Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
7981

<p>Thank you, D is feeling better. Good thing - she has school, 2 auditions and a performance tonight. Ice and snow predicted into tomorrow morning; I texted her to bring everything home in case school gets dinged. I wish it would - these kids need all the break they can get!</p>

<p>D1 comes home tomorrow night - can’t wait to see her. She’s had a heck of a semester, but now she can enjoy the last one. I can’t believe she’s almost done.</p>

<p>I’m worrying still about D getting her Jan apps done, but she keeps saying it’s fine. I guess this is practice for me, getting used to her running her own life next year.</p>

<p>I hope the admissions offices try to clear their plates this week and send some of us more rolling and EA answers! Best wishes to everyone!</p>

7982

<p>Good morning - I will echo what others have said - Congratulations on all the acceptances and scholarships…hugs to all who are in a temporary holding pattern until Spring.</p>

<p>During the past several months my D has not proclaimed a favorite school which has surprised us. There was one school where she really loved the head of the program and could easily relate to the student body. She was thrilled when she was accepted last week but she has stated that she is keeping her options open. Ok with her Dad and me…let’s see what unfolds over the next couple of months…it was one of two schools within driving distance of home.</p>

<p>However, she has not even opened the big fat envelope from another school that has been sitting on the counter for the last couple of days! </p>

<p>She glanced at it but she didn’t even pick it up or even mention it…are we still on the roller coaster or are we now on the"tilt-a-whirl?"</p>

7983

<p>I can’t keep up!</p>

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<p>Does Wesleyan brag about Dawn Upshaw being an alum? H got to sing with her when they were both in college. He talked to her voice teacher who said that there was really nothing he could teach her. (We still have a tape of young Dawn in a St. John Passion.)</p>

7984

<p>Wow! I didn’t check in all weekend because I was working on a painting project, but I’m amazed at all the good news I read today. So many acceptances! A few disappointments, to be sure. I feel like things are really rolling along at a fast pace. We’re moving more like the turtle in the turtle and the hare, but I guess it worked out for the turtle in the story, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for good news from our house in April.</p>

<p>Congrats on the acceptances and hugs to those who are getting over disappointing news!</p>

7985

<p>MOSB I agree with FlMathMom and others-sometimes the gut is a better decider than the brain! The one word I hear repeatedly when discussing where S will go to school is the most important thing is fit-it’s almost starting to feel like real estate and “Location, location, location”. </p>

<p>I find this process to be so hard to get any kind of handle on that it makes even trying to come to some kind of preliminary decision almost impossible. Unless you have had a dream school for a long time and can afford to go there and can apply ED and get accepted you really have no idea how this is going to go. There simply must be a better and more efficient way to do this. After I streamline and fix the health care industry I may take up the task of straightening out the college application process. :)</p>

<p>So that’s what we are trying to do in the waning days before the final apps can be done. Keep S on a even keel-school goes right through Thursday here and he has a lot of work and tests to get through. He also has a swim meet Wednesday-FLMath did you mention the girl angle to your son? :)</p>

7986

<p>anothermom3 - Great news about U of Chicago. </p>

<p>momjr - Welcome to Florida.</p>

7987

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<p>It’s really just in the rarified world of CC, and probably the good private high schools, that this is an issue. For MANY students, the one and only choice is their local community college, because it is what they can afford. For some more, they can choose a state school as long as they can commute and live at home. For more, only the state schools are affordable, so the list is accordingly shortened. Many can’t get into their state flagship or maybe even the top 2 or 3 state schools, so the list is shortened even futher. You add a specialized major like hospitality or deaf education and your list is shortened to one or two schools. The possibilities are not limitless for most of the nation that can’t afford a private school or OOS public.</p>

7988

<p>I give up trying to keep up! Congratulations on all the good news.</p>

<p>The next 2 weeks should be slower, as the admission offices are closed for the holidays. </p>

<p>MOSB: I hear you. Most kids will have to choose between fit and the strength of the department and the cost of attendance. Only some will find and get accepted to a school that is perfect in every aspect.</p>

7989

<p>missypie: You are so correct about the not limitless possibilities for most HS students. I think we forget on CC that we are a tiny subset of the parents of high school seniors. Our son’s class has 408 students. Only about 10 percent of those will apply anywhere other than the in-town state “directional” school that has open admission. Of those 40, most will apply to the state flagship or the flagships of border states (that are a shorter drive!) And about 10 will apply to private schools–and most of those will be instate. My son and his closest friend (a chemical engineering major) are the only two applying to private schools not in-state. </p>

<p>Last year, one member of the senior class went to Stanford EA and she was a Questbridge recipient. That was it. Everyone else fit the categories I described above.</p>

<p>Sometimes we just need that perspective.</p>

7990

<p>Maybe you can help to settle a difference of opinion that S2 and I are having over an email that he received from one of the colleges that he applied to a couple of weeks ago. I thought that the email seemed to indicate that they had taken notice of his application and liked what they saw. He thought it was a standard email that they send to all applicants. Maybe I am reading too much into this. I am so eager (okay, make that desperate) to hear some good news from one of his schools that I may now be hallucinating. It’s possible. </p>

<p>Here’s the wording of the email he received from the college (a top 20 LAC):</p>

<p>“Greetings from XXX College. Following an initial review of the information you recently submitted, I wanted to contact you to encourage your continued interest in the college. As you know, XXXXX offers tremendous opportunities for students with achievement and potential such as yours and we are pleased that you have taken the first step toward becoming a member of the XXXX community by submitting your application for admission.”</p>

<p>The remainder of the email went on to say to contact any professors or the admissions counselor if he had any questions and that she looked forward to working with him.</p>

<p>I took this as a positive and he sees it as a neutral. What do you think? He hasn’t heard from any of the other schools that he has applied to except for a couple of “your file is complete” and “you need to complete the Profile” emails.</p>

7991

<p>I don’t want to be a wet blanket, but my D has gotten many of those e-mails, and we’re choosing to see them as pretty standard. I think some schools - and even pretty selective schools - go on a campaign to “show the love” to their applicants, but it isn’t personal. It’s nice to hear from them, but it probably doesn’t mean anything.</p>

<p>It’s helpful when they throw in some real info about the school, like “Did you know that recently we …?” or “XXX College graduates have made their mark in their fields in the following ways …” Some of the info does make you think, hey, that’s a pretty great school, and it was nice not to have to go digging for info as we anticipate deciding. So I think it’s effective marketing.</p>

<p>What makes us crazy is getting mail or e-mails from schools she’s applied to … and all it contains is this kind of promotional message. It’s hard on my blood pressure!</p>

7992

<p>Well while CC can skew the perspective I guess some of us will have to agree to disagree.</p>

<p>At the local public HS here-certainly not a hotbed for CC activity-the number of applications is insane. My S has friends who have sent 15 or more applications for whatever reasons they may have. There are also the kids who want to stay local and just apply to the state school or do a couple of years at CC-but most of the kids are sending out a lot of applications. Most of the kids took the SAT review class offered at the school after hours for $500. I could make a small fortune consulting for people who want to try and hide assets or minimize income so they can get every last dollar of FA they believe they deserve. This is a big business, there is no doubt in my mind about it.</p>

<p>I would like to think this insanity is limited to the CC and good private school subset but I would be willing to bet it is far more widespread than that.</p>

7993

<p>Got accepted to George Washington University :)</p>

7994

<p>Congrats r0kAng3l!</p>

<p>I think I’d say that there is definitely a “coastal” difference - in the middle of the country, there is a much lower percentage of kids who join in the intense college game. Also an urban distinction, probably. Yes, kids who are trying for more selective, higher-pressure admissions are a minority, nationally. But that doesn’t change how it feels when you’re in an environment that puts your experience on display for all to see. I think that’s very rough.</p>

<p>I don’t think anyone ever will solve the GPA/rank/test score/EC/leadership equation issue. Admissions in many places used to be, and often still are, done on a quantitative basis, and no one ever liked that system, either. If my D made the cut grade-wise and score-wise but got nixed by her class rank, for example (as I think she will for some standardized scholarships) I’d be very unhappy. But I’ll also wince if I think she was denied over kids “less” qualified at a school where there are holistic admissions. I’m certainly prepared for all of the above, though.</p>

7995

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<p>D knows some kids applying to WAY TOO MANY schools…but I bet that the hotbed of activity is limited to a small percentage and that the number of kids who have visited a lot of schools and who are applying to a lot of schools is maybe 10-20% of the class. I think it has a lot to do with the economics of the school…that upper middle class NOT SWEET spot…the one where the parents make too much for need based aid but not enough to pay $40,000-$50,000 out of pocket per year. We are the ones who are squeezed hard. I addressed the issue by researching schools where D’s stats would give her significant merit aid. Most everybody else just says “choose a state school” or even “commute.” (There are two nice private schools within 25 miles of us; quite a few kids commute to them.)</p>

7996

<p>Congrats to r0kAng3!</p>

<p>If I hadn’t started reading this discussion board several years ago (started on prep school threads) my S’s list of schools would be much different. He would be applying to a lot of the same local (within 2-3 hours driving) schools that many of the other kids in his school are. Because I wanted to maximize merit and his chances of being accepted we cast a wider net. We also looked closely at “fit.” I know most of the kids/parents at his school do not know how to go about analyzing the CDS or Naviance data to see where they fit wrt scholarship money. Drives me nuts, but I’ll save that for my GC rant at a later date. All in all, S is happy with his list, and we can afford any of the schools he gets in.</p>

7997

<p>“I don’t think anyone ever will solve the GPA/rank/test score/EC/leadership equation issue.”</p>

<p>Emmybet, I couldn’t agree more - for some reason, more kids from our local high school were accepted into Ivies (ED) than ever before - 15 - out of total 425 kids…our school send only a total of 6-8 last year and most of the acceptances came during RD. In addition, there is an above average number of kids accepted ED to the next tier - UChicago, Berkley, Georgetown etc. For some reason, our HS usually does well with MIT but not this year - no ED acceptances…go figure.</p>

7998

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<p>The frustrating thing is that we can’t even educate the parents who come after us because most of the time you just never know. After Son was finished with the process, I wanted to call each school and ask, “Did it matter *at all *that he was an Eagle Scout?” Did they already have two Asian girls from suburban Houston, so your qualified D who looks just the same on paper didn’t get in? Did that two day suspension freshman year keep him out, or was it totally ignored and it was the class rank that did it?</p>

<p>It is interesting to look at the school specific threads, however…you can get a bit of info there. D was awarded the highest merit scholarship at her school; a kid posted on the school thread that he got the second highest and his ACT was higher but his GPA was lower. So we know that with that school, GPA trumped test scores.</p>

7999

<p>Let’s see if I can catch up in one fell swoop:</p>

<p>r0kAng3l: Congrats on GWU! Such an exciting place to go to school, and great dorms to boot. My daughter is writing letters to withdraw applications following an ED acceptance, and she called to say that writing the one to GWU was really a wrench–she loved the school, and wishes she could go to two places at once. </p>

<p>bella28: Congrats to your D on having a top three choice in the bag! Any place where the bio professor has alpacas sounds fabulous.</p>

<p>holliesue: Congrats to your D as well on New Paltz! She should check out the alpacas ;)</p>

<p>RenaissanceMom: Congrats to your S and his friends on the U of C acceptances! Sounds like it is most def not a place where fun will go to die. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>mommylaw: Congrats to your D on U of I! Glad to hear you made it through the server crash.</p>

<p>Pepper03: Congrats to your S on turning out to be a great natural swimmer!</p>

<p>momofsongbird: Congrats to your D on an acceptance AND to the school showing her lots and lots of love! Money can’t buy love, but it can’t hurt, either. :)</p>

<p>EmmyBet: Congrats to your D on the Honors College interview!</p>

<p>phbmom: Congrats to your D on snagging a nomination for West Point! My D1 will be getting her wisdom teeth out later this week–that plus stomach flu definitely does not seem fair.</p>

<p>FlMathMom: Congrats to your S on WPI! It sounds like the same people who run Embassy Suites also run the dining room, what with those fresh-baked cookies.</p>

<p>kathiep: Congrats to your S on Guilford! Sorry that he apparently got the idiot WPI adcoms–hopefully he’ll get the genius ones during the RD round.</p>

<p>gamomof3: Congrats to your D on additional scholarship good news!</p>

<p>boomer22: Congrats to your S on the Hobart and William Smith ED good news AND money!</p>

<p>happy64: Congrats to your D on getting a nice fat scholarship from her ED school!</p>

<p>anothermom3: Congrats to your S on EA at his first choice U of Chicago! Any school near Powell’s Bookstore is a school to love. </p>

<p>And now my exclamation key is complaining that it’s getting too much of a workout and it is overstressed, so if I’ve missed anyone, there is a sincerely meant congrats for you as well. :)</p>

<p>D1 said that some admitted students from her ED school (which meets full need) are not getting happy news with their FA packages. :frowning: It’s a real bucket of ice water on some of these students.</p>

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<p>Yeah, tuition is a pain (I hate how it’s so expensive now!). I’m really, really hoping that I get the NROTC scholarship (I kind of started it late and just turned it in by Dec 6th). I’m also hoping that since GWU gives out good FA packages, that I’ll get a good package, too.</p>