Now that RD acceptances are coming in and the May 1 commitment date is around the corner, maybe it’s time to revive this thread. Any colleges that you (as a parent or as a student) are mourning having to turn down?
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For my oldest it was Franklin Olin. But she did not make it. It was a huge disappointment. But Olin doesn’t have BME or ballroom dancing team, so she is happy at GaTech.
Youngest and I absolutely were in love with Gettysburg (after getting top scholarship and amazing treatment there during second visit), just 1 hour from home! But she got accepted to LECOM for medical, and Gettysburg was not a partner school. So now she is far away at Rhodes but loves it.
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Kind of a backward response to the original question.
My son went to CalPolySLO and my daughter was set on going there also. UNTIL she visited WPI. It was across the country, but we have family in the Boston area, which is why we were able to visit WPI. She ended up not going to CalPoly and selected WPI.
She loved WPI, even got used to the winters. The charm of the red brick buildings and the students she met on the tour convinced her it was the pace for her.
I kind of wish my son had also gone to WPI although CalPoly was an excellent choice also.
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I am going to feel this way about every single school that has admitted DS24. Admitted to four, waiting on three, but they are all such good schools. I encouraged him to whittle his list down to schools that he really wanted to attend with a wide enough variety in admissions policies that he wouldn’t be shut out based on his profile. Thank you all who posted about common data sets. I read many posts that mentioned this and used them to help him select where to apply. I didn’t want him to apply to too many schools or schools that he felt lukewarm on so that he would ultimately be happy with where he lands and would still have time to do well and enjoy his senior year.
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I don’t have any one specific college in mind yet, including because my S24 still has 9 (!) pending decisions in addition to 4 offers to consider.
But I definitely have my own internal list of colleges I liked better for him than others. So I am crossing my fingers he ends up picking one of those.
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University of Minnesota—TC. What a great place! It’s really an attractive campus, and the Psych program is world-class. The students are known to be friendly and happy, and the school is generous with money for OOS students. I think it would have been a much harder decision if it were closer than 1000 miles from home.
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That was one of ours that got away as well. It was #1 for S23 for over a year until he visited the school he ultimately picked. I had no idea what to expect, but I was blown away. In the end, I was glad Lizardkid went with the other choice as I got nervous following the UMN campus safety reports
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I’m enjoying reading this list, mostly because I’m looking for one or two more to ask my S25 to think about adding to his application list, so it’s nice to see all the places that made such a strong positive impression.
For my S22, I think he made the right choice. Right for him, and my personal favorite. While there were some things we both liked a lot about his other options, if he hadn’t chosen WPI, that’s what I would’ve called the one that got away.
Now, my younger guy, we’ll see. He seems more flexible and like he could be equally happy anywhere. Which may make being happy with where his admitted easier in the end, so that’s great, but right now while we’re still list building, it’s making it hard to construct something that makes sense in any cohesive way. One of the schools he’s looking at pulls at me for him (interestingly, I really did NOT want this same school for my older boy) so I’m hoping he likes it, but we’ll see.
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Berkeley. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I love Berkeley in so many ways. My child is going for an admitted day soon (again- he went for an undergrad admitted day, 5 years later now he’s back for a phD admitted day).
Smith. Something about that place just felt right to us. I think we just love the liberal college town vibe- indy bookstores, great coffee shops that you can linger, and a hole in a wall ethnic eateries
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For my son, Manhattan College will be the “what if” school. He loved almost everything about it and it was close to home. He ended up at Rose-Hulman and is very happy. I’m certain it was the right choice for him, but Manhattan really checked all the boxes, too.
For my daughter, it’s St. Olaf or Denison. She loved St. Olaf, but wasn’t thrilled with the mandatory J term and it was far, far away from home. She knew that she would have loved it there, so it was definitely hard to say no to them. Denison was also a great fit for her and she really enjoyed the revisit day. They pulled out all the stops and she met some great kids.
Both kids ended up at the right place for them, however we still strongly recommend these unchosen schools. They truly were wonderful.
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My D22 has no “what if” --she landed at Smith and we all agree it is the perfect fit for her in all ways. For my D24, who was accepted his ED school, the one that got away (from my view) was Wesleyan. Convenient commute from my daughter’s college, making it easy to visit both kids…loved the housing options and overall creative vibe.
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I really wish my daughter had gone here as well. She applied ED elsewhere so didn’t even apply.
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D24 was accepted to, but has opted not to attend Southwestern University and Centre College. All of us loved both of these CTCL (Colleges That Change Lives) schools.
Centre College is in Danville, KY. It’s an adorable town with a “Main Street USA” sort of feel to its downtown area, which is right next to campus. A liberal enclave in a red state. Awesome music and arts programs. Students can fill their fine arts general ed requirement by taking a glass blowing class. Has Greek life, but it doesn’t appear to dominate campus life like it does at other Southern schools. Students seem genuinely happy there. Close knit. Accepting of people from all walks of life in a way where you can tell that they really ‘walk the talk.’ Really great pre-health programs, so if you’re pre-med or something like that, it’s an awesome school. The people there are just very genuine and down to earth. Great diversity. Open, respectful discourse encouraged.
I really really really wish that my kid had opted to go here. But she felt it was too far away from AZ. They have awesome merit scholarships. Really cool & unique study abroad options. Small class sizes. I could go on and on about this place. I’m sad that she said no to this school. And my younger kid has already said she doesn’t want to go to college “anywhere it’s cold,” and Kentucky apparently falls in that category. So instead, I talked the school up w/our school’s 2 college counselors in the hopes that it’ll make it onto somebody else’s list for future seniors.
Southwestern University:
Similar “Main Street USA” feel to downtown Georgetown, TX, which is walking distance from campus. This is another CTCL college. similarly awesome research & internship opportunities as Centre College. You can tell that the students here are really happy. Like…they LOVE this college. 30 min drive from the Austin airport. Pre-health students do internships at the local hospital (St David’s Hospital). There’s a special program w/Rice University for a master’s degree in accounting (preference in admissions to Rice’s master’s program if you’re a Southwestern student). Every Wednesday there’s a ‘sweet retreat’ provided in the main quad/commons area…some sort of free dessert provided to all students and staff. Hammocks and adirondack chairs everywhere. VERY VERY SAFE campus & local community.
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RPI
My S18 came down to RPI with a ton of merit vs Pitt honors for Chemistry with merit
Pitt worked for him - and while feel like it has some elements of a private school still - I always wonder how it would have been at the actual private school, with interesting interdisciplinary majors, a design emphasis, etc
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I got my MBA at Harvard. I was accepted to the Tuck School at Dartmouth, however. The people at Tuck, to include my interviewer and the admissions staff, were some of the nicest people that I ever met in my life. They admitted me and were incredibly friendly despite the fact that I was 45 minutes late for my admissions interview (a hilarious story). I went for an admissions visit and loved the school and ADORED the people.
True story…after 9/11 happened (more than a year after I graduated business school), one of the people that I met from Tuck admissions called me to check in on me and to make sure that I was OK (I was living in NYC, but I was out of town on the day of the attacks).
I was absolutely blown away. Checking in on a student who turned your school down? Wow.
Fast forward to today…I never hear from Harvard unless they want money.
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I love this thread because I feel silly for feeling a little mournful about the college experiences my DS won’t have at the schools he didn’t choose. He’s fine- he loves the choice he made for next year. It’s just me feeling sad letting go of a few-- Skidmore and Layfayette were so beautiful and seemed perfect in so many ways. I am going to miss all those parent weekends in Saratoga! LOL I also feel similarly about Binghamton and University of Rochester–such great schools. I admit- I fell in love with just about every school we visited for some reason or other, but these 4 were my favorites and I’m going to miss them. Luckily, my DS is very logical, and easily moved on.
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My kid’s been happy at UCLA for 2 years—after turning down my crush school, Kenyon. I was sad, too! I know she picked the right place for her, and I love UCLA, too. But I will always wish I could go back 30+ years and tell my 17 year old self to go to Kenyon!
(Very little hope for S26 to choose it—he won’t look at rural schools in red states… but I’ve yet to work on him!)
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S24 was soooo close to saying yes to Siena. He had an amazing experience at their Admitted Students Day and really fell in love (I’ve posted about it elsewhere but it was a special and very memorable experience). I had a sense for quite a while that it would be a great fit for him too.
It came down to Siena and SUNY Oswego, and for a while we were both sure it was going to be Siena. But after a second visit to Oswego, plus a lot of soul searching, he decided that while he could see himself being happy at either school, Oswego was a slightly better fit for him. It’s a little closer to home and a lot more affordable, and he really likes their creative writing program and their honors program.
He’s very happy with his choice and is looking forward to the start of school, and I’m thrilled for him. I really do agree with his choice…I love that he’s excited about his decision and I know he will be successful and happy there. But there will always be a special place in my heart for Siena and I’ll never forget that moment where things just clicked for him.
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So way back I posted on here how we had loved Colorado State University for animal science. He was offered a better deal at Kansas State and has been really happy there for the last 7 years. He met his wife there and just graduated with his DVM.
Now all along I just had a feeling about Colorado State. Today my son moved to Fort Collins and will start his small animal rotating internship in a couple of weeks at CSU. So some of you never know what could be in your future with these ones that got away!
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