Class of 2019 acceptances & decisions thread (updated 8/23/19)

[madteaparty]

All your Vassar kids need to hit me up for a coffee if they end up going ❤️

[cuckoomamma]

Or we can meet up for accepted students day!😊

[...................]

Congrats to ValRN, wow! and Cukoo!  Great schools!

[linders]

DS accepted to Wake Forest. Neither he nor I are sure the cost (we are full pay) would be worth it versus state school honors program with almost full tuition. However, his end goal is finance on Wall Street, where the college name can open doors. Fortunately, I know a couple of retirees in the area who came from that world. He is meeting with them to get their perspective.

Four more decisions to go - one is an outside possibility, three are probably out of reach.

[8filltheheart]

48 minutes ago, linders said:

DS accepted to Wake Forest. Neither he nor I are sure the cost (we are full pay) would be worth it versus state school honors program with almost full tuition. However, his end goal is finance on Wall Street, where the college name can open doors. Fortunately, I know a couple of retirees in the area who came from that world. He is meeting with them to get their perspective.

Four more decisions to go - one is an outside possibility, three are probably out of reach.

One of the families that I met when Dd was at TS weekend has a ds who is now working on Wall Street in investment banking. (He was an incredibly impressive young man. When he gave his presentation, I was wowed with what he had accomplished during his time there.). The school is really putting a lot of emphasis in making connections for their business students on WS. I would make contact and ask questions. 

[linders]

11 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

One of the families that I met when Dd was at TS weekend has a ds who is now working on Wall Street in investment banking. (He was an incredibly impressive young man. When he gave his presentation, I was wowed with what he had accomplished during his time there.). The school is really putting a lot of emphasis in making connections for their business students on WS. I would make contact and ask questions. 

 

Thanks! DS talked to an associate dean at Darla Moore and she indicated this. Worth more discussion.

[ValRN]

On 3/26/2019 at 11:13 AM, JazzyMom said:

 

Yay!  That’s wonderful.  Are you still waiting to hear from another school or are all results in?  Is she close to a decision?

I love hearing from UT grads because they all seem to love the school so much.  I never dreamed ds would end up there, and I’m so happy for him and so thankful! I think he’s going to have a great experience.

 

 

I'm quite sure your son will have a great experience at UT.  Is UT OOS for you? D is waiting to hear from 1 more school. She declined admittance at 4 schools already. She's waiting on this last one, and she'll choose from her top 3. She's already fallen in love with a program at one school, and everything seems to fall in line with her academic and personal goals at that school. She's already communicating with the cello faculty there, so I think her heart is there. We asked her not to decide until she has her top 3 offers on the table.

[ValRN]

On 3/26/2019 at 11:23 AM, JennyD said:

Wow, congratulations!

I graduated from Swarthmore many (many!) years ago and still very much appreciate the education I received there.  

Thank you @JennyD D loves Swarthmore and feels honored to have been accepted and awarded a scholarship. However, she's a little concerned about the small size. She's got such a big academic personality and feels that she might feel limited at a small school (on the flip side, large schools intimidate her 🙄). We've discussed the consortium of colleges and that fact that she'd be able to also take course at UPenn. She'll make a decision soon because her last decision should be coming in the next few days.

[Pronghorn]

Here is my update for my daughter:

University of Southern Maine (reported before but now she has a music scholarship in addition)

Temple University (scholarship)

Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Montclair State University

University of Hartford (Performing Arts Scholarship)

The Temple University scholarship was small compared to the cost with out-of-state tuition. University of Hartford and University of Southern Maine both gave scholarships that cover full tuition, so we just have to pay room and board and fees. For the Hartford scholarship she had to compete at a music composition scholarship day. Our daughter also applied to SUNY Purchase, where she was waitlisted. That school states on its website that it wants homeschoolers to have a GED (or some alternative requirements we couldn't meet). I got special permission for her to apply without a GED. However, I do wonder if that was why she was waitlisted. The music composition person that interviewed her seemed very interested. On the other hand, my daughter did not tour that college before the audition date, so perhaps it was lack of demonstrated interest. Or perhaps others just outcompeted her. I did think it was good that they allowed her to apply without the special credentials they wanted from homeschooled kids. So, if a SUNY school is potentially on your list, you may want to email and see if they will let you apply without a GED!

[JazzyMom]

43 minutes ago, ValRN said:

I'm quite sure your son will have a great experience at UT.  Is UT OOS for you? D is waiting to hear from 1 more school. She declined admittance at 4 schools already. She's waiting on this last one, and she'll choose from her top 3. She's already fallen in love with a program at one school, and everything seems to fall in line with her academic and personal goals at that school. She's already communicating with the cello faculty there, so I think her heart is there. We asked her not to decide until she has her top 3 offers on the table.

 

We are in state, thankfully, so the price is right!  I’m so excited!!!

It’s great that she has one she’s fallen in love with already.  That means you can’t go wrong no matter what happens with the last admittance.  It’s a great position to be in.  Congrats!

[...................]

1 hour ago, ValRN said:

I'm quite sure your son will have a great experience at UT.  Is UT OOS for you? D is waiting to hear from 1 more school. She declined admittance at 4 schools already. She's waiting on this last one, and she'll choose from her top 3. She's already fallen in love with a program at one school, and everything seems to fall in line with her academic and personal goals at that school. She's already communicating with the cello faculty there, so I think her heart is there. We asked her not to decide until she has her top 3 offers on the table.

 

Swarthmore is right around the corner from center city, UPenn, (the fact that she can take classes at UPenn is aamazing) and there are also other colleges with things going on nearby such as Villanova.  I would definitely consider whether your dd would feel excited about the city, and would be the type to take advantages of the opportunities the city will afford her.  I don't know a lot about being a music major but I would imagine being near Center City Phila means that auditions would be a breeze, and there would be other opportunities.  ...Find out if there is a train that goes right past SWarthemore into the city, or an easy quick bus ride.  ...Villanova has the train stop literally at the campus and then it's a 15 minute ride to CC, so that's very convenient.  We would be so excited if my son gets into UPenn today, to have Philadelphia (and my entire east coast family) right at his fingertips.

[kirag714]

DD accepted to NYU Liberal Core Studies program! So excited for her - NYU was the first school she fell in love with! 

[ValRN]

7 hours ago, Calming Tea said:

 

Swarthmore is right around the corner from center city, UPenn, (the fact that she can take classes at UPenn is aamazing) and there are also other colleges with things going on nearby such as Villanova.  I would definitely consider whether your dd would feel excited about the city, and would be the type to take advantages of the opportunities the city will afford her.  I don't know a lot about being a music major but I would imagine being near Center City Phila means that auditions would be a breeze, and there would be other opportunities.  ...Find out if there is a train that goes right past SWarthemore into the city, or an easy quick bus ride.  ...Villanova has the train stop literally at the campus and then it's a 15 minute ride to CC, so that's very convenient.  We would be so excited if my son gets into UPenn today, to have Philadelphia (and my entire east coast family) right at his fingertips.

@Calming Tea We visited Swarthmore and UPenn on the same day. DD did not like "the feel" she got at UPenn and decided not to apply. She is absolutely NOT excited about Philly (nor New York when we visited NYU). She prefers the college town of Ann Arbor much better than the city. She's a musician but won't be a music major. There is actually a train/metro station right on Swarthmore's campus that goes right into Philly. My mother-in-law lives across the street from a very prestigious Jesuit school in Detroit, and she's friends with the counselors there. She told them that DD got accepted at Swarthmore, and they told her to tell DD that she should definitely choose Swarthmore (over Uni of Michigan). I understand the perks of having family around. If my DD chooses Michigan, my husband's family is less than an hour away.

I hope your DS gets into UPenn. I'll be looking for your post.

[Bristayl]

Dd has accepted her admission to Texas A&M! 

(She is on the waitlist at Rice but we're proceeding on the assumption that she will not be accepted from the waitlist.)

[saw]

Thank goodness it's all over now ... DS decided in December to apply only to five Ivies, Stanford and two little Ivies. No safeties, no matches. He had the application material ready, but decided that if he couldn't get into one of his very top choices, he would prefer to take a gap year. Since he's in the English system with no real grades for the last two years until his summer exams, this made sense from the perspective of having real grades rather than predicteds in his application. But wow the stress has been crazy. Two unexpected denials from schools where he had a good shot for various reasons, waitlist from a school where he forgot to send in his arts supplement (and the arts part is what sets him apart from 30,000 other applicants) and didn't respond to the school's prompt. He knew the odds and accepted them but didn't take into account the stress for me lol. DS was fine with his choice and got a great gap year gig, so it was really just my stress. So yesterday was nuts but thank goodness he got into Brown, which was tied for top choice with Yale, where he was waitlisted. So much relief and rejoicing here. Thank goodness #4 is only in 7th grade; it's going to take me a few years to recover from the last few months.  

[Lanny]

My DD will be going to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

[fourisenough]

9 hours ago, saw said:

Thank goodness it's all over now ... DS decided in December to apply only to five Ivies, Stanford and two little Ivies. No safeties, no matches. He had the application material ready, but decided that if he couldn't get into one of his very top choices, he would prefer to take a gap year. Since he's in the English system with no real grades for the last two years until his summer exams, this made sense from the perspective of having real grades rather than predicteds in his application. But wow the stress has been crazy. Two unexpected denials from schools where he had a good shot for various reasons, waitlist from a school where he forgot to send in his arts supplement (and the arts part is what sets him apart from 30,000 other applicants) and didn't respond to the school's prompt. He knew the odds and accepted them but didn't take into account the stress for me lol. DS was fine with his choice and got a great gap year gig, so it was really just my stress. So yesterday was nuts but thank goodness he got into Brown, which was tied for top choice with Yale, where he was waitlisted. So much relief and rejoicing here. Thank goodness #4 is only in 7th grade; it's going to take me a few years to recover from the last few months.  

What is a ‘little ivy’? I’ve never heard that term before.

[saw]

1 hour ago, fourisenough said:

What is a ‘little ivy’? I’ve never heard that term before.

https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Little_Ivies.html

Great schools! 

[RootAnn]

On 3/28/2019 at 8:51 PM, Bristayl said:

Dd has accepted her admission to Texas A&M! 

@Bristayl I didn't have your DD under Texas A&M previously, but put her there now with her decision. (I hope I didn't mess something up/miss something previously.)

Are we done waiting for notifications now (mostly, at least?)?  Special thanks to all of you who thoughtfully spelled out your kid's college names for me. I so much appreciate it. Knowing if it was Temple College vs. Temple University or Boston College vs. Boston University or which USC your kid got into, etc. Muchas gracias.

What a great list, people! Instead of a separate decisions thread, I thought we'd just keep going with this one & add "decisions" into the title.
Time for for your kids to make their decisions (if they haven't already). Please feel free to share (if you feel comfortable doing so):

Where your kid has decided to go
Why (what factors tipped this school into the 'win' category)
Major
Other important info 

Here's last year's decisions thread if you want to see where last year's seniors went.

[Bristayl]

15 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

@Bristayl I didn't have your DD under Texas A&M previously, but put her there now with her decision. (I hope I didn't mess something up/miss something previously.)

 

@RootAnnLooks like you added her to Texas A&M Corpus Christi. If you look at the entry right above that one for the main campus Texas A&M, she's on that. So you can delete her from Corpus Christi.

Thanks for keeping the list!

I may as well add the info for the decisions list:

Where: Texas A&M

Why: full-ride scholarship and a great fit

Major: Biomedical Sciences

 

Edited March 30, 2019 by Bristayl
To add Decision thread info

[Nancy in NH]

26 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

@Bristayl I didn't have your DD under Texas A&M previously, but put her there now with her decision. (I hope I didn't mess something up/miss something previously.)

Are we done waiting for notifications now (mostly, at least?)?  Special thanks to all of you who thoughtfully spelled out your kid's college names for me. I so much appreciate it. Knowing if it was Temple College vs. Temple University or Boston College vs. Boston University or which USC your kid got into, etc. Muchas gracias.

What a great list, people! Instead of a separate decisions thread, I thought we'd just keep going with this one & add "decisions" into the title.
Time for for your kids to make their decisions (if they haven't already). Please feel free to share (if you feel comfortable doing so):

Where your kid has decided to go
Why (what factors tipped this school into the 'win' category)
Major
Other important info 

Here's last year's decisions thread if you want to see where last year's seniors went.

Thanks, @RootAnn for keeping up this list!  Very much appreciated!

[...................]

Where : Penn State University Park

Why:  Top 10 Engineering, Top 30 Computer Science, total college experience, possibility of undergrad research and involvement in robotics and AI, and school spirit

Major: Engineering Computer Science 

[almondbutterandjelly]

Where: Texas A&M Corpus Christi

Why:  Can live at home.  Beautiful campus.  Laid back, helpful, and gentle for terrified students.  Good variety of majors.  Good career recruiting.  And lots of cats on campus!

Major:  Nursing (for now)

[Kim C]

DS was also accepted to Virginia Commonwealth University (back in November, but I forgot to post).    He has made his decision.....

Where: West Virginia University

Why:  Excellent forensics program. Beautiful campus and warm, friendly people.  (He got a good merit scholarship and a small grant,  but that wasn't part of the decision)

Major: Forensic and Investigative Science

Edited March 31, 2019 by Kim C

[daijobu]

Okay, here goes for dd:

Acceptances:  Stanford (EA), UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSD, Univ Southern California, Rutgers, Georgia Tech, U Michigan, Wash U St Louis.

Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown (boo, Ivy League!)

Wait List: U Penn

Will attend: Stanford

Edited April 1, 2019 by daijobu

[Lanny]

This is for my DD:

Where: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Why: (In order of importance)  Financial Aid, Reputation of the University, Location of the university

Other important info:

Major: Undeclared

Financial Aid: University Grant and University Scholarship

[SeaConquest]

4 hours ago, daijobu said:

Okay, here goes for dd:

Acceptances:  Stanford (EA), UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSD, Univ Southern California, Rutgers, Georgia Tech, U Michigan, Wash U St Louis.

Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown (boo, Ivy League!)

Wait List: U Penn

Will attend: Stanford

 

What in the world is up with the Ivy League? Any speculation? What is she studying? In more important news: Yay Stanford!!!! Congrats to her!!! 

[daijobu]

9 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:

 

What in the world is up with the Ivy League? Any speculation? What is she studying? In more important news: Yay Stanford!!!! Congrats to her!!! 

 

Yeah what is up with the Ivy League?  In truth, I thought she was a long shot for all these schools and would have been happy to see her at any of these safeties...until she got into Stanford, EA.  Then her prior probabilities suddenly changed and she was now a shoo-in for Harvard, LOL!  

We're grateful for the Stanford admission, but as a grad  I know for a fact that (1) Stanford isn't all that  and (2) it's tough to be a little fish.  

[Arcadia]

36 minutes ago, daijobu said:

We're grateful for the Stanford admission, but as a grad  I know for a fact that (1) Stanford isn't all that  and (2) it's tough to be a little fish.  

 

Congratulations!!!

I know two Stanford students (one graduated recently from pre-med, one currently in 2nd year) whose main reason for choosing Stanford (EA) was the easy commute home (San Jose) every weekend plus occasional family dinners on weekdays. One kid helped his sibling in test prep while in college because of proximity to home. Both families are above the $150k family annual income. 

[chiguirre]

2 hours ago, daijobu said:

 

Yeah what is up with the Ivy League?  In truth, I thought she was a long shot for all these schools and would have been happy to see her at any of these safeties...until she got into Stanford, EA.  Then her prior probabilities suddenly changed and she was now a shoo-in for Harvard, LOL!  

We're grateful for the Stanford admission, but as a grad  I know for a fact that (1) Stanford isn't all that  and (2) it's tough to be a little fish.  

Do other colleges know if a student has been admitted EA somewhere? If they do, I'm sure the yield protective Ivies would automatically reject a candidate they knew got into Stanford.

[...................]

I'm super excited for all of these kids!!  So many amazing opportunities.  

Exciting about that Stanford admission!

[GoodGrief]

3 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

 

What in the world is up with the Ivy League? Any speculation? What is she studying? In more important news: Yay Stanford!!!! Congrats to her!!! 

I have a theory that early interest is fairly important for both Stanford and Ivy League. Because you have to choose one of the highly selective private schools for that application, they probably assume you choose the one you are most likely to attend. Obviously plenty of people get multiple acceptances, but I do think choosing that early application carefully is important.

FTR, my daughter who got the early acceptance to Princeton, and a likely letter from Dartmouth, got rejected by Stanford in the regular round, and a waitlist from Harvard. 🙂

[GoodGrief]

51 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

Do other colleges know if a student has been admitted EA somewhere? If they do, I'm sure the yield protective Ivies would automatically reject a candidate they knew got into Stanford.

 It does come up in interviews. I tend to recommend that a student avoid talking about early acceptances to other highly selective schools if possible. My daughter did not take my advice. 😉 Sometimes people get the idea that the student will appear more desirable if they talk about their other acceptances, not realizing that these schools can fill their classes with awesome students from their applicant list many times over. They really don't need to chase any one particular candidate for the most part.

[lewelma]

9 hours ago, daijobu said:

Acceptances:  Stanford (EA), UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSD, Univ Southern California, Rutgers, Georgia Tech, U Michigan, Wash U St Louis.

Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown (boo, Ivy League!)

Don't you wonder how in the world they make decisions.  Older ds was in a similar situation last year.

Accepted: MIT (EA), Carnegie Mellon, University Michigan

Rejected: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton

My dad has hypothesized that in order to keep yields up, that elite universities might share information on EA acceptances so that regular admission to the others is less likely.

ETA: I just read the other comments, and looks like others are thinking the same thing. Fascinating.

Edited April 1, 2019 by lewelma

[...................]

47 minutes ago, lewelma said:

Don't you wonder how in the world they make decisions.  Older ds was in a similar situation last year.

Accepted: MIT (EA), Carnegie Mellon, University Michigan

Rejected: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton

My dad has hypothesized that in order to keep yields up, that elite universities might share information on EA acceptances so that regular admission to the others is less likely.

ETA: I just read the other comments, and looks like others are thinking the same thing. Fascinating.

Lewelma, those are some awesome admissions!

DOn't you mean MIT 2023 in your sig?

[RootAnn]

54 minutes ago, Calming Tea said:

Lewelma, those are some awesome admissions!

DOn't you mean MIT 2023 in your sig?

I can't see sigs, but her older DS is a Freshman at MIT this year, so I assume it (correctly) says 2022.

[lewelma]

7 hours ago, Calming Tea said:

Lewelma, those are some awesome admissions!

DOn't you mean MIT 2023 in your sig?

No, these were last year admissions.  DS is at MIT now. I was just comparing our experience last year with daijobu's experience this year. We had the same feeling after the EA to MIT, that he would get into at least one other elite in the regular round, especially with his stellar interviews. It was a bit of a punch to get 3 rejections all on the same day. So 100% admission on the early round (MIT, Michigan) and only 25% on the regular round (CM only). Left us wondering about many things.  

Edited April 2, 2019 by lewelma

[...................]

Hmm that really doesn’t make me think and wonder. 

 

[lewelma]

Ah, this thread just has me living in the past.  Application season is so emotional.  I looked at that big LONG list in the first post and was just amazed at so much success, combined with all these students' hopes and dreams.  I work with teens for a living as a tutor and mentor, and get so involved emotionally in their first adult decisions -- almost like they are my own.  This thread is my favorite of the year. Congrats to everyone!

 

[Lanny]

20 hours ago, Lanny said:

This is for my DD:

Where: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Why: (In order of importance)  Financial Aid, Reputation of the University, Location of the university

Other important info:

Major: Undeclared

Financial Aid: University Grant and University Scholarship

 

Follow on:  DD got a message from UNC CH this morning that she has been awarded a Grant for a Laptop. A Lenovo Thinkpad L390 with a 4 year warranty, insurance, etc.  

[LisaKinVA]

Where your kid has decided to go
Why (what factors tipped this school into the 'win' category)
Major
Other important info 

Where:  LEGOManiac (the name still fits after all these years) is headed to Old Dominion University

Why:  Full tuition scholarship. Every engineering program he's interested in, he apparently will swim there, and he can live at home -- so he only has books and fees (and transportation) to really worry about earning.  We'll get him a meal plan anyway -- he just found out one of his old BSA Troop 1717 friends has also committed to ODU, so he's got friends there already (and getting to know the swim team online).

Major:  Electrical Engineering (I won't be too surprised to see this change to Mech E or Computer...)

 

[GoodGrief]

Lots of great news here...congrats to all the baby birds getting ready to fly!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

On 4/1/2019 at 7:01 AM, daijobu said:

 

Yeah what is up with the Ivy League?  In truth, I thought she was a long shot for all these schools and would have been happy to see her at any of these safeties...until she got into Stanford, EA.  Then her prior probabilities suddenly changed and she was now a shoo-in for Harvard, LOL!  

We're grateful for the Stanford admission, but as a grad  I know for a fact that (1) Stanford isn't all that  and (2) it's tough to be a little fish.  

I think Stanford has a lot of different fishbowls.  Yes students there experience being little fish, but there are also incredible niche experiences and groups and people willing to be mentors.  I sent you a pm.

[daijobu]

9 hours ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

I think Stanford has a lot of different fishbowls.  Yes students there experience being little fish, but there are also incredible niche experiences and groups and people willing to be mentors.  I sent you a pm.

 

"Little fish bowls!"  I like that!  

[Julie of KY]

Well ds has a decision - University of Kentucky! He has been accepted into the SEAM Honor's program and has both a UK presidential scholarship, UK engineering scholarship and some local scholarships. 

[Catherine]

Hi everyone-flash from the past here.  I have not been around much this year; my youngest finished homeschooling when he went to high school almost 4 years ago.  He attended a Bard Early College high school that was just opening in my city, and it has been a great fit for him.  Anyway, just popping in to say he was accepted ED to Williams in December.  Yay for early decision!!!  It made our Christmas and New Year's holidays much nicer and I strongly recommend it!  

I see that someone else on the boards, Alewife, has a child accepted at Williams and I'm wondering if your child is actually going to attend.  Get in touch Alewife and let me know.

Many congratulations to all who've gotten acceptances and huge scholarships!!  I see also that there are acceptances at both University of Rochester and UMBC, where my other kids attended.  PLEASE feel free to get in touch if you want info about either of these schools.  

[GoodGrief]

23 hours ago, Julie of KY said:

Well ds has a decision - University of Kentucky! He has been accepted into the SEAM Honor's program and has both a UK presidential scholarship, UK engineering scholarship and some local scholarships. 

UK engineering is so good! My daughter looked closely at that program. Awesome!

[lewelma]

My ds's best friend has just accepted a full-ride leadership scholarship to Duke!!! Tuition, room, and board.  I am so excited for him!!

DS was his extra letter of recommendation for the Common App, so he is feeling that he helped in some small way.  He wrote about all of his friend's soft skills of being a leader without using the word leadership. 

DS and I really studied leadership during the application season, and what it means to be a leader, and right now we are feeling like we nailed it.  DS got the leadership scholarship for Carnegie Mellon (although he didn't take it), and then passed on to his friend how he wrote his "why this school" essay from a leadership point of view.  And now a second leadership scholarship. This is just sooooo coooool!!

Edited April 5, 2019 by lewelma

[birchbark]

DS just received his first acceptance to the University of North Dakota. UND is his first school choice as it is a top aerospace school and within driving distance of home. At this point though, he is leaning toward joining the Air National Guard first and possibly going for higher education down the road. But your first school acceptance is pretty exciting, especially for Mom!

ETA: Also accepted to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. (Chancellor Scholarship) 

Met with an ANG recruiter.

Edited April 20, 2019 by birchbark

[8filltheheart]

14 hours ago, lewelma said:

 

DS and I really studied leadership during the application season, and what it means to be a leader, and right now we are feeling like we nailed it.  DS got the leadership scholarship for Carnegie Mellon (although he didn't take it), and then passed on to his friend how he wrote his "why this school" essay from a leadership point of view.  And now a second leadership scholarship. This is just sooooo coooool!!

This is what I have tried to share on these forums.  It is possible to research schools to understand what it is they are looking for in awarding competitive scholarships. Congrats to the young man!