<p>@mdcmom, It has to be hard to get those deferrals or rejections, no matter how much you logically understand the numbers game…not looking forward to that strong possibility when D’s reach answers come in.</p>
<p>For me, even having sent in the applications, and reading her essays…I think they are good, but then I read posts about what some others wrote about, and it makes me wonder if she should have approached them differently, or if I should have steered her in a different direction… It’s tricky, the kids want (and you want) to do what it takes to get in, but you want them accepted because they fit, not because they wrote what they were ‘supposed to’, but then again, what can they really tell from that one essay? She visited and she felt she fit, so is an admissions person a better judge, just from reading an essay that they gave the prompt for?, but then again… @-) Second guessing all around…that’s pretty much my M.O. though.</p>
<p>This has been a very stressful semester for older son. He was an EE/physics major and hit a wall with his modern physics class. (Now just EE major.) We did not know until today if his cumulative would remain high enough to keep his scholarship or if he would be put on probation. Grades came today and he keeps his scholarship. Now he just has to complete his required 100 hrs a yr of volunteer work. We were aware of the scholarship requirements, but I don’t think we knew how stressful it would be, just a word to the wise review scholarship requirements when selecting schools. </p>
<p>Thank goodness that my son’s top choice (still weaseling about FA) does NOT have a GPA requirement for merit aid. Though he does need to do well enough to stay in school.</p>
<p>Sadly, I just got some final exam grades and it is very frustrating. I’m going to have to fail at least 30 students, mainly because of the final exam, and most who fail whine and complain and beg. One kid didn’t take the final and asked me “can you give me a grade that won’t affect my GPA anyway?”. Big sigh.</p>
<p>If there is anything you can do for your children, you can ask them to be responsible at college, and not beg for grades after the semester is over. Beg for help during the semester, but don’t beg for a grade you didn’t get.</p>
<p>@themom12 Did your D apply EA/ED to Brandeis or did they just let her know early? My S applied there last night and I’m wondering if we might hear before March.</p>
<p>@Mom24boys - That must have been so stressful. There is no shame in “just” going for the EE degree - that in itself is an accomplishment. And great advice on the scholarship front. Thank you.</p>
<p>30 students failing the final?! Wow. Are you talking about a college course or HS? In HS last year my D had one class where the tests were just so unpredictable, it was very difficult to prepare for them, and that class did not help anyone’s GPA. She has one this year who follows the 'Nobody is perfect, so nobody gets an A" philosophy. 8-| </p>
<p>One of the schools that D is applying to does seem to have a pretty strict policy on GPA and merit money. That will definitely be a part of the decision making process. I hate to be a cynic, but if a school is very strict about that, that could be motivation for them to want more students to have lower GPAs …of a conflict of interest? I hope that doesn’t happen.<br>
This school says they only count the GPA of the courses that required for your major. I am not sure if that helps or hurts.</p>
<p>Earlham seems to have lots of opportunities. One of the 2012 kids is currently attending and based on her parent’s posts, she never has a dull moment, including throughout summer.</p>
<p>Wish you could have seen it @shoboemom. A high-stepping, double-fist pumping expression of pure joy. Guess that only means that yours-truly did a poor job of expectation setting: 1) after all, there are other perfectly good colleges the cabbage clone could/would have gotten into if we had gotten a rejection, and 2) maybe I should have reminded Mrs. Cabbage that she doesn’t get to go along with him. </p>
<p>Also, right there with you on your “essays” post. I thought the one that the “accepted” cabbage wrote was good, but certainly not great compared with others we saw. We constantly wrestled with how much to influence/steer him, but in the end, he basically took the reins since it has to be about that mutual fit. </p>
<p>Anyway, I think it’s as you say - it’s just one essay. Then that gets mashed-up with all the other stuff and the randomness of what makes a “balanced” freshman class for the college. In hindsight, his essay couldn’t have been the deciding factor, so hopefully these admission processes are as holistic as we’re led to believe.</p>
<p>@PhxRising My D applied ED to Brandeis (and EA to Clark). Definitely not early notification as they did not release the results until after 7 pm on the 15th – D checked all day yesterday, agonizing until the results came out Good luck to your son!</p>
<p>We are awaiting the final news from the school my S just auditioned for ED. We should know for certain by the end of the week!!
Congratulations to all of you with acceptances!! My empathy to those of you deferrals or waitlists. I just want to say…it is not impossible for your kid to get into those schools. My older S was deferred EA to his top choice school (an audition program) then waitlisted. He did get accepted off the waitlist and got a huge academic scholarship there as well. Our experience probably isn’t the norm but it CAN happen.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all on amazing acceptances! And I’m sorry about those experiencing some disappointment, there are better times ahead, I’m sure of it!</p>
<p>What @rhandco said. I’m in the middle of grading a set of finals for the class for which I’m an adjunct, and it’s sad how many college students just blow off finals and then beg for a passing grade so they can play basketball . Teach your kids to get help early and often.</p>
<p>Yes, college. Out of about 70 students, 30 will likely fail. We like to see 1/3rd As and Bs, 1/3rd Cs, and 1/3rd Ds and Fs, class is not too easy or too hard. Freshman courses just can’t have that much wiggle room when really most of the material is in high school. The problem is that the pre-requisite have been messed up, and we (and they) don’t have much to work with.</p>
<p>My son had a pretty terrible academic GPA, another reason not to apply to the other potential ED school that considers that “very important”, terrible being 3.0 or so. We are so happy he got into his ED school, which is very competitive but not Ivy competitive. He is betting his two safeties, that he hears from this week, will say no…</p>
<p>My son got the weirdest email yet. It came from Brown, saying something to the effect of, “Congratulations again for being accepted into the Questbridge program. We’ve had a lot of applicants…blah, blah, blah…and so we want to encourage you to apply to Brown through our Regular Decision application.”</p>
<p>Um, so not only was my son not accepted into Questbridge (he did apply, I will grant that), but he has zero interest in Brown and never indicated any interest whatsoever.</p>
<p>Sigh.</p>
<p>Oh, and my son finally got his SAT II scores…three weeks late, and far too late for Northeastern where he will obviously get deferred. Double sigh. But at least they were good solid scores over 700, so that’s something! LOL!</p>
<p>I’ve looked at the thread, @OHMomof2 . Lots of deferrals! I did have a heads up on that because I am a GC (for my own kid). Apparently, this was the first year for ED for NEU and they took a lot of ED kids and relatively few EA kids. Said they wanted to “reward” the ED kids for making NEU their clear #1 choice.</p>
<p>I imagine they’re getting a lot more apps these days too. NEU has really gotten popular. I was talking to my mom who lived in Boston in the late 60s and remembers NEU as a commuter almost CC-type school. She wondered why D wouldn’t be a shoo-in. I had to catch her up :)</p>
<p>@sbjdorlo, You could call Northeastern and verbally report the updated SAT II scores. I know that my D’s counselor verbally reported her updated SAT II scores. I have sent them through the college board, but the school still hasn’t received the “official” scores.</p>
<p>Wow, that is coming up fast!
D is still searching for more possible schools to apply to, not wanting to miss out, but she still only has 6 on her list. 3 safety/matches and 3 reaches. She just can’t seem to find any other strong contenders that aren’t reaches. She still seems to be sticking with her thinking that if the school isn’t ‘really’ what she wants, then she’d rather go to the inexpensive safety, and the 3 reaches are the only ones that she’s deemed to be worth the likely greater expense. </p>
<p>
I find this frustrating. D isn’t interested in NEU, but one of the schools she likes seems to be big on encouraging ED also. Not everyone is in a position to make that commitment so early! She loves the school, but needs to do some more research, and money will be a deciding issue. I just hate the idea of missing out on some ED edge, even if the school is currently a top choice. I just wish they wouldn’t have the binding ED applications.</p>
</p>
Good luck to your son!</p>
. Teach your kids to get help early and often.</p>