scorchy
Footballguy
Upthread. Kid got accepted to Stanford via Restricted Early Action back in mid-December.wait... WHAT STANFORD NEWS?!!!!
Upthread. Kid got accepted to Stanford via Restricted Early Action back in mid-December.wait... WHAT STANFORD NEWS?!!!!
I just got emotional... no joke.Upthread. Kid got accepted to Stanford via Restricted Early Action back in mid-December.wait... WHAT STANFORD NEWS?!!!!
Thanks, Flop. Means a lot.I just got emotional... no joke.
that is amazing scorch! so happy for him and you guys!!
explain Restricted Early Action to me, please. and tell me more about your kid!
Funny, he's a total anti-communist. His school is super left-wing, and despite going in as a proud liberal, all the Eat the Rich buttons worn by wealthy white girls have led to a small-but-noticeable turn right (or at least towards the middle).I can see why he got in to Stanford. that is an inspiring/amazing/crazy life pursuit for an 8th grader communist.
did he apply to Stanford with a major up front? if you don't mind my asking- what were his SATs?
If you ever have any questions, feel free to PM. Both bigbottom and The_Man were fountains of knowledge/experience for me, and I'm happy to pay it forward.Thanks for sharing that stuff, scorch. Crazy times we live in where straight As (at a crazy good school) and a 1500 is on the fence somehow.
I was absent from fbg for a stretch so missed a bunch over the recent months, but otherwise this is one of a handful of threads I read top to bottom. Originally with more of an excitement and joy for the good news from everybody and their kids, and now with one focused on my own kids and their potential paths. (Still mostly for the excitement and joy tbh!)
Thanks! That’s great news on Stanford!That's great news with Michigan. My wife went to law school there and both her parents attended so I'm intimately familiar with the allure. Ann Arbor would be a great place to spend 4 years if you can handle the cold. My wife is from Florida so had never seen snow before her first winter there.Replying to myself, but he’s IN Michigan for applied mathematics 🥳!
UIUC - Accepted for Mechanical Engineering 🥳
GT - deferred to the RD pool for Mechanical Engineering
As Ice Cube would say “Today was a good day”
My son pulled most of his apps after getting the Stanford news, but did leave a few open just in case. Deferred at Michigan and USC, in at Wisconsin, and still awaiting UCLA in March. We're visiting Palo Alto for the first time in a few weeks, and assuming all goes well, he'll probably withdraw all except UCLA.
Thanks! That’s great news on Stanford!That's great news with Michigan. My wife went to law school there and both her parents attended so I'm intimately familiar with the allure. Ann Arbor would be a great place to spend 4 years if you can handle the cold. My wife is from Florida so had never seen snow before her first winter there.UIUC - Accepted for Mechanical Engineering 🥳
GT - deferred to the RD pool for Mechanical Engineering
As Ice Cube would say “Today was a good day”
My son pulled most of his apps after getting the Stanford news, but did leave a few open just in case. Deferred at Michigan and USC, in at Wisconsin, and still awaiting UCLA in March. We're visiting Palo Alto for the first time in a few weeks, and assuming all goes well, he'll probably withdraw all except UCLA.
We are still waiting on a bunch for RD (Stanford, MIT, Berk, UCLA, CMU, WashU, Williams, Amherst, Cornell, Brown, and deferral decisions from USC and GT).
We REA Princeton 🥺.
Yes, we applied to 20 schools, but they were spread over 3 majors since you have to apply to specific STEM programs out of high school and he wants options to decide based on where he is accepted.
I’ve got a spreadsheet to keep me organized. He’s not sure between CS, Math, and Engineering.Thanks! That’s great news on Stanford!That's great news with Michigan. My wife went to law school there and both her parents attended so I'm intimately familiar with the allure. Ann Arbor would be a great place to spend 4 years if you can handle the cold. My wife is from Florida so had never seen snow before her first winter there.UIUC - Accepted for Mechanical Engineering 🥳
GT - deferred to the RD pool for Mechanical Engineering
As Ice Cube would say “Today was a good day”
My son pulled most of his apps after getting the Stanford news, but did leave a few open just in case. Deferred at Michigan and USC, in at Wisconsin, and still awaiting UCLA in March. We're visiting Palo Alto for the first time in a few weeks, and assuming all goes well, he'll probably withdraw all except UCLA.
We are still waiting on a bunch for RD (Stanford, MIT, Berk, UCLA, CMU, WashU, Williams, Amherst, Cornell, Brown, and deferral decisions from USC and GT).
We REA Princeton 🥺.
Yes, we applied to 20 schools, but they were spread over 3 majors since you have to apply to specific STEM programs out of high school and he wants options to decide based on where he is accepted.
Holy crap. I thought 10 was a ridiculous amount of work for my kid. But no doubt yours is going to have some hard decisions to make with multiple amazing options!
our son is a bit of a stem kid... will definitely be trying to remember this moving forward.I’ve got a spreadsheet to keep me organized. He’s not sure between CS, Math, and Engineering.Thanks! That’s great news on Stanford!That's great news with Michigan. My wife went to law school there and both her parents attended so I'm intimately familiar with the allure. Ann Arbor would be a great place to spend 4 years if you can handle the cold. My wife is from Florida so had never seen snow before her first winter there.UIUC - Accepted for Mechanical Engineering 🥳
GT - deferred to the RD pool for Mechanical Engineering
As Ice Cube would say “Today was a good day”
My son pulled most of his apps after getting the Stanford news, but did leave a few open just in case. Deferred at Michigan and USC, in at Wisconsin, and still awaiting UCLA in March. We're visiting Palo Alto for the first time in a few weeks, and assuming all goes well, he'll probably withdraw all except UCLA.
We are still waiting on a bunch for RD (Stanford, MIT, Berk, UCLA, CMU, WashU, Williams, Amherst, Cornell, Brown, and deferral decisions from USC and GT).
We REA Princeton 🥺.
Yes, we applied to 20 schools, but they were spread over 3 majors since you have to apply to specific STEM programs out of high school and he wants options to decide based on where he is accepted.
Holy crap. I thought 10 was a ridiculous amount of work for my kid. But no doubt yours is going to have some hard decisions to make with multiple amazing options!
Unfortunately, you get only 1 choice for most schools so we spread them out (9 for Math, 7 for Engineering, and 4 for CS). If he could have just applied to Michigan for example, and then picked between those 3 majors after acceptance, he would’ve applied to less.
Happy to share strategy for those applying to STEM heavy programs as admittance rates vary drastically from those published depending on the major you apply too.
For example, you’ve got a better chance getting into most Ivy’s than Illinois for CS if you are OOS.
continue what you are doing: reinforce the strengths that resulted in those acceptances. I do not want to jump right into jealousy as being their rationale for the differential treatment, but... if she gets into one- maybe its a fluke, but if she is nailing all of them it is not coincidental. she has earned those accomplishments!So a bit of a detour… My daughter has been accepted to the PhD program in chemistry at MIT (and all the other top 10 schools). She called yesterday upset because her class mates/lab partners/professors are treating her differently since she has gotten into the top schools for her degree. At this point she is concerned she is not good enough for those programs, won’t produce for those programs.
I told her that these programs are willing to overpay her based upon cost of living for those locations because she is a hard worker/has proven herself in her lab work and publishment and are hoping that she can continue that. I also said to her that she has worked hard for everything she’s being offered and I’m concerned she’s trying to talk herself out of going for her dreams. What can I tell her to boost her confidence?
Look up imposter syndrome. It's a real thing, and particularly affects young women.So a bit of a detour… My daughter has been accepted to the PhD program in chemistry at MIT (and all the other top 10 schools). She called yesterday upset because her class mates/lab partners/professors are treating her differently since she has gotten into the top schools for her degree. At this point she is concerned she is not good enough for those programs, won’t produce for those programs.
I told her that these programs are willing to overpay her based upon cost of living for those locations because she is a hard worker/has proven herself in her lab work and publishment and are hoping that she can continue that. I also said to her that she has worked hard for everything she’s being offered and I’m concerned she’s trying to talk herself out of going for her dreams. What can I tell her to boost her confidence?
continue what you are doing: reinforce the strengths that resulted in those acceptances. I do not want to jump right into jealousy as being their rationale for the differential treatment, but... if she gets into one- maybe its a fluke, but if she is nailing all of them it is not coincidental. she has earned those accomplishments!So a bit of a detour… My daughter has been accepted to the PhD program in chemistry at MIT (and all the other top 10 schools). She called yesterday upset because her class mates/lab partners/professors are treating her differently since she has gotten into the top schools for her degree. At this point she is concerned she is not good enough for those programs, won’t produce for those programs.
I told her that these programs are willing to overpay her based upon cost of living for those locations because she is a hard worker/has proven herself in her lab work and publishment and are hoping that she can continue that. I also said to her that she has worked hard for everything she’s being offered and I’m concerned she’s trying to talk herself out of going for her dreams. What can I tell her to boost her confidence?
don't let her classmates undermine them
My daughter was hoodwinked by our high school to do a year for free at community college and now wants to go to university of Michigan. I hope she gets accepted. 4.1 gpa, 10th in her high school class. Fingers crossed. She’s on the postponed list. Anyone have any experience with that?
Didn't occur to me at the time, but this seems consistent with my daughter's experience too. Some classmates whose other top acceptances were at the level of Georgia Tech got in, while the kids who were accepted to Ivies did not get in. This is out of state - might differ for those who are in state.My daughter was hoodwinked by our high school to do a year for free at community college and now wants to go to university of Michigan. I hope she gets accepted. 4.1 gpa, 10th in her high school class. Fingers crossed. She’s on the postponed list. Anyone have any experience with that?
My limited experience with UMich shows that it's a school that deeply cares about yield. Neither of my children applied, but I saw their lesser-qualified classmates get accepted and better candidates get rejected. If there's any indication that UMich is a safety school, expect a rejection. If your daughter really wants to attend, apply early and focus an essay on convincing them she will attend if accepted.
This is unbelievably good advice. From my peripheral professional experience of working in higher ed, I couldn't agree more that finding the right fit with an advisor/supervisor - particularly in the hard sciences, and particularly for a woman - is worth infinitely more than the name of the institution. My only additional suggestion might be to to find someone who recently completed their PhD with the proposed advisor and try to arrange a conversation, as a person no longer working in the advisor's lab might speak a bit more freely than a current student and potential colleague would.As I said, have her focus on the research topics and the personality of the professors whose topics she's interested in. For a PhD in the hard sciences you're selecting a professor and research topic area as much as you are selecting a university. She'll be working with her advisor for the next 4-6 years so that relationship is critical. Once she has a short list, she should ask for descriptions of the upcoming research topics she'd likely work on and the name of at least 1 current PhD student, preferably one that came directly from undergrad and not from industry, and one that has 3 or more years in the program. Then she should set up a phone call with that student to understand the program and professor and what the lab is like. She should ask that student for the name of another student or try to find one on FB or LinkedIn. Getting multiple perspectives about a potential advisor is crucial. Picking a good one that is supportive and not terrible might be the most important aspect of doing a PhD in the hard sciences. The other is staying motivated on the topic area throughout the 4-6 years of work that lie ahead. Lots of life to be had and learned between 22 and 27.
I’ve got a spreadsheet to keep me organized. He’s not sure between CS, Math, and Engineering.Thanks! That’s great news on Stanford!That's great news with Michigan. My wife went to law school there and both her parents attended so I'm intimately familiar with the allure. Ann Arbor would be a great place to spend 4 years if you can handle the cold. My wife is from Florida so had never seen snow before her first winter there.UIUC - Accepted for Mechanical Engineering 🥳
GT - deferred to the RD pool for Mechanical Engineering
As Ice Cube would say “Today was a good day”
My son pulled most of his apps after getting the Stanford news, but did leave a few open just in case. Deferred at Michigan and USC, in at Wisconsin, and still awaiting UCLA in March. We're visiting Palo Alto for the first time in a few weeks, and assuming all goes well, he'll probably withdraw all except UCLA.
We are still waiting on a bunch for RD (Stanford, MIT, Berk, UCLA, CMU, WashU, Williams, Amherst, Cornell, Brown, and deferral decisions from USC and GT).
We REA Princeton 🥺.
Yes, we applied to 20 schools, but they were spread over 3 majors since you have to apply to specific STEM programs out of high school and he wants options to decide based on where he is accepted.
Holy crap. I thought 10 was a ridiculous amount of work for my kid. But no doubt yours is going to have some hard decisions to make with multiple amazing options!
Unfortunately, you get only 1 choice for most schools so we spread them out (9 for Math, 7 for Engineering, and 4 for CS). If he could have just applied to Michigan for example, and then picked between those 3 majors after acceptance, he would’ve applied to less.
Happy to share strategy for those applying to STEM heavy programs as admittance rates vary drastically from those published depending on the major you apply too.
For example, you’ve got a better chance getting into most Ivy’s than Illinois for CS if you are OOS.
You have been immensely helpful. I have copied your posts and texted them to her. She was very excited to have such a well thought out/helpful advice. Thank you!As I said, have her focus on the research topics and the personality of the professors whose topics she's interested in. For a PhD in the hard sciences you're selecting a professor and research topic area as much as you are selecting a university. She'll be working with her advisor for the next 4-6 years so that relationship is critical. Once she has a short list, she should ask for descriptions of the upcoming research topics she'd likely work on and the name of at least 1 current PhD student, preferably one that came directly from undergrad and not from industry, and one that has 3 or more years in the program. Then she should set up a phone call with that student to understand the program and professor and what the lab is like. She should ask that student for the name of another student or try to find one on FB or LinkedIn. Getting multiple perspectives about a potential advisor is crucial. Picking a good one that is supportive and not terrible might be the most important aspect of doing a PhD in the hard sciences. The other is staying motivated on the topic area throughout the 4-6 years of work that lie ahead. Lots of life to be had and learned between 22 and 27.
At some state schools it is possible to switch majors (math to CS), but top STEM programs have either virtually closed this loophole or actually state on their website transfer into CS is NOT allowed for anyone (UIUC, Berk, are examples). In fact at UIUC you are not even guaranteed to transfer to another engineering program if it’s a “competitive” one.I’ve got a spreadsheet to keep me organized. He’s not sure between CS, Math, and Engineering.Thanks! That’s great news on Stanford!That's great news with Michigan. My wife went to law school there and both her parents attended so I'm intimately familiar with the allure. Ann Arbor would be a great place to spend 4 years if you can handle the cold. My wife is from Florida so had never seen snow before her first winter there.UIUC - Accepted for Mechanical Engineering 🥳
GT - deferred to the RD pool for Mechanical Engineering
As Ice Cube would say “Today was a good day”
My son pulled most of his apps after getting the Stanford news, but did leave a few open just in case. Deferred at Michigan and USC, in at Wisconsin, and still awaiting UCLA in March. We're visiting Palo Alto for the first time in a few weeks, and assuming all goes well, he'll probably withdraw all except UCLA.
We are still waiting on a bunch for RD (Stanford, MIT, Berk, UCLA, CMU, WashU, Williams, Amherst, Cornell, Brown, and deferral decisions from USC and GT).
We REA Princeton 🥺.
Yes, we applied to 20 schools, but they were spread over 3 majors since you have to apply to specific STEM programs out of high school and he wants options to decide based on where he is accepted.
Holy crap. I thought 10 was a ridiculous amount of work for my kid. But no doubt yours is going to have some hard decisions to make with multiple amazing options!
Unfortunately, you get only 1 choice for most schools so we spread them out (9 for Math, 7 for Engineering, and 4 for CS). If he could have just applied to Michigan for example, and then picked between those 3 majors after acceptance, he would’ve applied to less.
Happy to share strategy for those applying to STEM heavy programs as admittance rates vary drastically from those published depending on the major you apply too.
For example, you’ve got a better chance getting into most Ivy’s than Illinois for CS if you are OOS.
YMMV, but how easy would it be to transfer within majors within the same school? I did my maths degree in the UK and there was a great deal of flexibility in terms of the first year courses you could take, not only to better cater to personal interests within the subject, but to keep your options open to potential switches to a joint honours degree or potentially an outright transfer. Only half the modules I did in my first year were actually mandatory.
I ask this as quite a number of STEM subjects at this level will require some advanced maths courses, so you will naturally cover a fair bit of what you would normally be doing in the potential destination subject if you start out enrolled in maths, the other way around, not so much, it would be a lot, lot easier to move from maths to CS than the other way around, I think if I wanted to do that I'd just have needed to do one optional programming course to remain eligible to transfer, whereas my housemate the other way around wouldn't have the possibility at all.
This was at a top 25 worldwide university for my subject so not exactly tinpot in terms of learning demands
Interesting. Yes we are in state. Unfortunately when we filled out the FAFSA I had to declare a really high income because I sold off rental properties. I would assume it isn’t great for her propsects. Two other kids who were in her class (one minority and both from single parent lower income families both got full rides). She hung right with those two (all were Top 10 in their class) and seems like she’s being passed over.Didn't occur to me at the time, but this seems consistent with my daughter's experience too. Some classmates whose other top acceptances were at the level of Georgia Tech got in, while the kids who were accepted to Ivies did not get in. This is out of state - might differ for those who are in state.My daughter was hoodwinked by our high school to do a year for free at community college and now wants to go to university of Michigan. I hope she gets accepted. 4.1 gpa, 10th in her high school class. Fingers crossed. She’s on the postponed list. Anyone have any experience with that?
My limited experience with UMich shows that it's a school that deeply cares about yield. Neither of my children applied, but I saw their lesser-qualified classmates get accepted and better candidates get rejected. If there's any indication that UMich is a safety school, expect a rejection. If your daughter really wants to attend, apply early and focus an essay on convincing them she will attend if accepted.
Great advice there. I may have missed it, is she looking to stay in Academia or move into industry? Some advisors are better at placing students at one or another. I'm in biotech and we hire a lot of PhDs. Almost always the first stop is talking to professors we have connections with to see if they have students to recommend. I know it works the same with professor placements and connections. Not as important as the fit with the advisor but something to consider.You have been immensely helpful. I have copied your posts and texted them to her. She was very excited to have such a well thought out/helpful advice. Thank you!As I said, have her focus on the research topics and the personality of the professors whose topics she's interested in. For a PhD in the hard sciences you're selecting a professor and research topic area as much as you are selecting a university. She'll be working with her advisor for the next 4-6 years so that relationship is critical. Once she has a short list, she should ask for descriptions of the upcoming research topics she'd likely work on and the name of at least 1 current PhD student, preferably one that came directly from undergrad and not from industry, and one that has 3 or more years in the program. Then she should set up a phone call with that student to understand the program and professor and what the lab is like. She should ask that student for the name of another student or try to find one on FB or LinkedIn. Getting multiple perspectives about a potential advisor is crucial. Picking a good one that is supportive and not terrible might be the most important aspect of doing a PhD in the hard sciences. The other is staying motivated on the topic area throughout the 4-6 years of work that lie ahead. Lots of life to be had and learned between 22 and 27.
Other than Carnegie Mellon, I'd think that none of the schools you listed are too crazy given what you've described.We're a bit of a different story than some of the high achievers we have in here (congratulations by the way). My son is currently a junior and pretty good, not exceptional, student on regular honor roll with decent standardized test scores, mediocre extracurriculars (NHS, meh track athlete, chess club, etc). He's generally unmotivated to put in any work above and beyond what's required. He's pretty much assuming college is the next step but not getting excited about looking into options / schools.
We're in PA and visited Penn State, Lehigh (of course), Villanova (mom's school), NC State (excuse to go to Krispy Kreme doughnut challenge), and planning on going to Pitt and Carnegie Mellon over Easter break. We're pretty much planning these out hoping he'll find something he likes and get a little more into the process and at least keep his options open. Right now, his thought is basically, "Penn State is fine, not as expensive as some other schools, I'll probably know kids that go there and I'll probably get in."
I'm torn between trying to push him / get him more into investigating and finding the right school and doing his best to have a good case for merit-based financial aid (unlike me back in the day. we're not going to get any need based) OR me just also saying, "Penn State is fine" and not stressing him out about colleges for the next year +. I recall a story or two where kids worked their asses off and after all that either didn't get into their school of choice or couldn't afford it and questioned, was it all worth it?
I guess I'm just trying to decide if his even keel go-with-the-flow attitude is a blessing or a curse here if he doesn't stress out for a couple years and still ends up at a good enough school. What do you guys think?
Interesting question. No idea, don’t recall it ever being part of any question. My oldest owns his car because his grandfather gave it to him since he helped a lot while grandfather lived with us with cancer before he passed at his home (couldn’t drive anymore). My middle son drives my wife’s/my car but I’m not even bothering with FAFSA for him. App State is where he’s going and it’s pretty inexpensive, relatively speaking. As for insurance, I don’t believe it matters or ever came up.Vaguely related question... For your kids that have cars, is the car in their name or yours?
Does it make any difference when schools are reviewing assets for financial aid?
While I'm asking, any difference in insurance rates or anything else to consider?
I don't remember any questions related to cars on FAFSA.Vaguely related question... For your kids that have cars, is the car in their name or yours?
Does it make any difference when schools are reviewing assets for financial aid?
While I'm asking, any difference in insurance rates or anything else to consider?
We're a bit of a different story than some of the high achievers we have in here (congratulations by the way). My son is currently a junior and pretty good, not exceptional, student on regular honor roll with decent standardized test scores, mediocre extracurriculars (NHS, meh track athlete, chess club, etc). He's generally unmotivated to put in any work above and beyond what's required. He's pretty much assuming college is the next step but not getting excited about looking into options / schools.
We're in PA and visited Penn State, Lehigh (of course), Villanova (mom's school), NC State (excuse to go to Krispy Kreme doughnut challenge), and planning on going to Pitt and Carnegie Mellon over Easter break. We're pretty much planning these out hoping he'll find something he likes and get a little more into the process and at least keep his options open. Right now, his thought is basically, "Penn State is fine, not as expensive as some other schools, I'll probably know kids that go there and I'll probably get in."
I'm torn between trying to push him / get him more into investigating and finding the right school and doing his best to have a good case for merit-based financial aid (unlike me back in the day. we're not going to get any need based) OR me just also saying, "Penn State is fine" and not stressing him out about colleges for the next year +. I recall a story or two where kids worked their asses off and after all that either didn't get into their school of choice or couldn't afford it and questioned, was it all worth it?
I guess I'm just trying to decide if his even keel go-with-the-flow attitude is a blessing or a curse here if he doesn't stress out for a couple years and still ends up at a good enough school. What do you guys think?
Poor kid never had a chance. I'm a mechanical engineer and my wife is a chemical engineer. Both my kids are more comfortable in the STEM subjects. We've been doing our best to also have them check out other areas / professions though. My son has been assuming he'd do something engineering related and also enjoys (at least as much or more than other subjects) chemistry so he may be following in my wife's footsteps as a chemical engineer. Another reason why PSU may be a good enough fit.We're a bit of a different story than some of the high achievers we have in here (congratulations by the way). My son is currently a junior and pretty good, not exceptional, student on regular honor roll with decent standardized test scores, mediocre extracurriculars (NHS, meh track athlete, chess club, etc). He's generally unmotivated to put in any work above and beyond what's required. He's pretty much assuming college is the next step but not getting excited about looking into options / schools.
We're in PA and visited Penn State, Lehigh (of course), Villanova (mom's school), NC State (excuse to go to Krispy Kreme doughnut challenge), and planning on going to Pitt and Carnegie Mellon over Easter break. We're pretty much planning these out hoping he'll find something he likes and get a little more into the process and at least keep his options open. Right now, his thought is basically, "Penn State is fine, not as expensive as some other schools, I'll probably know kids that go there and I'll probably get in."
I'm torn between trying to push him / get him more into investigating and finding the right school and doing his best to have a good case for merit-based financial aid (unlike me back in the day. we're not going to get any need based) OR me just also saying, "Penn State is fine" and not stressing him out about colleges for the next year +. I recall a story or two where kids worked their asses off and after all that either didn't get into their school of choice or couldn't afford it and questioned, was it all worth it?
I guess I'm just trying to decide if his even keel go-with-the-flow attitude is a blessing or a curse here if he doesn't stress out for a couple years and still ends up at a good enough school. What do you guys think?
Does your son know what he is interested in studying? I know that Penn State has an excellent engineering program.
My daughter was hoodwinked by our high school to do a year for free at community college and now wants to go to university of Michigan. I hope she gets accepted. 4.1 gpa, 10th in her high school class. Fingers crossed. She’s on the postponed list. Anyone have any experience with that?
My limited experience with UMich shows that it's a school that deeply cares about yield. Neither of my children applied, but I saw their lesser-qualified classmates get accepted and better candidates get rejected. If there's any indication that UMich is a safety school, expect a rejection. If your daughter really wants to attend, apply early and focus an essay on convincing them she will attend if accepted.
Poor kid never had a chance. I'm a mechanical engineer and my wife is a chemical engineer. Both my kids are more comfortable in the STEM subjects. We've been doing our best to also have them check out other areas / professions though. My son has been assuming he'd do something engineering related and also enjoys (at least as much or more than other subjects) chemistry so he may be following in my wife's footsteps as a chemical engineer. Another reason why PSU may be a good enough fit.We're a bit of a different story than some of the high achievers we have in here (congratulations by the way). My son is currently a junior and pretty good, not exceptional, student on regular honor roll with decent standardized test scores, mediocre extracurriculars (NHS, meh track athlete, chess club, etc). He's generally unmotivated to put in any work above and beyond what's required. He's pretty much assuming college is the next step but not getting excited about looking into options / schools.
We're in PA and visited Penn State, Lehigh (of course), Villanova (mom's school), NC State (excuse to go to Krispy Kreme doughnut challenge), and planning on going to Pitt and Carnegie Mellon over Easter break. We're pretty much planning these out hoping he'll find something he likes and get a little more into the process and at least keep his options open. Right now, his thought is basically, "Penn State is fine, not as expensive as some other schools, I'll probably know kids that go there and I'll probably get in."
I'm torn between trying to push him / get him more into investigating and finding the right school and doing his best to have a good case for merit-based financial aid (unlike me back in the day. we're not going to get any need based) OR me just also saying, "Penn State is fine" and not stressing him out about colleges for the next year +. I recall a story or two where kids worked their asses off and after all that either didn't get into their school of choice or couldn't afford it and questioned, was it all worth it?
I guess I'm just trying to decide if his even keel go-with-the-flow attitude is a blessing or a curse here if he doesn't stress out for a couple years and still ends up at a good enough school. What do you guys think?
Does your son know what he is interested in studying? I know that Penn State has an excellent engineering program.
She will absolutely. We only visited Michigan and Michigan state. State is the contingency. Michigan is the goal. She’s already been accepted at State but that definitely not her preference.
Good luck; maybe we will have FBGs kids at the same schoolShe will absolutely. We only visited Michigan and Michigan state. State is the contingency. Michigan is the goal. She’s already been accepted at State but that definitely not her preference.
Thought about having him send a note to Brown, I have read messages on both sides on the effectiveness of the approach. My feelings are, if it is true and outlines the reasons why it is his #1, that it shouldn't hurt.She will absolutely. We only visited Michigan and Michigan state. State is the contingency. Michigan is the goal. She’s already been accepted at State but that definitely not her preference.
I've mentioned this upthread, and it's not an approach that I necessarily recommend, but it's what my son did. My son had a clear number one choice and it was the last school on the calendar in terms of admission announcements. He'd already heard from all his other schools, but his top choice was still his top choice. Several weeks before the admissions decisions were due to drop, he wrote an email to the admissions contact for his region. In that email, he stated that if he were to be granted admission, he would 100% accept. He included some context about why it was his first choice, but the central message was that he was a guaranteed accept. If yield is a primary consideration for the school, a communication like this could make the difference. I suppose it could also rub someone the wrong way, so I'm not saying it's the necessarily right thing to do.
To be totally blunt, while it certainly won't hurt it almost certainly won't help either. Brown is one of the schools (like most of the ludicrously selective ones) that states it "does not track demonstrated interest." They basically assume that they're one of your top choices - the only way of demonstrating they're your top choice that moves the needle at all is by applying Early Decision. If it makes you feel like you've left nothing undone, then you can send a letter. But it honestly won't make a difference and I wouldn't spend much (or even any) time and effort on it.Thought about having him send a note to Brown, I have read messages on both sides on the effectiveness of the approach. My feelings are, if it is true and outlines the reasons why it is his #1, that it shouldn't hurt.She will absolutely. We only visited Michigan and Michigan state. State is the contingency. Michigan is the goal. She’s already been accepted at State but that definitely not her preference.
I've mentioned this upthread, and it's not an approach that I necessarily recommend, but it's what my son did. My son had a clear number one choice and it was the last school on the calendar in terms of admission announcements. He'd already heard from all his other schools, but his top choice was still his top choice. Several weeks before the admissions decisions were due to drop, he wrote an email to the admissions contact for his region. In that email, he stated that if he were to be granted admission, he would 100% accept. He included some context about why it was his first choice, but the central message was that he was a guaranteed accept. If yield is a primary consideration for the school, a communication like this could make the difference. I suppose it could also rub someone the wrong way, so I'm not saying it's the necessarily right thing to do.