Parents of the HS Class of 2014

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
11261

<p>@2016BarnardMom I can say from personal experience (got my PhD there) that the Michigan faculty and grad students who will be the TAs are top notch :-). With work study he’d have the chance to get involved in cool research. Remind me what department? Also, Ann Arbor is a college town many of my friends have never left.</p>

<p>@gotomom Thanks for reporting back from that college counselor. We have a pretty darn good school system but our science teachers are the weakest part (with a few exceptions) and though research opportunities are offered, the coordinator tends to scare kids away rather than interest them. This saddens me. And I feel badly about the kids who aren’t lucky enough to live near research universities or labs.</p>

<p>@ct1417 @asleepatthewheel The earlier timing also disturbs me. I suspect that putting “undecided” in my S’s ED Ivy application was a problem (he wanted to combine bio and CS and wasn’t ready to decide which would lead). By January he had finally sorted out his desires so all the RD applications were more coherent. </p>

<p>My S16 may or may not have his act together sooner – they all blossom at different times, don’t they.</p>

11262

<p>

</p>

<p>@2016BarnardMom - had to chuckle at your above post, thinking I should say the same for those considering Vandy.  Although, @CT1417, there is no way my D could accept at full pay, so that may make her chances of moving off the WL even less likely and, honestly, I feel like she really needs to move ahead on her other acceptances as if Vandy’s a redirection (unless the high unlikelihood that Vandy tells her there’s a good chance she could come off the WL before 1 May).  I would hope for all being offered a spot off the WL, who are in need of FA, that perhaps some FA may be freed up for them from students awarded FA who choose to go to another school - but I definitely wouldn’t count on it.  Thank you for your advice, I do appreciate it and will share it with my D, as we consider her choices.</p>

11263

<p>We are getting closer to a decision - S really likes UVM honors college but want to visit Mulhenberg before he makes a decision…so just like that 2 off the list ! I am happy for him… I also think he just gave me a compliment - He said if it wasn’t for me he would have not even applied to either school and now he is choosing between them! WoW ! What a difference a day makes …</p>

11264

<p>Hi everyone - just wanted to share a link from another thread that D and I found fascinating - we spent over an hour looking at this this morning:</p>

<p><a href=“How common is getting "shut out" for "reasonably good" students? - #16 by BTMell - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1621788-how-common-is-getting-shut-out-for-reasonably-good-students-p2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In case the link doesn’t work, it is @ucbalumnus post from March 3. The list shows the full results from one senior year’s applicants at PVPHS in Los Angeles, CA - a top-level public high school. D and I were surprised at how many kids had long list of ivies or near-ivies that they applied to, and most got into zero, some got into one or two. These are kids with 4.5+ weighted GPA’s, 2200+ SAT’s, 10 or more AP’s, so these are the very top, and only a few of them are making it into even one highly competitive college. This just brought home how very very difficult it is to get in, and you are far better off assuming that you won’t & having a very strong list of true matches and safeties.</p>

<p>D’s school does not use Naviance, so this may be more familiar to many of you, but it was sure eye-opening to me & D!</p>

11265

<p>@1dilecon - I don’t think acceptances off of the Vandy waitlist are need blind (although Vandy does say that some of those accepted from waitlist do have demonstrated need). However, if you manage to get accepted from the waitlist and have demonstrated need, I think the FA package is the same as you would’ve received with an initial acceptance. I would call Vandy and double check. </p>

<p>@onlyonemom - Isnt it so rewarding when they acknowledge that you were right?!</p>

<p>@2016Barnardmom - your post made me laugh too! </p>

11266

<p>@2016BarnardMom - let me second the good word for U of M and Ann Arbor. I’ve attended Michigan, UCLA, and Penn, and Michigan and Ann Arbor were by far the best “college” environment. I felt like I was in a place somewhat like Disneyland, but with awesome professors. This was 30 years ago, but my experiences included taking a graduate-level history class as a sophomore (thank you APUSH!) and realizing that history is more than just facts; learning how to really write an essay (something all of my previous education failed to do) from a highly engaged grad student; having physics professors with a really had a fun sense of humor who made lecture a pleasure; taking a class about the Vietnam war taught by an excellent SE Asian cultures professor who gave us the perspective of an entire century of history leading up to that conflict, and then bringing in a special forces colonel who was in-country from '64 onward to tell us what it was really like; and a German language professor who was so good that there was a cohort of about a dozen of us who kept singing up for his sections - and then one semester when they switched sections on us, we went wandering the halls in a pack to demand a new section be opened up so we could get the guy we wanted as our teacher - and the school gave us what we wanted. In fact every time I had to interact with the administration, the experience was easy and helpful - I felt accepted. Then add to that the special feeling of a football Saturday - when the entire school (it seemed) walked en masse from the campus to the stadium, music playing, footballs flying through the air, with an aura of excitement about what was coming that was truly magical - and then to be in a stadium of 100,000+ all acting as one, mighty organism… visceral. It is definitely the Big U experience, but it is that experience done right.</p>

11267

<p>A friend of my d’s got into the following - hold your hats; vandy, duke, wash u, harvard, princeton, stanford. Makes me want her to go buy me a lottery ticket while she’s hot!</p>

11268

<p>@TitanAPBioTchr - Wow, your post makes me kind of wish I could go back to school and go to Michigan!</p>

<p>@Overtheedge - You’re right, I did just find a wonderful article (<a href=“I’m on the Wait List – Now What? | The Vandy Admissions Blog | Vanderbilt University”>A Big Day for VU Football | The Vandy Admissions Blog | Vanderbilt University) on the Vandy website about what to do once you’re waitlisted, and the article states, “Although we do reserve the right to be need-aware when admitting wait-listed students, those who are admitted will still receive 100% of their families’ demonstrated need, completely loan free.” The article further states, “We will likely begin making offers to our wait-listed students in the first week of May.  Because this is after most other schools’ matriculation fee deadlines, we strongly encourage you to put down that deposit at another school to ensure you will not be left without any options.” which seems good advice for all those WL. Honestly though, it seems like it may be hard for my D to accept a scholarship, and then go back to the scholarship school and tell them she’s changed her mind, as she’s been accepted off the WL at another school. A lot to think about . . .</p>

<p>@GertrudeMcFuzz - seems like that would be a really good article for all those advising seniors on applying to colleges. Heartbreaking to hear about high achieving kids left with no options because they only applied to lottery schools.</p>

11269

<p>Our weekend visit to see our college son’s games went very well. He saw us entering the field and came running to us to give us all hugs. Standing on the sidelines for 8 hours in a cold rainy day was all worth it just seeing him play, but the warm hugs were extra bonus :slight_smile: I can’t believe this is the same kid we dropped off four years ago in college in a big city – Such a growth, maturity and appreciation for everything we do now.</p>

<p>The team loved and devoured everything I made. All the trays of “Thai peanut noodles” were emptied out fast and the cookies were gone in minutes.</p>

<p>They reminded me of the soccer games when my children were young. The team would all be waiting for the half time and the team snacks. I think some kids came to the games just for the yummy snacks :slight_smile: Oh, I miss those days. They may not have remembered which side was their goal, but they sure remembered whose turn to bring the snacks…</p>

<p>@1dilecon - sent you the recipe.</p>

11270

<p>@jasmineRose – it’s so nice that you got the hugs and some appreciation. I think that when kids move away they learn to appreciate what they always had (and took for granted). It’s one of the good, maturing things about going away to college.<br>
PS – Can I have the recipe for the thai peanut noodles, too? I have 2 very different ones, but it’s something that is always appreciated around this house ;)</p>

11271

<p>@TitanAPBioTchr Oh, I know! I definitely know! I was at that lesser school about 10 miles down Washtenaw, living in the shadow of THE University in the state. Walter Cronkite was the keynote speaker at my brother’s graduation at Michigan. If he goes to Michigan, he wants to major in Social Theory and Practice which is only available in the Residential College, which I know could be a big plus for him- makes a big U smaller and guarantees Freshman housing on central campus too! I love Ann Arbor enough that I did stay in the area when I first graduated from Eastern. </p>

<p>I definitely see him loving football Saturdays, face painted in Maize and Blue and hollering for his team in the student section. He told me yesterday he thinks everybody just gets drunk and implied that’s the only state of being at those times. I know that’s not true, but he has to be convinced because he has seen too many Tweets from the Big House from the kids who graduated from our high school indicating that’s the case. <em>I</em> know that drinker or not, athletic fan or not, geek or nerd or hippie or whatever- there are others like you at Michigan. It’s too big for there not to be!</p>

11272

<p>@jasminerose - I really miss those days! My S graduated from college 3 years ago and has had 2 knee surgeries, so he is no longer playing. Some of my friends were concerned about me going through withdrawal, and wondered what I would do when nearly 2 decades of cheering him on from the sidelines, bringing snacks, and shuttling him to and from practices and games came to an end. I used to frequent our state’s soccer blog, so I guess I’ve replaced it with CC. </p>

<p>@1dilecon - sounds like you have some tough decisions ahead.</p>

<p>U of M sounds wonderful! Wouldn’t it be so much fun to go back to college, with the wisdom that we now have?</p>

11273

<p>We’re definitely on the Indecision Cruise. Trying to not make ourselves crazy. We’re at risk to jump overboard. </p>

<p>I’ve found the summaries here interesting and informative. Hopefully some of this might be helpful to Class of 2015 families. To set the stage, my son has an (almost) 3.5 GPA at a competitive private California high school, SAT total of 2340, and meh EC’s. Here goes:</p>

<p>Acceptances:
Eckerd College – $19K/yr merit – For those who aren’t aware of it, Eckerd is a really interesting school
UC’s – Santa Cruz, Davis, Santa Barbara
Brandeis – legacy on my side – $15K/yr merit (unexpected – wasn’t even sure he’d get in)
Miami (FL) – $20K merit
Tulane – $25K merit
Emory – this acceptance was a bit unexpected</p>

<p>Waitlist:
UC San Diego
Tufts</p>

<p>Rejected:
UCLA – no surprise
USC – originally his “This is where I can see myself” #1 school, for no good reason. Fortunately this re-direction came at the end of the cycle, when he already had what he considered good options.</p>

<p>Decision analysis: S and DW recently went to Tulane’s Top Scholars weekend – he liked Tulane a lot. . . Had visited Brandeis his junior year, didn’t really like it, but (putting it kindly) he wasn’t really engaged in the process yet. Will re-visit during spring break, which for us is not until mid-April. . . .Got into Miami’s arguably strongest department – Marine Science (double majoring w/ Chemistry), but is concerned that if he switches focus/majors he’d be better served somewhere else. Put another way, all his eggs will be in the Marine Science basket there. . . Finally, S right now is a bit too taken with Emory’s relatively high USNWR ranking, somewhat due to the fact that a lot of his peers are going to ‘name’ schools and he doesn’t want to be left out. We’re concerned that Emory may not be a great fit for him – he’s smart, but his work habits (although getting better) are still inconsistent. He might run into a buzz saw of driven competitive kids there, but then maybe we’re selling him short. And BTW, Emory is the only full-pay choice on the list.</p>

<p>Our son has battled some chronic disease issues. He started high school at 4’11" and 97 lbs – the smallest boy at the school, and he looked ten or eleven years old. He struggled socially and and to some extent academically. He’s since regained his health, and is now 5’10" and 165 lbs. He’s done better than our most optimistic dreams. We feel so blessed that he’s thriving physically, and anything beyond that is gravy. We’ll somehow get this figured out.</p>

11274

<p>Looks like a busy day on SS Indecision – it’s really wonderful how these kids move forward from disappointment, and address the issue with enthusiasm. Same is happening here, although it’s just a mental reshuffling until we get to some of the campuses. The beautiful part is seeing the real evaluation that is happening about her options – and quite positive evaluation at that. Helps that the BF was here to be supportive – and he took that task very seriously and did a great job. </p>

<p>We dropped him at the bus station this morning, then while waiting to pick up Dad at the airport, we visited Ikea and selected a comforter and duvet for her dorm room. I think the outing was a nice boost for her, and she seemed very happy that I want her to have a comfy space at school. She’s a bit of a nester, so creating a little area of cheerful personal space will be important for her transition. And spreading out the expense will help me, lol. </p>

<p>Reading all the info about ED results compared to RD really helps for getting D15 ready for her apps. Last year I just didn’t know that much about it, and was only aware of the Questbridge options, but none of those schools was a top choice at the time of the app deadline, so she didn’t want to do a binding application. This summer/fall there will definitely be some early apps getting submitted, although her goals are for a upper mid-tier school with hopes for merit, rather than top tier schools. Thanks for the link @GertrudeMcFuzz – I read about the first page of that thread, and then decided I didn’t have the energy for it. </p>

11275

<p>Hi again - here’s a better link to the document I was talking about, the other one just links to the thread.<br>
<a href=“http://www.pvphs.com/pdf/CollegeAcceptance.pdf”>http://www.pvphs.com/pdf/CollegeAcceptance.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

11276

<p>

Our S-2011 was waitlisted at Vandy and he elected to stay on the list. Based on that experience and feedback from their Admissions office, the waitlist is used to selectively fill in and balance their entering class. Vandy has one of the best full need FA programs going so if your D is accepted and you have applied for FA and are in the EFC range for it, your D should get the same award as if she was admitted RD or ED. If interested, have her specifically show strong interest via contact with her regional Adcon. If she wins any additional awards or scholarships of note, have her inform the school. It’s like another lottery drawing but you might as well try to help your odds. You will need to committ to another school and pay the deposit by May 1st. Kids jump all over and there is some summer melt which is why the waitlists can stay open well into June and sometimes even July for that last one or two admits to the class. Vandy will maintain contact every few weeks with their WL kids and ask them if they wish to remain. At some point they will call it and advise everyone remaining that the list is closed and with them good luck in their college future.</p>

11277

<p>I’m posting at 2 am- clearly the decision process is weighing on me. The decision seems to be about $$ more than best fit & that is causing me angst. </p>

<p>My twins received surprisingly similar results (difference being 36 ACT vs 34)</p>

<p>Accepted
USC- NMF 1/2 tuition
Dartmouth
Rice
UNC
U of Miami ($30k)
Pitt (full tuition, both interviewing for full ride on Fri)
Maryland ($14k)
Ohio state (lots of merit, can’t remember)
SUNY Binghamton- only 1 D applied
George Washington- $25k, only 1 D applied
Vanderbilt- 1 D got in, 1 wait listed and this was the only difference in all decisions. </p>

<p>Waitlisted:
Brown
Harvard
Duke</p>

<p>Rej
Princeton- only 1 D applied
Columbia- only 1 D applied</p>

<p>Our EFC was much more than originally thought. Dartmouth calc EFC $10k/kid higher than UNC?? We will be calling offices tomorrow to understand better. We are financially squeezed out of many of the accepted schools. And hence, my sleepless nights. Even if we found a way to afford, can we pass up a $12k/year COA school w a nice pre med program and wi driving distance? It’s not top 20 and that weighs on one of my D’s. But should it? She is sad watching 2 of her classmates that haven’t worked nearly as hard be able to choose top 20 at full pay when she can not. </p>

<p>My girls never stop. We need to take a day to get our thoughts in order. Everyone is so tired right now but we need to figure this out. </p>

<p>@asleepatthewheel, congrats on Miami $$! So glad your son has so many great options. </p>

<p>The ED/SCEA stats compared to RD are crazy. I must’ve overlooked that stat going in, or was it not as bad last year? </p>

11278

<p>congratulations everyone on all your acceptance s and I’m with you all on the indecision. last week we thought we were done when D accepted Quinnipiac honors nursing program. then we went to accepted students day on Saturday and when she got in the car we got a text from dad saying she got into TCNJs nursing program. she had received an unlikely letter that she would get in so we kind of moved on. now it’s a bit confusing because it is 11,000 dollars cheaper than Quinnipiac. what to do???</p>

<p>she loves Quinnipiac and it is a complete fit. we work ed out the financials so she can go but if she goes to TCNJ there will be no loans.</p>

11279

<p>Congrats to everyone with good news! I was keeping up with all the posts but fell behind on my reading, just like in college. Now I have to pull an all nighter before the midterm. </p>

<p>Still waiting on 3 schools. It’s March 31. We have 2 days left here, people! But since it’s snowing, it makes me feel like it’s January and decisions are far far away.</p>

11280

<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel Congrats on your son’s great choices. I’m always especially interested and elated to hear stories like this about smart kids with so-so GPAs, especially those who’ve overcome hardships and succeeded (like my own D!) With so many stories about kids with 4.5 GPAs getting rejected, it’s SO wonderful to hear about colleges accepting kids like this -obviously taking the time to read applications thoroughly and see a whole person rather than just numbers. </p>

<p>I’m so happy for your son!</p>