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My daughter applied to 8 colleges and was wait-listed for two (bowdoin & colby) and rejected from the others. She is very smart (1400 Sat) all A's in all honors classes, interested in Math and Physics; plays in two orchestras and two jazz ensembles; runs track; high level suburban high school outside Boston. All good things, but the competition was just too tough. We have been told that college admissions officers release a list of available spaces on or about May 10th for the Fall 2003 semester. Does anyone know about this list? We don't want her to lose her "learning momentum" and take a year off to work. We think it is important for her to enter college in the fall. The guidance office at her HS is useless....it is now totally up to us to find somewhere suitable for her. Any ideas or suggestions? From what we read, the wait lists cannot be counted on. This is a really smart kid and she will do really well at any school - if she can get in!!!!

By Kelly_Johnson (Kelly_Johnson) on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 10:46 pm: Edit

Awww. Where did she apply to? Didn't she pick any safety schools? Fear not. Many schools are still accepting applications. Even though they may not be the best schools, she can go and then transfer over easily. Here are some schools still accepting applications:

MAY 1ST DEADLINES
- New College of Florida (The honors college in the Florida university system; I recommend it. :-) )
- University of Memphis
- Northeastern Illinois University
- Ramapo College
- Richard Stockton

MAY 15TH DEADLINES

Wesleyan College (GA)

ROLLING ADMISSIONS

Utica
American University of Paris
Eckerd (FL)
Pace University
Rutgers (Would be extremely easy for her to transfer out of there. They still accept applications until they run out of space even though the priority deadline has passed.)

Since she will most likely want to transfer, and since she is apparently a good student that just overestimated herself a bit, I suggest Rutgers or the New College of Florida. Both will give her a strong background.

Keep us posted!

By Quarky (Quarky) on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 10:47 pm: Edit

Wow, I am so sorry to hear about the college game being lost. Make sure your daughter sends in additional materials and keeps her grades up for bowdoin and colby. What state are you from? perhaps, a state school will work for the first year...

By Pisces (Pisces) on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 10:50 pm: Edit

UMass Lowell has a may 1st deadline. It may not be exactly what you want, but its in mass and she can transfer next year or even second semester i think.

By Whosaysimdumb (Whosaysimdumb) on Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 12:11 am: Edit

this is nothing, but a mere lie to get us all to freak out....
that is just impossible!

By Brickyard (Brickyard) on Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 12:18 am: Edit

The National Assoc. of College Counselors will post a list of schools with openings in early May. Keep checking, every year there are openings at schools you would not expect..you will find a place...keep up the hunt.

http://www.nacac.com/

By Zerostylus (Zerostylus) on Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 09:53 pm: Edit

psu.edu

pennstate is rolling. good luck

By Finalnight (Finalnight) on Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 11:06 pm: Edit

wow, i did not think this was possible, it has always been my worst nightmare to not get into ANY college....

By Autodidact (Autodidact) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 01:10 am: Edit

Whosaysimdumb: Believe it, it can happen--and not just to the other guy. JUNIORS: pick and apply to safeties you really would like to attend, you may end up there.

By Mike (Mike) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 10:34 am: Edit

Why would I apply to schools I wouldn't like to attend? It would be really dumb to waste money on fees to schools I wasn't interested in.

By L_Wonder (L_Wonder) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 12:09 pm: Edit

people do it all the time, just to rack up acceptance letters. I have been to people's houses where there is literally a wall with accept letters. Scary....

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 01:35 pm: Edit

A school that you "wouldn't want to attend" can start to look pretty desirable when a bunch of rejections come in.

By Anotherdad (Anotherdad) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 01:53 pm: Edit

It has been a brutal year. Go back and read threads such as "What I have learned" or "To the class of 2008" in the archives. From here on out, think safeties first -- not of places where you might have to end up. There are a hell of a lot of good schools with all the education 99% of students can handle and which might be perfect fits for the personality and interests of many students. The sign of an intelligent applicant should be to select 3 safeties (that really are safeties) that he/she would really like to go to. Expect to go to them -- then think about reaching.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 02:29 pm: Edit

I agree with your perspective another dad, without really thinking about it, that is what my daughter did. Although neither I nor my husband have attended college, and her college advisor wasn't helpful, she focused on schools that were a good fit financially and which met her own criteria ( not too close/not too far - liberal student body- good academics), she ended up applying to 4 schools which could have been termed good fits or safeties and one school that was a reach going by her GPA and scores.
A couple of the safeties she wasn't too interested in, but they were good schools and offered her merit aid.
I didn't read her essays but I suspect they must have been pretty good, because she was admitted to her reach school and received enough need based aid, that it brought it into the range of "hard to turn down"
When I hear about so many kids, like my niece who applied to mostly reach schools with only one safety that they don't really want to go to, it is frustrating to watch.
On the one hand, you certainly don't want to tell your kid that they shouldn't have big goals, having dreams, making plans to acheive those dreams is a big part of adult life.
But there is a difference between encouraging your kid to want to get a good college education, and be successful in their field, and being convinced that the Ivies have been holding a place open for them since birth ( nocollege I am not singling you out, I don't know you well enough to say that this was your reasoning- however I have met parents who think that just being able to pay for an Ivy is enough for admission)
To me this is sheer egotism on the part of the parents, they may or may not have gone to an Ivy school ( although it was a heck of a lot easier to get in, when GW was in school)
but they "know" that their kid "deserves" to go to a big name school and what is worse is they lead the child to believe that an Ivy is their birthright and any thing else is second best.
It is a bleeping crapshoot. A small number of schools take so few qualified applicants, that it is difficult to gauge if they are a good fit or not.
Parents nowdays are so used to just buying what ever prestige item they think they need( Lexus SUVS like your gonna take that down a logging road?), that to find out they can't just fork out the money for Yale, is unfathomable.
Ok Im done

By Anotherdad (Anotherdad) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 05:05 pm: Edit

Emeraldkity4,

I doubt we can stop the kids from reaching high or over-reaching, but maybe we can help a few of them come out of the process in better shape than they would have been. Need I say that my kid did a lot of reaching and was very disappointed in the results, even though she got several very good offers at the places she was less interested in that would make many applicants jealous. I hate to say it but she probably would have been happier if she had listened to her mother!!

You mention money. A lot of it is wasted applying to schools where there is no real prospect of entry. The amounts matter to lots of families. It is truely perverse to rate schools more highly based on the number of students they reject (and hence the amount of money wasted trying to get in).

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 06:19 pm: Edit

Money is one reason why my daughter only applied to five schools. WHen I hear of some people applying to 8 or 18 schools, it sounds like they really don't know what school they want or are suited for.

The school my daughter chose ( actually her top two) have a strong pool of self selected students. Since the name is not as "prestigous" to the lay public as others, they do not recieve the same numbers of applicants.
She didn't over reach and actually I had to suggest the reach school in the first place. My experience I guess has been with kids being more conservative in their choices, and parents wanting them to try for something bigger.
I was the same I guess, only as it turned out, the school I had in mind was a great fit for her, and she loves it there.
It has a very good reputation in academia, but among the locals it is mixed. However they have cut their admission rate almost in half from a couple years ago so the word must be getting out somehow.

What is it they say about pessimists? That it isn't that they are negative, its that they see things more accurately than optimists.

By Mell (Mell) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 11:13 pm: Edit

In the past week or two, I've received mail from Arizona State & the University of Oklahoma, which are apparently still accepting applications until Apr. 23, for National Merit Finalists at least. Cash in on this if you can, both schools offer full scholarships, something like a $55,000 package and I think you can even apply to AZ online.

By Autodidact (Autodidact) on Saturday, April 19, 2003 - 01:40 am: Edit

Mike: As the year progresses and you get additional information that wasn't initially available, many schools may become less desirable than you originally thought--thus dropping off of your list of places you'd like to attend. This is particularly true if the student can't afford to make trips to visit campuses across the country or if there is a massive posting about undesirable circumstances or bad publicity. Also, if you start the process later in the game, you may not be entirely certain exactly what you are looking for. As the process continues, you sort out your priorities.

By Anotherdad (Anotherdad) on Friday, May 09, 2003 - 09:32 am: Edit

Check out www.nacac.com. There is a listing of schools with openings. Obviously not everybody puts their name on the list, but there will be specific names that can be followed up on. First impression is that it has been a very tight year. U of Maine anyone??

By Sugi (Sugi) on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - 07:30 pm: Edit

Hi all,

My name is Sugi Ganeshananthan, and I'm with the Atlantic Monthly, where I work with James Fallows (who wrote "The Early-Decision Racket"). I am helping with some college admissions coverage aimed at our November issue, and I'd like to ask for your help.

I am writing a short piece about "orphaned students" like the ones mentioned on this thread--students who look outstanding on paper, but find themselves faced with only thin envelopes. I'm writing about how students get into that situation (poor luck, poor counseling and/or poor strategy?) and what they do to secure spots for the fall (strategies like using the NACAC Space Availability Survey some of you mentioned).

I'd really like to talk to any of you who feel your children fit this definition, or know of any others. I know this is a sensitive topic, and I really appreciate any help or information I can get; I think it's well worth explaining, as it seems some kids are getting into this situation and more people would benefit from reading about how to get out of it.

If you/your kids know of or have counselors, friends, siblings, etc. who faced this dilemma, I would be grateful for any references or suggestions. Thanks in advance for your assistance. I can be contacted via the e-mail/phone below.

Best,

Sugi Ganeshananthan
The Atlantic Monthly
202-266-5947
sugi@theatlantic.com