Don’t we advocate on these fora that a student should have at least one safety s/he would be happy to attend? And then they can apply freely? Isn’t that what this student did? Some students want a selection of safety options so they apply to more than one. Apparently it wasn’t necessary for this kid. This student could very well have grazed the info on this web site and done exactly what he did. Just because YOU would have chosen a different safety or more options doesn’t mean his college search was misdirected.
The horror!
@ormdad What I hope is that #2 S gets a full ride at any school that will provide him with the studies he needs to attain his goal and make his dream of becoming a doctor come true. He plans to apply to several schools that he thinks will give him full rides, whether they be Ivies or state schools doesn’t matter, as long as he gets the funding he needs. We do not know yet which schools. I am not worried about app fees as much as I am worried about tuition fees. I would rather dish out a grand in app fees than 200k in tuition.
Jym626: Saw it. I can’t speak to Alabama but as a rule UGA Foundation Fellows would be students who turned down or could have turned down Ivies.
@“Erin’s Dad” I just object to the idea of applying to all 8 Ivies + Stanford. It really feels like he had something to prove, or wanted validation/attention. He certainly got it, and he will make quite a splash on campus. It all just seems a little disingenuous to me.
@Rebecca1212 yeah, I knew what you meant, just feeling a little salty about the “superstar kid rejects the ivies hahahahaha” theme here. Conserving cash for med school is a sound strategy.
I think Ronald Nelson made a smart decision. If he works hard, he can get into great medical schools.
I have a daughter who will attend UA this fall. When she visited UA campus, a fine young man took her for the campus tour. The young man is a senior majoring in chemical engineering, and has been accepted by Vanderbilt University School of Medicine with significant amount of merit scholarship. He has the MCAT score of 39. So, if you work hard, you can achieve your dream at UA
A guy with his reported stats, solid family background, could easily have been shut out of all the Ivys.
Agreed, quakerstake. I know several students who took the Foundation Fellows. It, like other Stamps scholarships, are fabulous. UA isnt a Stamps scholarship but it seems to offer similar benefits.
I believe we will see many more stories like this in the future. Many state schools are attracting the cream of the crop because middle income families are beyond the financial aid threshold, and dont have 200k sitting in a college fund. When I was in high school, Ohio State was a default, pretty much you were in as long as you were a state resident. Fast forward to today, and there are plenty of kids with 32-34 ACT scores that have been rejected from Ohio State. Many of the top ten percent at my kids school are staying in state, and this is one of the best schools in the city. Soon the elite schools will become a sea of very wealthy and low income. The middle will be lost. A lot of tippy top middle income kids are choosing state schools where they get a free ride, its a matter of economics.
It is not unusual for students at our high school in the top 5%, with SAT/ACT scores similar to or higher than this student’s and an impressive collection of EC’s, to apply to a state school honors college as a safety, then end up choosing that route even if they are admitted to an elite school once they take stock of costs, visit the schools, and get to see the perks that these schools offer to their honors students. While finances play a role for students who do not qualify for need-based aid but whose families cannot easily write the check, it is rarely all about the money. (Hint - some of the honors college perks include small classes with vetted professors for all of the pre-med pre-req’s.)
I do not know how many high stats kids apply to all eight Ivies. Some do not apply to any, while others apply to well over a dozen elite schools without the assurance that they will be accepted to more than a couple. It is my impression that our GC’s are not able to predict which students will get multiple admits, even among academic superstars.
Once again I am not impressed by the “all Ivy” strategy, yet I absolutely do not understand and do not agree with the venom and ranting directed at this kid. Some of the objectioners seem misinformed. Alabama and other comprehensive public universities provide an excellent education for those who seek one. Other complaints on this thread seem to be a case of what the young people say these days…“they hate us because they ain’t us.”
^I don’t see any “venom and ranting directed at this kid”.
College Navigator shows that 43% of Harvard students receive any aid. The student body of “haves” really doesn’t appeal to everyone regardless of the academics.
These “all the Ivies” stories have become tiresome. I would much rather read about the students that earn the top merit scholarships at Vanderbilt and the like.
Lots of schools cherry pick top students and entice them with big scholarships. Nothing wrong with that. But that said, don’t see the need for students like this to apply to 14 colleges.
@jym626 - Students like Mr. Nelson who are looking for merit/financial aid need to expand the number of schools they apply to. Like others have said, Alabama is one of the few schools that is upfront and honest with their merit aid figures, and it was likely his safety school. I wonder how the reaction would be if the headline was “Student Picks Safety School Over Ivies”.
I’ve seen this article several times today. Congratulations to this young man! Some thoughts:
-
He is from TN so he has an excellent UA regional recruiter. These people do their jobs well and know how to sell UA. I have no doubt that he and his family knew exactly what they were doing in the application process. Our college counselor encourages the rising seniors to apply to the Ivies and other prestigious schools. They frown on the ones who only apply to one or two schools. They use it for “bragging rights” in the county. “OUR school had X number of kids accepted into the Ivies and X million dollars in scholarships awarded”.
-
There are MANY reasons high stats kids don’t go the expected route. We’ve looked at/visited a lot of the schools mentioned in this thread. I can think of several reasons that UA is perfect for this student and that is probably why he didn’t bother applying to these other schools.
-
UA knows how to recruit both academically and athletically. Lots of focus gets put on Saban and his team of recruiters. I think they could learn a thing or two from the UA academic recruiters! And that love doesn’t end at recruitment- these UA kids feel the love all year long.
-
UA is very generous with their AP credits. He will have no problem graduating in 4 years or less. And the added room in his schedule will be a bonus. There are lots of challenging/interesting/fun courses offered by the Honors College. There are opportunities such as STEM MBA, Emerging Scholars, etc. There are research opportunities for freshmen to get involved in. The opportunities go on and on and on. If there is something he is interested in or wants to do, UA will do their best to make it happen.
I have a likely 2016 NMF- her test scores and grades put her well within that range. Her high school usually has 20-30 NMFs every year. Our mailbox is literally filled every day with letters from every school you can think of. We have several more college visits set up for this summer, but I will not be at all surprised if she chooses Bama. Why? Because her brother has been home 2 weeks and has talked endlessly about his freshman year there. He LOVES it and cannot imagine himself anywhere else. He listens to his high school peers complain about this or that aspect of their freshman experience and he just smiles. There is nothing about his freshman experience that he did not love and he is counting down the days until he can return to Tuscaloosa. And seeing him this happy makes ME smile.
The fellowship program at UA does have great perks, but perhaps some of you are unaware that the Ivies and other elites make available many of those things to ALL their students? There is quite a bit of funding available for student projects, as well as subsidies for unpaid internships and travel. My son applied for and received one that paid his living expenses in DC so he could work a political project there. He was a good student, but not at the top of his class at his Ivy. D’s friends received seed money from the university to start their own business. D was definitely not at the top of her class either, yet had no trouble obtaining a paid research position.
I don’t think a frosh with a 4.0 HS GPA, 34 ACT, and 2260 SAT has that high a risk of not graduating from Alabama or any other school. The low graduation rate at UA is likely due to a large number of worse prepared students, since frosh with < 3.0 HS GPA get admitted, and over a third of ACT submitting frosh had scores in the 18-23 range. Certainly, there are frosh collecting the big scholarships that Alabama is known for on these forums, but there are also lots of other non-scholarship students at Alabama.
Vandy, WashU, Duke etc have merit money but to be frank, they need much higher standardized testing scores and probably academic achievement (not sure where he ranks, how good his AP scores are etc) that those that got him into the schools.