I can’t say this to my kid’s face, of course, but...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is everyone else doing in his school? Is it the school or there’s something wrong with his application that you haven’t noticed.

This is OP. It has been tough at his school but kids have certainly got in places.

I won’t tell you his entire list in case anyone is reading this and can figure out who he is, but here is a partial.

Waitlist: Case, Tulane, VErmont
Rejected: Northeastern, Vandy, Tulane, Emory

You put Tulane there twice. If Tulane was a wait-list DS has a good shot there. Send a loci and make a phone call to his admissions officer.

That was an typo. He got rejected from Tulane. Outright.

[Anonymous]

Maybe putting so much stock on kicking your ass in high school to get into the perfect college wasn't the best idea huh? Maybe just emphasizing doing your best, working hard and then seeing where that takes you would have been better. Not basing your self worth on The Perfect School.

I'd also guess you are let down because you thought paying for private school would mean you were exceptional no matter what.

You'll all survive. Look up people who have kicked ass in the life after attending your disappointing safety school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had this situation. My suggestion is to really work the waitlists and consider hiring a college counselor to coach working the waitlist. He may get a spring admit.

How could a college counselor help work the waitlist? If there is a counselor that has connections at a particular school, then maybe I could see how someone might be able to put a thumb on the scale. Otherwise, I'm not sure how that would work.

That happened at my high school. The college counselors knew the Deans of Admission and could call them up and pull for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is everyone else doing in his school? Is it the school or there’s something wrong with his application that you haven’t noticed.

This is OP. It has been tough at his school but kids have certainly got in places.

I won’t tell you his entire list in case anyone is reading this and can figure out who he is, but here is a partial.

Waitlist: Case, Tulane, VErmont
Rejected: Northeastern, Vandy, Tulane, Emory

You put Tulane there twice. If Tulane was a wait-list DS has a good shot there. Send a loci and make a phone call to his admissions officer.

That was an typo. He got rejected from Tulane. Outright.

Did he do the interview at Tulane and the extra essay? Did he attend the online info sessions? If not, that is why he was rejected. Tulane tracks this stuff closely and DS’s college counselor should have made this very clear when he put Tulane on his list.

[Anonymous]

Someone on reddit was waitlisted at Emory and WashU but got into Johns Hopkins. Last year a hispanic student was waitlisted at Emory and got into Princeton. So you never know ...that super Reach might be lucky for him. And at this point Emory and Vandy are super Reaches if you don't apply ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had this situation. My suggestion is to really work the waitlists and consider hiring a college counselor to coach working the waitlist. He may get a spring admit.

I was going to suggest the same. If Tulane is a waitlist, he has a real shot bc they love high stat kids. He should double down on sending very personal letter of top interest - and I’d pay for 1-2 hrs of college counselor time to help best strategize this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had this situation. My suggestion is to really work the waitlists and consider hiring a college counselor to coach working the waitlist. He may get a spring admit.

How could a college counselor help work the waitlist? If there is a counselor that has connections at a particular school, then maybe I could see how someone might be able to put a thumb on the scale. Otherwise, I'm not sure how that would work.

That happened at my high school. The college counselors knew the Deans of Admission and could call them up and pull for kids.

Right, but PP was suggesting hiring an independent college counselor. Unless a college counselor has a particular connection at the school(s) were DS is waitlisted -- which seems unlikely -- I have trouble seeing how that would help. But maybe I am just not the type to immediately think of hiring a "consultant" to try to fix everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe putting so much stock on kicking your ass in high school to get into the perfect college wasn't the best idea huh? Maybe just emphasizing doing your best, working hard and then seeing where that takes you would have been better. Not basing your self worth on The Perfect School.

I'd also guess you are let down because you thought paying for private school would mean you were exceptional no matter what.

You'll all survive. Look up people who have kicked ass in the life after attending your disappointing safety school.

OP made a point of saying her kid did not have his heart set on one particular school. So where is this comment coming from? She didn’t say he was crushed bc he didn’t get into his top choice.

You don’t make the association of working hard with having things pay off in some way? Sorry, I think most people do.

[Anonymous]

Oh sorry just saw your folloe up re Tulane. But he is weaitlisted at some colleges yes? I’d still hire a counselor for 2 hrs or so to best strategize which of the WL schools he has the best shot and how to convey his interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had this situation. My suggestion is to really work the waitlists and consider hiring a college counselor to coach working the waitlist. He may get a spring admit.

How could a college counselor help work the waitlist? If there is a counselor that has connections at a particular school, then maybe I could see how someone might be able to put a thumb on the scale. Otherwise, I'm not sure how that would work.

That happened at my high school. The college counselors knew the Deans of Admission and could call them up and pull for kids.

Right, but PP was suggesting hiring an independent college counselor. Unless a college counselor has a particular connection at the school(s) were DS is waitlisted -- which seems unlikely -- I have trouble seeing how that would help. But maybe I am just not the type to immediately think of hiring a "consultant" to try to fix everything.

PP here. Oh that’s true — it’s gonna be a crapshoot in terms of an independent college counselor and I’d be wary of anyone who claims to have such connections. At least with a school college counselor, you can see the school’s track record with various colleges.

[Anonymous]

Oof that is rough. Options:
1 - more applications to some rolling admits
2 - gap year/classes at local college, reapply
3 - take that one admit. Surely there is a reason he applied there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had this situation. My suggestion is to really work the waitlists and consider hiring a college counselor to coach working the waitlist. He may get a spring admit.

How could a college counselor help work the waitlist? If there is a counselor that has connections at a particular school, then maybe I could see how someone might be able to put a thumb on the scale. Otherwise, I'm not sure how that would work.

There are counselors with connections that can help. The world of college admissions is pretty small, particularly in the (mostly) private universities your DC applied to.

Also, I assume that you are full pay, since you are at a private. This can work to your advantage because those taken off the waitlists are given 1 week or so to respond, and are not given any FA. You need to be flexible and you need to act fast. After Ivy Day, there will be a massive cascade effect on the applicants.

On hindsight, I think you should have added 1-2 more publics. But that's not important now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He might still get into one or more of his waitlist schools that are matches or low matches (somewhere above safety). He should do whatever he can within reason to express continued interest in whatever is his favorite of those schools. Many schools in recent years are waitlisting high stat kids who likely won't attend. That was my DDs experience last year and it seems more dramatic this year. He should contact the rep assigned to him (by email) or whoever else makes sense and indicate that he WILL attend if he is admitted and that he is truly excited about the school. Visit if you can.

This is excellent advice.

[Anonymous]

My kid also got rejected by Northeastern (had a ridiculously high SAT score but lower GPA than your DS, OP).

What we learned from the rejection letter is that NE received 75,000 applications this year. That is NUTS.

You have my sympathies, OP, in this crazy admissions cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you read his essay? I truly don't get this.

I know kids with much lower SATs who got into the schools on your list.

This. There must be something wrong with his application. Though this is a weird year to apply, his stats are really good