Experienced Parents: What was DCUM right/wrong about?

[Anonymous]

Right:

ED is the new RD. Apply to everywhere your child has any interest in going early.

There is no real merit aid out there. You must plan and save a lot and early, or be prepared to take on significant loans. Even if your kid is very smart.

Wrong:

GPA is more important than rigor. My child got into a school that is often touted on this board as impossible to get into without a 4.0 or better, with three Cs on his transcript. They were all in the hardest AP classes offered at his school. At an orientation seminar, a counselor at the college specifically said they look for kids who are resilient when things are tough so they shouldn't get upset if things get rough academically. So those Cs may have actually helped him.

SATs are optional for everyone. If your kids is "on the bubble" with any school, submitting a decent score will push you them over kids who did not. "Decent" is relative to the school; look up the average score of the last admitted class. If it's the same or higher, submit it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

That's absurd for a state school. So, your kid goes to a different state school.

A lot of people want to pay extra and ride Lexus rather than Toyota.
A lot of people choose UVA and private schools too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What DCUM got right: being a recruited athlete is the best hook.

+1
Talent and hard work in athletics and in the classroom can really pay off!

What do people do with kids who are not talented athletes?

Get them started with a sport they enjoy when they are young. You don’t need to be a natural athlete. It can be learned.

Yes, any kid can learn a sport and get better. But, if your goal is for your kid to be recruited, that’s another matter. Many parents waste 10s of thousands of dollars and tons of time trying to turn their mediocre athlete into a recruitment star. It overwhelmingly doesn’t work. If your kid loves their sport, they get playing time, and they excel relative to others in the game, you may have something. Otherwise, put your money in a 529.

Point taken. My kid is a recruited athlete at a high academic D3. Good but not great athlete. We spend less than 5k per year. Grades and stats in the top 25% of applicants in a school that accepts less than 7%. The investment in the sport was well worth it.

But that is basically a needle in a haystack. One DC played club for years and opted not to pursue recruiting in college. Only 3 kids got scholarships. Two were generous, one knocked down the price and the remainder covered by EFC and need. The other three are playing but minimal money - in that group, all probably measure up with your DC.

One kid really expected to get a scholarship AT ANY SCHOOL and it simply didn't pan out. Kid was super fast, quite talented, not always the best team player, and on the very small side for even a D3 school. Parents were devastated.

Finally, how are you paying less than 5k at a high academic D3 as D3s do not offer athletic scholarships? Perhaps your DC got a robust aid package, even merit, but not an athletic scholarship.

It's 5k per year spent on the sport during middle school and high school. None of this is for scholarship money. We will be full pay at the D3 which only offers need based aid. Without the sport, admission would have been a total crap shoot even with top stats. That's why being a recruited athlete is the best hook.

This is how it’s done, and previous poster is DCUM getting wrong. People don’t do athletics for scholarship, they do it for the admissions bump, and being full pay is part of that arrangement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all the admissions pessimism on this board, we thought DS would have a tougher time with a 1390 SAT and 3.75 UW/4.2 W GPA. He got into one EA SLAC with 50% merit aid and then into his reach ED with a 13% admit rate, then withdrew other apps. Honestly, I thought there was no way he’d get into ED, so I didn’t think a lot about the commitment. That was a mistake.

Well that ain't Ivy is it--that's all that counts around these parts unless the LAC (Not SLAC) is Amherst, Williams, or Pomona. Hope he enjoys Maine--Colby is cold in the Winter.

I thought Bates and how wonderful that would be. And I find this helpful because I have a kid with similar stats (but a DD). I was surprised to see Collegevine giving higher odds at Middlebury.

Bates takes an enormous percentage of their class ED. About 80% of students are— the largest I’ve seen. 46% admit rate ED. About 10% RD.

[Anonymous]

https://www.collegematchpoint.com/college-matchpoint-blog/2018/8/the-moneyball-of-college-admissions-early-decision-merit-aid-and-need-based-aid-xb7e4

Bate numbers

[Anonymous]

Another source for Bates taking 80% of their class ED (red the into paragraph, not the chart)

https://www.collegekickstart.com/blog/item/early-decision-schools-that-double-admission-odds

[Anonymous]

Not going to read thru all of the replies. Sorry if already mentioned but encouraging DC to apply somewhere they would be happy at with rolling admissions and/or a true safety.

If/once kid gets in, all the rest is upside.

And save, save, save so that the financials are manageable.

I wasted too much energy quietly stressing about it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

Do you hear yourself and how clueless you sound? I mean I knew to save to college and we have from the time our kids were born. But we do not make anywhere enough money to save 300k for each or have our own financial advisor. It always stuns me how supposedly intelligent folks on this board can be so out of touch with most people's realities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wrong: all the anxiety. If you want to make this process elongated and a mess, you can, but you don’t have to. Just be reasonable, have a strategy, execute, and keep to yourself. Oh, and when you “win,” nobody wants to hear about it, especially if you got great results.

This. Our family was swimming entirely alone by practicing this ^^ as our class of 22 grad went through the process

(For context, kid was a Sidwell grad and we live in upper NW).

Honestly I believe many of our peers reveal their mental illness during this process.

+1

So true. Parents remember it is your kid going to college - NOT YOU.

[Anonymous]

Right- LACs are definitely more holistic about admissions than top universities are. Compelling passions and a likeable personality can tilt the favor to even the best LACs in a way that doesn't happen among top universities. Similarly, top LACs will routinely reject Ivy+ admitted top candidates if they are perceived by adcom to be unlikeable or a poor fit.

Wrong- Going to community college hurts your chances of transferring to a good school. There has been an increased push to recruit these students over traditional transfers. Doing well at an honors college at CC and showing engagement with their opportunities is a golden ticket to the nation's best universities and LACs. If you plan it out effectively, you can definitely save a ton going to CC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right:

ED is the new RD. Apply to everywhere your child has any interest in going early.

There is no real merit aid out there. You must plan and save a lot and early, or be prepared to take on significant loans. Even if your kid is very smart.

Wrong:

GPA is more important than rigor. My child got into a school that is often touted on this board as impossible to get into without a 4.0 or better, with three Cs on his transcript. They were all in the hardest AP classes offered at his school. At an orientation seminar, a counselor at the college specifically said they look for kids who are resilient when things are tough so they shouldn't get upset if things get rough academically. So those Cs may have actually helped him.

SATs are optional for everyone. If your kids is "on the bubble" with any school, submitting a decent score will push you them over kids who did not. "Decent" is relative to the school; look up the average score of the last admitted class. If it's the same or higher, submit it.

So interesting, thank you for sharing. I had a feeling this was the case. I've heard as much on admissions podcasts, but here getting the thinking has been to get the A at all costs - even if that means dropping to a standard level course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right:

There is no real merit aid out there. You must plan and save a lot and early, or be prepared to take on significant loans. Even if your kid is very smart.

Wrong. Our kids both got big merit scholarships which resulted in us paying roughly half of the full sticker price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right:

There is no real merit aid out there. You must plan and save a lot and early, or be prepared to take on significant loans. Even if your kid is very smart.

Wrong. Our kids both got big merit scholarships which resulted in us paying roughly half of the full sticker price.

^^^ Both at top 30 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

Engineering and Business are most popular and it's like half of the university