@DavidPuddy My S15/19 - is a junior at an IVY (ie, no merit aid). He said that most of his friends spend a lot of time complaining about their student loans. It effects them (and they joke about it) everytime they have to spend money on anything. I think your son made a smart decision.
With the help of @S18D20mom I was able to download the avitar to announce the final decision.
Rejected UNC, UVA, Brown and Princeton.
Wait listed Vanderbilt.
Accepted Clemson Honors (merit money) UDel Honors Distinguished Scholar merit money.
Went for a visit on Friday and at dinner she told me that Clemson was her place and we made the deposit yesterday.
It was quite a journey that was helped a great deal when in November I found this great group of parents who have an even better group of kids.
I thought we had applied to 2 safe schools, 2 matches and 3 reaches based on scattergrams and Naviance results from our large public high school. What I learned that with the upper level schools with the 30,000+ applications even near perfect test scores and perfect grades really don’t do anything other than give you a chance to be selected.
I have become a big fan of the state school honors colleges which I really know nothing about before beginning the process. They give the kids all the advantages of a large school but also the comfort of a smaller group with like minded serious students. The honors colleges tend to put the kids in the best dorms, give them advantages on class selection etc. For all those 2019 and beyond I would highly recommend looking into the schools with honor colleges.
Glad to be done, but now on to D21. I’m sure next summer before her Junior year it will be back to college tours again. I will be interested to see how her schools are different than D18.
@twinsmama Hoping for a speedy recovery. Take care of yourself too.
@vistajay Thanks for the tips. It seems to work with your other two! I talked to DD this weekend and she is interested in going for it which I assume is half the battle.
@DavidPuddy Roll Tide! A year ago that is where we thought we were headed and I have a lot of love for the school. That was the most painful one to withdraw the app from. Best wishes to your son!
For LOR gifts we were also doing a Starbucks GC. His counselor has gone above and beyond so we are thinking of getting him something a little more.
Big congrats, @DavidPuddy!
I couldn’t agree with you more, @burghdad. We got to know ASU Barrett pretty well with D18, and I really, really like that setup. S20 will be looking at a lot of these state flagship honors colleges.
@Booajo
Right, I don’t know, that’s why I am still calling it unofficial. Until May 1 it’s not a done deal!
But the biggest thing driving an “early” decision was, at this point, there is no “new info” that he is waiting on. Couple that with the fact that there really are some logistical things driven by school choice, we really do need to use the next few weeks for planning and doing…
If you wpould like to participate here is the link to the final decisions thred…
Just got back from DS’14’s college where he and his friends-for-life performed in their last concert. It was beautiful and I am so grateful that I did not miss it. We will fly back there in 5 1/2 weeks for Commencement - - what I am saying is that it goes by really, really fast. Hang on to your hats and bring plenty of Kleenex!
our DD had recently recorded her first LP CD of original songs she wrote, so she gave that to each of her HS teachers who wrote recommendations along with a note and a small gift card to Starbucks. They all know her passion for singing, so it meant a lot to them to receive the CD…especially her Choir teacher. She thought of it herself, which was great because I was stumped on what to give them as a thank you.
S18 had another great visit to FSU last weekend, which resulted yesterday in his bring named an FSU Presidential Scholar! The main perks of the program are that only 25 are selected and they work together for four years on a shared service project, they receive a lot of special attention including research opportunities and advising, and they receive $12,000 for study abroad.
I can’t wait to join the crowd on the “Final Decisions” thread. I’ve asked D to have a decision by this Sunday & she has agreed. Really don’t know which way it will go!
My daughter made her decision. It was down to Elon and Rutgers for her BFA. She chose Rutgers/Mason-Gross.
Mason-Gross invited her in to the Honors College based on her dance audition. That came with a hefty scholarship. The Honors College showcase was very informative. The dorm is gorgeous. The amenities in the dorm and perks that come with the Honors College are amazing. She is 40 minutes from NYC and and hour from Philly. All on public transportation. She is very excited. We are not allowed to announce it until she received her Rutgers sweatshirt and posts on her instagram;) I’m a bit sorry to let go of Elon, but we understand her reasons. Very excited for her and happy that we are close enough to watch her performances!
I’m afraid that we will be down to the wire with D’s decision! She’s deciding between three VERY different options (Tulane, NYU & U of St. Andrews) plus waiting on three WLs. I’m encouraging her to go back to each and spend the night, but that would involve a trip to Scotland. We are still debating…
@GMC2918 With a son who is leaving the UK for the states and U of St Andrews was his first choice here, I know how hard it is to choose. We have chosen blind for the US colleges - only using the websites and forums like these to get a feel of what would be a good fit.
So here is my opinions on St Andrews and I will try to return some of the goodwill I have received here.
St Andrews is a small college town with a very big golf course. These two things define the town. While very few universities in Britain are on campus St Andrews feels as if it is because the town is so small and the university in it relatively is so big. Though St Andrews is one of the smaller universities with only about 6000 undergraduates.
It is right on the coast. Nearly every window has a view of the sea. This is great but also brings the coastal weather.
We visited in April last year and the sun shone and you couldn’t have want to see the town in a better light. But Scotland has lousy weather generally.
Our tour guide was lovely. We were the horrible parents that hugged the front as we walked around the town and got lots of insight from her. Son was looking at St Andrews because of the flexibility of the curriculum. Similar to US but in some ways not as flexible - you pick your major and do two other non related disciplines. You can then change your mind and move onto one of the other disciplines - though some subjects are harder to move between: humanities and STEM for example. If you know what you want to study but want to do a bit of exploring this is ideal. There is no ‘core curriculum’ so there is nothing you have to study. Our guide reckoned that two thirds of the students change their major.
The classes are lectures. No small classes of 14 students to on professor. This only happens as you move up the pecking order. First year lectures on popular subjects can have 300 students.
There are lots of traditions, as there are with all universities, but the one most visible is the gowns. Not required by all but if you are a guide you need one, though they can be rented. Red gowns are worn in different positions depending on which year you are. I will have got this wrong but 1st years wear them off the shoulder, 2nd years on one shoulder, 3rd years on the other shoulder and 4th years wear them around their elbows. Pretty weird when you first see it especially the 4th years as you think they are just hot and have taken the gown part way off!
St Andrews has poor public transport - the train station is in a village 3 miles away. It is away from Edinburgh. Buses will go there but it is a trek.
There is lots of prestige linked to St Andrews and has a great reputation for many subjects and is the closest education experience to the US as you will find, but not really that close.
My son doesn’t know what he is going to major in and so the liberal arts is the draw for him. But the biggest draw is spending four years in foreign country. If uni is meant to be a learning experience nothing will beat this. And it is for this reason he is leaving us in not so many months time. If this is the underling reason for travelling this way you couldn’t find a better place than St Andrews.
Hope this helps.
@GertrudeMcFuzz I’m with you! I wish my son would make a decision already. This is killing me!
@H0llyw00d right there with you! I was snooping around yesterday and found my kid on 2/7 Facebook accepted students pages. So maybe we are down to 2? I seriously feel like I am reading tea leaves.
@Whistlingal that is so very kind of you - thank you!!! My daughter is indeed looking for an international experience. We lived in Europe for a few years when she was in middle school, and she went to local schools. She misses the jumble of kids and ideas from all over, as well as the greater responsibility that kids are given. (I’m generalizing here, but she prefers less American hand-holding). She is a NYC city kid however, and I worry about the adjustment to being literally at the ends of the earth! NYU seems too close/familiar, and I’m not sure why she isn’t excited about Tulane. Anyway, if you don’t mind I’d love to PM you with some more specific questions.
Add me to the list of parents who just wants a decision already. My D is between 3. They couldn’t be more different from each other. She has two more accepted student events and then hopefully a decision.
I thought waiting on results was going to be the hard part. But this not knowing is really not fun either
My son’s in the seriously undecided camp as well - we are doing visits/revisits this week and I hope they will result in a decision by next week!
So glad to see others who have undecided sons and daughters. I was beginning to think I was the only one. :((
Pulling into the station at last. I like @DavidPuddy’s phrasing “It’s Unofficial”. No fireworks, no big celebration, but deposit paid, t-shirt bought, pre-orientation signed up for. This is the right choice for her, but we told her she can still change her mind if she needs to. She won’t though.
The final decision is… Southwestern University!! :ar! Huge shout out and thanks to everyone here who encouraged me to get her to apply, especially @ShrimpBurrito with her excellent visit report! It’s going to be a great place for her and we never would have even applied without you guys!! >:D< :x
In the end it really came down to location and vibe. SU is a 3 hour drive from our new TX home, we did that drive round trip on Saturday for admitted student’s day, D declared it the kind of drive she hates, flat, straight, and boring! :)) But it was doable. Her other TX choice, Trinity, is a 5 hour drive, so less doable in a day. In addition, she just connected more with Southwestern’s campus and feel than she did at Trinity. (Remember this is a girl who is not so fond of red brick, a black mark against Trinity? Hard to say…)
Personally, I was looking forward to visiting her in San Antonio, but I do think she made the right choice. Southwestern is going to provide her with great opportunities and the kind of support she needs. My girl is feeling very anxious about the next phase of her life, she does not do change well and there’s a whole lot of change coming her way in the next 6 months. We’re taking it one day at a time.
To top everything, SU awarded her their Brown scholarship, which is their top merit scholarship, which makes SU her cheapest option! Even came in under her public financial safeties, so it’s a win-win! $-)
Good luck to everyone out there still deciding! It’ll be over soon, it’s almost May! :)>-