Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 22:53     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Thank you all and I will report back! From what I know of Princeton she does seem like a fit there but it seems strange to even think that. Like we're shooting too high. Especially now with the two deferrals. She did apply to Princeton and Cornell FWIW. She IS happy with her choices already, UMD has excellent engineering options. For the DD with similar stats...what did she choose?
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 22:47     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Anonymous wrote:DD got into the honors program (with merit) at UMass and honors program at UMD. Deferred MI, deferred MIT (this is why there's no ED). Do the honors program acceptances indicate top tier schools in March? I realize you're not fortune tellers but I was hoping if you've seen honors acceptances EA you might have seen what happens next. Major is STEM. Great and relevant ecs. 1590 SAT. 4.0 unweighted and no ranking in the school. This wait is hard. CMU, Northwestern, Hopkins and a variety of ivies plus the deferrals are what we're waiting on.

DD similar stats, EC with leadership, although yours has higher SAT. She had several years research with publications and national presentation. In at umass honors and EA MI. Accepted RD at CMU, Cornell. WL harvard, Hopkins, rice. Rejected at nu. I think she’ll get into cmu or others on your list, agree MI will convert to accept. Send in LOI!!
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 22:35     Subject: Re:Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Keep us posted Op, we’re routing for her!
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 22:20     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:She sounds really great.

I said earlier, she doesn’t sound like Northwestern and I think that’s still stands.

She actually sounds a bit like Princeton if she’s had some widespread community impact. Hopefully she applied there. Good luck!


My kids at northwestern and I really don’t even know what PP means.


Mine at NU too.
Agree - doesn’t appear interdisciplinary and embracing the culture of “and.”

Seems super smart. Agree on JHU and Cornell. Maybe a wildcard! She’ll have a great season.

Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 22:17     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Anonymous wrote:She sounds really great.

I said earlier, she doesn’t sound like Northwestern and I think that’s still stands.

She actually sounds a bit like Princeton if she’s had some widespread community impact. Hopefully she applied there. Good luck!


My kids at northwestern and I really don’t even know what PP means.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 22:16     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
I wouldn’t let people here discourage you. Your kid is competitive for any of those schools and it’s just a crap shoot -/ if I had to put money on it, I’d guess she’d get into at least one, but I’m not a betting person. If she doesn’t get into any, I would not stress about it or take it personally — it’s just bad luck but her current options are really great.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 22:11     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
So far we've got
Hopkins kid
Cornell kid
Princeton kid
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 22:05     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
She sounds really great.

I said earlier, she doesn’t sound like Northwestern and I think that’s still stands.

She actually sounds a bit like Princeton if she’s had some widespread community impact. Hopefully she applied there. Good luck!
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 21:17     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Anonymous wrote:Can't respond to everyone at once so I will here. Yale was an ivy she did not apply to - so you are correct here. I am not in this world but she was very specific that Yale was not the right place for her. As far as entering competitions with her work, no she has not. TBH she could have been a great comp person but she was always much more interested in doing useful work than one off comps. With the Princeton professor, she is still working. She did do a research program but those programs are small so I can't reveal which. (Sorry!) Thank you for hoping for the best for her. I hope the best for all of them! This just feels so bad after all her dedicated hours of pure work. With the professor, I believe they're working towards publishing something but it's been a long project and my daughter said there haven't been any milestone met yet.


Sounds like actual research! Can't stand this race to publish garbage for resume purposes Ick.

I don't know what the mood in admissions is these days, but to the extent that authenticity is winning the day -- LFG 🔥
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 21:15     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
She has impacted her community with a lot of volunteer hours and she does have leadership. She is captain or president of four clubs in the high school and does a lot of work to for them and has since freshman year.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 21:12     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Can't respond to everyone at once so I will here. Yale was an ivy she did not apply to - so you are correct here. I am not in this world but she was very specific that Yale was not the right place for her. As far as entering competitions with her work, no she has not. TBH she could have been a great comp person but she was always much more interested in doing useful work than one off comps. With the Princeton professor, she is still working. She did do a research program but those programs are small so I can't reveal which. (Sorry!) Thank you for hoping for the best for her. I hope the best for all of them! This just feels so bad after all her dedicated hours of pure work. With the professor, I believe they're working towards publishing something but it's been a long project and my daughter said there haven't been any milestone met yet.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 20:26     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DD got into the honors program (with merit) at UMass and honors program at UMD. Deferred MI, deferred MIT (this is why there's no ED). Do the honors program acceptances indicate top tier schools in March? I realize you're not fortune tellers but I was hoping if you've seen honors acceptances EA you might have seen what happens next. Major is STEM. Great and relevant ecs. 1590 SAT. 4.0 unweighted and no ranking in the school. This wait is hard. CMU, Northwestern, Hopkins and a variety of ivies plus the deferrals are what we're waiting on.


I don't see NU unless VERY interdisciplinary (not just STEM - but add music, 2-3 other majors etc)....
I can't say for CMU or JHU.

Sounds like Cornell to me. Not Yale at all.


Can you say why not Yale? Interested to know.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 20:23     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Has she impacted her community in any way? Or shown leadership??

I don’t know if UMD has released the Banneker Key semi finalists yet, but I think getting the full BK is an indicator of some Ivy. I think MIT needs a little more -great stats, academics and something more than research. My daughter was admitted to MIT a couple of years ago and she had huge impact in our community. Also the BK full ride and one of HYP. Anecdotal data. Your kid sounds great too — rooting for her here!
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 20:07     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Anonymous wrote:Thank you so much for these thoughtful and kind replies. Sorry - I wasn't trying to be vague, more just trying to preserve anonymity. She has many ECs but the standout, we believe, is the work she's done in academia. She worked with a Princeton professor and has a letter of recommendation from him. I don't know about the essays? They seem good to me but who knows. She's also published with some separate work she's done. Interestingly, I believe the comment that "your grades are the least interesting thing about you" applies to her and I would have said that before because she got them with little effort and I understand that "everyone" has those stats at the highest levels. Also, I have another child and the stats and ECs are not the same. I don't want to come across as entitled or like I think my kids are all special or unique. I was just looking for more information and I could never have this conversation with local peers without sounding like a brag. Trust me, the two deferrals in our environment of acceptances have me properly aware of our situation.

I think this is a Hopkins kid.

The research done with the P professor, did she enter any science competition with that work? Schools like to see a track record of the research conducted through several years. RSI?
The recommendation from P professor is helpful. Did she get any publication with that professor, assuming this is a multi-year project.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 19:56     Subject: Experienced Moms: Help With A Prediction For College Results For RD?
Anonymous wrote:Thank you so much for these thoughtful and kind replies. Sorry - I wasn't trying to be vague, more just trying to preserve anonymity. She has many ECs but the standout, we believe, is the work she's done in academia. She worked with a Princeton professor and has a letter of recommendation from him. I don't know about the essays? They seem good to me but who knows. She's also published with some separate work she's done. Interestingly, I believe the comment that "your grades are the least interesting thing about you" applies to her and I would have said that before because she got them with little effort and I understand that "everyone" has those stats at the highest levels. Also, I have another child and the stats and ECs are not the same. I don't want to come across as entitled or like I think my kids are all special or unique. I was just looking for more information and I could never have this conversation with local peers without sounding like a brag. Trust me, the two deferrals in our environment of acceptances have me properly aware of our situation.


She sounds exceptional and lovely and I wish we had a crystal ball or magic wand for you both!

FWIW my kid's situation is very similar, she's done great with the public flagships in the EA round (Michigan, UNC, lots of honors and merit,) but I am not overly optimistic about any of the T20 apps she has in for RD. She has an exceptional mind and a work ethic to match -- and also, doesn't quite fit the Ivy (or, uh, Northwestern) profile.

I love the heck out of her, and here is where my experience comes into play: I know from having gone through this before that the days are long but time is short. Blink and it's prom and graduation -- and then she's off.

So I'm working on focusing on the options she has in hand and staying present with everything happening these next few months. If she ends up with a T20 acceptance in March, yay, great surprise, we'll adjust. But for now: Life moves pretty fast.

Hugs to you both and best of luck!!