On D16’s college visit this past weekend, we meet with the dept chair of a relatively small health related major that has 100% job placement PRIOR to graduation for it’s graduates. She was rather amusing in her description of the major…she said this is a major that many switch too when they realize that they can’t maintain the 3.8/4.0 GPA necessary to get into medical school and still want to work in the medical field or boost their GPA in hopes of still getting into med school. “You’d be amazed how many med school dreams come to a crashing halt by sophomore year”.
We love a practical viewpoint, which is exactly why D16 was looking at this particular undergraduate major to compliment DPT. We were just surprised that someone was actually willing to admit that this major wasn’t quite as rigourous as many pre-med majors!
@LKnomad, go above his head if he doesn’t excuse the assignment. The thing I never understand is what does the teacher gain from not excusing nor allowing your S from making up the missing assignment? Does it increase your S learning of the subject matter? No, so what’s the point in penalizing someone who was sick. I imagine he will come around though.
@kittymom1102, you got me going for a second. I thought the acceptance was really early but I forgot they do EDI and EDII.
@Mysonsdad My S applied RD. He’s not ED1 or ED2. According to the letter only 200 kids were inform. However, don’t draw any conclusions, as I believe the timing has more to do with the Mosaic Weekend for diversity students, remember that my S is Hispanic. If you check the Vandy thread you’ll find info about it. This Mosaic thing includes Asian kids, Jewish kids, so it’s a little bit more comprehensive than traditional, but the group is very small.
@LKnomad I don’t believe a teacher cannot discriminate based on a medical issue…hopefully you can resolve it at a lower level, but if needed I would go to guidance counselor, principal, district office, superintendent, etc… they cannot discriminate! Perhaps search for a school or district policy on make-up work for medical issues. Aren’t there laws related to “reasonable accommodations”?
Re: dorm purchases…S16 is happy to let me do all the planning so I’ve been making purchases here and there for the past year. It keeps my mind off the fact that he is really leaving! I keep a running list of what he needs and what I’ve purchased on my phone. I bought a full size comforter so it could cover what’s under the bed when it’s lofted.
@kittymom1102, I one time mentioned that as an unhooked white male, he isn’t going to be what a lot of colleges are looking for. Last year in my neighborhood there was an African American kid who had stats similar to my S. The Presidents of Yale and Princeton personally called him asking him to come to their college and flew there families out to see th colleges. I think he ended up at Harvard. What I have found really amusing in this process is how many of my students who have always identified as white or Asian are now finding their Hispanic heritage. One girl suddenly decided she was Hispanic because Spain at one time ruled the Phillipines (until 1898). One day she told me she loved being Asian and I said, I thought you were Hispanic." She laughed and said, “Only when it comes to college applications.” What’s odd is she only applied to UC’s which aren’t supposed to use race as a factor for admittance.
Two things I find odd, one is that they invited Asians because Asians are over represented at Vandy, and two, they only invited 200 kids. I imagine those 200 are top rated kids. About 1600 people enroll and Vandy about 40% minority with just above 43% yield I would think they would invite more.
@Mysonsdad I think universities are very aware of the phenomenon you’ve witnessed in your students, for that reason, the Hispanic hook is not as strong as some people might think.
My S’s school is a title I school with 100% of the kids either Hispanic or AA. Let me tell you, rejections left and right. These kids are many hooks, Hispanic, first generation, and low income, but nothing. Some get into good schools thanks to Questbridge and Posse but those are mostly LAC.
S has the blessing of being National Merit Finalist, National Hispanic Scholar, National AP Scholar (9 AP tests by Junior year with 4s and 5s), 16 AP classes + 2 DE, SAT scores of 800/M, 770/CR, 720/W in one sitting, Subject Test 800/ML2, 790/Physics, 730/Bio E, Valedictorian of his class, bilingual, and dual citizen of an very unrepresented, poor Latin American country. I think he is his school’s first acceptance to Vanderbilt
I thought essay deadlines were a thing of the past, but tonight is the deadline for a scholarship app, and guess who is STILL working on his essays? Outwardly, I’m calm…inwardly, I’m throwing a tantrum! ~X(
@kittymom1102 What an impressive student he is, regardless of ethnicity!
@kittymom1102 Your S sounds incredibly accomplished and you must be so proud of him! Sounds like he already has some great options. Is he going to have a hard time making his choice?
I convinced that his strongest hooks, besides his stats and intellectual accomplishments, are his school (very poor and not over-represented in top schools), his country of birth, and his life story.
He put all those things together in his Common App essay. It was really good. It showed how unlikely his journey has been and how much he has had to work to make it happen. Really good essay
Theoretically speaking, Asians are overreprented but practically speaking they are not at Vandy. If they want to measure up to other top schools, they require at least 20% as a minimum and the fact that they don’t shows that either Asians don’t consider it as prestigious and don’t apply (also possible Asians consider the racial profile not very condusive) or Asians are not being admitted at the same level as their peers. Harvard has over 21% Asians and is still being sued as being racist for not admitting Asians based on merit and Vandy’s class of 2019 shows 13.7%
I’m not super-informed about Vandy demographics; however, if one searches the words Mosaic Vanderbilt Asian, a lot of hits of Asian students being invited to Mosaic weekend.
I think Vandy wants to mirror the demographics of the Ivies.
S14’s decision was made in late April at an Accepted Students Day, where a very important factor was the other prospective students that he met. Even though the school was missing some ingredients he’d felt were vital (like Division I sports teams) he felt so comfortable around the other kids that he couldn’t imagine himself anywhere else. It turned out to be a good choice. I hope your daughter has some sort of similar epiphany that makes the decision easy (as long as it’s a decision with which you’re comfortable). And I hope that some good child-parent bonding occurs also.
@DAPIStained – Add me to the list of folks totally blown away by Michigan’s offer to your daughter. Wow. Obviously if she can master calculus she can master flying on her own. I would expect she’s going to have some other great opportunities when all the decisions are in. In light of that she should tell Michigan that if they want her, they’re going to need to throw in free laundry service for at least the first two years.
@Booajo – I’m trying to wrap my mind around the idea that she could go to college for less than the cost of pre-school. Pretty out there. You’ll get it clarified but I can’t imagine it’s a one-year offer. Congrats to her.
@morningside95 – That is totally wonderful news. Grinnell is a wonderful school, and it’s great that your son is heading there feeling like it’s a perfect fit. My S16 is also going to a small liberal arts college, so I’m biased, but I think that for the right kid there are opportunities at SLAC’s that you don’t find elsewhere. You must be thrilled.
Grinnell reminds me of an issue that hasn’t been brought up here very often – gender balance. My memory is that Grinnell is one of those schools that’s inching its way up to a 60/40 female to male ratio, not such a bad thing if one is a straight male. One of S14’s schools/options had a similar ratio, and I pointed out to him that there might be advantages to going to a school where there were one-and-a-half girls for every guy. His response, “Dad, what am I going to do with a half a girl?”
@Themommymommy “On the topic of money and college admission thought I would share the “fabulous” offer made by Visa to my soon to be college daughter. The letter notes that it is a “special” offer to learn how to use a credit card wisely. How “special” you may ask?? Well so special that the APR is 0% for the first year and 30.15% after that. WOW. The offer came addressed to her. I can’t even believe it is legal to make that sort of offer to a kid.”
Was it from First Financial? They seem to purchase lists of seniors. There’s quite a long thread on here about them which started in 2005. They don’t send a bill for the first three months so a new account immediately owes late fees and the no interest promise is off the table. They charge $9 if you pay online. Google it.
I found a good card for my son to take to college with USAA. Capital One and Bank of America have decent student cards as well.
I’m glad my 18 year old had the sense to ask me about it before responding to the offer.
@morningside95, Grinnell was my D13’s first acceptance just abt this time three years ago. They flew her out and she really liked it. In the end, the program wasn’t quite right for her and she made another choice. Excited for your kiddo…Grinnell will be a great experience!
I think some administrator from William and Mary once replied something along the lines of this the college of William and Mary, not Mary and Katie (some other girl’s name). They really need guys
@morningside95 Visited Grinnell with D14…very impressed, wonderful school, generous financial aid…D14 ultimately picked another school, but Grinnell continued to have a special place in our hearts! Great school…wonderful opportunity! Kuddos and congrats!
S16 received letter today that he is a NMF…no one to share great news with locally since he is the FIRST one ever from his school!
~X(