I’m in a good mood because I go to my overnight on Friday, the food I can eat is set(I’m currently on an extremely limited diet due to medical issues), and I got to have a long conversation about Russell Sage with a junior at my school.
What @sseamom said about pros and cons and lots of talking for decision making is spot-on. It seems like so often at this age it is overwhelming and hard to know what they want or how to articulate it at least. It is interesting what shakes out from those lists and conversations! Elimination is a great tool. They will all get there, one elimination at a time (but probably not soon enough for us parents).
@Booajo- Your D is very lucky to have you helping her through this…some parents don’t get involved, especially re: the financial piece which often results in horrible heartbreak with acceptances.
@mom23travelers : The Ides of March is the perfect time for my state’s primary, because heaven knows the candidates’ behaviour is making me feel very stabby right now!
(That’s a metaphor, if any secret service types are reading)
@nubble16 - I know it is required, under the terms of an ED admissions contract, which both parents and students sign, that they must withdrawal all other submissions once you have been admitted and pay your deposit. I don’t think the same applies to SCEA. Those students technically have until May 1st, to make their decision, or change their mind, just like an RD admitted student.
Like @ItsJustSchool, and @sseamom, my S still rec’d letters, emails, and even FA offers after he withdrew his other applications.
@morningside95 I get it. Just seems when a deposit is made and you say you are committed it is insensitive to those around you to keep announcing your acceptances. My daughter does a good job of staying in her bubble. Thx.
@morningside95 What you are describing about still receiving info from the schools once your child withdrew applications is different than @nubble16 situation where the student has committed and deposited to one school
and has not withdrawn her other applications. Whether it’s required to withdraw all applications or if it’s ethical to commit to one school without withdrawing other applications is the question. I know for 5 of the 5 schools my son applied and was admitted to with merit, they all had a clause that you had to attest to that once you deposited to their school , you would not deposit or accept other offers or risk losing all merit offers you were offered. I know it’s a personal decision for each family. My family won’t deposit until he’s made his final decision.
It is totally immoral once one has put down a deposit and committed to attend an EA college to not withdraw all other applications. Gathering up acceptances that will never be used is simply egocentric trophy hunting. There is no purpose to it other than bragging rights. It robs another kid from the same high school or of somehow similar demographics of the chance to go to a school that they may desperately want to attend. I believe there is a special place in hell for kids/families that have committed to go to an SCEA school, but keep their other applications open just so they can see where else they’d get in.
So there.
I was wondering when you were going to surface again @AsleepAtTheWheel
We paid a deposit in February. We have notified 3 schools that DS will not be coming. We have not told 2 others yet as they just recently announced scholarships and we still do not have financial aid packages from them. A parent with a S15 recommended that we keep at least one very close to home option open until closer to 5/1. Some DC have a hard time processing it all until after they commit, everyone is talking about them going, the “lasts” start accumulating, etc. Her DS was responsible for paying the deposit and they thought he had, but he drug his feet about notifying the other schools. They put attributed it to senioritis. In the last days of April he admitted that it was not paid and he had changed his mind anyway. He ended up at the school closest to home. He just could not admit he did not want to be far away.
On S2 now. S1 got so much pressure from at least 1 of his EA schools, pressure to put down a deposit or lose out on the best housing. There RD options we were waiting on and decided NOT to put down a deposit, but it did not feel good worrying that we may later regret that decision. If schools don’t want to have deposits that do not result in attendance,they should not put pressure on students in that way.
In all fairness, most schools did not do this, but some did.
@nubble16 Are you sure the student committed? Because they don’t have to with SCEA – they just promised not to apply elsewhere early. ED would be totally different, because that’s binding.
Meanwhile, my S asked me to wait until he checked the UCSC portal himself. Had restrain myself all day (12 hours), but I was good. He got in, glad about that Now we will be heading to California for Spring Break to visit.
Congrats to your son @crowlady
Just another side to the withdraw application debate-- at some level, applicants are a customer- an application fee was paid, a response is warranted (including financial information.) As long as your deposit doesn’t have a stated obligation to withdraw- then I think holding onto others is not unexpected at this date. But I would also argue that it is unethical to hold onto a slot at a high demand school if it is clearly not in contention. And I think we are obligated to inform schools as soon after April 1 as is feasible for each family.
I know in applying to grad schools-- there’s an expectation of holding onto only one offer at a time-- but for UG, an offer’s not complete until you receive the fin aid packet.
congrats @crowlady - sounds like a fun spring break.
As crazy as the entire UC application process sounded for a non-California resident…I get thoroughly confused by all the abbreviations. Just had to google UC schools to try & put together the puzzle pieces of where decisions have been rolling in from. whew! #:-S
We have had some similar experiences to @sseamom where emails declining acceptance seemed to have no effect on some schools continuing to send things including merit scholarship awards. D purposely sent the declination message so that she would not be considered for merit and take it away from another deserving student, though at least it wasn’t one of their larger ones as she never applied for those. Emails and faxes can both get lost, or schools may hope for a change of heart by the student (ED being an entirely different animal)
I am not sure of what the girl @nubble16 spoke of did or didn’t do as far as commitments and the like, but she sounds like no matter what she would find some way to try and blow her own horn of greatness. One thing is certain though, while she may be in your D’s class at school, she clearly does not possess half the level of Class that your daughter does.
I agree @nubble16. The behavior of that student seems a bit obnoxious.
All I was saying @carolinamom2boys is that my S withdrew his applications to other schools, as part of his ED agreement, but a few of them continued to send documents, even 2-3 weeks afterwards. We ended up sending follow up emails to make sure they knew they could offer the spot and $ to another applicant.
You’ve made some good points. Based on what you’ve said, the student in question should make sure they’ve read the fine print of their college’s acceptance/deposit policy to make sure they are not violating any rules that might jeopardize their admission or aid.
That’s very commendable that your son followed up with all of the other schools @morningside95 . I’ve not seen the multiple deposit issue on this thread , but on other threads it has been an issue.
I feel like there are several issues mixed in here regarding deposits, commitments, etc.
With SCEA, you are under no obligation to commit and are free to go through the whole process, waiting out any other acceptances, financial aid info that is needed to make an informed decision.
However, bragging about a string of acceptances, if you have no intention of attending is always bad form.
Somewhat ironically, my D declined two of her EA admissions today. They’ve fallen off her list and she was happy to let them go, theoretically freeing up her awards to others. (She has a friend deferred at one of the schools and specifically said she hopes it helps her … wishful thinking perhaps.)
My D did deposit at one of her rolling admission schools because they require it to sign up for orientation days (which start in late April, believe it or not). She actually made clear to the admissions rep when signing up for one that she still awaits two decisions.
I fee no guilt about placing a refundable deposit at a state flagship while we await the last round of decisions.
She will decline others after hearing from final two schools and moving on from there. Also, one of her EA schools is known to increase merit awards in spring. So my D will wait to see if that happens before final decisions.
Congrats to all! (I am tardy to the party!)
Been driving my mom from Texas to Ohio the past 2 days, just getting a chance to read the 15 pages I was behind. So much news!
D16 withdrew 3 applications (Case, Rensselaer, Puget Sound) before the actual application deadlines. So far it seems like Puget sound is the only one that has done anything with the information and stopped sending stuff. So I am really on the fence about whether not withdrawing actually is taking up a spot. But, I do think if you know it is a no there is a personal obligation to say so as soon as you know. I speculate that is how D16 got her spot in Ithaca’s BS/DPT program after her EA deferral.
I am so obsessed with this college stuff, I actually stopped at 2 schools, without one of my offspring along, on the way up from Texas that I think my D18 should be looking at, Rhodes College (Memphis) so pretty and U of Cincinnati. I think I may have some “issues”.