<p>This is a general thank-you to the folks - parents and students - that posted advice and sympathy during the last year and a half. My son received a Brandeis acceptance yesterday with a presidential scholarship - despite ranking below the top ten percent of his (unknown Ohio public school). Whatever combination of things he did worked - whether it was excellent SAT’s, SAT II’s, the GC explanation of the sophomore grade problem and unweighted ranking, the listing of all the SC medals, the attention to the essay - whatever. Although still crossing his fingers for UChicago, he would be thrilled (and can sort of afford) to attend Brandeis. </p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who posted from that time period, most especially Xiggi, SoozieVT, Marite, TheDad, Northstarmom, momsdream, mini and Carolyn. Hoorah for the Big Blue Envelope!</p>
<p>Ohio_Mom, congrats. Brandies is on my daughters’ list, so I will be interested in what you have to say in upcoming year should your son decide to accpet his seat there.</p>
<p>Thank-you, everyone. It is a great joy and a relief! My grandmother contributed (to the best of her ability) to Brandeis <em>before</em> it was founded - so that makes it especially wonderful.</p>
<p>Congratulations! That is wonderful news. Brandeis is a great college with an excellent reputation for good teaching.
It’s also a college that I have thought might be a good one for S to apply to next year. I’d be interested in your insights about what could make a student a good candidate for their presidential scholarship.</p>
<p>pyewacket - he posted stats are on the Brandeis ‘I got in thread’ - you will be able to figure out which one he is! </p>
<p>Northstarmom -
I was surprised at the scholarship. Things that he had going for him: a pile of science olympiad medals and other strong EC’s (scouts, drama, acadec), very good SAT II’s, a good essay (submitted in its initial form as a graded AP english paper - one of the blue ribbon options), and a rigorous course load - most rigorous for his school. The other positive was that he TA’d for two teachers (spanish and computer science), and is one of the Chem Lab Aids this year (gets credit for this one), and is also a senior mentor. </p>
<p>Negatives were GPA (3.6 UW), class standing of top 14%, one SAT under 700 (m670). The GC rec talked about his sophomore year slump - we were all scrambling to take care of my elderly parents at home - our whole family was a disaster. </p>
<p>So, Brandeis, at least in this case, did look beyond the applicant’s GPA and rank to see the person. And the person, for his part, visited Brandeis last spring and interviewed very early last fall (he perceived the interview as only ok, but I think it went better than he thought). </p>
<p>As to exactly why the scholarship appeared, I don’t really know, but it doesn’t appear to have been a strictly number-crunching operation. My kid contributes to the intellectual and cultural life of his high school, and I suspect that was what came through, and was desirable.</p>
<p>ohio_mom: mazeltov from me also, for your S and for you (and your grandmother). Our S is currently at Brandeis; let us know if we can help with information (looks like he doesn’t need any help with qualifying).</p>