<p>I am interested in all the gap year comments. That was originally considered here, but I was thinking the college apps should be done now, get accepted, then ask if they will hold your place till the next year. It would be hard to do the app process in the gap year if going out of the country. Upon further investigation, we found that certain colleges would not hold a place especially for certain majors - vocal performance in particular. And you could not audition during your gap year if you were out of the country. Also I think National Merit Scholarships are only good for the fall immediately after graduation.</p>
<p>Apollo - Great news! I’m glad you were able to find out.</p>
<p>Congrats Apollo6! </p>
<p>kelijake1987 - your S has something he wants to do more than going to college, but I think the others prefer to go to college first, but not if they have to go to “safety” schools. A gap year as a plan is a great thing.</p>
<p>Galaxyfigment - I think teaching, especially STEM teaching, is almost a hook right now. Of course, I’m not an AC and I don’t play one. But S13 is going to major in math, and I was surprised by the number of times I ran across math teacher questions/scholarships/etc. He applied RD, right? Can he do volunteer math tutoring over Christmas break and for finals? Especially if he can set it up through the school (high school or middle school) or a public library or something like that, he can send it as an addition to his resume and highlight the teaching aspect.</p>
<p>Congtrats to everyone!! I was gone most of yesterday and came back to about 10 pages to catch up with!!</p>
<p>DD got deferred from MIT. It’s little hard to swallow. But DD took it ok now. A boy from her school got admitted to MIT with lower stats, ranking, etc, and probably a special hook. He is a very close friend of DD (not BF) since 1st grade. They texted to each other after DD texted congrats message, finally the boy called DD for long time, DD did not us to hear the conversation. The bog is going to apply H, means DD has very little chance for H too.
Sometimes you put in every effort for your target, but you may not get expected result because of some unexplainable reasons, that’s fate or life. DD learned the lession in hard way. While I feel sorry for DD, I give my sincere congratulations to that boy. Here defer should probably read as reject.</p>
<p>Right before 12:15, DD was very nervous at home so we brought her to a mall, pretending looking for cloth for her, wife constantly tried to put cloth on DD to distract her attention while DD could not take her eyes off from her iphone, which I believed was locked on her admission page. As it got closer to 12:15 we were at Macy’s, she worried more and said “what if I screamed or cried”, while I tried to find a quiet corner for her she decided to go back to parking lot, so we ended up to learn the defer news in our car in a parking lot. I thought this was a little funny and true story to share.</p>
<p>A lot of good news in these couple of days, congrats to all the acceptance!</p>
<p>Gap years are a terrific plan! I did one to do foreign exchange before college. My D did the same but in the middle of her high school years. She’d love to do another one but she’s already 19 so I put my foot down. 
I hope your DS gets to defer, K.</p>
<p>That’s rough, NerdyDad. I’m sorry your D was deferred but I would maintain hope. MIT has more trouble finding excellent female applicants than male ones. I wonder if she could do something interesting and send them an update. Hugs to your family.</p>
<p>Congrats on Beloit, Apollo!</p>
<p>nerdydad, H may be looking for something different that MIT was so a deferment at one doesn’t necessarily portend results at another. I agree about showing love to a school during the deferment period!</p>
<p>Apollo, congratulations on Beloit with merit. I’d noticed others posting about Beloit, and was a little worried when I didn’t see you among them. I think I recognize you from another forum, and I’d be shocked (cough cough) if your D weren’t seen as a Beloit All-Star. Glad she’s getting more interested, too.</p>
<p>I am hoping that D2 will hold off on a gap year until D1 is finished college (i.e. take one between sophomore & junior year if she wants to), so that we can maximize need-based aid. And, as musicmerit points out, we may potentially lose scholarships depending on where she is accepted and under what conditions. In the end, though, if she is really not ready to go, then it’ll have to be Plan B. Spending money to have a kid in college who does not want to be there doesn’t make sense to me.</p>
<p>nerdyDad, that was a noble attempt to distract your D! I love the picture of your family in the parking lot looking at the iPhone. 
Your D already has an excellent school that wants her, so that’s wonderful. It’s tough when the kids are in competition with friends that they have known forever.</p>
<p>anouilh: true slow motion playback of final moment was like: wife and me sat in front of the car, not talking, DD sat in the back, announcing countdown with trembling voice: “12:13,12:14”, I said “it’s only 12:13 from my car clock”, DD: “stop, mine is global time”, then we feel our hearts raced together, DD was furious refreshing screen, finally she said “deferred”, handed us the phone with final screen, then the forever silent moment…
Well, this is probably one of few moments we would share with kids for life.</p>
<p>Morning all! I hope every is enjoying time with their family now that older kids have returned. </p>
<p>Congrats, Apollo!</p>
<p>NerdyDad…congrats to your D for still being in the game at MIT, with a Caltech acceptance in hand! Not too shabby! My S also had friends accepted to MIT yesterday-yep, they had hooks. MIT contends that they do not compare kids against the kids in their school…or even against kids in their state…they are judged individually. If this is true, then your D would not be penalized in the RD round because they’ve already accepted someone from her school. I agree with YDS…H is looking for something totally different than MIT. Good luck to her in March!</p>
<p>I understand the long odds, so I could be wrong. But as to the kids deferred from MIT on this thread, I think it is statistically pretty improbable they will all be rejected in RD. Especially when you consider the CIT acceptances. It’s always possible the schools try to fill up their institutional wish-lists in the early rounds, meaing hooks might not be as important later on.</p>
<p>Just a guess, don’t hold me to it. :)</p>
<p>But if I had more reputation boxes and was allowed to bet them, I would bet them all on that. ;)</p>
<p>We’ll find out on Pi-day.</p>
<p>Apollo6, Youdon’tsay, anouilh, MommyDearest13, bovertine: thanks you all for kind words. I will get over this sometime later. </p>
<p>Meanwhile I really feel guilty and selfish to let my disappointment to occupy my feelings while the parents in Sandy Hook’s tragedy lost their kids forever, I would be speechless and in deep sorrow when I remind the picture that mom was in panic calling from the phone. Can we stop gun selling? Same tragedy happened in China at the same day, but this time the psycho used knife(gun is banned in China), so he injured 22 kids instead of killed 20 kids and others. My whole heart is with these parents in Sandy Hook Elementary school. I wish I could do something for them.</p>
<p>Congrats to the recent acceptances. If you have a DH who doesn’t understand the intense competition this year, show him the CC threads of ED/EA acceptances. So many decision delays or redirections of incredible kids.</p>
<p>I was thinking of you, Swizzle, yesterday morning. Have you considered journalism? Your writing has such a compelling, charismatic voice that is rare among kids your age. You have talent. That’s why we all love you on this thread. What type of major are you thinking about?</p>
<p>Uga: We were successful in photographing a large artwork of DD to digitize it. Put it on a neutral background; we would usually go outside on a cloudy day cause you cannot use a flash or have sunspots/shadows on it (glare). If that doesn’t work, try local camera and printer shops, if that doesn’t work out maybe an architect or your town planner (big blueprints?). Our local camera shop has printers for huge artwork; they might have similar sized scanners. Maybe even a Staples/Office Depot?</p>
<p>NDad: MD13 is correct; MIT reviews students as individuals, completely independent of who else is applying/accepted from their hs or region. The other kid’s acceptance would not have affected how they considered your DD. Remember the line in their letter - they were very conservative this year and deferred a lot of kids who are very eligible, probably a lot who did not have int’l or nat’l recognition or extraordinarily compelling stories. Because she wasn’t redirected, they considered her eligible, an incredible achievement. Good luck in RD. Note that MIT does not have problems finding excellent female candidates as do many other engineering colleges. Although fewer apply than males, those who do are self selecting and most tend to be extremely qualified. Borderline guys are more likely to apply than borderline girls. On a different note, I used to live in a place where guns were illegal…so only the criminals had guns. They became so brazen; it was so dangerous we moved. There is no simple solution here.</p>
<p>Quotes of the Day: “University of the Gap Year”: Safety or First Choice U?; “The only true failure is not to try.”</p>
<p>Count us, along with Moonpie, galaxy, mommydearest, as waiting till the last minute to apply for the Vandy scholarship. My DD hit submit at 11:52 pm. She was busy all day yesterday and came home at 10:45 from babysitting. Did some last minute changes to her essay, and applied. I hope one of our children gets it!</p>
<p>Congrats to the Apollo6 on Beloit! They do a very good job of calling perspectives and making them feel special and wanted. I fell for it over 30 years ago! No regrets.</p>
<p>Ok, DD has 3 more apps to go, but seems to be more interested in visiting with returning friends and planning her secret santa party on Friday. Can’t say I blame her, but I really would like those last 3 apps done!</p>
<p>Hey guys–congrats to those with good news, hugs to those with bad, hang in there to those with in-between news.</p>
<p>I promised a friend with a '13 daughter I’d ask this question. Didn’t want to start another thread cuz this one has been so busy and has so much experience. Her D applied to several EA schools but just found out (when I told her one of the schools both our kids applied to released EA decisions on Friday) that her GC still has not sent the recommendations. She asked when they might hear something if the recs were sent, like, tomorrow, and I told her my best guess is that her D is now in the RD pool and she might not hear until those decisions are out. Any chance they could hear sooner since everything <em>but</em> the recs was in on time? If it matters, I’m not sure of all the schools involved but College of Charleston and South Carolina are on the list. </p>
<p>(And no I did not say, “You know–that’s one reason I ‘help’ my kids through the process. They’d probably never think to check to see if the apps were complete once their part was out the door.”)</p>
<p>If recs are not required, but are merely recommended, then she is still part of the EA pool. CofC has a very helpful admissions office. If i were this kid, I would call them tomorrow. And shame on the Guidance Office!</p>
<p>Thanks–that’s a really good idea. I just wasn’t sure if incomplete EA apps would convert to more of a rolling status than having to wait until the RD decisions are out.</p>
<p>MyLB: has she checked the MyCharleston portal? Does it say that they’re still waiting on the paperwork?</p>
<p>I believe that’s how she found out–I told my friend that CofC’s EA decisions were posted on the kids’ accounts on Friday. (I’m a tad more hands-on, obviously!) Sounds like she didn’t know until then that the recs had not been sent. Again–I know all of this info is out there (those application checklists and such), but my friend is one of those parents who think it’s important for the kid to handle everything.</p>