Who is ready to kick off college application season for Class of ‘22?

[Arcadia]

nm

Edited March 24, 2022 by Arcadia

[mathnerd]

2 hours ago, Arcadia said:

I don’t think DS17 wants anything to do with them now.  For Fall 2021, their admit rate was 84% and yield rate was 16% for first time freshmen.

I totally agree with your DS’s sentiments as well. What a messed up process with no transparency! I wish him luck with the other applications.

[kokotg]

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

I don’t think DS17 wants anything to do with them now.  For Fall 2021, their admit rate was 84% and yield rate was 16% for first time freshmen.

Ugh--so frustrating! But maybe better to know now that he doesn't want to deal with them long term!

[Arcadia]

nm

Edited March 24, 2022 by Arcadia

[Roadrunner]

43 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Also my DS16 can skip applying there. That’s at least $70 saved. DS17 wasn’t upset, he was annoyed.

ETA: DS16 would have felt sad thinking he messed up. Luckily this mess happened to DS17.

CSU system is notorious for stuff like that. I have heard many stories from homeschoolers being rejected for similarly silly reasons. Your DS doesn’t need them. But how annoying anyway. 

[kokotg]

DS and DH fly to Cleveland tonight for the last of his auditions! Baldwin Wallace...we visited last summer, and he's done a lesson with the clarinet prof (who plays with the Cleveland Orchestra, making him one of the few full time orchestral musicians among his potential teachers. The only one, in fact, I think), and he likes it a lot. But I'm not sure it's likely to much of a contender for him; if the NPC is to be trusted it would be the least affordable option. But we'll see! Tomorrow the high is 25 in Cleveland with snow and 30 mph winds, so I'm off to Target to buy decent gloves today before they leave.

Next up is waiting for decisions; he's supposed to hear from BW by March 8, and then Bard, Oberlin, and Vanderbilt are all clustered in mid-late March. And then we find out where we're going for spring break, based on where he gets in! I hate not being able to plan.

[Farrar]

We're thick in the decisions round now. Kid has essentially 9 options. But he's mostly narrowed it down to 5 or 6? Like, he's narrowed it down, but not enough. He is going to Drexel admitted students weekend this weekend, so that's good. 

[sassenach]

Can a former homeschooler jump in here? DD is in PS- my baby and most ambitious. She applied only to direct entry nursing programs (and one safety), which are harder to find than you'd think. So far she has 3 admissions. We're waiting on her top 3 big reach programs- UCLA, UC Irvine, and San Diego State. Also waiting on U of Miami and another Cal State that she's less enthusiastic about. 

The waiting is not fun.

[kokotg]

Just now, sassenach said:

 

The waiting is not fun.

The waiting is TERRIBLE! (I think I hate it way more than my kid, at least in this kid's case)

[kokotg]

5 minutes ago, Farrar said:

We're thick in the decisions round now. Kid has essentially 9 options. But he's mostly narrowed it down to 5 or 6? Like, he's narrowed it down, but not enough. He is going to Drexel admitted students weekend this weekend, so that's good. 

Report back! I love admitted students weekends! I'm a giant dork.

Is anywhere doing overnight visits these days? My oldest found those really helpful in making decisions, I think...a lot more immersive and less choreographed than standard visits with information sessions and tours. 

[Farrar]

4 minutes ago, kokotg said:

Report back! I love admitted students weekends! I'm a giant dork.

Is anywhere doing overnight visits these days? My oldest found those really helpful in making decisions, I think...a lot more immersive and less choreographed than standard visits with information sessions and tours. 

I don't get to go! It's a half day program really. He's taking his bestie and his father. 

But Clark is doing overnight visits. He's just doing the day program, but it includes going to class. I'm glad to see that there are more schools doing them again. It's been rough on kids not being able to do a really solid admitted student visit.

[DawnM]

On 12/12/2021 at 7:55 PM, GoodGrief3 said:

Oh, I wasn't clear in my response: my cousin is a prof at NC State, not App 🙂

My friend is a prof at NC State too.

[MamaSprout]

We're narrowed down to two very different schools for engineering. Dd found out yesterday that she got a scholarship for the smaller school to make the cost difference negligible. She been overnight on both campuses and will have friends on both campuses.

She doesn't want to love the big flagship, but they keep making it hard to turn down. We're visiting there in three weeks. Pros: really good honors housing Freshman year, bustling campus, more varied food options (allergy kid), somewhat closer to home. It is less expensive, although the difference disappears if she needs a 5th year- a fairly common thing at the larger school. One of the top schools for her program in the country. Russian classes offered. Cons: bustling campus (no way to have car), more TAs teaching classes, more hoops to jump through for required humanities (so maybe harder to fit in the Russian). Lower graduation rate/ graduation on time rate, especially for her major.

Small school: Pros: better overall housing and great dorm culture. Very safe. Definitely her people. Professors she knows that she likes from a summer program. She's used to a smaller campus (DE) where it's not weird to wander into a profs office and ask a question. One of the top undergraduate programs for her major in the country... but that's a smaller set of competing schools. She could swim D3 and be involved with theater. She likes the on-campus piano prof, too. More chances to minor/ double major with the program structure. Cons: Food will be more limited for her, although the on-campus dining does a great job, other options are non-existent both in town and on campus. Small campuses are like some towns, everyone knows everyone's business. No Russian. Neutral? (but relevant): her long-distance boyfriend of almost a year is very likely to go to the small school. Dd had strong inclinations towards the small school before she met him, but it does muddy things a bit.

I guess we're probably going to be down to gut feeling after the visit to the flagship in a few weeks. It seems like there should be a more scientific process for such a big choice, lol.

Edited February 18, 2022 by MamaSprout

[fastweedpuller]

Yay! My kiddo got in all three schools that she applied to, then got merit for all three, then got two competitive scholarships for two of the three, and this week made her decision.  All three schools were very similar (Midwestern LACs, all CTCL schools too) but the one she chose has her second major as a major (not a minor).  With all three, the money shook out to be about the same, whew, which means they're cheaper than the public Us would be for us.  And so...we can handle the next 4 years, financially, without resorting to loans or rice and beans.

Thanks to everyone here who (knowingly or not, as I'm more of a lurker than a poster) helped me navigate these tricky waters!! I am really glad we dual-enrolled (this proved to her that she could handle non-parental coursework).

 

[Arcadia]

Nm

Edited March 24, 2022 by Arcadia

[MamaSprout]

1 hour ago, fastweedpuller said:

Yay! My kiddo got in all three schools that she applied to, then got merit for all three, then got two competitive scholarships for two of the three, and this week made her decision.  All three schools were very similar (Midwestern LACs, all CTCL schools too) but the one she chose has her second major as a major (not a minor).  With all three, the money shook out to be about the same, whew, which means they're cheaper than the public Us would be for us.  And so...we can handle the next 4 years, financially, without resorting to loans or rice and beans.

Thanks to everyone here who (knowingly or not, as I'm more of a lurker than a poster) helped me navigate these tricky waters!! I am really glad we dual-enrolled (this proved to her that she could handle non-parental coursework).

 

If you are willing, PM me, I would like to add your kiddo's acceptances to our admitted list.

[Arcadia]

tmi

Edited March 24, 2022 by Arcadia

[kokotg]

Who else is still waiting on March decisions? How are you/your kids doing? We've got Oberlin at 11 on Saturday (yikes! so specific! they e-mailed with the exact time) and then we're still waiting on Bard and Vanderbilt/Blair. We really have no idea what to expect.

He got into Baldwin Wallace a couple of weeks ago, but they have a weird, agonizingly drawn out financial aid reveal process. The acceptance letter said nothing about FA. Then he got a thing in the mail with his academic scholarship (which is based entirely on GPA, so we already knew what it would be from the website). THEN they'll send him any music scholarship at some later point. THEN the total package with any need based aid. AND THEN they told him if it's not enough he should send them other FA packages and they'll try to match them. Which is nice and all, but it'd be nicer if they'd just show him the FA with his acceptance! If he doesn't get into any of his reachier schools, BW might be the front runner, though, so it's good to know that they'll try to match the package he got from Lawrence, which was doable for us.

[GoodGrief3]

1 hour ago, kokotg said:

Who else is still waiting on March decisions?

There are two schools that haven't given my daughter a decision but at this point I'm not sure she cares much. She's pretty close to her own decision, I think.

[Arcadia]

tmi

Edited March 24, 2022 by Arcadia

[kirstenhill]

1 hour ago, kokotg said:

Who else is still waiting on March decisions? How are you/your kids doing? We've got Oberlin at 11 on Saturday (yikes! so specific! they e-mailed with the exact time) and then we're still waiting on Bard and Vanderbilt/Blair. We really have no idea what to expect.

 

We're still waiting on University of Wisconsin Madison.  Before we went for a visit (back in early December), DD wasn't even sure she wanted to apply there, but DH insisted she take a third tour somewhere, and this was the next choice on her list.  (We had already visited Iowa State and University of Nebraska Lincoln).  We had a better than expected visit  at UW-M (especially the visit with the department for her major), and she applied regular decision.   Madison doesn't usually release regular deadline acceptances until the last week of March. 

We are making our second visit to Iowa State next week, which is has been (I think) where she has leaned toward through the whole process, as they have a really unique major there that suits her well.  Our first visit at ISU was in the summer with no students around, and we didn't get to meet and professors or students, only an academic advisor.   So, it's possible if this second visit is really great at Iowa State, it won't matter about Madison either way, but DD has said ever since she applied there that she wanted to hear back one way or the other before deciding.  We have reciprocity with Wisconsin, but she got merit scholarship and child-of-alumni scholarship at ISU, so I think Iowa State will actually work out to be cheaper also.

Edited March 17, 2022 by kirstenhill

[kokotg]

1 minute ago, Arcadia said:

DS17 is still waiting and exasperated that the deadline for state universities (UC &CSU) to inform the applicants is April 1st. My husband is more anxious than him since neither of us attended colleges in US.

April 1 is the standard deadline nationwide, but usually colleges release decisions at least a few days before that. Fingers crossed he doesn't have to wait much longer! 

[kokotg]

1 minute ago, kirstenhill said:

We're still waiting on University of Wisconsin Madison.  Before we went for a visit (back in early December), DD wasn't even sure she wanted to apply there, but DH insisted she take a third tour somewhere, and this was the next choice on her list.  We had a better than expected visit (especially the visit with the department for her major), and she applied regular decision.   Madison doesn't usually release regular deadline acceptances until the last week of March. 

We are making our second visit to Iowa State next week, which is has been (I think) where she has leaned toward through the whole process, as they have a really unique major there that suits her well.  Our first visit at ISU was in the summer with no students around, and we didn't get to meet and professors or students, only an academic advisor.   So, it's possible if this second visit is really great at Iowa State, it won't matter about Madison either way, but DD has said ever since she applied there that she wanted to hear back one way or the other before deciding.  We have reciprocity with Wisconsin, but she got merit scholarship and child-of-alumni scholarship at ISU, so I think Iowa State will actually work out to be cheaper also.

My oldest son is doing an REU (math research) at ISU this summer! Hope the second visit clarifies things!

[Arcadia]

nm

Edited March 24, 2022 by Arcadia

[rzberrymom]

6 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

DS17 is still waiting and exasperated that the deadline for state universities (UC &CSU) to inform the applicants is April 1st. My husband is more anxious than him since neither of us attended colleges in US.

Our nephew is doing the UC waiting game now too. I believe UCLA and Irvine are expected to come out tomorrow afternoon, and UCB and one other (UCSD??) are expected to come out next week.

[Arcadia]

10 minutes ago, rzberrymom said:

Our nephew is doing the UC waiting game now too. I believe UCLA and Irvine are expected to come out tomorrow afternoon, and UCB and one other (UCSD??) are expected to come out next week.

UCB is March 24, UCSB is March 22

Good luck to your nephew 

[fourisenough]

DD is awaiting 8 decisions that should all be in 3/31-4/1. It’s been a LOOOONG application cycle; hers were mostly submitted by mid-September with one late add on. Thankfully, she has two very attractive, affordable options already and she’ll attend admitted student events for each on 3/25 & 3/26. My hope is that she’ll be so excited by one or both that regardless of the RD outcomes, she’ll walk away happy.

Good luck to everyone awaiting decisions and congratulations to those of you who have already been admitted and chosen your schools!

Edited March 18, 2022 by fourisenough

[kokotg]

waitlisted at Oberlin. I gather that a music waitlist comes with more hope than most waitlists, but it's still tough.

Edited March 19, 2022 by kokotg

[Eos]

3 hours ago, kokotg said:

waitlisted at Oberlin. I gather that a music waitlist comes with more hope than most waitlists, but it's still tough.

Thinking good thoughts for your ds.  Mentally shooing away all those other clarinets....

[Farrar]

I think... my kid is going to Clark? Maybe. He did the admitted students day and went to a class and ate lunch with students and came home like, okay, I think I'm going to do this. SO. We're all going to sit with it for a week or so. I thought it would be Drexel!

[fourisenough]

14 hours ago, Farrar said:

I think... my kid is going to Clark? Maybe. He did the admitted students day and went to a class and ate lunch with students and came home like, okay, I think I'm going to do this. SO. We're all going to sit with it for a week or so. I thought it would be Drexel!

Wow, congrats for being *close* to a decision!

[kokotg]

15 hours ago, Farrar said:

I think... my kid is going to Clark? Maybe. He did the admitted students day and went to a class and ate lunch with students and came home like, okay, I think I'm going to do this. SO. We're all going to sit with it for a week or so. I thought it would be Drexel!

I hear such universally great things about Clark! I have a friend whose daughter is going there next year (and she graduated from there). 

[kokotg]

Well, we're very slowly making spring break plans as new information emerges. We decided to visit Oberlin ANYWAY in order to show what a resilient go getter my kid is 😄. Also because Baldwin Wallace is right in the same area so we can do a return visit there. And also because the waitlist letter really does make it sound like he has a shot still ("we will do our best to help find you a place in the class.") Oberlin's spring break is the same week as DH's this year, so the kids and I will leave a few days early to get there the week before, and then DH will fly up to meet us. We have a plane ticket for him and tickets to a concert at BW where the students perform a different Beatles album live every spring. This year it's "Help!" which is kind of too bad. But it could be worse! Now for hotels and to book a tour of Oberlin College for my 10th grader. Multi-tasking! 

[Eos]

56 minutes ago, kokotg said:

Oberlin's spring break is the same week as DH's this ye

I'm sorry I'll miss you, 11th grader and I are visiting the following week - we could have had coffee!

[kokotg]

7 minutes ago, Eos said:

I'm sorry I'll miss you, 11th grader and I are visiting the following week - we could have had coffee!

ah, that is too bad! are you going to one of the admitted students days? 

Edited March 20, 2022 by kokotg

[Eos]

1 minute ago, kokotg said:

ah, that is too bad! are you going to one of the admitted students days? 

No, just an 11th grade visit - it is slightly silly since she has spent so much time there with the older siblings, but being a 4th child would like to have her "own" college visit experience.  We'll combine with visits to a couple of other places on the way.

[kokotg]

1 minute ago, Eos said:

No, just an 11th grade visit - it is slightly silly since she has spent so much time there with the older siblings, but being a 4th child would like to have her "own" college visit experience.  We'll combine with visits to a couple of other places on the way.

ah, gotcha! I thought I might have missed something 🙂 We might toss in a couple of other visits for my 10th grader while we're road tripping, too (maybe Beloit if we end up in Wisconsin to see Lawrence)

[Roadrunner]

3 hours ago, kokotg said:

ah, gotcha! I thought I might have missed something 🙂 We might toss in a couple of other visits for my 10th grader while we're road tripping, too (maybe Beloit if we end up in Wisconsin to see Lawrence)

Please report back about Lawrence!

[kokotg]

A no from Bard Conservatory 😞 And from the college, interestingly, even though he should have gotten in to it no problem just based on its acceptance rate and his academics. I imagine it was easy to tell from his app that he had no intention of going to the college if he didn't get in to the conservatory. 

[kokotg]

Onward! We're still waiting on Blair/Vanderbilt, but I know they sent out early acceptances earlier in the week to a bunch of music people (and not my kid), so I'm going to proceed as if that's a no and be pleasantly surprised if it's not. To that end, I finished booking our spring break/college visit trip last night, and we're staying in Chicago for a few days (for fun!) after we see Lawrence (instead of holding that space open for a possible Nashville stop). He has good choices, and he's handling it all super well, but I have to admit I'm kind of bummed at the moment. He's just done so well for a kid who'd never held a clarinet in his life 4 years ago...I feel like if he had one more year to improve he'd have so many more options (and also like the financial aid would likely be better at Oberlin or Vanderbilt or probably Bard). But he doesn't want another year; he wants to go to college and play clarinet all day every day somewhere, so now we figure out where best to do that. 

[threedogfarm]

2 hours ago, kokotg said:

 To that end, I finished booking our spring break/college visit trip last night, and we're staying in Chicago for a few days (for fun!) after we see Lawrence (instead of holding that space open for a possible Nashville stop). 

Sounds like you have a good plan in place. Onwards! is a great mantra.  

And please report back about Lawrence.  It's on my daughter's list (she's applying next year) and I'd love to hear your impression.  

 

[fourisenough]

4 hours ago, kokotg said:

Onward! We're still waiting on Blair/Vanderbilt, but I know they sent out early acceptances earlier in the week to a bunch of music people (and not my kid), so I'm going to proceed as if that's a no and be pleasantly surprised if it's not. To that end, I finished booking our spring break/college visit trip last night, and we're staying in Chicago for a few days (for fun!) after we see Lawrence (instead of holding that space open for a possible Nashville stop). He has good choices, and he's handling it all super well, but I have to admit I'm kind of bummed at the moment. He's just done so well for a kid who'd never held a clarinet in his life 4 years ago...I feel like if he had one more year to improve he'd have so many more options (and also like the financial aid would likely be better at Oberlin or Vanderbilt or probably Bard). But he doesn't want another year; he wants to go to college and play clarinet all day every day somewhere, so now we figure out where best to do that. 

Sounds like you all have a great attitude and a good plan. My DD will get the first of her regular decisions tonight (with seven more to follow). I’m totally preparing myself for a bunch of no’s/waitlists; and honestly she’s getting increasingly excited about one of her safeties which we’ll visit tomorrow for the first time (in an official capacity— she’ll been there a few times for sporting events, etc). Not sure if we’re ready to ‘buy the sweatshirt’, but she’s getting close!

[rzberrymom]

23 minutes ago, fourisenough said:

she’s getting increasingly excited about one of her safeties

I’m realizing that this must be the key to having a calm, sane senior year—finding a safety that a kid can get excited about. I think we found one of those for my DD for next year, and I feel a weight lifted off both of us!!

[fourisenough]

11 minutes ago, rzberrymom said:

I’m realizing that this must be the key to having a calm, sane senior year—finding a safety that a kid can get excited about. I think we found one of those for my DD for next year, and I feel a weight lifted off both of us!!

It’s everything! She hasn’t appeared stressed ONCE throughout this whole process. That’s partly due to the calm, plucky personality she inherited from my husband, but also because she feels great about at least one financial/admissions safety!

[Farrar]

19 minutes ago, rzberrymom said:

I’m realizing that this must be the key to having a calm, sane senior year—finding a safety that a kid can get excited about. I think we found one of those for my DD for next year, and I feel a weight lifted off both of us!!

I had this conversation with a friend who is the parent of a junior recently. She has a kid who can aim high and might succeed, but all the schools they were excited over were those big names and spending hours and hours visiting and researching and attending virtual events and so forth. I was like, stop. You have to spend just as much time researching and visiting and falling it love with (love is an action, it takes work to find!) your safety level schools. 

[Roadrunner]

See, I find it easy to find safeties and reaches, it’s the matches that are hard to nail. At least in our case, safeties are obvious. And of course reaches are even more obvious. Matches? Not so much. 
 

[Farrar]

2 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

See, I find it easy to find safeties and reaches, it’s the matches that are hard to nail. At least in our case, safeties are obvious. And of course reaches are even more obvious. Matches? Not so much. 
 

Then maybe you don't need them. If there's not a school that your kid loves that's also a target, but they love several safeties and several reaches, then who cares? I've helped kids with applications who are like I want to apply to these bajillion reach schools because I'm excited about them, but I'm already in at Local State U and that would be fine and no I don't care about these other schools that you're telling me would be perfect because if it's a choice between that and Local State U, then I'll always choose Local State U. Then... okay. There's no magic reason you have to have a school where you exactly meet the stats and have about a fifty fifty shot of getting in.

[kokotg]

18 minutes ago, Farrar said:

Then maybe you don't need them. If there's not a school that your kid loves that's also a target, but they love several safeties and several reaches, then who cares? I've helped kids with applications who are like I want to apply to these bajillion reach schools because I'm excited about them, but I'm already in at Local State U and that would be fine and no I don't care about these other schools that you're telling me would be perfect because if it's a choice between that and Local State U, then I'll always choose Local State U. Then... okay. There's no magic reason you have to have a school where you exactly meet the stats and have about a fifty fifty shot of getting in.

That's sort of where we were this year. I do  feel like there was some middle tier of music school that we missed (like I can think of some that were probably it, but the financial aid didn't work--mostly big OOS universities with better overall music schools than our in state options; those also weren't the kind of schools he wanted--he wanted small)...but there are also a lot of schools he didn't apply to because every time we asked "would you pick it over Columbus State?" and if the answer was no there wasn't much reason to apply. 

[fourisenough]

32 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

See, I find it easy to find safeties and reaches, it’s the matches that are hard to nail. At least in our case, safeties are obvious. And of course reaches are even more obvious. Matches? Not so much. 
 

We had this same issue; I think the problem is that what might have been a target for my kid a few years ago (pre-pandemic) is now a reach because of drastically lower acceptance rates in the post-Covid, TO world. Our own state flagship falls into this category— it has become a reach for everyone. 

[Roadrunner]

31 minutes ago, Farrar said:

Then maybe you don't need them. If there's not a school that your kid loves that's also a target, but they love several safeties and several reaches, then who cares? I've helped kids with applications who are like I want to apply to these bajillion reach schools because I'm excited about them, but I'm already in at Local State U and that would be fine and no I don't care about these other schools that you're telling me would be perfect because if it's a choice between that and Local State U, then I'll always choose Local State U. Then... okay. There's no magic reason you have to have a school where you exactly meet the stats and have about a fifty fifty shot of getting in.

You misunderstood. It’s hard to identify them “as in stats fit right.” My kid doesn’t love any school. He is just not the type who will “love” or get excited over any college. He has academic interests and will listen to advice where he might find better academic opportunities, but he really careless about the rest. He approaches them as his does his clothes shopping - indifference to anything other than function.
 We are too far away to visit anything. We will have to decide what is a right program based on what they offer. Definitely not based on love. He will visit those he gets into and then he can decide what he likes more. If we were on the east coast where a three hour driving radius can net you dozens of amazing places, we would visit. 
@fourisenoughexactly. A lot of what would have been target seems to be sliding into a reach. A brilliant boy and my son’s classmate just got denied at UCSB. There is a collective disbelief. 
 

I got a pile of brochures on the table. He has them ranked now based on the quality of their respective marketing departments. 🤦🏻‍♀️