She will probably start to calm down a lot once the first acceptance letter comes in. My D24 went from “What if I don’t get in anywhere?” to “At least I have ONE place to go!”
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I feel you. Mine also has ADHD, and just today she came home (after rehearsal and grabbing dinner with band peeps, so fairly late) and said she had a pile of Lit homework due tomorrow that she didn’t realize she had because the teacher posted it on Monday, and she had checked on Sunday before it was posted. Oy.
I’m also afraid she’s bitten off more than she can chew with a year-long STEM Seminar project. I’m holding my breath.
Her college application process is actually the least taxing of what she’s got going on right now – but this weekend she really has to finish up all loose ends, as EA deadlines are looming.
Plus, homecoming is really early this year, of which the dance is always a social minefield for her – and the marching band will present their full show before the game (they’re having trouble learning the drill for the last part), which is a lot of stress and logistics on her shoulders.
Oof. We’ll help them get through it!
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This is my feeling too! Letting my daughter go somewhere that is a good fit for her (and the big state schools absolutely are not for her!) is not about her making more money, or having better “connections,” or a supposed ROI some folks are into. It is about the experience and the education she will have at somewhere that is structured in the way that learning works best for her. In a place that socially matches with her. As you say, we can’t take the money with us, and this is one of the best ways to spend it in my opinion if you have the means to do so (don’t go into crippling debt for it though). But, I am under no illusions to think that career outcomes are better because one went to a fancy private for most folks (research says some populations do fare better from elite/high reputation/highly selective schools - low income, black and latino students, and I think first gen, but for most folks no difference b/c of school).
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I’ve done a fair amount of diving into Agnes Scott, so happy to share anything else I know if you want to DM me. A few points I’ll make related to your post, here. First, I think the either love it or hate it is because it is very much a “fit” school in my mind, and I think if the vibe/atmosphere is not right for a kid, I could see them hating it and wanting to leave. That said, for those who it is a fit for, people do really love it. We’ve talked to a lot of folks about it since we visited in the summer. My wife is a professor. Her Emory professor colleagues rave about Agnes Scott. I’ve talked to a few parents of young alums, who rave about Agnes Scott. My daughter’s college counselor, raves about Agnes Scott. Best friend’s colleague who works in Atlanta, raves about the Agnes Scott women he’s hired. But, folks do leave who don’t like it. Second, I take the 82% retention rate with a grain of salt if comparing to other LACs. Agnes Scott’s student population has much more socioeconomic diversity than most LACs (way more racial diversity too with ~ 40% white students; ~35% black students; ~15% Latino students). Comparing the retention rates of middle and working class students to predominantly wealthy students is apples to oranges to me. In addition, Agnes Scott does not meet full financial need of all students. Obviously that is a negative for those who are financially “gapped” by their packages, but I suspect that contributes to the retention rate as well. Which brings me to my third point. Whether Agnes Scott is financially a good deal for you may depend. I haven’t run the NPC because we would not qualify for need based aid anywhere so no point. Does the NPC factor in the $25,000 per year Agnes Scott Promise “merit” award that all students at Agnes Scott get ($100k over 4 years)? Does it factor in the $3000 per year “Atlanta grant” that all out of state students get ($12k over 4 years)? Or the $2000 per year “Agnes Scott Campus Visit” award ($8k over 4 years) they are giving H.S. Seniors this year just for visiting? When you add that all up, even before any individual merit money my kid might get, the cost of attendance under this year’s tuition numbers would be about $38,000 (that’s everything, tuition, room and board, books, fees, expenses, everything but health insurance). So, for someone in my position, it is very affordable. Cheaper than University of California for us in state. But, it may be different for you so you should look into it.
Lastly, the campus is gorgeous! All three of us loved it when we visited and lots of movies/tv are shot there. And the town of Decatur is super cute. As parents, we love the curriculum and what they are doing with women’s leadership, career development, and international exposure for their students. I don’t know if my kid will end up there, but I am a big fan of what they are doing. Again though, it is probably the wrong place for a good chunk of kids, but for those who it is right for, it has a lot to offer for the price and admission rate. My D26 has it as one of her favorites right alongside some better known places and ahead of some others.
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There have been days where I’ve just told my daughter to go hang out with her friends and she’s done enough work. They put so much pressure on themselves.
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Well we finally started senior year today! She has AM senior privilege, meaning she does not have a first period class and can arrive at 9 am instead of 8:15 am. This is huge because every year since middle school it has been a horrible struggle getting her to school on time. Of course, two minutes into her first class she’s already texting me, but hopefully the rest of her classes are better! Senior Sunrise is tomorrow and it will be interesting to see if she can get up for it.
No movement on college apps yet; she still hasn’t written her essay. 
Point Park hasn’t received her transcript so she needs to touch base with her counselor to make sure it was sent.
For her, a school being the right fit is a lot about the surroundings. As much as she wants the cliche version of a college campus, she also wants a big city and often the two do not mesh. Cost of attendance is important, obviously, but because she has such a “niche” major, we are at the mercy of the academic offerings, and most public, less expensive in-state schools do not have what she is looking for. So we have to hope for a good discount rate at some of these schools with a high sticker price.
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I will chime in on Agnes Scott, because I completely fell in love with it when D22 applied. We did a ton of online events with them, as it was Covid times and we never got to visit. All interactions with Agnes Scott staff and students were wonderful (best admissions experience along with Ursinus). The impression they left me with is that they were really happy to be there and that it was a tight community.
However, I agree with @ECCA2026 that it is very much a fit school, which is one of the reasons my D did not pick it. While a wonderful school with fiercely loyal alumni, it would not have been a good social fit for my D. Also the finances did not work for us.
It left me with the desire to work for them one day though 
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My S25 had this last year, and it made such a HUGE difference in his general demeanor and well-being because he could go to bed at midnight, wake up at 8:30 a.m. and still have time to shower and eat breakfast and make it to school on time.
I felt like he was the only high schooler on the planet who wasn’t sleep deprived, lol. (My D26 never, ever gets enough sleep – so she stays in bed until like 4 p.m. on Saturdays just to recover.)
Mine gets senior privilege second semester which looking at her schedule means she gets to leave early on certain days- they do a waterfall schedule so the day will change each week.
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D26 is finishing up her college app resume this evening, which is due tomorrow for her college counseling class.
She & a bunch of other seniors went to the U of A honors college info session at school today. She took a bunch of notes like she did a couple of days ago in the general college info session. Some highlights that she thought were interesting:
- 35% of honors students are from OOS.
- 49% self-identify as coming from diverse backgrounds
- honors college has this PATH mentor thing, where you’re matched up freshman year with an upperclassman for mentoring. D26 really liked this idea.
- honors dorms are suite-style
- honors students get priority registration w/veterans & athletes
- honors app is holistic
- EA decisions come out on 1/15. Honors decision can be accepted, denied, or deferred.
- academic history & course rigor are taken heavily into consideration in honors apps.
She stayed after for a couple of min to ask the admissions rep a little more about GPA for the honors app, specifically asked if students are accepted if they don’t have 4.0 unweighted GPAs (hers UW is a 3.59 I think). She got some really positive feedback about her question, specifically about the difficulty level of courses at her HS, so she was pretty happy about that.
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D26 got her SAT score this morning: 1580
She’s done. 3rd time’s a charm.
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Woohoo that’s awesome!! Congrats!
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Thanks. Her field hockey team keeps losing by large amounts so this made her feel better to start the morning.
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Congrats! S26 is taking ACT again tomorrow. I hope it’s the last time as well.
His score won’t get anywhere close to your D’s but his soccer team is winning 
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Last 2 games: Lost 9-0, and 8-0. BUT, the girls field hockey team has multiple national merit candidates. 
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Ok can you all explain when a school says their 50% ACT score is a “range from 28-31” . What exactly does this mean? Most say one specific score like 25th percentile is a 26, 50th percentile is a 30, etc. I’ve never seen it listed as a range before and I’m confused.
D26 just got her first acceptance!! She’s really excited. I may or may not have teared up when she texted me.
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They probably mean that a score of 28 is 25th percentile, and a score of 31 is 75th percentile. So 50% of their admits fall into the range of 28-31.
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I’ve seen a number of schools list it like this. I would also take that to mean 28 is the 25th percentile and 31 is the 75th. I almost never see a college explicitly list the 50th percentile.
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Fabulous!! Can you share where?