Parents of the HS Class of 2017 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
17401

So I looked up Alabama on our Naviance for you all. The most interesting fact of on the school stats section is that last year, 4 kids applied, just like most years. However, 2 years ago, inexplicably 18 kids applied and 16 got in. 2 enrolled. There isn’t a year in which more than 4 have applied there for the last 10 years. Did the18 kids have some sort of weird pact to get the hell out of MA together? lol Only 5 kids have ever gone there from our school.

For reference:

The average student who got accepted from our school shows 3.2 gpa, 1070 sat, 23 act.

The kid with the best scores that got accepted were 4.5 gpa, with a 30 ACT.

I would’ve thought a few more kids with higher grades/stats would’ve applied to Bama for the scholarships, but apparently not. I wonder why? You all make it seem like a nice place, and from what I’ve read it certainly seems to offer a lot, and you don’t have to wear pants much. I guess it’s just too far for most kids, or the parents don’t care about the $$, or the kid wants to go locally or more prestige. But you guys seemed to have a decent thing going to get your kids into a school that is not super pricey, is appealing, and has stuff they want to study. Good on you!!

17402

@RightCoaster …I would imagine for a lot of families at your school it is a prestige thing. OR they are in the percentage of families who have managed to save enough where cost isn’t an issue at all for any school…which is awesome.

We have family at a very affluent, high achieving school in our state with almost 30 NMF. I asked my family member if any of them would likely pursue a full-ride NMF scholarship from any of the schools that offer a full ride NMF scholarship and I was told unequivocally “NO”

The prestige factor can be huge at some schools and with some parents and kids.

17403

@carachel2 yeah maybe. I just don’t think too many parents and kids are looking at schools in the deep south.
Just not on the radar. If you have decent stats you can get into some local state schools with decent merit or go to Umass which has gotten better and is fairly inexpensive. I don’t think a lot of people even understand how to get full rides for their smart kids. The guidance counselors don’t seem to promote that philosophy.

Oh well, I hope some of you get the full ride and enjoy it! Seems like quite the bargain, and I’m sort of jealous because I like good deals and saving cash.

17404

Well…if they are choosing in state options then it sounds like parents and kids are making the choices they need to make for their family.

For us, here in Texas—admissions for computer science and engineering has become such a weird alternate reality. We know a LOT of families who are looking OOS at other schools just because the admissions game has changed so much.

17405

@rightcoaster That is interesting about the surge in UA applications at your child’s school.

@carachel2 Coincidentally, I had a recent conversation with my daughter about prestige. She attends a small independent school and is a top student in her class and has very good test scores. Her classmates are a bit puzzled about the lack of tippy top colleges and universities on her list. She is considering good quality competitive schools, but most are not the kind that have national name recognition. Some of her friends are shooting for Yale, Stanford, etc. I asked her if she wanted to rethink her list. She said, “no, I really don’t want to go to an Ivy or Ivy equivalent for undergrad.” I commented that all on her list seemed like good fits for her, with the state flagship being the least optimal. She shrugged, “well if I ended up there, I’d make it fit. It has an Honors Program, right?”

That’s my girl! That said, we all hope she gets into the LAC of her dreams with enough merit to make it affordable.

17406

@mamaedefamilia …yep, same here. A few have expressed some shock that she isn’t aiming for those schools. She has learned not even discuss it with most. For starters, they are just unaffordable for us. And then there is the fact that she finds having to be with her own kind 24/7 just emotionally exhausting and she doesn’t want to feel she is always having to keep up. I don’t know…maybe I’m letting her slack out? Maybe it is a choice we will regret in 10 years? So hard to say.

All I know is that after a lot of research into schools, on both our parts, she seems very happy with her two top choices and can actually see herself there and making it work.

In other news, I literally can’t wait to grab the popcorn and see how it all rolls out for this class of kids at Ds school. They are all fantastic kids and I wish everyone well—but I feel at this point I could write a book with all the college drama talk vs. the reality of what is really going to happen!

17407

There is a lot of drama here now too. I’m not really involved in any of it. Son17 is not really applying to any super reaches, nor does he expect to get into any of them. Other friends of his are applying to very selective schools and expecting to get in. I don’t think they quite understand the true reality of the whole situation. I went to a soccer game last night and actually had to get up and go sit somewhere else because the only thing the parents were yapping on about was college application talk. On and on. I can do that on this forum :slight_smile: So when I go to a game I can just enjoy watching and cheering for the kids. Not gossiping and worrying. It feels great to just have everything completed and submitted. Son17 says most of his friends are stressed out, still working on essays, trying to visit schools every week etc. He said he’s happy he spent some time figuring it all out early and was glad we helped him manage it that way.

17408

Bama from Colorado school.
83% Acceptance rate.
The average student who got accepted from our school shows 3.54/4.0 GPA, 1850 SAT, 28 ACT.
Class Apply Admit Enroll
2017 2 0 0
2016 17 13 8
2015 13 11 2
2014 18 16 5
2013 10 9 0

17409

@RightCoaster …yep, all of it here is stuff I just overhear.

I am trying to stay in the moment and not let the college talk crowd in on all the “last” moment type of stuff.

17410

When a 32 ACT means tuition-free+ at a great state flagship with thousands of satisfied customers, I’m not surprised at all by a surge in apps at UA.

It just makes sense.

17411

Bama is a safety for myS. Great merit aid. OU will be a choice if he gets NMF. Stanford is a huge reach…I think he just wants to see if he can actually get in then make then decide what to do. Personally, I am rooting for OU it is way closer and we loved our visit. Alabama would be next on MY list.

17412

@RightCoaster Is it possible some really dynamic college recruiter showed up that year?

17413

Our CA HS has had a surge in applications to Alabama, but looking at the Naviance scattergram only a couple have the stats (32+ ACT) for the decent scholarships. 3 years ago less than 10 kids a year applied there - the last 2 years it’s been 20-25. Based on GPAs and SAT scores, I’m guessing none of them applied for an NMF scholarship. It’s a long ways away, so I don’t know why there would be a surge if it’s not for NMF or the equivalent scholarships.

17414

@carachel2 – you hit the nail on the head with that prestige thing! S15 made NMF while attending a magnet HS with a good reputation for academics & several kids get into top-tier colleges each year.

S15 is a bright kid who never applied himself (other than in math) throughout high school. He’s the kid who rarely picked-up a book, but could still pass his courses with about half “A’s” & “B’s.” For college, he wanted to try mechanical engineering & when we looked around at the scholarship offers from this school & that, we both agreed that those schools that required a minimum 3.5 gpa to keep the scholarship were off the list for him as they were too big of a risk. He was smart enough to know that he really didn’t even know how to study and manage his time yet and that he still had a lot of growing-up to do as well. So, after a lot of research, he accepted the full-ride scholarship at our local state university & that was the absolute perfect fit for him and his situation. We were all happy campers with this choice.

When we went to senior awards night at his HS (he was invited to get a certificate for making NMF), many of the parents were gathered around & of course the subject of college choices came up. One parent said his daughter was going to Stanford & we all said that was great; one said her son was going to Yale & we all said that was great; you get the picture……

When they asked me, I said my son was taking the NMF scholarship at our state school and they were all almost patting me on the back & saying that it was OK and that they were sure he’d do fine. They gave me the feeling that I should just put my head down and walk away quietly (ha, ha). I felt just like a little kid on the playground: “my dad can beat-up your dad,” and all of that!

S15 had a rough freshman year in mechanical engineering (physics kicked his butt) and, at those other schools, he would have lost his scholarship because of the gpa issue. But, since we picked the right school for him, he didn’t lose his scholarship! As it turned out, he switched over to computer science and has made a nice recovery. He likes his school, has a single room, has a car, gets a spending allowance from the scholarship – he’s got it made!

He still keeps in touch with many of his HS friends & they all get together on school breaks. They all go to different schools – some top notch, some not so top-notch & none of them care because they’re friends & are just happy to get together. Once he left HS, all of that prestige pressure just melted away and the kids are all just doing their thing now.

My D18 is a stellar student, super grades and school involvement, and thinks she might want to apply to Stanford next year. With her stats, she just might be able to get in there or in some other prestigious school. If she does get into one that gives a scholarship package that we can afford, and I find myself comparing notes with the other parents at awards night, I’ll them tell about my D’s accomplishment, and then I’ll hunt-down the parents whose kids are taking the scholarship at the “lowly” state school, congratulate them and also tell them my S15’s story!

We all know our kids pretty well – help guide them toward the right choice & they’ll do fine wherever their journey takes them!

17415

We are from Texas and I couldn’t influence my child to apply to UA with ACT 32 and top 8% of the class. His response was " I would go to UTD for Computer Science, if I don’t get into UT"

17416

@curiositycat333 I think the term directional is misleading, and as mentioned really varies by state and local inference as well as having some general data points assigned to it. I had never heard the term until when I was asking what school a friend was attending a couple of years ago and he said “I can’t remember, it’s one of the directions” I had no idea what he meant! For him it’s simply an easy way to refer to the name of the schools, versus any kind of connotation of the type of school or the prestige/ranking associated with it.

US News classifies all of them as Regional Universities, which is what they are. They definite it as Regional Universities offer a full range of undergraduate programs and some master’s programs but few doctoral programs.

In CA they classify Cal Poly SLO, Cal State Long Beach, SJSU, Cal Poly Pomona, Humboldt, CSU Monterey Bay, CSU San Bernardino, CSU Stanislaus, Sonoma State, Cal State Chico, Cal State LA, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Channel Islands, Cal State Sacramento, Cal State San Marcos, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State East Bay all as Regional Universities. Not all are ranked but they are all in that “bucket”. While WA by comparison only has 4 that are considered in state regionals (OR has 3), much like CA they are all their own unique colleges with a large variety of levels of selectivity and perceived desirability, often program specific in some cases. So…I would say that actually by US News definition, at least one of your kids has considered or is considering a “directional” though the words west, north, etc may not be in the schools name.

Not remotely saying that US news is a rating/classification site to necessarily follow but I do think the general buckets make sense.

Branch Campuses, interestingly enough, don’t show up in US News rankings at all, with a few exceptions (UW Bothell for example shows up for business grad school but nothing else). I’m not sure if that’s due to the branches being lumped in with the main campus from a ranking perspective, if they are simply ignored as US news doesn’t know how to classify them or what.

17417

OK I had to go check Naviance about BAMAl. (I’m in S. Calif.) 5 students applied over the past 4 years, everyone got in and only 1 attended. There are kids that go to the south for school, I know personally know a few but BAMA isn’t a huge draw from my neck of the woods.

17418

@ACT2017 … Has he visited UTD? They have some great programs and fantastic merit aid and they are trying to lessen the commuter school rep they have.

17419

I wonder if kids are applying with the belief that they will test again before Dec and bring their scores up to a 32?

Honestly, I can’t imagine paying OOS tuition for any school.

17420

@eandesmom I think we are trying to pin down a definition of something that can’t really be pinned down. This is just what I spend half my professional life doing, trying to pin down exact definitions of things. Because I can’t code stuff around vague definitions. (Off to a meeting to do just that.)

I didn’t interpret ‘directional’ from what others said as being the same as regional. Yes most of the Cal States should be considered regional. They all give a admissions boost to kids who live in the local region. I interpreted regional as the “other” schools that we siblings of the state flagship. Ie… schools in a different system like UC’s don’t count as directional. But say UC Merced or UC Riverside count more as directional schools to the ‘flagship’ top UC’s.