Smith it is! She decided before we even got in the car for the airport.
Allyphoe - I have enjoyed this post so much as our daughters sound very much alike with the exception that mine moved away from women’s colleges rather than toward them as we visited more. Just like yours, mine has been wanting to minor in Chinese and major in a science and has dropped many schools from her list for not having enough advanced Chinese courses. Best of luck to your daughter applying ED to Smith! I wish I could get my DD to go ED but she wants to apply to Stanford even though she knows she’ll be rejected because she says she’ll regret not trying.
Congratulations 
Self-service transcripts through the high school website are available again (on the fourth system in four years).
Two surprises:
- There were ~1,300 in the 9th grade class. There are only about 1,100 seniors. That’s a lot of attrition!
- My kid is ranked first out of those 1,100 as of the end of 2nd semester junior year.
I suspect my D21 will have the same reaction when we visit in Spring. Please let us know how it all works out! Good luck to your D.
Common App submitted, with a completely different, much better, essay topic. Two of three teacher recommendations submitted (so if the third is too late, no harm).
Smith supplemental essay remains to be done, and will probably go all the way to Friday evening. Identifying a piece of music that describes you takes some serendipitous inspiration.
Common App changed to “downloaded by school” sometime before 8am East Coast time. Email with portal login credentials received at 9:10am East Coast time. For anyone who likes to know timelines. ?
I am rooting for your D @allyphoe ! Hope it all works out for her.
Timeline notes: Financial aid portal was available for login this morning (48 hours after Common App was submitted, 24 hours after applicant portal was available).
The signed tax returns uploaded to IDOC included signatures on the Form 8879 (efile page, which includes summary tax return numbers and the perjury jurat), not page 1 of the 1040, because that’s what I already had in PDF form and I figured someone would let me know if that didn’t work. Kid’s return was accepted uneventfully. Parents’ return was flagged as missing signature. I resubmitted today with the 8879 as the first page of the file (because it’ll be Monday before I can get a PDF with the other parent’s wet ink signature uploaded, but I also printed a hard copy to get signed and upload Monday); we’ll see if that works.
Signed 8879 plus unsigned 1040 and schedules was marked as acceptable already. Smith’s financial aid folks are fast.
Supplement in, 2.5 hours before deadline. Now for a month of blissful nothing.
@allyphoe - “quiet” spaces in an urban school look different. Yes, Riverside Park is only two blocks away, or one can take a “trip” to other city parks, but that’s still far from “countryside” quiet. But, one certainly CAN find quiet at Barnard in all the usual places: Plenty of quiet floors in the various Barnard and Columbia libraries, where my daughter spends much of her time - and some Barnard buildings have green terraces or a roof.
I don’t think Barnard woman are any more fashion conscious than other young woman in general. Certainly my daughter is not and doesn’t feel out of place at all. That is not to say that there aren’t also a good number of students from well-to-do families who dress accordingly - mostly because they don’t know any other. Basically - just the usual cross section of urbanites, reflective of its larger setting.
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there wasn't as much student interaction in Barnard classes ... she really likes more student participation over lecture <<
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It might depend on the particular class/subject, but also on the individual professor. My Sophomore daughter never mentioned missing sufficient personal attention or interaction. She seems to have good relations with Profs at Barnard and Columbia - and most seem to be quiet personable. Generally, she really seems to enjoy her classes.
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the least "women's college like"... wants to be able to take all of her courses at "her" school / at a college primarily focused on educating women <<
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I never expected my daughter to pick a women’s college - but I certainly get how Barnard ended up being her choice: a woman’s college in a co-ed University. On one hand, her faculty, administration, “management” typically is majority female - so seeing female decision makers, and succeeding on every level is “her normal”. And, certainly, she is surrounded by bright and engaged peers who do make their voices heard and wouldn’t accept gender bias. But… Barnard students are also not “sheltered away” for 4 years: A lot of your time is spent at Columbia facilities, in Columbia classes, or with male students in Barnard classes and facilities, and of course in the “Big City” all around them.
I’d say that Barnard is indeed very strongly “focused on educating women” - while still immersed in the real world with its daily challenges and shortcomings. I rather see that as a plus!
Ivy Day yesterday - one of kid’s extracurricular friends was admitted to Princeton; another was deferred from Harvard. Our household is still waiting on tenterhooks, since all historical signs had been pointing to Smith ED coming out today but there has been complete silence from the admissions office.
Finals are next week, but because of the odd way her school works, she anticipates taking one because she’s required to (but it has essentially no chance of impacting her grade), one for fun (can only improve her grade), and possibly a non-fun one (mathematically can’t lower her grade but might mathematically be able to improve it). This week is the week with the massive workload, but the last paper got proofed and printed at 5:45am, so she’s pretty much done with the semester. Yay!
Waiting, waiting.
Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh 5pm EST Monday. It’s going to be a long weekend.
Fingers crossed for allyphoe’s D!
ACCEPTED!
Congratulations!!! Off to Northampton in the fall!!
Yep! Financial aid matched the NPC. Offer accepted, deposit paid, kid was so relieved she went to take a nap.
Congratulations to your daughter!
What terrific news! Congrats. Now you can take a deep breath and relax!