Parents of the HS Class of 2019 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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Posting my D19’s results and hoping I don’t inadvertently say something someone finds problematic! By way of background, my D15 was a high stats applicant looking at the T20 schools, so I’ve been through that drill. She ended up going ED to Pomona and will be graduating from Pomona in May.

D19 had a completely different trajectory. For starters, she had significant mental health and behavioral issues starting her freshman year in HS. Suffice it to say that for a while our goal was merely graduating from HS. Then we started to think maybe community college was best. (And we did a 100% turnaround on our thinking about the benefits of community college in the process.) I will also say that once you abandon the idea that you’re trying to target the elite schools, suddenly the pressure is off and the student can just take the courses she wants and do the EC’s (or not do the EC’s) that she wants. That was actually very freeing.

Fast forward to senior year and things were looking more promising in the sense that we no longer thought that community college was the best and only option. D19 was interested in computer science and physics, courses she had only taken as a senior. She had a 3.6 unweighted GPA, a 35 ACT, minimal EC’s (nothing STEM, just choir, a little speech & debate, and one youth council), good rigor but not the most rigor, and only 2 years of online Latin as her foreign language. Truthfully we were still fearful of a “crash and burn” scenario. So my feeling was that we should emphasize choices that didn’t combine a high expense, high stress combination. We emphasized schools where she could get merit aid based on her GPA and ACT. Her list included two in state publics ASU Barrett Honors, and Northern Arizona Honors, as well as Colorado School of Mines, Wooster, Ursinus, St. Olaf, Eckerd, Hope, and for her crazy reach Carnegie Mellon. She got in everywhere with merit aid except CMU where she was rejected.

Our most expensive options ended up being Mines and St. Olaf. The surprise was Hope. D19 only applied originally because I added it to her list. I have a lot of family who went to Hope. Hope has a 72% acceptance rate so no surprise that she was accepted. But they really turned on the charm and made it very clear they really wanted her. They offered her 3 different stackable merit scholarships totaling 28K and their COA is lower than most, so the net cost was not far off of ASU and NAU. But what really sealed the deal was that Hope invited her to participate in an astrophysics summer research project this summer, before she even starts as a freshman, where she gets to spend a month at the Goddard Space Flight Center followed by a month on campus doing research, gets paid a $4200 stipend, and gets on campus summer housing that is close to free. That was too good a deal to pass up. My Pomona D didn’t get offered anything that generous, especially as an incoming freshman.

I guess the message I want to pass on is that people shouldn’t assume that only the most highly selective elites offer great opportunities. Our new motto: love the school that loves you back!

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@Corinthian What an amazing opportunity! Congratulations to your D!

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@Corinthian congrats to your daughter. She sounds like she is going to have an awesome summer and a great college experience

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Yey @Corinthian congratulations!

@trixy34 thanks for the info! The college just came on the radar because d20’s guidance counselor graduated from there for her masters and said it’s a beautiful college. I just popped over to the virtual tour and it does look beautiful! It might be a little too big though at 15K people. D20 will probably do well at a 5-10K school (tho I’d like to look at small Skidmore and Conn College but they will probably be reaches for her…all depends on how she does on SATs).

D20 wants to major in Psychology but maybe double in education - trajectory is helping students deal with their stuff - ADHD, anxiety, etc. versus teaching a classroom. So that checks with WCU.

Is it in the middle of town? Lots of people?

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@Corinthian - that’s wonderful! Hope is a great school (and rival to my parents’ alma mater - lol) Congratulations! I’m sure your D will thrive at Hope!

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@cakeisgreat - I don’t know if you guys are local enough to visit, but it definitely does not have the feel of a school with 15k enrollment. The student center seems pretty small (I tried to go there one day for Chick fil a, but couldn’t find a good parking spot - lol!) I think a lot of students probably commute, and less live on campus. Quite a few probably also live off campus in rental units around the campus. I attended a conference there once - other than that, I’ve mostly just driven through, so I’m not familiar with the size of the campus, but it seems like it would be very walkable - very compact. It has had the reputation of a “suitcase” school, but that might be changing. I do know that girlfriend’s sister (GC) lives on campus - she used to go home almost every weekend the first year, but it’s much less often now. (Kind of cracks me up because their home is probably all of about 16 miles from the college)

West Chester is a very pretty town. Lots of great restaurants and pubs. Art galleries, street festivals, QVC has their Christmas parade there every year. It’s the County Seat, so crawling with lawyers during the day, but the courthouse/middle of town is a few blocks up from the university. The University is not “downtown” but I’d say it’s walkable to the two streets that basically make up the “downtown” area. West Chester is not a big place, but it’s definitely a destination for the surrounding, somewhat rural areas. I’ll meet my friend there for dinner sometimes, when we’re feeling up to getting out of our jeans and putting makeup on - and not just meeting down the street. Surrounding area has seen a lot of development over the past 20 years, but it’s still kind of “country”. Very wealthy county. Lots of horse farms.

For what she wants to do, I’d say West Chester would be a great fit. For what it’s worth, one of the leading “experts” on therapy for ADHD, Ari Tuckman, is actually right in West Chester.

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Joining!

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Well hi there @hssenior191919 - lol! Welcome!

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@Trixy34 Thank you! Now gonna put it on the visit list :slight_smile:

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@Corinthian congrats to your D on an amazing package there to Hope! I have never heard of it, but that doesn’t mean a thing. (I had to look it up.) I agree with that motto!

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Thanks @jellybean5 . By the way, I think Barrett is a great choice. It’s just way too close to home (15 miles) for D19.

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I enjoy reading this thread very much. I would like to mention a few things that just came to mind regarding the craziness of the admissions process. Maybe they will help future applicants or not! As I mentioned in an earlier post, my D applied to Richmond ED 1. She did everything she was supposed to do: She visited the school twice, she reached out to her admissions rep, she met with the admissions rep when she came to her school, they had a great conversation, when she went back to Richmond to take a second look she sat in a class and participated (the prof encouraged her to do so). After the class, she stopped in to see her admissions rep who told her to stop by when she visited again. My daughter told her about a special opportunity that she had gotten. She was told to send an emailwith the update, and she did.

So, for the school she got into ED 2, Wake, she visited in 2017 and never saw it again. Never had any contact with her regional rep, and I don’t even think this person came to her school. It just makes you wonder whether all the things they are told to do really matter.

The way I’m looking at it now is that I think colleges "need’ you or they don’t. Some will need someone like you for a certain reason and a similar college may not have a need for someone with what you have to bring to the table. You can do everything right or not do everything right, and it may not matter either way.

My daughter also got into one school after wearing jeans with holes in them for her interview (which went well) and she got into another school after having an interview with an alumni rep, and when my daughter was asked if she had any questions she only had one. She also forgot to send this person a thank you note. My daughter was deferred from another school where she met with the rep at her HS and had a great rapport. The person even called her afterwards. He seemed like he wanted her for his school. So… in retrospect it’s all a crapshoot. Do your best, don’t worry about being perfect, and remember it’s not personal if you don’t get in.

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Well said @citymama9 I think every kid that gets accepted has some kind of little ‘hook’ or something that sparks the admissions committee to make a yes decision based on something that jumps out at them from their app or as citymama says, something the school needs that year.

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8 weeks until graduation.

Start of 4th quarter. Start of spring sports season. Looking forward to enjoying these next few months, should be fun.

We’ve ordered some party supplies, planned a simple menu, and I’ll need to grab a graduation gift soon.

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@cakeisgreat - no problem! Yeah, if it’s not too far for you guys to visit, definitely do that. Like I said, I’ve really only driven through a small part of if (the main street heading South from the borough of WC goes through WCU), so my perceptions about how big the campus is could be completely off. I had no idea it was close to 15,000 students! It might be tough for shy kids, but I’d be happy to ask a little more about the social scene - I’ll probably see sister and mom for prom pictures.

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@rmsdad No Dimensions for S19. He already visited and commited ED. He is going to a local event for admitted students. It’ll be interesting to see where the other local D kids are from.

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Today is the end of the 3rd quarter. Heading into the final stretch, hoping my son can manage senioritis for one more quarter. Last night, I made reservations for our graduation dinner. Prom is in one month so we will have to go tux shopping even though my son does not have a date yet. He says he’s got it figured out. And a wonderful mom that organized the Homecoming dinner is getting a bus and arranging for dinner for prom. So nice to have people willing to take this on. The sun is shining here and I hope that means Spring weather is here to stay.

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I hope spring is here to stay too! First soccer game was Monday- it was close to 60º but still felt chilly. Tomorrow’s game will be colder. But the weekend may hit 70º so maybe we’ll be trending warmer.

Prom is in a week and a half and I always hope for good weather for outdoor pictures and the shined up vehicles. I was feeling fortunate that we didn’t have to come up with a prom vehicle this year as DD’s boyfriend’s family has a handful of classic cars. But last night DH offered his big black truck to a friend of DD’s who didn’t have any options. So we’ll have to get it cleaned and arrangements to meet and get it back. It is kind of rough for some kids with our setup, where the community comes out and either watches them drive up, or is inside to watch them come across the stage. At both locations they are introduced and photographed. The pressure is on to arrive in something nice, and not everyone has access. Last year DD and her date used her go-kart so we were hoping for dry warm weather. It was 40s and sprinkly but she still did it!

On the college front, DD found out her top roommate pick is choosing a different college, so she is deep in discussions with another girl. I hope it works out and we get that part done. They can choose a room on 4/23.

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@gallentjill said…

I could not agree more.

@brentwoodmom Congratulations to your S on his decision! Sounds like an amazing opportunity at Alabama.

@citymama9 Congrats to your daughter on her acceptance to Wake Forest!

@rmsdad Congratulations to your daughter, and good luck on the decision!

@Corinthian How wonderful for your daughter! And how fitting that the school is named Hope!

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@citymama9 - Congrats on Wake! Great school!
@rmsdad - also congrats on Dartmouth!

I was just wondering - are any of you requiring that your kids take certain classes in college? I would like to see my son go through a writing boot camp, so my ex and I kind of agreed way back when, that if he ends up at a school without an intensive first year writing program, that we would require him to take a writing or writing-intensive class. One thing my ex is always evaluating when he visits schools is the students’ ability to communicate well, so I’d imagine he would also like to see S19 take some type of public speaking class. I’d also like him to take quantitative analysis, as I should have done so in college. Going to discuss this with his Dad, but it made me curious as to whether other families have set any particular parameters on course selection.