So interesting to see these shifts. And you have to wonder where he is getting information/what information he’s getting about UTK to make it chance. Oh, to get a glimpse into the mind of a teenag——oh wait, never mind. Have mercy let’s not go there.
Seriously tho, I wonder if there have been shifts is what he’s thinking of with his major, or with the campus experience, that have had an influence. Well, regardless, it sounds like you are giving him a good amount of leeway to figure out what is going to be the best fit all around. Good luck!
This is a pet peeve of mine - if the person didn’t ask about $, don’t harp on it repeatedly. I know they are trying to help, but it gets old seeing it over and over..
I had this freakout as an adult when I first joined boards…If I had done a chance me here with my kids UW GPA, test optional and not ALL honors or AP “chance me” most people would say they won’t get in anywhere.
(they have yet to get a rejection and a ton of acceptances..)
I trusted our naviance data (which everyone says to ignore, too) and naviance has been super useful and hasn’t led us astray..
I don’t think there is any point in officially turning any schools down until he has accepted admission somewhere. That’s an additional stress he doesn’t need. And I don’t think it will make a difference anyway. They aren’t increasing acceptances in RD based on EA turning them down.
It’s an interesting discussion and one I haven’t read much about. I personally feel that if you are sure you won’t attend a school it’s respectful to decline the offer and yes, open that spot to someone else. I hear people say it won’t matter if you don’t decline early but I don’t agree. If more people did this I think it would actually make a difference, especially when it involves merit aid. No one should decline an offer until they are absolutely sure, but I think it can affect outcomes for other students.
The real question, and I suspect answer may vary by university, is if admissions change assumptions of yield on real-time data in real-time or mathematical models from prior years. Honestly, I suspect latter, though that is just a guess.
I hear you! I would LOVE if they received thousands of letters just like that! Of course, no one would actually do it (too much personal risk) but if they got responses like that, instead of people rushing to ED2, they’d take notice. Deferrals are the worst.
March 15 is the hard deadline. Originally, she was hoping to make a decision by the end of this month, but now we’re hoping to make it to an overnight admitted student day before she has to decide. Those dates will get released this week hopefully.
I told D25 to decline admission to the places she for sure isn’t going to go. She told me there isn’t a decline button only accept. Is she supposed to email them?
Actually, that’s exactly what it means. If your child is sure he/she won’t attend an institution, the right thing to do is to advise them of that asap. It DOES open up a spot for someone else. It may not be your child’s “responsibility,” but it is the polite thing to do. My son has sent notification to an institution that accepted him EA that he will not attend and I fully expect that will open up an opportunity for someone else.
Schools know that not all accepted applicants will accept the spot they are offered. Schools model this out and depending on their models, send out “x” more offers than the school thinks will actually accept. If a school has a 20% yield model, they will send out 100 acceptances for every 20 spots they are trying to fill.
While I agree it is polite for applicants to send notification declining schools they know they won’t attend, each declination does not, in fact, open a new spot for someone else to be offered admission.
Regarding CC being a “tough love” place, I agree to an extent. I actually don’t think there are many posters who will tell someone they wont get into any college or to only do community college regardless of resume. I do think there are many posters who will tell someone who only notes a reach heavy list that they may be shut out. I don’t think anyone here has mean intentions. It’s just that there are quite a few who have btdt and they worry about kids (and parents) with broken hearts feeling like they “aren’t enough” when in reality, the college admissions game is just hard and too often we see brilliant kids blocked from their so called safeties.
What about merit aid? It seems to me if a student is turning down an offer with merit aid this could make a difference to someone else.
I think EA is different than RD because of timing.
I think many posters/advisors seem to underestimate context, a lot. They overestimate that GPA is apples to apples by a lot, too. But do agree they are trying to help people be realistic…
I have seen a “professional” college counselor on facebook groups tell kids things like “I don’t see you having a chance at ABC..I wouldn’t bother” at very very borderline cases… Drives me mad! (I haven’t seen that on here, though).
I agree for the most part. Most responders were lovely and supportive; it was just one very negative and dismissive response. I think it was mainly around my kid applying TO when their GPA was borderline for most and underestimating their ECs and the campus diversity component they would add.
Sat down with D25 yesterday, talked finances again, and cleared out the final list. She let go 3 free tuition offers (via Tuition Exchange). While hard for my wallet to accept, I know in my heart it was the right decision. Some she let go as change of major made the school no longer a good fit. Another let go as even if she got the TE award, it would only be set rate making it the most expensive on the list.
She has been putting on the free merch we got from her top choice school visit and she has been “manifesting” as she calls it to receive the scholarship she is waiting on. Without this scholarship her top choice would be about 10k more a year than the others on her final list. With the scholarship it will be around 5k more a year.
She may want to visit 1 or 2 of the cheaper schools as we have not yet been there for her peace of mind. But ultimately, to be fair between her and S23, we will pay for her top choice even if she doesn’t get the scholarship because she has visited and she said she truly loves it and is excited about the school.
Our goal COA was under 24k/yr. The free tuition schools end up around 14k/yr. Top choice is currently 23k/yr and fingers crossed it drops to 19k/yr with the scholarship. We printed out some other small scholarship apps that she will work on starting next week. (and I have an interview for a second job as well as I am poor and need money!!!)
Merit aid is a discount on COA (except for the few schools whose limited, highly competitive merit awards are named, endowed merit offers that do then get offered to the next applicant in line if declined - think 1693 W&M scholarships).
Schools model out how much of an overall discount they want to offer across a class. They also have fairly sophisticated models of how much $$ each applicant needs to get the best chance of converting the applicant into an acceptance.
Schools that are offering a discount have already modeled each accepted student’s merit discount. This is clearly shown when schools waitlist applicants whilst also sharing with the student what their merit award would be if they get off the waitlist (I know Denison and CWRU are both famous for doing this with waitlisted applicants).
Unless your child is awarded a highly competitive, limited spot merit award - turning an acceptance down doesn’t “release” “extra” money. Just as with schools not expecting every acceptance to be claimed, they also don’t expect all merit offered in those acceptances to be claimed.
“Extra” money being added to offers in April/May timeframes is about schools falling short on admission numbers generally and trying to convert more acceptances into matriculation. It isn’t based on an individual declining their specific merit discount.
sure you won’t attend a school it’s respectful to decline the offer and yes, open that spot to someone else. I hear people say it won’t matter if you don’t decline early but I don’t agree. If more people did this I think it would actually make a difference, especially when it involves merit aid. No one should decline an offer until they are absolutely sure, but I think it can affect outcomes for other students.