This, in a nutshell, is a good part of the reason why college admissions is so terrible these days. |
Looks like the list was a bunch of reaches and then eights schools the parent says the student never wanted to attend. Why would they apply to eight schools they aren’t interested in? What’s wrong with PSU and Syracuse? Those are solid universities. Hope you and your kid come around! |
Yikes. Too many schools in both the reach category and the safety category. When we started out, I told my kid she needed at least 3 target schools and 3 safeties she would be excited to attend. Then, she was free to apply to as many more as she wanted. She applied to 6 reaches, 3 safeties, 3 targets. We started visiting safeties junior year and I explicitly told her we needed to find 3 she thought were great and had great opportunities for her. She did. She got WL at 2 reaches and into the 6 safeties/reaches. Her decision came down to a safety and a target. She withdrew from the WLs and is over the moon excited to attend her target. Top high school/1540/4.4 and national awards. You HAVE to teaxh your kids there are amazing opportunities everywhere. Because there are. And that is how you find happiness and success. |
Weird that She would apply to Penn State out of state, but not Virginia Tech in state. |
+1000 |
Also, nobody “earns” admission at any school. You apply, they decide. If you are trying to “earn” admission you are doing it wrong. They hold all the cards and it’s not a meritocracy. It’s a business. Make sure your kid knows that from the beginning. |
|
did you visit Syracuse? This was DS's safety that he would have happily attended. We don't know an unhappy kid there. It is pricey. If instate tuition appeals, JMU is also said to have very happy students.
|
My dd was in a similar situation and just finished her first year at penn state. She is in the honors college and loves it. She went in planning to transfer and is now staying. Her words: the school spirit is intoxicating and everyone is so nice. She has a research internship lined up for the summer and people aren’t kidding about the alumni network. She has many friends which is a huge change from high school and is dating a nice kid.
She had very high stats, great ECs and cast a wide net. Shut out of top 20. We toured her acceptances and she was surprised how much she liked Penn state. All this to say is to give it a chance. |
Can you share stats, SAT's, GPA, AP's taken? |
Not OP, but I’d discourage anyone from thinking this is a fate that can be avoided by achieving a particular score or GPA, or by taking certain courses. There’s just a lot of randomness in the system and many strong students wind up at big schools with high acceptance rates. |
Your daughter has some great options! I hope both you and she start getting excited about her college. Start looking into what her college offers so she has things to be excited about. My ‘24 kid was waitlisted at their top choices, and is at a college that has the reputation of being a “fallback school”. They found a nice group of friends, got involved on campus and took advantage of social and cultural opportunities the surrounding area. When I broached the possibility of transferring, my kid said no! |
GWU? |
What a pathetic, whiny OP. There are eight acceptances in what looks like an extremely unrealistic list. |
+2 |