<p>“I can’t say the same for my daughter. Girls just get rejected willy-nilly.”</p>
<p>Mythmom: I actually laughed out loud when I read this…When I mentioned a similar statement to my D recently, she said, “you are kidding, right???”…“that’s not really funny you know…”</p>
<p>I think that high achieving girls who are in high schools that DON’T have an abundance of them are clueless to the “gender issue”…My D’s graduating class’ top 10% is close to 75% male…</p>
<p>rodney - 75% male - that is so unusual! Is it a magnet school for math/science?</p>
<p>Rileydog: Of course in engineering you DS would experience the same things as my DD. </p>
<p>One admissions officer actually said, “God help the girls who apply to study English at a LAC.”</p>
<p>We solved the problem by including women’s colleges in our list. Barnard actually became the dream school, and D has thrived there.</p>
<p>Does he have a favorite of his “safeties?”</p>
<p>zfam, I, too, have a 14-year-old – my only kid – and hope you’ll save me a seat next to you in the Vigil Lounge when it’s our turn. Anyone who brings food is my kind of person! :)</p>
<p>Rileydog, I’m sorry for what you’re going through. I just finished reading the tale of Andi and Andison (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kid-s-story-year-later-8.html?highlight=andison[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kid-s-story-year-later-8.html?highlight=andison</a> if you’re interested) and though it was heartbreaking as it happened, the tale has a happy ending, one that couldn’t be seen in the dark days.</p>
<p>You bring up something that I have seen others bring up: an inability to visit a school because of illness, work, etc. A number of my long-time friends and I have kids in the same age range; I am going to propose we find a way to help each other out if something happens to prevent a parent from taking a kid to visit a school. I’ve been involved in a number of different “care circles” for people who are ill/dying, and this is a task that could be added to the caregiving list.</p>
<p>(One of my son’s classmates some years ago lost his dad; one of his uncles became the “birthday party” uncle, as in this uncle took the boy to the birthday parties he got invited to, this being one practical way he could help out his nephew/sister. He simply committed to providing that service always so the kid would never have to miss out on going to a birthday parent because a parent couldn’t take him. Not that he didn’t do other things as well, but this was one thing that he had covered completely.)</p>
<p>Heck, maybe we need a CC visiting club. I’d be happy to meet a kid at a local airport and ferry said kid to a local college to demonstrate interest, or be the local contact if the kid wanted to make the trip alone but parents wanted a contact in the area. And maybe some kids could buddy up, travel with another local student to a school to visit it.</p>
<p>Who knew showing interest by visiting was so important, could make such a difference?!!</p>
<p>The things I learn here!</p>
<p>Girls DO get rejected willy-nilly. NY Times, I think it was, had an article about it a year/two ago. Surely someone here posted a thread about it! (I wasn’t at CC at the time the article appeared.)</p>
<p>The NY Times article was and Op-Ed piece by the head of admissions at Kenyon College. You can google it.
March 23, 2006 -To All the Girls I’ve Rejected - By JENNIFER DELAHUNTY BRITZ</p>
<p>We were touring colleges a few weeks after the article appeared and I asked each of the admissions officers we met about it. It was clear that every school received many more applications from girls and yet sought to balance the gender of the incoming classes equally. Some of them were entirely honest about having lower standards for boys and others were quite cagey in their answers.</p>
<p>Rileydog,
I can only hope the schools didn’t hold your H’s illness against your son…as some of you know, I have ongoing health issues, and this was one of the things we had a long chat with the GC about last spring. </p>
<p>S was insistent that it didn’t have an effect on him re: grades, etc., and he was not comfortable talking about it in an essay. Happily, our school has the students and parents complete a questionnaire so the GC has info for the rec letter – one of the good things about a big HS, with an overworked guidance office, it turns out. The GC said she was comfortable discussing my illness in terms of how our family has handled it, and I wrote up some of my thoughts about it for her. I have not seen the actual letter, but we gave her permission to include this info.</p>
<p>On the other hand, she recommended not disclosing LDs that did not have 504 or IEP accommodations, or grade skips, unless there was a noticeable effect on grades, ability to participate in ECs, etc.</p>
<p>There is a thread around here about parents who were willing to act as local contacts for students who are far away from home – but I think Owlice’s suggestion is terrific. If anyone has difficulty accompanying a student to a college visit, perhaps some of us can step in an arrange for local logistics.</p>
<p>Bloodbath is the term I’ve used in telling my kids and DH about results this year. It scares the @%$# out of me for DS2, who is likely to fall into the GPA/SAT range where nothing is certain – numbers high enough to susceptible to yield management strategies, but not high enough to be clear-cut winners in the game as it’s currently played.</p>
<p>I’ll join the crowd here. With twins, and a total of “you don’t want to know how many” applications, this has been the most harrowing few months of my life, without a doubt. There have been great days and there have been days where I was so incredibly sad for my daughters. Someone above mentioned sleeplessness and that has been me the last two days. One of the girls was rejected yesterday by Stanford, where her sibling attends and where she so much saw herself attending. I knew in my heart that, with the current admissions standards, it was a long shot and she is so sweet and sensitive. It is heartbreaking to watch her go through this pain. She has some very good acceptances but right now none of them mean a thing. I am guessing that each day, the wounds will heal a little bit more; but I am just praying that I will be one of those people who next time this year can post that things worked out for the best. (My other daughter, with somewhat less lofty ambitions and more focus in her thoughts about college, has gotten more rejections but is just happy as a clam, thank you!–so I guess I should be grateful that two of my 3 children are right where they want to be. But as the saying goes, you are always as unhappy as your least happy child…)</p>
<p>Rileydog,
I can only hope the schools didn’t hold your H’s illness against your son…as some of you know, I have ongoing health issues, and this was one of the things we had a long chat with the GC about last spring. </p>
<p>S was insistent that it didn’t have an effect on him re: grades, etc., and he was not comfortable talking about it in an essay. Happily, our school has the students and parents complete a questionnaire so the GC has info for the rec letter – one of the good things about a big HS, with an overworked guidance office, it turns out. The GC said she was comfortable discussing my illness in terms of how our family has handled it, and I wrote up some of my thoughts about it for her. I have not seen the actual letter, but we gave her permission to include this info.</p>
<p>On the other hand, she recommended not disclosing LDs that did not have 504 or IEP accommodations, or grade skips, unless there was a noticeable effect on grades, ability to participate in ECs, etc.</p>
<p>There is a thread around here about parents who were willing to act as local contact for strudents who are far away from home – but I think Owlice’s suggestion is terrific. If anyone has difficulty accompanying a student to a college visit, perhaps some of us can step in an arrange for local logistics.</p>
<p>Bloodbath is the term I’ve used in telling my kids and DH about results this year. It scares the @%$# out of me for DS2, who is likely to fall into the GPA/SAT range where nothing is certain – numbers high enough to susceptible to yield management strategies, but not high enough to be clear-cut winners in the game as it’s currently played.</p>
<p>Rileydog: No, it’s not a magnet school; normal NJ competitive public…I actually did the exact calculation after I posted…Male: 79% Female: 21%…</p>
<p>I agree, it’s much harder for girls at LACs. My first inkling of this was on a visit to Wesleyan 2 years ago where we talked to a girl from son’s hs with incredible stats, ECs, everything and she had been waitlisted, though she did make it off. Then I read the andison story, that added two safeties to my son’s list and now this year it seems to be everywhere. I agree with mythmom though that there might be more movement off waitlists this year. We could be wrong of course, but the little schools may have needed to overuse their waitlists to avoid being swamped if the yield goes up. I know they calculate these things, but this year seems so different.</p>
<p>A very simple, grazing kind of lunch today on the Vigil Lounge table: cheddar cheese slices, multigrain Club crackers, red grapes, cucumber spears, and roasted red pepper hummus. Assorted fruits (bananas, pears, oranges, etc.) are in a bowl in the center of the table, there is Honeycup Mustard for those who don’t like their crackers completely dry, and dessert is leftover Easter candy. (Hey, the sales were just TOO good to pass up!)</p>
<p>Basically, this means I didn’t get bread baked in time for lunch sandwiches… :D</p>
<p>Flying home from Pittsburgh, impatiently tapping my heel and coutning down the minutes to the mailbox back home in NM…probably should have a drink on the last leg so I don’t jump out of the car while it’s driving past the mailbox on the way home!! DS acting like he could care less that SC and Mich letters may actually be sitting there waiting for us, I mean him… ;)</p>
<p>This thread is classic CC – you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, etc. Everyone on here is so thoughtful, funny, creative – I just know your kids must be wonderful, too.
We finished earlier this year, but there was a two-week period in February of checking the mailbox every day for acceptance into a much-wanted program that ended happily. Now I find myself second-guessing (as someone above said, if she got all acceptances, maybe she aimed too low.) BUT – d is happy and excited and has found a roommate on facebook. So I don’t say a word and bask in her glow.
Can I still come on May 1st?</p>
<p>Hey, if I, mom of a HS freshman, can cater, EVERYone can come!</p>
<p>owlice, you’ve got to add some of my truffles and chocolates to the menu. For this afternoon, how about these:</p>
<p>Buddha…dark chocolate Buddha filled with a creamy chocolate ganache infused with galangal and lime. Buddha will help everyone stay in the OM. :)</p>
<p>Black Forest…Kirsch truffle with dried tart cherries soaked in Kirsch, dipped in dark chocolate and garnished with ivory lines. The adult chocolate cherry!</p>
<p>Regarding waitlisting and yields… my daughter toured Kenyon last fall, and they were very upfront with saying that the last two years they had more kids enroll than they had expected, so the next two years they would be admitting fewer kids to get their overcrowding back under control…</p>
<p>Regarding waitlisting in general… I’ve read a lot of things lately about schools using that as their ‘insurance policy’. Things have gotten pretty crazy on BOTH sides of the application process, with kids applying to 30 schools and adcoms increasing their waitlists to create a buffer.</p>
<p>Regarding girls… yeah, it kinda stinks to have five… my daughter is fourth in her class, but the top-ranked girl, and she did pretty well in the admissions process, but she didn’t even bother to apply to HYP. Very little chance of getting in, and not particularly interested in that kind of atmosphere. Although several years ago we visited Cornell while we were on a camping trip, and she was VERY interested in going there ‘because of the shopping’ :)</p>
<p>owlice,
I was eating vegies and red pepper hummus as I read your post! Time for a banana now.</p>
<p>Rileydog,
My D also had health issues during hs. She included a very brief statement about it in her apps. We still have two more schools to hear from tomorrow, so still can’t say overall what impact it had. Seeing who the colleges accept and who they don’t, it’s very hard to determine what really factors into a decision. I think there are just too many outstanding applicants for too few spaces available. </p>
<p>Counting Down,
I feel like we’ve been going through all this together for so long now! I hope you have happy news in the mail tomorrow:)</p>
<p>:: savors Buddha and Black Forest goodies Consolation has provided ::</p>
<p>Mmmmmmm!!! Thanks!!!</p>
<p>2for, I just finished part of a banana! 
It was on top of peanut butter which was on top of a very thin slice of warm bread. (I was mucking around with the recipe, so had to try it, you know!)</p>
<p>There’s probably a good reason I read jude_36’s line “Regarding waitlisting and yields” as “Regarding waistlines and yields…” but I do not want to contemplate what that good reason might be!</p>
<p>jude_36, what shopping did your D like at Cornell?! Ithaca doesn’t strike me as a good place to shop at all, except at Wegman’s and the fabulous farmer’s market. (It’s not bad; it’s just not good IMHO.) H and I spent three years courting long-distance; he lived in Ithaca, so I was there at least one weekend/month. Oh, the yarn store near the Commons is also good, but then, I think most yarn stores are good. So your D’s comment really surprised and intrigues me!</p>
<p>Now that H and I are married and he’s moved here, I’m not in Ithaca nearly so often. I hope to take S there this summer, as I think he’d like the town a lot. He’s certainly heard a lot about it!</p>
<p>Owlice: Glad to hear the town of Ithaca sounds like a nice place to visit. One of my s’s acceptances was to Ithaca college so we’ll be going there for a visit in the next couple of weeks. Any recs for places to stay/eat?</p>