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kokotg

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Everything posted by kokotg

  1. You owe me a dollar! With an unsurprising Brown rejection we are done! On to tough decisions!
  2. Congratulations! We have some sibling rivalry going on here, too—mostly my college grad is bitter about this kid’s superior FA offers.
  3. DS in at Vassar, Emory, and Hamilton. I remain stunned by how many amazing options he has. Last one is Brown tomorrow; not holding my breath for that one, but anything is possible!
  4. It is weird about Colby and the CDS! I was pretty shocked he got in given that they're need-aware. With Oberlin I think he's just going to have to straight up ask what lessons and ensembles would look like for him as a musical studies major and see what they say. I know there are a good many non-majors at Vanderbilt that still do a lot at Blair, so who knows? Re: your last point--he e-mailed both the horn teacher and the orchestra director (who also happens to be a horn player) at Grinnell a week and a half ago about meeting with them, sitting in on a rehearsal, etc. when we're up there next week, and he hasn't heard a peep back. It's definitely a turn off, and it's making me rethink even visiting (he's already been there just before junior year and done the tour and all that--if he can't learn more about music there's not a lot of point in going; he already knows he likes it from a social/cultural/academic standpoint)
  5. but is says less than 10% of the ones that have already been processed. I guess it's unclear how many they processed between catching the mistake and issuing that statement, though.
  6. huh. How could it have only affected less than 10%? I would imagine the majority of students have some kind of reportable assets, even if it's just $500 of birthday money in a savings account or whatever.
  7. I'm getting very mixed reports about how preppy Amherst is! I guess we just need to go take a look. I have it in my head as the hippie school amongst NESCACs, but I may just be thinking Hampshire must surely rub off on it a little 😂. But, yeah, my experience so far is that all the New England schools have that vibe more than mid-western schools.
  8. thank you! Do you happen to know how lessons work for musical studies students? Like...it doesn't seem likely they'd add more students to the studio professor's workload, but...then what? DH went to Oberlin over Vassar because he liked the idea of the con being there; he took piano lessons from a Con student, and that was fine for him. But DS is already just a step below Con students on his instrument, as I'm sure is true of a lot of the musical studies majors, so that wouldn't really make sense for him. So--yeah--need to see how it all works! I am indeed familiar with what a music performance major looks like, and it definitely worries me for this kid. His brother is ALWAYS incredibly busy (he didn't respond to my "are you alive?" text for several hours the other day because, "Thursdays are crazy!") And he's very, very happy that way. I'm not anti-music major. But THIS kid isn't his brother. He's just not as single-minded, and he certainly doesn't spend the kind of time practicing right now that I know he'll need to do if he's a performance major. I think he'd be better off somewhere with great academics and social fit that values a music a lot and has a great horn teacher and ensembles, but where music can still be the thing he does for fun without all the pressure. Amherst looks like that to me. But I worry that the more I voice my opinion the more he'll push back (which is how he landed on French horn instead of an easier instrument. Why, that anecdote features prominently in his counselor letter! Don't tell this kid what he can't do!) Sigh. He has not seen Amherst yet (Colby is also out there; I'm ready to cross it off the list as too preppy/sporty for him, but he might want to look at it). I visited with my oldest, but he wasn't on that trip. We're waiting on the last few decisions this week and then we'll plan a visit. He seems at least somewhat excited about being walking distance from the Emily Dickinson museum. Because that's the kind of nerd he is.
  9. My kids' have finally processed, but on 3/22 and 3/23, so I think we're in the clear of the latest mess and the numbers they're giving us are correct. fingers crossed.
  10. Yeah, normally he wouldn't consider a school with a conservatory as a non-con student, but I'd like to find out more about the musical studies major before he dismisses Oberlin as a possibility. Interestingly, Amherst is the only place where he approached the horn teacher and was turned down for a sample lesson. She told him she only does them for admitted students. Which makes total sense at a non-music school; I was a little surprised he had such good luck with teachers elsewhere. Anyway, he will definitely meet with her now that he has his admitted student cred! I think Amherst offers the most music stuff for him if he decides against a music school. The horn teacher seems great from what we know, they really seem to value music and have a lot going on (which may well be why he got in), and they have the 5 college consortium there that gives him even more options (I think he could even do marching band at UMass if he wanted)
  11. He did not get into the con (didn't pass the prescreen back in the fall)...so that's the main thing he needs to figure out: how good the opportunities are for non conservatory students. They have a "musical studies" major that's supposed to give a lot of access to the conservatory for arts and sciences students who are serious musicians...but the details on the website are a little sparse. Thanks for keeping the list up, btw--it's so great to see it growing as the year goes on!
  12. DS in at Amherst College and Oberlin College
  13. I'd be ready to draw conclusions about need-aware schools were it not for Colby today. As it is I'm going to tentatively go with French horn is magical...if the school needs new horn players. But who knows?!
  14. He got into Amherst!! We're kind of stunned here right now. (Rejected at Williams, but who cares now?!)
  15. Yeah, that vibe would be my fear with Colby and a lot of the NESCACs. Grinnell definitely seems like a better fit socially for DS (I'm sort of surprised Colby didn't think it wasn't a good fit, really; he wrote his common app essay about his D&D characters; his app definitely had nerd written all over it 😂)...but I suspect it's all going to come down to music for him one way or the other (i.e. whether he's set on a music school and, if not, how good he feels like the music opportunities are if he majors in something else and keeps it as a hobby). And the orchestra director and French horn teacher at Grinnell aren't responding to his e-mails!
  16. ha! that is funny! We know very little about Colby--haven't visited; it got tossed in (as it does for a lot of applicants I'm sure), because it seems cool and has no supplemental essay. But the financial aid is amazing, so we're going to need to take a serious look now. ETA: what does your friend's daughter dislike about it?
  17. Another data point in favor of "this is the most unpredictable process/year ever:" he just got into Colby!
  18. And I should say again that this kid is totally fine with all of this. He's happy with his acceptances, and anything else would be a bonus that would make his April more hectic and his decision harder. So while college admissions ARE very often unpredictable and demoralizing, some combination of his personality and his earlier acceptances are making this more of a fascinating thing to observe and try to figure out for me than anything else. Not that my heart doesn't race every time he checks a portal anyway, but that's on me. Probably some leftover trauma from kid #1, who I remember very clearly telling me after waitlist #6 or so, "I feel like I'm never going to be happy again." And I also know that things turned out fine for THAT kid, too. So I keep coming back and reporting results, but I really am just sort of taking notes at this point (I have one more to go! not for 7 years, thank goodness). I mean, obviously I'd rather every school acknowledge how objectively incredible my kid is 😂...but it's all fine this year. Kid #1 is the one applying for math phd programs right now, and it does appear more predictable but not necessarily any more fun (at least not for a super competitive field). Fortunately, waitlists no longer send him into a spiral of despair! Incidentally, he applied to Brandeis, too, this year, for grad school, and they've totally ghosted him. So we ARE a little grumpy with Brandeis around here at the moment.
  19. I certainly don't mean anything against Brandeis (I have a masters from Brandeis!)...but it wasn't just the acceptance rate but his stats relative to their averages as well (his SAT is near their 75th%, and I think that's probably the weaker part of his application compared to his courses/grades) that made it seem like a match/likely. There was some weirdness where they recommend an interview for homeschoolers but weren't showing any availability, so he e-mailed admissions to ask about it, they assured him they'd be opening up more slots any day, and then they just...never did. Anyway, I don't mean to be like, "I can't believe they rejected my kid!" ...but just putting all his decisions together things just look....a little random. Which I know to expect by now, but even more random than my first time through 5 years ago.
  20. Waitlisted at Brandeis. huh. I'm not really finding any discernible patterns this year. That was one that I figured was one of the most likely admits (certainly well ahead of Grinnell). The only other one still out there that I HAD been thinking of as a likely is Oberlin, but now I really don't know what to think.
  21. It's always nice when rejections come with a significant silver lining!
  22. Buying official merch is such a great feeling!
  23. They're really rolling in now: rejections at Middlebury and Wesleyan; waitlist at Bates. I'm ready to declare this admissions season even less predictable than his brother's 5 years ago. Fortunately, he's totally moved on emotionally and is ready to get the rest of the decisions so he can figure out where he's going. Just talked to him and he thinks Emory is the most likely non-music school to sway him....of course the problem there is he likely won't get in 🙂 We'll find out next week! At least four more decisions between now and Saturday! Home stretch!
  24. ah, right--I forgot about that! Yeah, I don't really understand the reasoning behind only extending for Georgia residents. I guess pell-eligible students are more likely to stay in-state, at least for public schools? I dunno.
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