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OT: Anybody Waiting for their Kid's Early Decision/Action for College?

Knight Shift

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May 19, 2011
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Some schools have already released early decision/action information.

My son is waiting for two- he will get one on Saturday, and Rutgers mysteriously promises a decision by January 30, while others seem to be this week.
 
Some schools have already released early decision/action information.

My son is waiting for two- he will get one on Saturday, and Rutgers mysteriously promises a decision by January 30, while others seem to be this week.
I have a daughter that applied early action to Georgia Tech. She hasn't heard back yet. From some online checking, it looks like GT sent out notices around the 2nd weekend in January in previous years. Her other applications are regular decision because they are to early decision schools, not early action, and we need to see how the money side would work out at those schools.
 
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Heard from two schools this week, Ithaca College and University of Scranton. Daughter just checked the Ithaca website while we actually received a letter from Scranton. She only applied Early Action.
 
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I have a daughter that applied early action to Georgia Tech. She hasn't heard back yet. From some online checking, it looks like GT sent out notices around the 2nd weekend in January in previous years. Her other applications are regular decision because they are to early decision schools, not early action, and we need to see how the money side would work out at those schools.
Interesting. I thought most schools did earliest by mid December to save applicants the time and money of applying elsewhere.
At my son's school, his classmates went 0 for 14 at Penn.

EDIT- that was not Penn- It was Cornell, and it may have been closer to 10 applicants.
 
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Do kids still find out in the mail? There’s something nerve-rackingly fun about ripping open the letter that you think is going to determine your future.
 
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Interesting. I thought most schools did earliest by mid December to save applicants the time and money of applying elsewhere.
Aty son's school, his classmates went 0 for 14 at Penn.

You might be interested to know that Philadelphia residents (even if rich) get preference at Penn. It also helps a lot to be a legacy. In the old days, Penn was not as selective as it is now (no Donald Trump jokes please!!) and seemed to favor kids from the Philadelphia area, and so the children and grandchildren of those grads are receiving preference.
 
Do kids still find out in the mail? There’s something nerve-rackingly fun about ripping open the letter that you think is going to determine your future.

The key words in your post are "you think." Getting to the Ivies is helpful, but it's not going to determine whether one is a success in life.
 
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The key words in your post are "you think." Getting to the Ivies is helpful, but it's not going to determine whether one is a success in life.
That is exactly what I told my son. And even if he gets into one of his top choices, I told him to stay humble, stay hungry, and work hard. Too many think their ticket to success is punched upon admission to a top school.
 
@Knight Shift,

Just checked my son’s gmail for some of his acceptance dates from last year.

His early action from all of the schools at Rutgers he was accepted at (Engineering, SAS and SEBS) came BEFORE Christmas.
 
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You might be interested to know that Philadelphia residents (even if rich) get preference at Penn. It also helps a lot to be a legacy. In the old days, Penn was not as selective as it is now (no Donald Trump jokes please!!) and seemed to favor kids from the Philadelphia area, and so the children and grandchildren of those grads are receiving preference.
As noted in my edit, I had my schools crossed up. It was Cornell, and there were fewer applicants.
14 kids did apply to Penn, and he has not heard anything yet from classmates.
 
My grand-daughter received via email on Monday early acceptance from Cornell.

Cornell was her first choice of all colleges and she is very happy to get in.

The rules for this Ivy League school is that if you apply for early admission and are accepted, you are required to go to that college.
 
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Ha, ha, ha. A couple of tense nights a the dinner table, but for the most part, he has been pretty good.
The better NJ ones were the last to let us know...

Rutgers - early action but still came after about 7 earlier acceptances
Stevens - that might have been regular, need to double check
TCNJ - they said last year was the most applications they ever got so that was the delay
 
My son has only heard from Ohio U. early action so far (and it was a letter, no email). Still waiting on 9 others including RU, Maryland, Pitt, Delaware - James Madison sent out a note that they were swamped with early action and will send out first responses in early January.
 
My son tells me he should hear from ND Friday (restricted early action) . Other early action notifications coming in January (UNC, UVA, BC, Tulane). RU in the picture too. One of his good friends who attends public HS in DC got into Dartmouth. The Ivy's now take over 60% from public schools.
 
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So basically what I am reading here, for the most part, is that most of you feel it is OK for your kids to apply to multiple schools and choose the one they feel is best for them. Yet when a H.S. football player decides to go to a school other than RU, that may fit his needs better, he is a piece of crap. Got it!

Get outta here with that weak-ass take.
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What’s the difference between early action and early decision? I don’t remember there being two things when I was in HS. I’m supposed to help my nephew start To narrow down some schools this weekend. He has his top choice but I think he needs some more irons in the fire.
 
What’s the difference between early action and early decision? I don’t remember there being two things when I was in HS. I’m supposed to help my nephew start To narrow down some schools this weekend. He has his top choice but I think he needs some more irons in the fire.
Early decision plans are binding — a student who is accepted as an ED applicant must attend the college. Early action plans are nonbinding — students receive an early response to their application but do not have to commit to the college until the normal reply date of May 1.

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My son has some high targets, with not much in between the high targets and Rutgers. Have asked him to consider something in between such as Michigan, Purdue or Georgia Tech for Computer Science, but he said he would be fine with Rutgers if that is his only choice.
 
Kids really send in applications to 10 or more colleges?!
I don't get it. Why not narrow it down a bit before that point.

It was many years ago but I thought me applying to three was a lot.
 
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So basically what I am reading here, for the most part, is that most of you feel it is OK for your kids to apply to multiple schools and choose the one they feel is best for them. Yet when a H.S. football player decides to go to a school other than RU, that may fit his needs better, he is a piece of crap. Got it!
Maybe it is something different. What if the admissions director is this person?
Chris+Ash+Michigan+v+Rutgers+7R791R1p0FEl.jpg
 
Kids really send in applications to 10 or more colleges?!
I don't get it. Why not narrow it down a bit before that point.

It was many years ago but I thought me applying to three was a lot.
My daughter is in 8th grade and she has friends who have applied to 6-7 high schools
 
Early decision plans are binding — a student who is accepted as an ED applicant must attend the college. Early action plans are nonbinding — students receive an early response to their application but do not have to commit to the college until the normal reply date of May 1.

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My son has some high targets, with not much in between the high targets and Rutgers. Have asked him to consider something in between such as Michigan, Purdue or Georgia Tech for Computer Science, but he said he would be fine with Rutgers if that is his only choice.

You consider Michigan an in between? Not as selective as the Ivys but much more selective than GT and Purdue.

I'm in the same position. My son has applied to a number of highly selective schools but says he's OK with RU as long as he gets in the Honors College.
 
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You consider Michigan an in between? Not as selective as the Ivys but much more selective than GT and Purdue.

I'm in the same position. My son has applied to a number of highly selective schools but says he's OK with RU as long as he gets in the Honors College.
Here's his list in order of preference: MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, UC Berkeley, Rutgers, UCLA. He is going to pursue Computer Science.
The first 3 on that list are next to impossible admits (less than 1 in 15), and many kids with perfect SAT scores and grades get rejected. Cornell, Columbia, Penn, and Berkeley are long shots too. And have heard UCLA Comp Sci admit rate is below 10%.
Thought that Michigan, Purdue, and Georgia Tech would be somewhere in the middle, but he wanted the Northeast or West Coast.

From many incidental discussions and reading the boards on College Confidential, there is more to admissions than perfect (or near perfect) SAT scores and grades. And while it used to be the case that doing a bunch of activities helped your resume, now colleges want applicants to demonstrate a passion and accomplishments in one area. They are also keen on community service. And the Ivies we visited as well as Stanford are committed to giving applicants who are first generation college students admission--which may mean an applicant with lower scores, grades, etc. may be chosen for admission over a "more qualified" applicant.
 
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This might be interesting here, with regard to how it has become harder and harder to earn admittance to top colleges. In the case of Princeton, which I used for illustrative purposes in a piece I wrote last year, I found that they offered admission to just 6.1 percent of their 31,056 applicants for the Class of '21. For comparison, the Class of 1964 came in on a 32.5 percent acceptance rate - five time higher (1,264 out of 3,883 who applied). A quarter century later, that rate had been cut in half, to 16.9 percent, when 2,214 applicants out of 12,482 were admitted to the Class of 1992.

Other bits about the Class of 2021:
  • Just 9.4 percent came from independent boarding schools; 60.5 from public high schools.
  • 17 percent are the first in their families to go to college.
  • 49.6 of the class are men, compared with 100 percent of the Class of '64.
 
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