THIRTY. DAYS.

[kokotg]

It's a no from Williams 😞 Their acceptance rate this year was 5.3% (!), down from a whopping 12% last year.  Maybe it will be down to 1% by the time my next kid is ready for college...

[JazzyMom]

Oh, that stinks.  The acceptance rate is crazy!  Just how low can it get???

How is your ds handling all of this?

[kokotg]

19 minutes ago, JazzyMom said:

Oh, that stinks.  The acceptance rate is crazy!  Just how low can it get???

How is your ds handling all of this?

Not very well. I'm wavering between being super sympathetic because I know this is incredibly disappointing and frustrating for him and thinking maybe he needs to work on developing his sense of proportion about this whole thing just a tiny bit. I'm already trying to think of ways to set my younger kids up for rejection more often so they can learn to deal with it before they hit college application time. He'll be fine in the end....I'm just REALLY hoping for at least one or two more acceptances sprinkled in over the next two weeks to help us all get through it, but not feeling especially hopeful after the last few days.

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

8 minutes ago, kokotg said:

Not very well. I'm wavering between being super sympathetic because I know this is incredibly disappointing and frustrating for him and thinking maybe he needs to work on developing his sense of proportion about this whole thing just a tiny bit. I'm already trying to think of ways to set my younger kids up for rejection more often so they can learn to deal with it before they hit college application time. He'll be fine in the end....I'm just REALLY hoping for at least one or two more acceptances sprinkled in over the next two weeks to help us all get through it, but not feeling especially hopeful after the last few days.

 

I just kept telling our ds that his reach schools are actually within the realm of statistically impossible. He's hoping but he will be surprised to get any acceptances. ...My husband doesn't talk about it and acts kind of like it's not happening (he believes in my son and would be very happy for him but he just is super chill and realistic about the whole thing...)   Try to focus on the acceptance he already got, didn't he get one or two good ones already?  

((hugs))

[kokotg]

Just now, Calming Tea said:

 

I just kept telling our ds that his reach schools are actually within the realm of statistically impossible. He's hoping but he will be surprised to get any acceptances. ...My husband doesn't talk about it and acts kind of like it's not happening (he believes in my son and would be very happy for him but he just is super chill and realistic about the whole thing...)   Try to focus on the acceptance he already got, didn't he get one or two good ones already?  

((hugs))

Yes, that's how I've been talking about it with my ds, too, "hey--you might not get any more acceptances, so let's get excited about some you already have"....and he'll get there eventually, but he's just super perfectionist and hard on himself and not dealing well with how completely out of his control it all is. He has plenty of great options already (two of them are Macalester and St. Olaf, which he hasn't visited yet.....we're going in early April, and I'm hoping he falls in love with one of them. I mean--Macalester offers free bagpipe lessons--what's not to love?!)

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

5 minutes ago, kokotg said:

Yes, that's how I've been talking about it with my ds, too, "hey--you might not get any more acceptances, so let's get excited about some you already have"....and he'll get there eventually, but he's just super perfectionist and hard on himself and not dealing well with how completely out of his control it all is. He has plenty of great options already (two of them are Macalester and St. Olaf, which he hasn't visited yet.....we're going in early April, and I'm hoping he falls in love with one of them. I mean--Macalester offers free bagpipe lessons--what's not to love?!)

 

Definitely the bagpipes will cheer him up!

[Nancy in NH]

1 hour ago, kokotg said:

It's a no from Williams 😞 Their acceptance rate this year was 5.3% (!), down from a whopping 12% last year.  Maybe it will be down to 1% by the time my next kid is ready for college...

So sorry!  That acceptance rate is approaching Harvard's last year and is lower that Yale's was!  Yikes.

[Arch at Home]

1 hour ago, kokotg said:

Not very well. I'm wavering between being super sympathetic because I know this is incredibly disappointing and frustrating for him and thinking maybe he needs to work on developing his sense of proportion about this whole thing just a tiny bit. I'm already trying to think of ways to set my younger kids up for rejection more often so they can learn to deal with it before they hit college application time. He'll be fine in the end....I'm just REALLY hoping for at least one or two more acceptances sprinkled in over the next two weeks to help us all get through it, but not feeling especially hopeful after the last few days.

We are having similar conversations here. DD feels that she isn’t doing as well as her older sister but her older sister was accepted by a number of schools which were really out of the running before she was even accepted. DD has a couple of solid choices. She wishes that they weren’t all in the Midwest but at least they are not in our home state. 

[Arch at Home]

1 hour ago, kokotg said:

Yes, that's how I've been talking about it with my ds, too, "hey--you might not get any more acceptances, so let's get excited about some you already have"....and he'll get there eventually, but he's just super perfectionist and hard on himself and not dealing well with how completely out of his control it all is. He has plenty of great options already (two of them are Macalester and St. Olaf, which he hasn't visited yet.....we're going in early April, and I'm hoping he falls in love with one of them. I mean--Macalester offers free bagpipe lessons--what's not to love?!)

Macalester and St. Olaf are different enough to provide your son with real choices. Urban - Small town. Hip - Laid back. Residential - Upper classmen off campus. And so on...

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

1 hour ago, Arch at Home said:

We are having similar conversations here. DD feels that she isn’t doing as well as her older sister but her older sister was accepted by a

number of schools which were really out of the running before she was even accepted. DD has a couple of solid choices. She wishes that they weren’t all in the Midwest but at least they are not in our home state. 

 

That must be hard, comparing herself to her older sister.  ((Hugs)) I thought your dd already chose?

[Arch at Home]

6 hours ago, Calming Tea said:

 

That must be hard, comparing herself to her older sister.  ((Hugs)) I thought your dd already chose?

For her, following a stellar test taker is rough. Her application is almost exactly like her sister’s except for her test scores which though in range are lower. Right now she is still waiting on 6 college notifications.  

 

[kokotg]

3 hours ago, Arch at Home said:

For her, following a stellar test taker is rough. Her application is almost exactly like her sister’s except for her test scores which though in range are lower. Right now she is still waiting on 6 college notifications.  

 

That is tough! I'm already worried about the comparisons when my next kids apply to college (but that's mostly because I like to worry).

Williams released data this morning that says their overall acceptance rate is 12.4% --about the same as last year. The 5% figure I gave is what they said in the rejection letter, but maybe that was just for regular decision? At any rate, just wanted to clarify for anyone thinking of applying for Williams--go for it, because there's actually a whole TWELVE PERCENT chance of getting in 😂

[Hoggirl]

There is no doubt that having the ability to apply ED gives an advantage in admissions.  For the most recent Common Data Set I could find for Williams, there were 584 who applied ED and 235 of those were accepted.  That’s about 40%.  It’s also approximately 42% of the students who wound up enrolling.  Maybe that isn’t relevant - obviously they accept more in RD than enroll.  But, given that they have 42% of their seats already filled by the time RD applications come in and they need to control yield, that is obviously going to impact how many they accept in RD.

For those who wanted to look up and calculate ED rates, they are on lines C21 and C22 of the CDS.  I just always google the name of the school and the words “common data set” to get to it. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Hoggirl

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

I did a lot of research on ED and it does indeed give a slight boost to admission rates, but I wondered how much of that is because the students are self selecting ?

I wanted my son to ED for a particular school, but he totally refused, because he felt he'd like to look at multiple options and see what happens. 

Anyway, today is 

DAY TWELVE

[Hoggirl]

I don’t think it’s generally “slight” at all.  EA might only be considered “slight,” since it is non-binding.  But, I think ED is significant. 

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

2 minutes ago, Hoggirl said:

I don’t think it’s generally “slight” at all.  EA might only be considered “slight,” since it is non-binding.  But, I think ED is significant. 

 

Yeah, for the schools my son was looking at it was a 14% increase so that is pretty significant.  Which makes me bummed he didn't do it 

[kokotg]

Some schools (Vassar and Grinnell) told us straight up that ED gives you a big advantage. When this is all over, we may regret not going that route, but we need substantial financial aid, and I was too nervous to give up the chance to compare offers. But when we left Grinnell, DS said, "I wish I'd applied ED." And I'm pretty sure he would have gotten in if he had. On the other hand, he'd probably be second guessing his decision right now if he'd had to take all his other options off the table so early. 

[linders]

14 hours ago, Calming Tea said:

I just kept telling our ds that his reach schools are actually within the realm of statistically impossible. He's hoping but he will be surprised to get any acceptances.

 

A "no" from Washington University here. They put a fair amount of emphasis on demonstrated interest - DS's friend made 2 visits (plane flights from SC to St Louis!), on one of which he interviewed, and went to three regional meet-and-greets. Same stats as DS (and less substantive ECs) and accepted.

DS isn't that upset about Wash U per se, but he sees it as an indicator for his other reach schools:( He was sure that working hard, getting good scores, and having strong ECs would be enough.

 

[linders]

25 minutes ago, Hoggirl said:

I don’t think it’s generally “slight” at all.  EA might only be considered “slight,” since it is non-binding.  But, I think ED is significant. 

 

Substantial boost. Not a financial option for us.

[Nancy in NH]

1 minute ago, kokotg said:

Some schools (Vassar and Grinnell) told us straight up that ED gives you a big advantage. When this is all over, we may regret not going that route, but we need substantial financial aid, and I was too nervous to give up the chance to compare offers. But when we left Grinnell, DS said, "I wish I'd applied ED." And I'm pretty sure he would have gotten in if he had. On the other hand, he'd probably be second guessing his decision right now if he'd had to take all his other options off the table so early. 

It's hard to look back and 2nd guess.  Your DS did what he thought was the right decision at the time, and at a time when these kids are overloaded with making these big decisions.  It's SO hard on them!

My DD was quite ill for six weeks during the fall and missed all the ED/EA rounds.  She just simply couldn't keep up the pace of the application process and her heavy, demanding senior course-load.  She is now wishing she could've at least hit a few EA's and maybe an ED round, because the waiting is grating on her (and me!), but there's no going back.  Just moving forward and hoping it'll play out so that she has some options.

Best wishes to your son as the next few weeks bring the rest of the decisions.  

And best wishes to everyone else on the list, too!  We'll get through this!

[kokotg]

6 minutes ago, linders said:

 

 

DS isn't that upset about Wash U per se, but he sees it as an indicator for his other reach schools:( He was sure that working hard, getting good scores, and having strong ECs would be enough.

 

I'm sorry. We're SO right there with you! 

[Hoggirl]

11 minutes ago, kokotg said:

Some schools (Vassar and Grinnell) told us straight up that ED gives you a big advantage. When this is all over, we may regret not going that route, but we need substantial financial aid, and I was too nervous to give up the chance to compare offers. But when we left Grinnell, DS said, "I wish I'd applied ED." And I'm pretty sure he would have gotten in if he had. On the other hand, he'd probably be second guessing his decision right now if he'd had to take all his other options off the table so early. 

 

I think this was a wise decision.  For those who need significant financial aid, applying ED is not a good idea.  Although, I have a friend whose daughter applied ED to Dartmouth and got in.  I doubt they were Pell level, but they might have been.  They were definitely not people of means.  Friend was widowed at a young age, had four children, no full-time job, etc. 

ED definitely works to the advantage of those who are full-pay.  Not to be overly political, but the “donut hole”/middle class get squeezed out of that option.  

[kirag714]

I honestly wish that colleges would get rid of ED. If they want to have an EA option, that's great (we used it to great advantage this year which has allowed for things to be a bit more relaxed as we await decisions). But as far as I can tell, ED works almost totally to the college's advantage. To dangle a better admission rate to a selective school, and encourage a 17 or 18 year old to "fall in love" with a school and commit to it before knowing anything else about other admissions or financial aid is (in my opinion) a particularly maddening part of the admissions process. 

I'm so glad that after this my family will be done with college admissions. I thought things were bad in 2010 when my oldest was applying, and they have just gotten worse each year.

[Roadrunner]

Does a financial offer come along with ED? Is there a way to decline if $$$ aren’t working out?

[kokotg]

15 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Does a financial offer come along with ED? Is there a way to decline if $$$ aren’t working out?

My understanding is that money is the only acceptable reason to decline an ED offer. You're supposed to run NPCs and all that and have a good idea before applying as to whether the school would be affordable, but if something unexpected happens you could decline. I will say that, now that I've actually seen a couple of FA offers from needs met schools and found them to be reasonable and in line with what I expected, I'll be more inclined to let my younger kids ED if they really want to. But back in the fall when we had to decide, I didn't have anything to go on except for some numbers spit out by a computer program. Not to mention that my kid's list of favorites has changed quite a bit over the past several months; he didn't see Grinnell until after the ED deadline had passed (although he probably could have called them and switched it over). 

[8filltheheart]

35 minutes ago, kirag714 said:

I honestly wish that colleges would get rid of ED.

But as far as I can tell, ED works almost totally to the college's advantage.

Never going to happen. Schools are first and foremost businesses. Think about it. They market like telemarketers. They play games to improve rankings. They are not charitable organizations serving the public as simply benevolent entities. That is a false "persona." 

29 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Does a financial offer come along with ED? Is there a way to decline if $$$ aren’t working out?

Students can reject the offer, but they have to do it then. They don't have the luxury of waiting for all of their offers to come in. Many competitive scholarships don't let students know early enough for the bigger picture to be considered.  And they can't apply to peer schools that might also offer excellent FA. If they are accepted ED, they are supposed to withdraw all other applications.

Edited March 19, 2019 by 8FillTheHeart

[catz]

1 hour ago, kirag714 said:

I honestly wish that colleges would get rid of ED. If they want to have an EA option, that's great (we used it to great advantage this year which has allowed for things to be a bit more relaxed as we await decisions). But as far as I can tell, ED works almost totally to the college's advantage. To dangle a better admission rate to a selective school, and encourage a 17 or 18 year old to "fall in love" with a school and commit to it before knowing anything else about other admissions or financial aid is (in my opinion) a particularly maddening part of the admissions process. 

I'm so glad that after this my family will be done with college admissions. I thought things were bad in 2010 when my oldest was applying, and they have just gotten worse each year.

Absolutely.  We need to be able to compare financial offers.  I think this is all to the college's advantage for sure.  ED was not a game we could play at all.  

And I get that college are "businesses".  That said they receive plenty of tax incentives and dollars as non-profits which doesn't seem quite right either when it's super clear how inequitable the system is as it stands right now.  And I say that as a parent of relative privilege in the process.   My kids still have options.  Dreaming about elite schools isn't one of them though.  

I"ve read some interesting articles since the blow out of the admissions scandal about games they play in admissions offices to get more full pay kids through doors.  I wish I could find the links, I will dig around (they were main stream news sources).  And I get maybe they need to do that do cover their bottom line.  Which is fine.  Be honest in your marketing then as an organizing receiving federal funding and non-profit status.  Don't pretend every qualified student has an equal shot at getting in and having it as an affordable option.   

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by FuzzyCatz

[kirag714]

1 hour ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Never going to happen. Schools are first and foremost businesses. Think about it. They market like telemarketers. They play games to improve rankings. They are not charitable organizations serving the public as simply benevolent entities. That is a false "persona." 

Oh yeah I know that lol. But a girl can wish! 

It's the lack of transparency in the process that I think makes everyone crazy. You know you need to "measure up" in some way, but it's all so mysterious. So you get sucked into playing these games. I'll be so so glad to be done with it, and I hope that there is some transformation of this process in the near future.

[Roadrunner]

1 hour ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Never going to happen. Schools are first and foremost businesses. Think about it. They market like telemarketers. They play games to improve rankings. They are not charitable organizations serving the public as simply benevolent entities. That is a false "persona." 

Students can reject the offer, but they have to do it then. They don't have the luxury of waiting for all of their offers to come in. Many competitive scholarships don't let students know early enough for the bigger picture to be considered.  And they can't apply to peer schools that might also offer excellent FA. If they are accepted ED, they are supposed to withdraw all other applications.

 

So if you are admitted to ED, you get an acceptance offer and a financial package? Take it or leave it? This is better than not seeing financials at all, but yes, not ideal since no comparison is necessary. 

[Hoggirl]

I think schools are transparent about the fact that the process isn’t transparent.  That’s kind of what the “holistic” label conveys.  I think where MOST (not the well-informed folks on this board, but most) people get into trouble is placing too much emphasis on the objective, quantifiable stats.  I even talked to a school counselor who was just “stunned” that one of her students had not gotten into Stanford a couple of years ago.  “She has perfect grades, several APs, 1500+ on the her test scores.  What in the world do they want?” she lamented.  All that PLUS is what they want.  The ”plus” is the part that can’t be defined or transparent because it isn’t quantifiable.  So, hopeful but uninformed folks see that their dc is in the top 25% of stats and assume they are a shoo-in.  It just doesn’t work that way.  We can belabor and debate the relative fairness or rightness of that all day long.  Right now, it just takes something in addition to objective stats.  What should that something be?  Private institutions get to determine that for themselves. 

It will, however, be interesting to see how the Harvard case plays out.  

Hang in there as this lingering countdown continues.  And, keep in mind that once all the decisions are in the USS Indecison sets sail....

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Hoggirl

[Nancy in NH]

20 minutes ago, Hoggirl said:

Hang in there as this lingering countdown continues.  And, keep in mind that once all the decisions are in the USS Indecison sets sail....

  

"USS Indecision sets sail"--love it!  Witty and SO true!

[Hoggirl]

@Nancy in NH

I only WISH I were that witty!  That term was completely appropriated by me from a witty soul on College Confidential. 🙂

[Roadrunner]

1 hour ago, Hoggirl said:

I think schools are transparent about the fact that the process isn’t transparent.  That’s kind of what the “holistic” label conveys.  I think where MOST (not the well-informed folks on this board, but most) people get into trouble is placing too much emphasis on the objective, quantifiable stats.  I even talked to a school counselor who was just “stunned” that one of her students had not gotten into Stanford a couple of years ago.  “She has perfect grades, several APs, 1500+ on the her test scores.  What in the world do they want?” she lamented.  All that PLUS is what they want.  The ”plus” is the part that can’t be defined or transparent because it isn’t quantifiable.  So, hopeful but uninformed folks see that their dc is in the top 25% of stats and assume they are a shoo-in.  It just doesn’t work that way.  We can belabor and debate the relative fairness or rightness of that all day long.  Right now, it just takes something in addition to objective stats.  What should that something be?  Private institutions get to determine that for themselves. 

It will, however, be interesting to see how the Harvard case plays out.  

Hang in there as this lingering countdown continues.  And, keep in mind that once all the decisions are in the USS Indecison sets sail....

 

 

This is so true and I can’t believe I am saying this, but I hope Harvard prevails. I think the ability of colleges to balance the incoming class across racial and interest (a dancer, a musician, an athlete.....) way benefits the entire student body. 

[Mom0012]

2 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

 

So if you are admitted to ED, you get an acceptance offer and a financial package? Take it or leave it? This is better than not seeing financials at all, but yes, not ideal since no comparison is necessary. 

Or, is it that you get an offer and then have to wait on a financial package?  And does it lessen your chances for scholarships?  

[Roadrunner]

1 hour ago, Mom0012 said:

Or, is it that you get an offer and then have to wait on a financial package?  And does it lessen your chances for scholarships?  

 

I don’t know. I would love to know because if it’s a dream school and I have an offer, at least we can figure out financial feasibility. I don’t care for the best offer. We just need it to be workable. I can’t imagine saying yes to a school without knowing how much it will cost us though. 

[madteaparty]

For those that have researched Restrictive ED, have you found any info as to what percentage of ED admits are legacy, etc?  I haven’t delved into the data sets yet (shudder) but I read somewhere on a college’s own website that they encouraged legacy applicants to apply ED to demonstrate interest.... 

Edited March 20, 2019 by madteaparty

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

35 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

For those that have researched Restrictive ED, have you found any info as to what percentage of ED admits are legacy, etc?  I haven’t delved into the data sets yet (shudder) but I read somewhere on a college’s own website that they encouraged legacy applicants to apply ED to demonstrate interest.... 

 

I won't bother because this is my only child who will be a competitive applicant 🙂  My next one will be lucky to get into a lower tier uni and very surprised to get any scholarships.  It's possible, and she's working on it but doubtful.

Meanwhile, I decided to spend the next ten days of this long long wait shopping for college supplies.  Who's with me!!? So far I got the sheets, twin XL, silverware, cheap plates, and I decided on a shower tote of all mesh that hangs with a hook.  I feel this is important so the caddy doesn't have to sit on the shower floor.  I also got towels and pre-washed them.  Because towels are no good until they've been washed 3 or 4 times. 

[Arch at Home]

1 minute ago, Calming Tea said:

 

I won't bother because this is my only child who will be a competitive applicant 🙂  My next one will be lucky to get into a lower tier uni and very surprised to get any scholarships.  It's possible, and she's working on it but doubtful.

Meanwhile, I decided to spend the next ten days of this long long wait shopping for college supplies.  Who's with me!!? So far I got the sheets, twin XL, silverware, cheap plates, and I decided on a shower tote of all mesh that hangs with a hook.  I feel this is important so the caddy doesn't have to sit on the shower floor.  I also got towels and pre-washed them.  Because towels are no good until they've been washed 3 or 4 times. 

That must be the difference between a son and a daughter. I wouldn't dare pick out college supplies for my DD. She is going to want/need to pick out everything. Now my son will be a different story. He won't care if we send him with our old towels and I am sure that a shower caddy will be too much trouble for him. 😉

[madteaparty]

33 minutes ago, Calming Tea said:

 

I won't bother because this is my only child who will be a competitive applicant 🙂  My next one will be lucky to get into a lower tier uni and very surprised to get any scholarships.  It's possible, and she's working on it but doubtful.

Meanwhile, I decided to spend the next ten days of this long long wait shopping for college supplies.  Who's with me!!? So far I got the sheets, twin XL, silverware, cheap plates, and I decided on a shower tote of all mesh that hangs with a hook.  I feel this is important so the caddy doesn't have to sit on the shower floor.  I also got towels and pre-washed them.  Because towels are no good until they've been washed 3 or 4 times. 

Realistically, our sole college search criteria should be whether they permit the mini instantpot in the dorms. Anyone want to mine the data set for that one? 😂

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

Does it get easier with the second one?  The waiting and wondering?  My dd is working super hard and will be applying to an early admit program. Even though the college is not hard to get into the early admit program which includes a 3000.00 scholarship per year, will be challenging for her.  She has to maintain a 3.5 GPA and take at least some Honors courses, and get a 1250 on her SAT. I'm sooooo proud of her for keeping her eye on the goal and studying for the SAT EVERY SINGLE day!! So, maybe we will be lucky and she will know by January of her Junior year if she is going to her top choice!  I suppose that'll make it easier....

[kokotg]

Hamilton and Emory/Oxford today. Not feeling at all hopeful, as both have released their acceptance rates this year and it's 16% for Hamilton and 15/18% for Emory/Oxford (overall, which means RD is even lower). I'm having some regrets about his list at this point; there were some real long shots, we knew, but also places where he was easily in the top 25% stats-wise and where last year they had a 20 or 25% acceptance rate.... and this year it's dropped down to 10 or 15%. Although it's still too early to do a post mortem (but I can't help doing one in my head anyway). 

[alewife]

15 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

 

I don’t know. I would love to know because if it’s a dream school and I have an offer, at least we can figure out financial feasibility. I don’t care for the best offer. We just need it to be workable. I can’t imagine saying yes to a school without knowing how much it will cost us though. 

If you have a typical financial situation - don't own your own business, don't have investment properties, etc- the schools' net price calculators are said to be very accurate.  

If you are applying to a school that doesn't offer merit aid, in my opinion, you are not taking as much of a financial risk because your aid package will be the same whether you apply ED or Regular Decision   (Obviously you won't be able to compare offers between schools)   

My son applied ED to Williams. The aid package came along with the acceptance  Had the numbers not been in line with what we were expecting, we would have been able to decline the offer    

For my son ED was the right decision - The school was by far his top choice and since they don't offer merit aid, we knew that our cost of attendance was not going to be affected by applying ED   

Had his top choice been a school that offers merit aid, in my opinion, ED would have been more risky from a financial standpoint since merit aid is typically used to entice top students to attend the school 

 

[JazzyMom]

@kokotg  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  Seems elite school admission is incredibly hard to predict.  Your son has some good, solid choices no matter how the rest of the results come in - not every student can say that.  That being said, I do hope you get some good news today!  (((hug)))

Edited March 20, 2019 by JazzyMom

[kokotg]

4 minutes ago, JazzyMom said:

@kokotg  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  Seems elite school admission is incredibly hard to predict.  Your son has some good, solid choices no matter how the rest of the results come in - not every student can say that.  That being said, I do hope you get some good news today!  (((hug)))

Thanks! He really does have great choices; I just wish someone would print out a list with all the rest of them that says either accepted, waitlisted, or denied by each one so he doesn't keep getting hit by them one by one. Rip off that bandaid! 

[JazzyMom]

I know that must really sting, and I’m sure it’s hard for you as a mom to watch.  We haven’t thru this with college admissions, but my kids play competitive sports, so we’ve had a taste of it in that area.

Just keep reminding him that he’s a great student, and he’s going to find the right fit.  (And frankly, I’m the type of parent who would tell my kid, “It’s their loss.”  I’m also not above sour grapes.  LOL!)  

Anyway, when all is said and done, he’ll be stronger for all of it, and he’ll brush himself off and head off to a great school and great future.

Prayers and good vibes for you today!

[kirag714]

2 hours ago, kokotg said:

Hamilton and Emory/Oxford today. Not feeling at all hopeful, as both have released their acceptance rates this year and it's 16% for Hamilton and 15/18% for Emory/Oxford (overall, which means RD is even lower). I'm having some regrets about his list at this point; there were some real long shots, we knew, but also places where he was easily in the top 25% stats-wise and where last year they had a 20 or 25% acceptance rate.... and this year it's dropped down to 10 or 15%. Although it's still too early to do a post mortem (but I can't help doing one in my head anyway). 

Sending lots of good vibes your way!!

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

ELEVEN DAYS!!

tomorrow I get to start the NASA style countdown.  oohhhhh

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

And today I am going shopping for school supplies! I think I'll see if binders are a good deal at Walmart.

[alewife]

24 minutes ago, kokotg said:

Thanks! He really does have great choices; I just wish someone would print out a list with all the rest of them that says either accepted, waitlisted, or denied by each one so he doesn't keep getting hit by them one by one. Rip off that bandaid! 

Good luck today.   Something that i haven't seen mentioned here in addition to all the factors already mentioned that go into admission at these schools is choice of major. Colleges are looking for diversification within a major in addition to overall school diversity. I am going through the process with my daughter right now. She has very high stats, but being a female interested in math and computer science has been a plus. 

If you read the results on college confidential there are many schools that are offering substantially more merit money for females interested in computer science and math when compared to males with the same high stats.  

The overwhelming majority of students at my son's school majoring in math are males.  A female applying who is interested in math would have better odds of being admitted when compared to a male with the same academic profile. 

When a college is building a class, so much of the process is beyond the applicant's control.  

[kokotg]

13 minutes ago, alewife said:

Good luck today.   Something that i haven't seen mentioned here in addition to all the factors already mentioned that go into admission at these schools is choice of major. Colleges are looking for diversification within a major in addition to overall school diversity. I am going through the process with my daughter right now. She has very high stats, but being a female interested in math and computer science has been a plus. 

If you read the results on college confidential there are many schools that are offering substantially more merit money for females interested in computer science and math when compared to males with the same high stats.  

The overwhelming majority of students at my son's school majoring in math are males.  A female applying who is interested in math would have better odds of being admitted when compared to a male with the same academic profile. 

When a college is building a class, so much of the process is beyond the applicant's control.  

True--good point! He didn't apply anywhere where you have to apply to a certain major, but I'm sure it's not lost on anyone reading his app that he's a boy who's into math 🙂