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i have twin daughters with virtually identical stats. one got into mount holyoke and is happily planning to attend. her sister didn't apply to mount holyoke, shot for a "reach," and wound up accepting admission to uc santa cruz, which was one of her "safety" schools. we are encouraging her to apply to transfer to mount holyoke - initially, she had been interested and when she saw her sister's package and admission materials she said she wished she had applied. she is now getting into the mindset of enjoying uc santa cruz. i have two questions: first, does anyone have any insight/opinions on the notion of transferring to mount holyoke vs. staying at uc santa cruz? second, given that her twin is enrolling and her stats are similar, does anyone have any insight/opinions about her likelihood of gaining admission as a transfer to mount holyoke (i contacted the admissions transfer coordinator, who seemed to suggest her chances were strong, but both girls had a degree of "senioritis" their last high school semester)?


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By Greenmoo04 (Greenmoo04) on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 06:06 pm: Edit

UC Santa Cruz is a great public school with a great price, (unless you're out of state), so I would think that the student from Mt Holyoke should transfer to UCSC. It's a UC, with great programs and research facilities. I've heard little of Holyoke; is there a reason you want your daughters to go there?

By Wygbe (Wygbe) on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 07:03 pm: Edit

they both became interested in going to school in the east when we visited boston a few years ago - which they loved. mount holyoke is a small (2000 students) women's liberal arts college which is part of a 5-college consortium in western massachusetts - about 100 miles from boston. the other colleges available to students at any of the schools are amherst, smith, hampshire and u-mass amherst. it has a great academic reputation, with small classes and individual attention - historically, it is one of the "seven sisters" women's colleges which were viewed as the women's equivalent to the ivies (which used to be all male). so i think it will be a terrific educational experience, which will also include the chance to live in another area of the country. i also hear good things about ucsc, which is why i am soliciting opinions. ultimately, it will be my daughter's decision.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 07:50 pm: Edit

Both are terrific schools. I've always heard good things about Mt. Holyoke academically but don't have any first hand knowledge of it. I happen to have two close friends who are professors at UC Santa Cruz - having moved there from positions at Princeton. They think highly of Santa Cruz - think it is an up and coming school that is really trying to develop an excellent faculty. The downside, of course, is that they both admit that the introductory classes they teach are very large - 200 plus not uncommon. However, classes get smaller at the upper levels. UCSC is also becomming a rather "hot" UC among students these days so I suspect it is starting to become very competitive academically. I think both your daughters will end up being happy with their choices and may not really want to change after all. If you go to the parents board, put a message labeled UC Santa Cruz. There is a mom, I think Slugbugg, whose daughter will also be going there next year and you might be interested in talking with her.

By Selmer (Selmer) on Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 10:55 pm: Edit

I'm just curious, what was your other daughter's reach school? Was it Berkeley or UCLA, because its so hard to get into those schools nowadays (esp UCLA). I know of people who've turned down UC-Davis for UCSC because they really liked it there.

By Wygbe (Wygbe) on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 06:27 pm: Edit

my daughter's "reach" was stanford. she applied ED, got deferred (only 10% got deferred vs. 65% outright rejected), so we thought she had a chance; she continued to do well - more straight A's in a magnet school taking ap classes. but they still rejected her. she was devastated, having wanted to go there since we started going to football games when she was 7. i read rachel toor's book, "admissions confidential," and i was appalled by the process of admissions to the "ultra-selective" schools. i was also appalled by the pattern of admission decisions at my daughter's school. i wrote the stanford admissions office and i resigned from the alumni association (b.s. in math from that overrated institution - but that's another story). an admissions director called me and tried to make nice, but i remain appalled - and so informed her - and i remain an ex-member of the alumni association.

By Samia (Samia) on Saturday, June 14, 2003 - 03:48 am: Edit

Well, I just want to say hi to you, because well, I'm friends with your daughters, and I just find it kinda random that we ended up at the same messageboard.

By Wygbe (Wygbe) on Saturday, June 14, 2003 - 04:02 am: Edit

hi samia! that is weird - so i hear you are going to usc?