to did a bit deeper.</p>
<p>As for merit aid, the College Data website does a great job of showing the average amount of non need aid. I can never figure out how to move around within their site so I always google college data and then the name of the school - takes me right to it.</p>
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<p>Kajon, JMO, but I would never consider WashU as a match for anyone, just because of their habit of WLing so many highly competitive applicants. There’s definitely controversy about this, but that’s what I’ve observed. Also, when you add in merit awards to such a selective college, I’d say it moves from a reasonable reach to a high reach. I’m not commenting on your child’s chances, but rather in general on the large merit scholarships at the selective schools.</p>
<p>I agree with ST about EA and SCEA, it all depends on which schools the student is interested in. Neither of my Ds has/had an interest in any of the EA schools and they won’t do ED for financial reasons, so SCEA is a possibility. </p>
<p>One comment about SCEA at S vs. Y. The approach to the number of students they accept, deny and defer differs significantly between the two schools. S states on their website that they prefer to either accept or deny in the SCEA round, and their stats show that relatively few students are deferred to the RD round. Y however defers close to 50% of SCEA applicants. So, if you’re a competitive candidate applying SCEA to Y and you’re not accepted, you have a pretty good chance of being reconsidered in the RD round. But at S, you’re not as likely to get a ‘second chance’. My theory about EA/SCEA is that colleges only accept the students that they would pick in ANY applicant pool. There’s no incentive to pick a borderline candidate as they can always defer them and take another look when they get the RD applications in. And the students they accept in the EA/SCEA round are likely to be accepted at other peer colleges if they chose to apply RD, this gives the early acceptance school some time to win the hearts and minds of those students.</p>
<p>Kajon - What about BU? I took some undergrad eng classes there and thought the program was terrific. Olin is inexpensive. We hired a young mech eng from there last year. I thought she got a great education and was well prepared for the real world. I think she was in one of the last classes to get free tuition. I second WPI, a school I took some grad classes in. Last Northeastern University has a good engineering program, we hire a lot of interns from there.</p>
<p>D got her grades today, and is very unhappy. It’s a challenge to buck up a student when she doesn’t achieve her goals… and when the goals are so weighted because of the college thing. Freshman and sophomore years she never got a single B; this year was much harder, and second semester most of all. Only 2 As (neither in a weighted class), the rest B+s, Bs and a C (weighted to be a B) in the dreaded honors math.</p>
<p>I feel for her, because she worked hard and is such a great girl, and her two best friends are Miss Perfect Straight As, so she feels like a loser. And with the stroke of one report card, two of the colleges on her top-three list are suddenly reaches instead of matches. </p>
<p>Fortunately she’s realistic and can move deeper into the safety-school pool. But it’s a bummer… but at least she’s inspired now to take lots of practice tests for the ACT this week.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is to put this into perspective for myself, is an act of selfishness, or any of the above, but forgive me for simply saying something I need to, not because I think anyone else needs to hear it.</p>
<p>I always wondered if I would be able to tell when my son had really reached the point of pressure where ‘enough is enough’. We would all agree that the Jr year is the most demanding. SATs, SAT Subject tests, AP exams, ACTs, finals. For some kids this comes in a matter of 6 weeks. Add college visits. Common Data Sets reminding them where they fall in pecking order. Determining if their classes for their Sr year will be enough. Knowing their essays will have to set them apart. Do they have an intership lined up for the summer? Have they done enough with their ECs? Its really too late to do anything other than fine tuning there. Even for the most self motivated students this can be a pressure cooker. </p>
<p>My wonderful son, who I have a very close relationship with…okay he made a secret handshake for us, that’s close…, still has ACTs, finals, and a professional certification exam in the next 10 days. I found him this afternoon crying at his desk. Not just tears, but sobbing. This is an anti-drama kid. My heart fell. He said ‘I’m just so done with tests and exams.’. I knew then he was just fried. I asked him to pack his backpack for the next day, and turn everything off. He argued. I insisted. Turn it all off. Every last bit of it. I was dying inside that he was in so much pain. I told him to go to school today, but to take the after noon off from studying. He could pick back up on Wednesday.</p>
<p>There have been four suicides in his Jr class this year out of 700 students. His best friend threatened to harm himself due to pressure and my son was the one to intervene. His very close friends brother, who is a Sr. overdosed and died in Feburary, another close friend lost his best friend from another school due to pressure (he was new to the school this year). This has been too close to ‘home’. We are in an upper middle class, suburban community. Competitive, but not cut-throat school. My son is a strong kid, mentally sound, with a bright future. The parents of these other students may have thought the same. It broke my heart was that my son that was feeling so much pressure, and didn’t come to me. Given another hour he may have, but he may not have. I don’t know.</p>
<p>Please do not judge me. Please do not assume our home is one that insists on straight As or perfect scores on entrance exams. We don’t insist on AP overload. Our son has lead his path. The ‘Exam Season from Hell’ took it’s toll and he simply found his breaking point. I praise God I was close by to comfort him. To remind him he could never disappoint us. That he didn’t have to take the ACT ‘this’ weekend…it could wait until fall. That no test was worth this amount of stress. That if we (as parents) added to it in any was I was sorry, so sorry.</p>
<p>He seemed at peace shortly after. I will be watching far more closely. Perhaps I overreacted and he was just having a bad day. I know my son pretty well and it felt like far more that that.</p>
<p>Thank you for allowing me the space to share this. Our children are so precious. No one told us it was going to be this hard.</p>
<p>blueiguana-thank you for sharing this. My daughter had a couple true breakdowns from pressure this year too. She is far from a girl who normally expresses her emotion. I have rarely seen her cry. It was also very scary to me. I have tried to get her to relieve the pressure for next year by taking fewer AP/honors courses. I was only successful in getting her not to take AP Government and AP Economics. I also don’t insist on straight A’s etc.
I am astounded at the amount of work and pressure that this generation has. I worry what we (society) are doing to them. ARe we creating a generation that will think such high stress is the norm? What will it do to them emotionally and physically?
I am glad that you were able to be there for your son. Hope he is feeling better now.</p>
<p>Junior year is a very tough year. My d is convinced she hates HS because of this year. Our job as parents is to just be that calming voice in the middle of the chaos, stress, etc. That’s the best we can do.</p>
<p>D only has 6 maybe 7 schools on her list. All of which I think she will get in. She doesn’t really have any reaches because of her major and her criteria. We will do EA at her 1st choice so I hope to have all this settled by mid Dec.</p>
<p>@blueiguana: I am so sorry to hear that your S has been having a rough time of it. I have posted before with regard to how much pressure these kids have to perform, perform, perform. It’s no wonder that they simply crack. Can you imagine if we were put through a similar situation? Parents succumb to many vices over much less.
Still, I am relieved to know that your S has such loving parents. You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders and know when to say “when.” In my opinion, your S will be fine. This year is coming to a close and summer is a welcome escape from the grind of testing.</p>
<p>Thanks for your supportive words. His father and I spoke last night and agreed our son should go on a trip my H is taking to see his family in Denmark in a few weeks. Our son has several cousins his age he’s close with, as well as grandparents etc. The time away will do him good. Fresh air, sunshine, beaches, old castles, lots of parties…no talk of tests or schools! He seemed quite excited when we told him before school this morning.
It doesn’t ‘fix’ things… But, breaking the cycle of constant thought and stress will be good.</p>
<p>blueiguana - thank you for your post; I pray your son has a better day today - he is clearly well loved! I think this website is a mixed blessing: very useful information but also feeds on the “I need to go to a great school” mania. Some of this pressure is internal and some comes from parents, peers, etc. Clearly, parents need to monitor how our beloved children are doing. Our kids’ success is not based on where they go to college. Our success as parents is not based on where our kids go to college. I come from a competitive NYC suburb. One third of my public HS went Ivy. We had suicides every year. Now, I live in the midwest and work with a ton of brilliant, successful, HAPPY adults who went to far less selective colleges. Very healthy perspective! Some of the kids and parents here are caught up in the HYPSM race and there is pressure, but it is feels less pervasive.</p>
<p>blueiguana, I wish your son peace. I think you handled this wonderfully. We all need down time and sometimes forget how stressfull this period in our kids lives can be. A few hours more studying is not going to make that big a difference. </p>
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<li>hey we have a handshake too! ;-)</li>
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<p>blueiguana - Your son is so lucky to have such loving, caring parents who give him the opportunity to express his honest feelings. You have also taught him how to be a true friend. So many families could learn from your story. Thank you for sharing.</p>