I know Northeastern is pretty good to Boston Latin kids. Am I wrong? It sounds like you have a good plan. I cringe when I see people on this thread who refuse the wait list and January admission. Many seem like very upset parents. I suppose if they want to write big checks to out of state schools, good for them, but I hope they are not stacking on debt for their kids. You or your parents are making good choices here and I wish you all of the best. Those four months will go by faster than you think.
@rayword45 my GPA really isn’t comparable to any school that uses a 4 point system, they’re basically just off on their own little world. They don’t even calculate a numerical GPA for colleges, they just give them your transcript because it’s such an unusual system, students don’t even know what their GPA technically is until college counselors give them a rough idea Junior year. (This is Phillips Academy Andover btw.) Here’s the school profile: https://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Documents/PhillipsAcademySchoolProfile2015-2016.pdf so according to that my GPA was in the bottom 25% of students in my class. That alone would have probably still gotten me into UMass–they accept 92% of students from PA–but due to unusual circumstances I transferred mid year to a public high school and my most recent grades are very low, so that was probably the cause of the denial.
@jcort1 Thanks! I’m definitely very happy with Skidmore, but I do know a good many people who wouldn’t go to any schools that small. And good luck to your daughter as well!
Also, I thought for sure I would be the last to hear, but it seems that isn’t true, which is just really unfortunate. When I went to the Minuteman for a Day event the admissions counselor was extremely apologetic and empathetic and let us into the event anyways, so I’m not sure exactly what the hold up is, but my guess is just understaffing.
Nah this year Northeastern went pretty similar to BU. The surprisingly nice schools were Syracuse (some kids with high 2s), Harvard (one girl with a 3.1/2040 got in) and UChicago (first acceptance since before 2012! Now UNC should join them). Also the aforementioned Clemson.
BU: Anyone ED 3.4+ got in, RD admissions were highly holistic (or just plain random) for 3.2-3.9, they really ought to call Tufts syndrome BU syndrome because nobody above that range even got waitlisted
Northeastern: EA was reserved for the top of the top who considered it a safety (like 4.3 and above), RD did have quite a few very high ranked students with lives kicked to the curb but not enough to cry any sort of foul really, and at least SOME super high GPAs got in. Nice range of 3.5 and above.
BC is the same as it’s always been for us.
Maybe a fourth of the kids who got deferred from Harvard went straight to Tufts ED. The rest… Well, some got lucky, but this year has the highest number EVER of kids with 3.8-4.2 going to UMass Amherst because they got in nowhere. Honestly makes me happy to be Spring listed since you could argue I don’t deserve it lol. Still, 2 years ago this wouldn’t have been an issue.
This has been an awful year for college admissions. Woes of being young.
Latin is ranked #3 public HS in the state. Our town HS is #30 and, although many got in to Northeastern, almost all were to the NU IN program. You are correct about NU. It’s also one thing getting in and another getting money from these schools. That’s what makes UMASS such a great choice.
Perhaps rayword45 misspoke when he used the word “stuck”. I don’t think any of the students admitted to the nursing program, business school, computer science, economics, engineering majors etc. feel as though they are “stuck” at Umass Amherst. If they choose not to attend it certainly won’t be because of the “reputation” of Umass. Maybe they desire a “smaller” campus or “smaller” class size, whatever those both mean. If a student didn’t get into BU, BC, Northeastern etc etc then they should consider themselves lucky that they were accepted into Umass. When they graduate they should again feel lucky as they will have much smaller debt, if any at all, with parental help. My son was accepted to all the schools he applied to and narrowed it down to Bentley and Umass/Amherst. With a small merit award from Bentley of $10,000 the tuition per year would be $53,000 compared to roughly $26,500 at Umass. Twice the price. Is Bentley twice as good a school as Umass? Would my son have twice the opportunity for success at Bentley? Would the education be twice as good? I doubt any of those questions would be yes. Bentley is no doubt a good school with a good regional reputation but is it really worth the debt? My son will probably owe nothing upon graduation from Umass. He would have a minimum of $80,000 in debt from Bentley. He visited 1 school, Umass , after getting accepted and said " I want to go to school here". He understands debt and how it crushes people. Yes, he will be studying business and economics at Umass. Isn’t that the first good business decision one can make? As a 1987 graduate of Umass Amherst I did not recognize the campus. Umass is a completely new school as far as I’m concerned and should be on every Massachusetts high school students’ prospective college list as #1. Perhaps in the future rayword45 can use the word “blessed” or “deserving” and for some “lucky” to be at Umass instead of “stuck”.
@LeWhite It deoends: What are your other choices, and did you get $ from them, and did they give you major you applied for?
@pickledoc I have no intention of slandering UMass as a school considering I’m going there myself. It’s clearly a great school with a beautiful campus, a vibrant community, and it’s a top 100 national university which climbs the ranks every year. “Stuck” is a relative term, since these kids clearly put emphasis on the rank of their school when selecting places to apply, however unimportant that factor actually is in reality. Also adding to the relativity of that is the fact that for these students, they were still in the “guaranteed admit” pool from my high school since they were above a 3.0 (and I’ve never seen UMass succumb to Tufts syndrome if they are able to). None of this detracts from the quality of UMass as an educational institution whatsoever.
I also think it’s a rather bizarre idea to say that every MA student should put UMass as their #1. Had I gotten into all 3, should I have chosen UMass over Harvard and MIT given no financial issues? There actually are many cases like yours I know of when people got into “better” (read: higher ranked on often rather arbitrary lists) schools like UMich, UMD College Park, BC, NYU and RPI but chose Amherst for financial reasons. That’s something that’s more than respectable in my viewpoint since I also would never be able to justify shelling out an extra $30000 for a school “30 ranks higher” for the same degree and likely the same shot at grad school, but if people desire that high rank degree they’re certainly free to do as they please. Prestige is incredibly overrated (and you wouldn’t believe how many idiots I know who think they can break into Wall Street right out of college with a bachelors in economics from Brown or Cornell) but it will nonetheless matter for many people.
I sent in my enrollment deposit but it says it won’t be processed until May 2nd and it says “Not received” for getting my deposit. Will this be a problem or is just because admissions offices are closed on weekends?
Did you pay w credit card? If so, call credit card company to see if it’s in process. Call Admissions ir Enrillment Services first thing Monday
@becautious i did pay with credit card. I have a payment recepit and an email from umass quikpay saying my credit card payment was approved.
With us, it was processed on the next business day. The acceptance of admission should be good, but I don’t think you can sign up for your NSO until you are notified that it’s processed.
We paid the deposit by echeck on Thursday evening. Fyi, additional fee if you pay by credit card. By noontime Friday, showed up on Spire as payment received, but could not register for NSO. NSO was very nice & said they’re on different systems which can cause a delay, but should be able to register by Monday. Luckily, we were able to log in Friday afternoon.
@steven4998 Sounds like you should be ok because you have proof that you sent your deposit on time.
@jakeybake Thanks so much for starting this thread! It’s been a crazy process! It helped me understand the process and not get too crazy! My daughter is so excited to attend UMASS! Good Luck to everyone!
My pleasure. I’m glad it was helpful to all. My son is my first child to go through the college process so I tried to get and give as much info as I could. Best of luck to your daughter at UMass! I know a ton of my sons friends are going and are thrilled about it!
Hey guys, we just found out my son was removed from the waitlist so I just wanted to offer some advice to help others that are still set on gaining admission for fall. Let them know how interested you are!! Speak with the admissions representative who deals with students from your area, since they will likely be more personable and more invested. Basically…don’t give up, make sure they’re aware of your predicament and your interest!!! Good luck guys!!!
Will Umass email people who accepted the waitlist offer and tell them they are not taking people from it if that is the case?
@college101101 I must ask, how were you informed? Did they call you, call your son or email either of you?
I’m pretty doubtful of my removal from the waitlist considering my stats (even though they say it’s not ranked and I replied with option 3 in less than 6 hours) but I still hold out hope.
Hey guys, I just got off the waitlist but decided not to attend. I got a call from the admissions while I was in school earlier today.
Hi! I was wondering how I get in contact with an admissions rep?