<p>William and Mary was a school I thought my son should look at but we never made it to VA. It sounds absolutely wonderful – great size, intellectual vibe, interesting campus, terrific programs (including one w/ St. Andrews in Scotland). Not seeing this school is one of my only regrets in this process. </p>
<p>blueiguana, reading over your post re: the girl who was denied by her 1st choice public U made me think of something I read last summer: The Gatekeepers by the NYTimes columnist Jacques Steinberg. He followed one admissions cycle at Wesleyan U. There was a kid who didn’t get in (may have been a deferral) who sent a postcard every day, a girl who was denied who wrote a very persuasive letter. If that school was truly her first choice, I would encourage that girl and her mom to contact the ad com to tell them so and to write something very compelling as to why it’s her first choice, including the financial info (a great education that my family can afford). It can’t hurt and it may help.</p>
<p>I think College Board sent ALL the SAT scores out December 4. I ordered on several different dates in November and they all went out 12/4. I feel like starting up a new test program to put them out of business.</p>
<p>I am much better today-I think I will blame a hormonal imbalance. My dog is by my side as I type away keeping hew watchful eye on me-actually she is snoring but I know if I needed her she would spring into action!</p>
<p>That is a very disturbing story about a college refusing someone because they are a transfer risk-it’s pretty outrageous actually. I hope they appeal. Just crazy.</p>
<p>So I just realized there are only 17 days until Christmas-at least we did decorate this weekend. Not a single present. Lots of shopping ahead plus a job interview and numerous doctors appointments for the old folk in the family. </p>
<p>S joined the school Swim team yesterday completely out of the blue! He has never swam (swum)??? competitively and I think the only reason he joined is his two best friends are two of the top swimmers in the state and they talked him into it (both very pretty young ladies). It’s a new program this year completely paid for by private fundraising since the school district like every other one in the country has no $ for more sports. His first meet is TODAY-the coach wants him to swim it-I give up trying to figure this kid out. He’s happy though and that’s all that matters. Now his father may kill him because he still has to get info to a a couple of schools he submitted and he is still deciding on any other apps-it is kind of funny actually. I feel good about where he is at-both in this process and as a person. He’s in a very good place.</p>
<p>Hi everyone. Not much going on out here with respect to college apps. D has a few more to go and most of them require one/two essays. Am hoping, no praying she will get these done in the next week or so. Of course, winter sports season began in earnest this week - so time is scarce.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all those who’ve received acceptances. D has applied EA to a couple of schools, but is not waiting for the responses to submit her RD applications. So, we are waiting for the results next week - but at the same time, forging ahead on the rest of the apps!</p>
<p>NHS induction was last week. D is an officer and was running around like crazy for a few days prior to the induction, getting everything ready. Event went off very smoothly - big surprise for D was that she was nominated for the NHS scholarship from her school. Really neat for her to be honored. She was thrilled - but then said “Oh gosh, another two essays to write”!! And they are due Jan 14th!</p>
<p>^okay, it was supposed to put a quote in the above post, so I know that it didn’t make sense. I am referring the post a couple pages back about hearing from Auburn and Alabama. Just thought it was amusing. Oh well.</p>
<p>Congratulations to Oregonianmom’s D and mommylaw’s D on snagging acceptances, and congratulations to tribeparent’s D on being DONE! I love hearing the happy news.</p>
<p>blueiguana, is your friend’s daughter going to challenge the rejection? Would it be possible for the school GC to call the university and put in the good word? The parents and the daughter should be calling like crazy as well, going up the ladder to the head of admissions. That’s just a horrid situation.</p>
<p>Congrats to Omom, mommylaw and tribeparent. If any of you are interested in visiting colleges or anyone else from Jan 4-Feb 15 except Jan 13-17, JetBlue is having a big sale for the next 2 days.</p>
<p>We celebrated another “last” last night. D had her competition cheer banquet. I was doing OK until she got two awards in a row and coach started talking about how much she was going to miss her…then the tears started. She got the Academic award for highest GPA and the Best All-Around. Best All-Around is special because it was voted on by the squad. Feels great to be recoginized by her peers. She was totally caught off guard by that one.</p>
<p>We are know going through the another part of this process that I thought was going to be easy but is not turning out that way… making the final decision on where to enroll. She likes 3 of the 4 schools she has been accepted too the same. 4th was an academic and financial safety that is really not in the running any more. She can imagine herself at any of those three. It’s going to come down to finances. Who ever comes through with the most merit money will be it. One school is instate so I am leaning toward instate.</p>
<p>Slithey: Thanks so much for posting the links to those threads. It’s something we talk about often at our house as finances will be an issue when it comes time for S2 to make a college choice. (Well, assuming he has a choice!) It was good for me to read about the positive experience that the poster had after choosing his #2 school and it will be good for my son to read those posts as well. Really, I just wanted to give that young man a standing ovation!! Not an easy decision to make coming out of high school, but one that paid many dividends for him. As we keep saying at our house, keep an open mind.</p>
<p>^^
GA High School Squads are only allowed to participate in GA high school comps. Their season run Aug-Nov and ends with the State Championship in November. They are not allowed to compete in any all-star type competitions. I wish they could do some, my D would love competing on a spring floor. They only have foam mats on basketball floor.</p>
<p>High school squads only compete on the mats. In competitions (e.g. NCA, ACA) where they have both All Star and School divisions, they change out the floor between divisions - dismantle the spring floor and bring out the mats. This weekend my D competed at NCA Regionals - all star in the morning on the spring floor; same venue, same stage, mats for the school team in the afternoon. It must feel odd to be doing the same skills on different surfaces on the same stage on the same day.</p>
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<p>Well at least you don’t have to fundraise to send them all to Nationals every year (of course, from GA it wouldn’t be as expensive to get to Orlando.)</p>
<p>I’m not sure how the family is going to handle the decision. I don’t know the parents personally. I’m sorry if I misrepresented that. I certainly didn’t mean to. It is a student at Bluejr’s school. I would think if the parent was involved enough, and made the steps to call the university, based on the exact answer given, they will follow up appropriately.</p>
<p>I was just so sad because as much as these schools tell us they do not practice yield control they do…some more than others. Some call it ‘the right fit’. My concern with that is, they don’t know your student yet so how do they know the right fit? Yes, they have an application, but can that adequately show the right fit?</p>
<p>I started thinking about Bluejrs top choice school. He certainly didn’t write the essay’s that one would consider the ‘love letter’. They don’t track demonstrated interest, although if they did they would see he has attended various information sessions on campus and at his school. On the surface one might ask why ‘this school’ and not ‘that school’. The size is better for him, the overall vibe is different, the feeling when he is there is just right. The way they teach his major inherently mirrors the things that are most important to him. His GC did ask what his first choice was and we are hoping that it is conveyed in her recommendation. All you can do is toss your hat in the ring and hope.</p>
<p>It would be nice if parents and kids could sign a release and then be told the exact reason(s) the student was or wasn’t admitted. However, it might just be too frustrating to bear.</p>
<p>college4three, actually I thought your comment made perfect sense following pepper’s son’s up-and-out-of-the-blue joining swim team (at the urging of the pretty young ladies). That gave me a laugh, anyway. :)</p>
My dog is by my side as I type away keeping hew watchful eye on me-actually she is snoring but I know if I needed her she would spring into action!</p>