College Admissions Questions (1 Viewer)

[Gamma1210]

I like the "skin in the game" position, but my wife does not.  Ultimately, we did not go that direction with my son in his first year at Purdue, so we will try to do the same with our daughter.  Purdue offers a pretty good value for out of state tuition, considerably less than the private schools on my daughter's list.  We can take on the Ohio State expense without much burden, but as much as I like Ohio State, the school size, atmosphere, and proximity to home of CWRU I think are all better fits for my daughter.

Just out of curiosity, @belljr what are you considering to be a "lesser school"?

@Gamma1210 Are you in an engineering career?

I am in biotech with Chemical/ Biomedical engineers. It's somewhat niche in the overall engineering world but I doubt its much different for entry level hires.  It's just my opinion, but I'd say internships/ co-ops are most important, especially if you like the company and want to work there. That is the best path for sure. But if you don't like the company, then you get to go on LinkedIn and cold apply with everyone else. Honestly entry level resumes all look pretty similar so at that point the tiebreaker for an initial call could be what school it is.

And I didn't go to a top school, but I was lucky I got an internship where I liked the company. I'm speaking now having hired tons of entry level candidates. 

Also professors and the school will have contacts in the industry. Leverage them. One of the first things I do is email old professors or professors where we have had good hires, to see if they have anyone. Anyway to get some personal touch into a company/ hiring manager helps a ton. I think LinkedIn has made things more difficult in some ways. Weeding through 100 candidates who just click apply on every job is grueling. I much prefer to leverage my network for hires even if it takes longer. I think its extra important if they want to work in a different geography than the schools.

And all of this is just for the first job. Eventually all that matters is your actual work, but getting in to a first job you like helps a ton. There could also be a decent pay gap in desirable jobs/ company and other jobs. 

Engineering is also a huge field, and it may be different in mechanical/ civil but the general principles of getting that first job hold. All of this is just IMHO.

 

[JaxBill]

That’s nice. I’m trying to as well but my plan is to get the minimum loans from FAFSA process and put that on my boys. Doesn’t mean I can’t help if things are great but it’s a little skin in the game and there is a back of my mind thought that maybe there will be some loan forgiveness. I’d be pissed to see us miss that. Also, it’s about $20k for 4 years so not something I consider cumbersome compared to some of the crazy loan amounts you hear about. We’ll see how it goes.

Yeah, I told both of my sons that I had purchased the Florida Prepaid tuition for them. They could stay home and go to UNF for free but anything else they had to figure out how they were going to pay for it.

Between the Florida Prepaid and Bright Futures, they basically had to only borrow partial rent/food. 

One graduated from USF with about 10k in loans, the other from UF with about 15k in loans.  

Older son has enough saved to pay off loan in full. I told him to hold off and just make monthly payment(in case forgiveness is passed). Younger son has started his monthly payment. 

One thing about current college loan payment freeze is that any payment is principal only. So this should help them pay it off more quickly. 

 

[zoobird]

One note on paying for Purdue specifically.  A few years ago, as an experiment, they started offering payment via 'income share agreements'.  Essentially, you go to school for free and then pay back x% percentage of your salary for y years as long salary is above $z.  [I don't know what the specific numbers were]

On the positive side, this means that you don't have to pay for school up front and that you only have to pay the money back if you can afford it.  Way less stress!  And it also aligns the school's goals with yours - they have financial incentive to help you find a good job.

On the negative side, some people feel like this amounts to some sort of indentured servitude.  And you might end up having to pay back a substantially larger amount than with loans, if you get high paying jobs right out of school.

Not sure if any other well known schools ended up offering these plans, or whether Purdue even still offers them, but could be worth researching.

 

[zoobird]

Sort of relevant info for those seeking to understand importance of school.  I'm involved in hiring a ton of entry level data analysts.  Roughly speaking, I'd divide our evaluation process into two stages:

1. Your resume and credentials are what get you the first interview.
   
2. From that point on, your performance in interviews and on analytics test cases is essentially all that matters.
   

So the name of the school on your resume has essentially no impact on the evaluation process once we schedule the first interview, but it can help in getting the interview. 

The undergrad major is definitely more important than the school.  We're primarily looking for math (of any type), stats, engineering (of any type), computer science or economics.  Also ok with business analytics.  In rare instances we'll look at something like finance, other business/management or something really random.

You can roughly group schools into three buckets - those where we're looking for a reason to interview you unless there's something we view as a real negative (Ivies, other top private schools, the top 5-7 state schools), those where we'll interview you as long as you have the right major (think of places like Rutgers, SUNY schools, UMass, Syracuse...and really most flagship state schools), those where we'll need to see something else to get us excited (schools that we may not have heard of, secondary campuses in many state school systems).

Beyond that, some of what we're looking for:

• A great cover letter that explains why you'd be a good fit with our company or for our analytics team
  
• Involvement in anything (including specific projects) that show a long-term interest in Analytics
  
• Web pages or Github links with projects you've worked on
  
• Absence of multiple errors in resume 
  

In the interviews, we're looking for:

• Ability to think analytically about unfamiliar questions and problems
  
• Ability to communicate verbally and graphically about the relationship of data to real world situations
  
• Moderate proficiency in certain types of mathematical reasoning
  
• No major personality red flags
  
• Appropriate degree of maturity in discussing past work - obviously a low bar if someone is truly entry-level, but we want to see that you're learning from experiences, and taking away relevant lessons from past challenges, triumphs and other situations.
  

That's a super-duper long-winded way of saying...school matters, but not as much as lots of other stuff.  And that's really only for junior positions.  After the first job or two, it ceases to matter at all.

 

[Galileo]

One note on paying for Purdue specifically.  A few years ago, as an experiment, they started offering payment via 'income share agreements'.  Essentially, you go to school for free and then pay back x% percentage of your salary for y years as long salary is above $z.  [I don't know what the specific numbers were]

On the positive side, this means that you don't have to pay for school up front and that you only have to pay the money back if you can afford it.  Way less stress!  And it also aligns the school's goals with yours - they have financial incentive to help you find a good job.

On the negative side, some people feel like this amounts to some sort of indentured servitude.  And you might end up having to pay back a substantially larger amount than with loans, if you get high paying jobs right out of school.

Not sure if any other well known schools ended up offering these plans, or whether Purdue even still offers them, but could be worth researching.

Hadn't heard of this before.  I started digging a little out of curiosity.  Purdue does still offer this type of aid.  They call it Back a Boiler. It is only available, however, to sophomore, junior and senior students.  The x%  appears to change depending on your major, projected post graduation income and funding amount.  I entered a few different majors into the comparison tool available with a request of $10,000 in funding.  It returned values ranging between 2.95 and 4.58%.  The maximum amount of funding possible through this program also seemed to fluctuate depending on major.  The $z minimum income threshold was $20k for all of my entries.

 

[The Flying Turtle]

My son was accepted to Purdue this week. I expected him to get in, but after the acceptances were posted there were comments on a board my wife follows about Purdue applications being up 25%. There were a lot of stories about waitlists and denials including one boy that had a 1560 SAT and 4.2 GPA (4 point scale) that was denied. 

 

[bigbottom]

My son was accepted to Purdue this week. I expected him to get in, but after the acceptances were posted there were comments on a board my wife follows about Purdue applications being up 25%. There were a lot of stories about waitlists and denials including one boy that had a 1560 SAT and 4.2 GPA (4 point scale) that was denied. 

Congrats!  Awesome school and cool campus. 

 

[The Flying Turtle]

My son just got accepted to Georgia Tech and is a semi-finalist for the Stamps Presidential scholarship (a full ride plus more). He has to do a virtual interview soon to see if he will go further in to the process. 

Does anyone have any experience with this scholarship that would be willing to give me some help?

 

[bigbottom]

My son just got accepted to Georgia Tech and is a semi-finalist for the Stamps Presidential scholarship (a full ride plus more). He has to do a virtual interview soon to see if he will go further in to the process. 

Does anyone have any experience with this scholarship that would be willing to give me some help?

No experience but congratulations!!!!

 

[The Z Machine]

My son just got accepted to Georgia Tech and is a semi-finalist for the Stamps Presidential scholarship (a full ride plus more). He has to do a virtual interview soon to see if he will go further in to the process. 

Does anyone have any experience with this scholarship that would be willing to give me some help?

Wow, that's amazing. 

I went to Tech for grad school and had a great time.  That said, i think Purdue would be better for an undergrad.  Unless he gets a full ride...

 

[Galileo]

My son just got accepted to Georgia Tech and is a semi-finalist for the Stamps Presidential scholarship (a full ride plus more). He has to do a virtual interview soon to see if he will go further in to the process. 

Does anyone have any experience with this scholarship that would be willing to give me some help?

Congrats!  That's awesome.    Don't know anything about the scholarship, but it is a hell of a hurdle to overcome just getting accepted there.

 

[The Flying Turtle]

My son received his first rejection today, but luckily it was on a school that he was unlikely to attend. U of Texas. 
Considering he has been accepted to Clemson,  Purdue, U of Michigan and Georgia Tech we were kind of surprised. 

We are still waiting to hear from Duke, Vanderbilt and Cornell (which were his 3 stretch schools). 

 

[Galileo]

Ah, 'tis the season... My daughter is applying to 7 schools, although, I don't think the applications are quite finalized for three of them at this point.  2 acceptances so far.  Below is the order of what I think is her current preference ranking is.  We have not physically visited Northwestern or Rose-Hulman yet.  

Case Western Reserve

The Ohio State 

Lehigh

Purdue

Northwestern

Rose-Hulman  

Carnegie Melon

She is looking for electrical engineering.  Dad's choice (with pocketbook in mind) is Ohio State, or Purdue where brother is.  These private schools are great places, but even with expected scholarships, the price tags are tough to swallow. 

Just updating daughter's situation...in at Case Western, in at Purdue, decided not to apply to Northwestern.  Case is at the top of her list with Lehigh a close 2nd and then Ohio State.  Lehigh and Carnegie Melon claim April 1st as a notification date, so no decisions will be finalized for a while yet.  Case did extend a $31,500 per year scholarship, but not sure that will be enough for it to still make sense financially.  She is applying for a couple other scholarships from Case and we will cross our fingers.  One of those is a full tuition award for an incoming engineering student (seems like a long shot), and the other is a FIRST Robotics scholarship for $10k per year.  She has been in FIRST robotics for 8 years, so we will cross our fingers on that one.  

 

[Fear The Turtle]

My son received his first rejection today, but luckily it was on a school that he was unlikely to attend. U of Texas. 
Considering he has been accepted to Clemson,  Purdue, U of Michigan and Georgia Tech we were kind of surprised. 

We are still waiting to hear from Duke, Vanderbilt and Cornell (which were his 3 stretch schools). 

It's a real crapshoot sometimes. Of the schools you've listed, my daughter was accepted at Duke and Georgia Tech but deferred and eventually rejected by Michigan.

 

[bigbottom]

My son received his first rejection today, but luckily it was on a school that he was unlikely to attend. U of Texas. 
Considering he has been accepted to Clemson,  Purdue, U of Michigan and Georgia Tech we were kind of surprised. 

We are still waiting to hear from Duke, Vanderbilt and Cornell (which were his 3 stretch schools). 

I assume you’re not Texas residents?  For UT, non-Texas (but not international) residents make up only around 8% of the student body. And amongst that 8%, it’s anyone’s guess what will get you in. I believe Michigan and Georgia Tech have a much higher percentage of out of state residents. In any event, so many incredible options for your son!  Fingers crossed on the remaining schools. 

 

[El Floppo]

Love hearing these acceptances come in... congrats guys on your kids getting your wive's smarts.

 

[El Floppo]

Private Middle School (  ) decision day for Floppinha. Public Schools will let us know...who knows- plus ALL screening criteria removed from public leaving it a literal lottery. This has driven more public school parents to apply to privates this year. Gonna be tough. Lots of historically great middle schools in our district, but after two years without screens and now a lottery...

We need massive FA for this to work, even if she gets in anywhere. But the dream is to join Floppinho at his school, which has been incredible for him and us this year- exceeded our expectations.

The first response was at dawn/don- Lower choice school put her on the wait-list. Same school put Floppinho on the wl...so hopefully the day progresses like his did a year ago. 

 

[Sinn Fein]

Wishing good luck for Floppinha

 

[El Floppo]

#2... lowest tier school put her on WL.

the wife made an excellent point- with her brother at another school and that info part of the application, chances are good that most of these schools assume floppinha would pick her brother's school...so might be just throwing WL (and not burning an admissions spot) at her in case she doesn't get in. because if she gets in (and with the FA), she's going there.

 

[Gilroy34]

Ssems weird to me that colleges are not even taking in to consideration SAT scores.

 

[Sinn Fein]

Ssems weird to me that colleges are not even taking in to consideration SAT scores.

They can tell a lot about a student based on the HS GPA, the quality of courses she has taken, the extra-curricular activities/leadership roles, the quality of the essay, and other accomplishments.

 

[Gilroy34]

They can tell a lot about a student based on the HS GPA, the quality of courses she has taken, the extra-curricular activities/leadership roles, the quality of the essay, and other accomplishments.

Understood, it just surprised me since they seemed so important when I grew up.  My daughter is a senior and going through the process now getting accepted to 2 schools and on a waitlist for the 3rd.  Her SAT score was very good but is not being considered.

 

[Battersbox]

Question about roomate selection. 

Is it advisable for kids to use social media ahead of their Freshman year to find a roomate? Our daughter will likely be attending school out of state (Iowa) but there are thousands of other girls in Chicagoland who will be doing the same. The University housing process has a survey which allows kids to sort of rank what's important to them in a roommate (cleanliness, how social one plans to be, etc) and my daughter will of course submit that. But, I've seen a few FB posts of kids/parents sort of casting a net to see if there are other like-minded kids in their wider network who will be attending the same school. Wondering if that produces better results or if it has potential pitfalls I'm not thinking about.

 

[El Floppo]

Understood, it just surprised me since they seemed so important when I grew up.  My daughter is a senior and going through the process now getting accepted to 2 schools and on a waitlist for the 3rd.  Her SAT score was very good but is not being considered.

I'm ignorant here... but I thought colleges were either discounting them or saying they were optional. If they're optional, I thought they were still considering them if you submitted them.

 

[Gilroy34]

I'm ignorant here... but I thought colleges were either discounting them or saying they were optional. If they're optional, I thought they were still considering them if you submitted them.

I think you are correct.  We sent the SAT scores but they were rejected because my daughter didn't check off she was going to submit them on the application (we somehow missed it).  She was told she needed to edit her application first before they consider them.

 

[El Floppo]

I think you are correct.  We sent the SAT scores but they were rejected because my daughter didn't check off she was going to submit them on the application (we somehow missed it).  She was told she needed to edit her application first before they consider them.

damn... too late to edit the application? if the SATs are good, they could only help Id think.

for our Middle School applications... with admissions today... we only got floppinha's grades last Thursday, but still sent them in even though the schools had likely already made their decisions. NYC public school system at work these days. they used to be on time with all of this stuff, and tied into private school admissions with their own admissions, so that people wouldn't have to sink a private school deposit if they knew their kid got in to a public school they preferred. now, it's just  oops covid.

 

[BeTheMatch]

Question about roomate selection. 

Is it advisable for kids to use social media ahead of their Freshman year to find a roomate? Our daughter will likely be attending school out of state (Iowa) but there are thousands of other girls in Chicagoland who will be doing the same. The University housing process has a survey which allows kids to sort of rank what's important to them in a roommate (cleanliness, how social one plans to be, etc) and my daughter will of course submit that. But, I've seen a few FB posts of kids/parents sort of casting a net to see if there are other like-minded kids in their wider network who will be attending the same school. Wondering if that produces better results or if it has potential pitfalls I'm not thinking about.

I've heard in my limited knowledge on this that pretty much everyone does that now.

 

[MAC_32]

I'm ignorant here... but I thought colleges were either discounting them or saying they were optional. If they're optional, I thought they were still considering them if you submitted them.

Optional is correct. Discounted in value? Well...

 

[Galileo]

Question about roomate selection. 

Is it advisable for kids to use social media ahead of their Freshman year to find a roommate? Our daughter will likely be attending school out of state (Iowa) but there are thousands of other girls in Chicagoland who will be doing the same. The University housing process has a survey which allows kids to sort of rank what's important to them in a roommate (cleanliness, how social one plans to be, etc) and my daughter will of course submit that. But, I've seen a few FB posts of kids/parents sort of casting a net to see if there are other like-minded kids in their wider network who will be attending the same school. Wondering if that produces better results or if it has potential pitfalls I'm not thinking about.

My son just let the process play out and went in blind without a roommate.  Of course, Purdue then had a major housing debacle where they didn't have space for everyone.  With all of their make-shift arrangements, several cases of "planned" roommates got broken up.  There were many irate people on social media.  Anyway, my son was content to roll the dice.  He filled out the profile thing and that was it.  After the road bumps of just getting a place to live at all, he ended up with 3 roommates, none of which were arranged before hand.  I don't suspect the profile submitted played much of a role as they were scrambling just to find living space.  2 of the roommates are working out really well...the third, not so much.  Nothing major, and he is dealing with it fine.  He wishes some things were different, but he is pretty easy going.  Overall, the random process worked out OK for him.   Looking ahead, he has decided to stay in the same dorm building he is currently in and has chosen his roommates for next year.

 

[NewlyRetired]

Understood, it just surprised me since they seemed so important when I grew up.  My daughter is a senior and going through the process now getting accepted to 2 schools and on a waitlist for the 3rd.  Her SAT score was very good but is not being considered.

they have run a ton of surveys over the years and they have found that the SAT scores are the least reliable metric when it comes to predicting how successful a student will be.

Some schools still need the SAT's to help differentiate the uber students for schools that get overloaded with applications.

 

[Gilroy34]

they have run a ton of surveys over the years and they have found that the SAT scores are the least reliable metric when it comes to predicting how successful a student will be.

Some schools still need the SAT's to help differentiate the uber students for schools that get overloaded with applications.

In my experience I have seen many of my kids friends not that intelligent who have very good GPAs from cheating in school and going off GPA seems crazy but oh well.

 

[Battersbox]

My son just let the process play out and went in blind without a roommate.  Of course, Purdue then had a major housing debacle where they didn't have space for everyone.  With all of their make-shift arrangements, several cases of "planned" roommates got broken up.  There were many irate people on social media.  Anyway, my son was content to roll the dice.  He filled out the profile thing and that was it.  After the road bumps of just getting a place to live at all, he ended up with 3 roommates, none of which were arranged before hand.  I don't suspect the profile submitted played much of a role as they were scrambling just to find living space.  2 of the roommates are working out really well...the third, not so much.  Nothing major, and he is dealing with it fine.  He wishes some things were different, but he is pretty easy going.  Overall, the random process worked out OK for him.   Looking ahead, he has decided to stay in the same dorm building he is currently in and has chosen his roommates for next year.

Ty. I have a neighbor whose son experienced the same issue at Purdue as a Freshman last fall. It was a mess. I think he's cool now though. A bit sexist, but I suspect guys are generally better at coping with that sort of thing than girls (at least, I don't know that my daughter would be very good at coping with a bad match for a roommate).

 

[El Floppo]

In my experience I have seen many of my kids friends not that intelligent who have very good GPAs from cheating in school and going off GPA seems crazy but oh well.

That's a LOT of cheating to bring the overall average up. 

Optional is correct. Discounted in value? Well...

I used Discounted to mean "not required", not that the value was lowered somehow.

 

[El Floppo]

#2... lowest tier school put her on WL.

the wife made an excellent point- with her brother at another school and that info part of the application, chances are good that most of these schools assume floppinha would pick her brother's school...so might be just throwing WL (and not burning an admissions spot) at her in case she doesn't get in. because if she gets in (and with the FA), she's going there.

#3 (also a lower tier...school and for us) = wait list. 3 for 3 on the wl.

 

[Sinn Fein]

In my experience I have seen many of my kids friends not that intelligent who have very good GPAs from cheating in school and going off GPA seems crazy but oh well.

They are not looking at just the GPA.  They will look at the quality of the courses, and use their own "weighted" GPA as one factor.  

And, I would be shocked that any student could "cheat" their way to a 3.8+ GPA while taking a course load, heavily weighted with AP courses.  But, lets say, they could actually do that - the amount of work and effort to pull that off is actually kind of impressive, and they will probably do fine in college.

(And GPA is just one factor that goes into the equation)

 

[Sinn Fein]

#3 (also a lower tier...school and for us) = wait list. 3 for 3 on the wl.

Thats a lot of waiting...

Do they have a preference to keep siblings in the same school?  

 

[El Floppo]

Thats a lot of waiting...

Do they have a preference to keep siblings in the same school?  

I think it's like my wife is guessing... all the schools we applied to see that her brother goes to a rival school- they probably assume that floppinha will go there too if she's accepted. if not, they haven't lost a spot in their admissions process by putting her on the wait list. And according to my wife, these lower tier schools get a fair bit of movement on their WL as kids get accepted to higher tier schools and reject the lower ones.

fwiw- this is our zoned public middle school.

there are a lot of public middle schools to apply to- most of them historically pretty great- and we rank them (up to 12, iirc)- so that would be the one we get in to if the lottery screws us.

 

[El Floppo]

   

 

[Sinn Fein]

   

I hope that is two schools she likes that she got into, and only 1 that she did not...

 

[El Floppo]

I hope that is two schools she likes that she got into, and only 1 that she did not...

Wait listed everywhere.

Except her brother's school (Dalton) where she will be going for 6th grade at a cost I can afford. double Pickle tears of joy.

 

[Sinn Fein]

Wait listed everywhere.

Thats

Except her brother's school (Dalton) where she will be going for 6th grade at a cost I can afford. double Pickle tears of joy.

Thats awesome GB!

Happy for you and her.

 

[bigbottom]

Wait listed everywhere.

Except her brother's school (Dalton) where she will be going for 6th grade at a cost I can afford. double Pickle tears of joy.

CONGRATS!

 

[MAC_32]

I used Discounted to mean "not required", not that the value was lowered somehow.

Well...

they have run a ton of surveys over the years and they have found that the SAT scores are the least reliable metric when it comes to predicting how successful a student will be.

Some schools still need the SAT's to help differentiate the uber students for schools that get overloaded with applications.

...in some cases they have been devalued and in others they haven't. It depends...so if in doubt I'd err on the side of submitting. Cause the retired guy is right. 

 

[MindCrime]

So it’s official- my son chose Univ. Central Florida. Had a few acceptances to choose from, but really likes the forensics/ bio-chemistry BS program at UCF (compared to other schools that offer a BA in forensics- criminology). 
Despite the fact that the campus is only a few miles down the road, he will be living on campus as a freshman, as we feel this is the best college experience for him. 
Deposits are in as of today. Go Knights!

Thank you for everyone’s help in this thread so far. (Even my wife is to the point where she goes “Did you read about that on your fantasy football message board too??!!”)

With that out of the way, my son is now concentrating on finishing his IB degree and his senior year of baseball, and hopefully some relaxation before August.

 

[The Z Machine]

So it’s official- my son chose Univ. Central Florida. Had a few acceptances to choose from, but really likes the forensics/ bio-chemistry BS program at UCF (compared to other schools that offer a BA in forensics- criminology). 
Despite the fact that the campus is only a few miles down the road, he will be living on campus as a freshman, as we feel this is the best college experience for him. 
Deposits are in as of today. Go Knights!

Thank you for everyone’s help in this thread so far. (Even my wife is to the point where she goes “Did you read about that on your fantasy football message board too??!!”)

With that out of the way, my son is now concentrating on finishing his IB degree and his senior year of baseball, and hopefully some relaxation before August.

So he's gonna be the drug connect in the dorm since he's the local guy. 

 

[Foosball God]

It's a tough wait for my daughter.  She applied to 4 schools, has got acceptance from 3, but of course her dream/stretch school Cal Poly doesn't do decisions until April.  So we've visited one school, have another visit lined up to probably her 2nd choice Illinois State, but she's getting all this mail from the other schools she was accepted into about locking in, etc.  That's not a big deal in itself since they give until May, but can't really reach out to meet other Freshman, or start to potentially work on a roommate, all that stuff.  Everything is effectively on hold until she hears about Cal Poly.

 

[El Floppo]

It's a tough wait for my daughter.  She applied to 4 schools, has got acceptance from 3, but of course her dream/stretch school Cal Poly doesn't do decisions until April.  So we've visited one school, have another visit lined up to probably her 2nd choice Illinois State, but she's getting all this mail from the other schools she was accepted into about locking in, etc.  That's not a big deal in itself since they give until May, but can't really reach out to meet other Freshman, or start to potentially work on a roommate, all that stuff.  Everything is effectively on hold until she hears about Cal Poly.

great news about the other 3, and good luck with Cal Poly- great school. 

 

[stbugs]

It's a tough wait for my daughter.  She applied to 4 schools, has got acceptance from 3, but of course her dream/stretch school Cal Poly doesn't do decisions until April.  So we've visited one school, have another visit lined up to probably her 2nd choice Illinois State, but she's getting all this mail from the other schools she was accepted into about locking in, etc.  That's not a big deal in itself since they give until May, but can't really reach out to meet other Freshman, or start to potentially work on a roommate, all that stuff.  Everything is effectively on hold until she hears about Cal Poly.

Is there a chance she might not get into Cal Poly? If so, would you only lose a deposit if you accepted her 2nd choice? While you are given until May it would suck to be at the end of the line for every decision assuming there’s a sizable chance she won’t get into the first choice.

 

[Foosball God]

Is there a chance she might not get into Cal Poly? If so, would you only lose a deposit if you accepted her 2nd choice? While you are given until May it would suck to be at the end of the line for every decision.

If it only relied on her grades I'd guess she wouldn't get in.  Even though she has a 3.7 that is low for Cal Poly, but she has some other advantages because she is in a magnet program for her desired major so I think she has a chance.  If I thought it was really unlikely I'd be trying to guide her to focus more on her second choice school while hoping for the best but we're just not there.

Putting in the deposit is an option, we're going to visit Illinois State in early March, if she likes the campus then we might go that route.  I am a little worried about dorm selection and whatnot.

 

[stbugs]

If it only relied on her grades I'd guess she wouldn't get in.  Even though she has a 3.7 that is low for Cal Poly, but she has some other advantages because she is in a magnet program for her desired major so I think she has a chance.  If I thought it was really unlikely I'd be trying to guide her to focus more on her second choice school while hoping for the best but we're just not there.

Putting in the deposit is an option, we're going to visit Illinois State in early March, if she likes the campus then we might go that route.  I am a little worried about dorm selection and whatnot.

Yeah, if Cal Poly was a shoe in, I might take the chance. I do know that quite a lot of kids do back out last minute. I remember my son (junior at Clemson now) had his roommate bail the day before move in and my son was pretty upset because they had talked a bunch and being from NC he didn’t have a bunch of friends going. It worked out as he made a bunch of great friends and he had a huge room all to himself where a bunch of HS friends crashed to go to Clemson football games. We spent time rearranging the room to set it up really well and he said it was great having a huge room to himself. Unfortunately got a meh roommate for that spring but got an apartment with friends the past two years.

I just wouldn’t worry too much about causing an issue for a roommate as there will be plenty of time to fix that but it would suck to lose out so much by waiting for a chance.