@SDCounty3Mom Yes, D19 really likes Carleton, too (we did the visit/class thing as well, though it was our very first one, so I’m curious how she’d respond if she visited again now). It’s one of those schools I characterized in my long post earlier as a lottery ticket reach – she’s solidly in the middle of the stats band, but even if she were above the 75th percentile or higher, it would still be little better than a lottery ticket given their roughly 20% admissions rate. All dependent on the application portfolio – are they looking for someone from the southwest? Someone for the orchestra? Does the essay strike a chord with the AO?
Even though I am fairly anti-ED for a variety of personal and philosophical reasons, I am now starting to wonder whether maybe she shouldn’t try regardless, particularly at a school where she’s near the 75th percentile, score-wise. (At the 50th percentile, I don’t think it helps much at all.) So I’m trying to gauge how accurate the NPCs really are.
I think the bigger problem is that my daughter doesn’t really have a favorite at this point. If she had a clear #1, I’d be seriously thinking about her applying ED. But if she doesn’t have a favorite, then I don’t think it’s good to have ED force her to have one.
@jellybean5 Thank you for posting that link. I am way too lazy to make a spreadsheet!
@Trixy34 My head is exploding, too. S19’s college list is not coming together. At all. He wants to major in music, but we really have no idea what schools are realistic - I think he is probably overestimating his chances (and aiming for schools we couldn’t afford if he got in) and I may be selling him short. This path is going to be completely unpredictable for my late blooming musician. Life would be easier if I could go back and put him in private lessons at age 6.
@Trixy34 S19 is also young and undecided. He’s a strong math and science student but he’s not applying to engineering schools because he doesn’t know if he would like that or not. And he has other interests so, to start an engineering program would keep him from exploring anything else. Most of his friends are in the same boat. While S19 has definitely decided to apply as some sort of liberal arts major, many of his friends are still considering engineering or business or liberal arts. Those families are in a complete tizzy because you have to pick! And I try not to think about it but I really think S19 would like being an engineer but not if it means not being able to take anything but stem classes. So, as a 17year old, he’s decided he will go liberal arts and if he wants stem then he will major in math or a hard science. It’s the best compromise we can come up with before the fall and we’re all comfortable with that.
You know something like 70 percent of kids change their major, right? Choosing a school just because It has a certain program works for some kids but not most.
@homerdog Oh whoa coincidence! I’m glad he likes it after visiting. D hasn’t been yet but we’re going at the end of July. I spent a summer there during my college years and have waaaaaaay idealized the entirety of my college experience in general so I see that summer as absolute blissed-out shangri-la. I am therefore totally looking forward to returning to Northfield, and fortunately I do know a couple of current faculty members so D will get more experience interacting with faculty, which she needs because she tends to not sound super steady on her feet at first (that darn “slow to warm up” personality). Did your S interview there yet? Did they tell him about the house equipped for making cookies 24/7, for years on end? The name of it escapes me at the moment. I have this fond memory of going there to make cookies that summer, listening to a cassette tape (sigh…) of Dave Matthews Band so D has no choice but to re-create this memory with her mom. I don’t think the cold will bother D that much. I feel like she’s midwestern at heart. She doesn’t even like the beach, which definitely does make her weird around here. I don’t love their trimester schedule but our HS is on that calendar now too so she’s at least accustomed to that pace.
@BorgityBorg I’m with you on ED. I’m starting to think it could be so much easier but no favorite here either. I mentioned it the other day and S19 is completely against the idea. Wants to have senior year under his belt. Wants to make the decision much closer to the time he will be going to college. He would want to dive deep and learn much more about the schools who accepted him and then decide. He does not have time to get to know schools well enough to know he has a favorite. And then he’s not even guaranteed to get in. It goes against everything we’ve been preaching about hsvjng multiple favorites and embracing the safeties.
@BorgityBorg The cookie house is way too rad not to mention within the first ten minutes. It deserves all its glory.
I don’t like ED either, on principle, but all those LACs still use it. D is risk-averse and doesn’t like decisions so she will be totally fine with having it made for her via ED, and avoiding all the hassle throughout the winter and the tension of the spring would be a-maze-balls. But we definitely need to do our midwestern adventure this summer before she’ll know. And I’m sure I have about 12 more 180’s to do anyway.
Speaking of ED, you may find that your kids get much more interested in it when the fall rolls around and they realize how many of their friends are applying early. My older son wasn’t really focused on it at all, but then in October he suddenly woke up to some of the advantages (I.e., the increased chances of getting in). Over 3/4 of his class applied early, so it would have been hard not to get caught up in it.
The thought of possibly having the college search done before it begins is also appealing. DD was poorly counseled to apply to her easiest schools early, in order to have the boosted self esteem of knowing she got in somewhere (hopefully!). That was really backwards advice because, while she was successful early, so felt good about her chances, the schools she had applied to were not the ones which would provide the most opportunity and challenge. It wasn’t until Ivy Day, at the very end of the college admissions marathon, that she finally knew what her options were. We would strongly encourage applying ED to a realistic op choice. Had our D applied SCEA to one of her top schools, it would have been the one that she ultimately chose, but that she had not learned she was admitted to until she had been accepted, at the very end of the application season.
@elena13 My D is Engineering or CS. GT is the logical choice if it’s an option. But there’s apparently too much steel and too much city. She’s done workshops / summer camps / women in STEM stuff there since Junior Girl Scouts, but still she’s ranked them almost at the bottom of the list. UGA, she loved - pretty, friendly, great sales pitch. That was the first “official” school tour and it got her engaged in the process. It’s currently ranked top 5 on her list. The ranking is not 1,2,3, but Top 5,10, etc.
To speak out of the other side of my mouth, her parents are part of the problem. If we said to her, we’d really like you to attend UGA, I think she’d be ok with that. But for CS/Engin, we’re willing to pass on state merit $$ and throw some extra towards some other programs. How much extra will be decided well before decisions, though.
@ninakatarina Your thoughts on list pruning makes sense. She probably will burn out of app fever. You must know her.
@SDCounty3Mom I love your statement about financial “can” versus “should”. D19 isn’t necessarily chasing prestige, but she’s Ivy legacy, knows the more common school names, and was enamored by reunion weekends. Now she’s become familiar with a wider variety of schools and understands that 7% RD acceptance is 7%. Also, while I was “meets need”, she is “needs merit”, and her original name recognition schools don’t offer.
With the exception of two reaches and the football OOS public schools, I’d say most of her list would draw blank looks from her classmates.
Again, though, S19 does not have a favorite and most kids at his school do not do ED. Plus, doing ED and then not getting in defeats the purpose because then you are back where you started. Applying ED doesn’t mean you are getting in. And we would only use ED for a reach in order to better the odds. So, applying ED is not the be all end all assuming that the chance of being admitted is still very low for any school on his list that we would ever consider ED for.
So… DS just came home saying that their AP coordinator has decided that AP CS is starting promptly at noon, despite a quarter of the students in the class also having AP Calc that morning. With the overhead of testing (reading instructions aloud, distributing, collecting, final bubbling etc.) on top of 3:15 actual test time and a 10 minute break midway, they’ll barely finish before noon. DS thinks this is because the coordinator has to remain in the building until the test is over and she wants to go home earlier. I have sent a strongly worded email to her, cc’ing the two AP teachers, requesting that they make a more reasonable plan.
@eh1234 - What part of the country are you in? Would any of the SUNY schools be a viable option for your son?
@homerdog - I’d say my son and your son are in very similar positions. The problem is, with my ex husband’s numbers, I think that we would be looking at full or almost full pay at need-based schools. S is a double legacy at Hamilton, which he will, of course, apply to, and even though he wants a bigger school and an urban environment, I think it would be a great fit for him. Coming from a big public school, even though he has had a great education thus far, he really would benefit from 4 years of more individualized instruction. I’d love to see him at a small LAC, but when I do the math and I’m looking at over a 1/4 million for a kid who is probably going to end up wanting to go to grad school. Ugh. Even if I’m not paying, for it, I have a really hard time swallowing that pill. Chicago is one of the few top schools that doesn’t look at non-custodial spouse’s financials, and S is enamoured with it. RPI is another, but it’s probably too techy for him, and he says he does’t like the kids from his school who want to go there. So I mentioned Pitt honors, and his girlfriend hates Pittsburgh and says it’s an awful town. I can’t win with this kid. And he’s not in the mindset to go merit-shopping. He really wants to be in an intellectual environment. He says he’s a math kid, but honestly, in 9th and 10th, his lowest grades were in math. Now, he is 2 years advanced, and I think he suffered from not having pre-algebra. Also, he makes a lot of silly mistakes. But I made him slow down this year and take AB calc instead of BC, and he’s doing really well. He says he find calc way more interesting and easier. Go figure. He’s also, though he doesn’t like to admit it, a very good writer, but he needs to really cultivate that skill (thus my preference for Hamilto for him). Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is, yeah, I don’t think he’s an engineering kid - at least not yet. I think he really wants the academia experience. And he has worked so hard the past few years, he’s just not in the mindset to go bargain shopping.
My time would probably be best spent praying! Lol.
@Trixy34 No worries. We’ve all been there or, at least, I have! Get some rest tonight.
@MathMomVT The AP testing schedules are set at a national level. All of our kids take the same exam on Monday morning and the same exam Tuesday afternoon. I dont know how much wiggle room testing coordinators have but it is not much if at all. The exams are held on the same day and in the same session, whether morning session or afternoon session. I believe if a student has AP exams in 3 sessions back to back, they are permitted to reschedule one to the make up day. My memory could be failing me however.
@Trixy34 well the financial part is also an issue for ED. We will be full pay unless there’s merit and there are schools that S19 really likes that give merit but it’s competitive merit, not just handed out with grades and scores. So, I wouldn’t have him ED at those schools because I’m not convinced they would give an ED kid merit (although I’ve asked all three schools and they claim that he would still be considered for their scholarships if he gots ED) but I still think he’s less likely to get those if he goes ED. So ED would really only make sense at schools where we are willing to pay full freight. And there are some schools like that BUT we’d rather have him make that decision after all acceptances are in. If a full price school is only 5-8,000 more and it’s his favorite then he can go. I just hate skipping that step and just saying “Ok full price it is!” when he doesn’t have a favorite.
And maybe his favorite will end up being a school that gives him merit!
@SDCounty3Mom My D sounds similar to yours - she is slow to warm up, hates to make decisions (I think that is part of where this is coming from, she is not excited to think about schools because she knows she will have to make decisions at some point) and she has a mom who loves cookies and Dave Matthews. :))
@Trixy34 The merit thing is hard. We are full pay so really want to look for merit, but when D sees a school where she is competitive for merit I think she starts to think she should aim higher. I try to tell her this is all about fit not about the name but recently she has started to think more about the name. DH and I went to St. Lawrence and we now live in FL - nobody down here knows that name but we don’t care - we think it was the best place on earth!
@homerdog - I totally get where you are coming from. I don’t think ther are many schools where my ex would be willing to pay full freight. I think if it were an ivy, he’d probably ask family to pitch in. Chicago would only look at my financials, so he would be eligible for significant need-based aid. It’s when we throw his Dad in the mix when the price jumps. Though, I say that with very little basis of knowledge. Just that my ex hired some college financial aid consultants and things didn’t look good.
S had his AP Gov exam today. He said that everyone in the class finished early but they wouldn’t let them out of the room until 11:00. The reason they were given was that apparently one day earlier in the week, schools on the east coast had let kids out of the AP psych exam early, and those kids started discussing the test on social media. Kids on the west coast weren’t due to start the test until 8:00 and saw the discussions and the test was compromised. Not sure if this is really fact or just rumor but I thought it was interesting.
