College admissions insight

[PunkyBoo]

My friend sent me this article about the admissions decisions at University of California schools this year. Really helpful insights here, but I'm more worried for my HS junior now!! Can someone explain to me the big application drop off that I've seen discussed on this board? Is it just delayed due to the pandemic changing our norms?

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/uc-explains-admissions-decisions-in-a-record-application-year-of-much-heart/


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[gatorsmom]

I didn't read the whole article but it seems in line with what is being reported on other news sources. Many kids delayed going to college this academic year because they didn't want to pay to take online classes in their school dorm room. Now that colleges are opening up again kids are reapplying. Also, because of problems with testing safely in person, many colleges are dropping the ACT/SAT testing requirements for admission. All this means that many more college students are applying than usual. Colleges can be much more selective about who they admit. Also, I suspect because of the cultural shifts and social upheaval we have seen in our country in the last year, colleges may be changing their admission priorities.

We are explaining to our high school junior that he should be ready to go to his last choice school and consider transferring if after a year the school he's in is not a good fit. This might be the path many students are planning so time will tell if I"m wrong about this planning this path but transfer rates were historically better than freshman admission rates.

[3isEnough]

What application dropoff are you referring to, the dropoff in applications at certain Cal State universities and junior colleges? I have a senior in CA right now (currently deciding between Berkeley and UCSB) so I'm very involved in the discussions among friends. Assuming you mean the drop off at Cal States and JCs, the dropoff is due to the fact that UCs are test blind, so many of the students that previously wouldn't have a shot at UCs and typically would have applied at Cal State schools and JCs have instead applied to and received admission at UCs.

I believe applications at all Cal States were down with the exception of Cal Poly SLO, and perhaps Cal Poly Pomona, while applications at UCs were through the roof. I'm so grateful my son has some great UC options as he only applied within CA. He's a surfer kid and was adamant about staying close to the coast (which is the only reason he hasn't yet committed to Berkeley - the 30 min drive to the coast gives him pause ;) ).

[ezcc]

California seems to be slightly different in the college admissions game than the rest of the country. Applications were definitely through the roof this year at the most selective schools nationwide, but ds (who is a senior this year) and his friends all found themselves with some great choices. I think applications were up because of the test optional situation and deferrals from last year. It was a weird year with lots of extra waitlists. We are on the east coast- it seems to me that if you are willing to go to school in New England or the midwest you will have some good options (obviously the ivies are still hard, you need to be fairly incredible and even then have a lot of luck) but the demographics are favorable for those areas, maybe less so in CA. He does have 2 friends who got accepted at UC San Diego, one is an excellent student, the other not really that amazing. Not sure what the stats are like for out of state students at UC schools.

[AnnieW625]

I would also ask specific universities if transfers are going to take more spots because there could be an influx of transfers from community colleges because students could’ve gone that route initially as well due to covid and this years freshman will be ready to transfer when your son is going to be a freshman.

Also they aren’t sexy by any means but UC Riverside and UC Merced have generally had the highest in state acceptance rates for UC schools. UCR is also in the process of developing a medical school program so he might want to look at that.

I agree that kids these days shouldn’t get their hopes up on one specific school and should equally like and should be happy with any of the schools they apply to.

There is always community college as well and 3.00+ grades and both the UC and CSU schools have guaranteed admission for transfers. My husband really valued his time at community college and much preferred the undergrad courses he took there vs. the few remaining major related undergrad courses he had to take at the CSU he transferred to.

Fwiw: a friends niece whose first choice is Cal Poly SLO has been waitlisted there even though she has a 4.50+ gpa because in the past SLO has been a safety school for those who usually apply elsewhere and have really high grades and don’t get in to those schools so apparently according to the niece SLO is super selective about who they initially admit because a lot of those 4.50+ kids never end up attending.

ETA: TBH the UC admissions have always been super competitive and messed up imho. UC schools like admits from other states because they can charge more for tuition. I am sure that is true for other state’s universities, but it just seems so known in California that an out of stater might take your spot.
https://www.collegekickstart.com/blog/item/university-of-california-fall-2020-admission-trends

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[carolinamama]

Even though DS1 is only a freshman, I've been following the application/acceptance trends this year and am super curious how it will all play out in the next few years. Deferrals and test optional status seem to have affected everything this year - is it a continued trend or will it revert back? And how many kids applied to a larger number of schools but obviously still only attend one, meaning more kids from waitlists are accepted? The stakes seem greater than when we were applying but I strongly believe there is a place for everyone, even if it takes awhile to get there or isn't where a student first expected. Easier said than felt.

[SnuggleBuggles]

What application dropoff are you referring to.

I think it was re. the survival of some schools (both private and public) around the country. They were seeing steep drops in enrollment even before Covid so it would have made their situations even worse. But, maybe this is just about the UC system...of which I know nothing. :)

[gatorsmom]

Even though DS1 is only a freshman, I've been following the application/acceptance trends this year and am super curious how it will all play out in the next few years. Deferrals and test optional status seem to have affected everything this year - is it a continued trend or will it revert back? And how many kids applied to a larger number of schools but obviously still only attend one, meaning more kids from waitlists are accepted? The stakes seem greater than when we were applying but I strongly believe there is a place for everyone, even if it takes awhile to get there or isn't where a student first expected. Easier said than felt.

I highly recommend this book originally recommended here by Stantonhyde, https://smile.amazon.com/Who-Gets-Why-College-Admissions/dp/1982116293/ref=sr_1_2?crid=YSNU023FVBT2&dchild=1&keywords=who+gets+into+college+and+why&qid=1618332889&sprefix=who+gets+in%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-2 It's an easy and interesting read and does a deep dive into the college admissions process.

If colleges aren't using the SAT and ACT in the admissions process, then they will have to rely on primarily on grades and essays to determine which kids are a good fit for their school. I suspect they will go back to requiring standardized test scores because it makes their job easier.

[o_mom]

One thing that I think is driving things this year is the inability to visit campuses. Most of the seniors I know applied to 2-4 times as many schools as they may have in the past, which inflates the numbers. They kind of did things in reverse order - apply first, then narrow it down. Many are just now getting to visit their top choice schools in person and have not yet decided. I think the waitlists will dwindle considerably in the next few months as students make final selections. A friend has an older DD who visited 20+ schools and applied to 4-5 in the end. Her sister is planning to apply to 15-ish and then visit next year once she has acceptance letters. This seems to be very common.

Also, the "record shattering" numbers they list are not that much higher - roughly 15% when I checked a few of their numbers against the previous year. How many of those are the same students applying to multiple campuses because they are unsure and casting a wider net than normal? They can only attend one in the end. Kind of like the admission at Ivy League schools, where you have the same group of students applying to all of them, which inflates the denominator and makes them look more selective.

There is probably a bit more activity than previous years, but I think much of it is just a statistical artifact.

[essnce629]

I think people just keep applying to the same top 50 ranked schools on US News (the name brand schools, which includes all the UCs) and that's why they're not getting in. I see parents online posting that their kids applied to 20+ schools that are all ranked in the top 20 (2 separate lists for universities vs LACs) and are now lamenting over multiple rejections and wait lists. There's just way too many kids applying for so little spots at these few schools. There's over 4000 colleges and universities in the US and the majority accept most of their applicants. In fact, for schools not ranked in the top 50, applications are actually way down this year and schools will be scrambling to make their yield on May 1st. DS1 is probably a slightly above average kid (nothing crazy spectacular) and got into 8 of the 9 schools he applied to. He just avoided all reach schools (those in the top 50) since we're full pay for them all, they don't give merit, and no school is worth $70k+ a year in my eyes. It was a pretty stress free process for us and 3 of his final contenders ended up being Colleges That Change Lives schools.


Interest Surges in Top Colleges, While Struggling Ones Scrape for Applicants
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/colleges-covid-applicants.html

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[gatorsmom]

I think people just keep applying to the same top 50 ranked schools on US News (the name brand schools, which includes all the UCs) and that's why they're not getting in. I see parents online posting that their kids applied to 20+ schools that are all ranked in the top 20 (2 separate lists for universities vs LACs) and are now lamenting over multiple rejections and wait lists. There's just way too many kids applying for so little spots at these few schools. There's over 4000 colleges and universities in the US and the majority accept most of their applicants. In fact, for schools not ranked in the top 50, applications are actually way down this year and schools will be scrambling to make their yield on May 1st. DS1 is probably a slightly above average kid (nothing crazy spectacular) and got into 8 of the 9 schools he applied to. He just avoided all reach schools (those in the top 50) since we're full pay for them all, they don't give merit, and no school is worth $70k+ a year in my eyes. It was a pretty stress free process for us and 3 of his final contenders ended up being Colleges That Change Lives schools.


Interest Surges in Top Colleges, While Struggling Ones Scrape for Applicants
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/colleges-covid-applicants.html

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I'm really glad to hear that, in your opinion, the majority of the scramble is in the top 50 colleges. I hope you are right. We will start sending out applications this fall but I was mentally preparing for lots of disappointment. I think there was only one top 50 school on DS1's list and he considers it his reach school. Most of his other school choices would be a much better fit for him, imho.

[AnnieW625]

Essnce how did your college trip go? Did you DS1 end up picking a school?


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[Kindra178]

I read an article that said UCLA got 150,000 applications this year, double the normal 75k. Their acceptance rate fell to 6% (was low double digits before).

[ezcc]

I'm really glad to hear that, in your opinion, the majority of the scramble is in the top 50 colleges. I hope you are right. We will start sending out applications this fall but I was mentally preparing for lots of disappointment. I think there was only one top 50 school on DS1's list and he considers it his reach school. Most of his other school choices would be a much better fit for him, imho.


That is exactly what I am seeing, some kids not getting in to their reach schools (Stanford, Princeton, the most competitive LACs) but for the most part getting into their target and safety schools. DS mostly applied to small LACs, some of which are very difficult to get into and was rejected from the 2 top ones but accepted or waitlisted everywhere else. As it turns out, he is going to his safety- it was the only large school he applied to and when he finally was able to visit a few weeks ago decided a larger school seemed like a better fit for him after all- he's thrilled with his decision and that school offered some nice merit aid so we are thrilled as well.

[essnce629]

Essnce how did your college trip go? Did you DS1 end up picking a school?


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkDS1 and I had a great time on our 11 day mom and son college trip! We toured 5 schools in 4 different cities in the Pacific Northwest. It was basically a food and college tour!

DS had been leaning towards Whitman College for months BUT it was way out of our original budget (like $17k a year more even after his $14k a year in merit initially). We attended their Admitted Student Saturday in person 2 weeks ago and then immediately came home and drafted our appeal. We qualify for zero need based aid so our only hope was way more merit. DS wrote a letter basically saying what drew him to Whitman (including specifics from attending the Admitted Student Saturday), told them that our budget all along was the price of a UC school but that a small liberal arts college is what is the best fit, and that Whitman was his first choice but the most expensive choice out of the 8 schools he had gotten into. We included a comparison spreadsheet of all the current colleges’ net costs and attached the aid letters of each school he’s been accepted to. We just heard back that they gave him an additional $16k a year in merit, bringing the total merit to $30k a year! That puts Whitman squarely in our budget and now he can commit. We knew from day one that we would always appeal his first choice school. You have nothing to lose and a ton to gain! Colleges are a business and in the end they need to make their yield and financial goals. If they didn’t budge in price then we could walk and they’d get $0 from us. So in the end it was a win win situation. We got the price we wanted and they are still getting money from us and another student to add to their yield numbers. I looked over their Common Data Sets from the past couple of years and saw that their freshman class from last year was significantly smaller due to Covid. I assumed they were at risk for not making their yield again (they are actually still accepting applications) and therefore we had the upper hand as the consumer. Also, most small liberal arts colleges skew very heavily female, with Whitman being 60% female, 40% male. I knew they needed more males. And in another crazy turn of events my in-laws have offered to pay for Whitman, but now that the price is in our original budget, if anything goes awry with the in-laws we know we can still afford it on our own. We are all ecstatic for how things turned out! [emoji175]

I just checked and Whitman is ranked #47 for LACs in the US, so I guess he did apply to a school in the top 50, plus 2 UC schools since we're in CA. Whitman has an acceptance rate of 56%, probably due to it's location. If it was in a bigger city I think it would be much more popular. It wasn't even on our list of schools to visit last year because it was such a far drive from Seattle. It's truly a hidden gem and we probably would have never known about it if it wasn't for the Colleges that Change Lives book that I read DS1's freshman year.

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[3isEnough]

Wow Latia, that's fantastic! Congrats to your son for finding a college he loves and getting it at a price point that works for your family! I posted above that my DS is deciding between 2 UCs. The best part about that for us is that each is $15K-ish per year in tuition - win/win! He had considered applying to a private university in CA but the costs there would have been $70K-ish/year and we don't qualify for need-based aid, so that was a hard number to accept when we have 2 more to put through college.

ETA: regarding the reduction in applications the OP asked about, we were only focused on CA public schools so I was completely unaware that applications dropped off at the colleges not considered to be in the top 50. This is a really strange college admissions cycle, due largely to the pandemic but also the last-second elimination of test scores at some schools.

[georgiegirl]

DS1 and I had a great time on our 11 day mom and son college trip! We toured 5 schools in 4 different cities in the Pacific Northwest. It was basically a food and college tour!

DS had been leaning towards Whitman College for months BUT it was way out of our original budget (like $17k a year more even after his $14k a year in merit initially). We attended their Admitted Student Saturday in person 2 weeks ago and then immediately came home and drafted our appeal. We qualify for zero need based aid so our only hope was way more merit. DS wrote a letter basically saying what drew him to Whitman (including specifics from attending the Admitted Student Saturday), told them that our budget all along was the price of a UC school but that a small liberal arts college is what is the best fit, and that Whitman was his first choice but the most expensive choice out of the 8 schools he had gotten into. We included a comparison spreadsheet of all the current colleges’ net costs and attached the aid letters of each school he’s been accepted to. We just heard back that they gave him an additional $16k a year in merit, bringing the total merit to $30k a year! That puts Whitman squarely in our budget and now he can commit. We knew from day one that we would always appeal his first choice school. You have nothing to lose and a ton to gain! Colleges are a business and in the end they need to make their yield and financial goals. If they didn’t budge in price then we could walk and they’d get $0 from us. So in the end it was a win win situation. We got the price we wanted and they are still getting money from us and another student to add to their yield numbers. I looked over their Common Data Sets from the past couple of years and saw that their freshman class from last year was significantly smaller due to Covid. I assumed they were at risk for not making their yield again (they are actually still accepting applications) and therefore we had the upper hand as the consumer. Also, most small liberal arts colleges skew very heavily female, with Whitman being 60% female, 40% male. I knew they needed more males. And in another crazy turn of events my in-laws have offered to pay for Whitman, but now that the price is in our original budget, if anything goes awry with the in-laws we know we can still afford it on our own. We are all ecstatic for how things turned out! [emoji175]

I just checked and Whitman is ranked #47 for LACs in the US, so I guess he did apply to a school in the top 50, plus 2 UC schools since we're in CA. Whitman has an acceptance rate of 56%, probably due to it's location. If it was in a bigger city I think it would be much more popular. It wasn't even on our list of schools to visit last year because it was such a far drive from Seattle. It's truly a hidden gem and we probably would have never known about it if it wasn't for the Colleges that Change Lives book that I read DS1's freshman year.

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That’s awesome! I’ve heard a lot of good things about Whitman. I’m so happy for him and your family [emoji4]

[California]

Congratulations LatÃ*a! Isn’t a good feeling when they find the right fit? And agree that asking for more merit aid is worth the effort.

Regarding the UCs being test optional- the higher-ups in the UC system have wanted to go this route for a long time. COVID-19 gave them the opportunity to move forward. I believe the plan is to remain test optional for several years, potentially indefinitely. The tests are only marginally better than grades at predicting college retention/graduation rates, wealthy students tend to get higher scores, and thus the tests are a known and significant barrier to admissions for under-represented students. I don’t see them changing from test-optional anytime soon (if ever.)

[westwoodmom04]

I highly recommend this book originally recommended here by Stantonhyde, https://smile.amazon.com/Who-Gets-Why-College-Admissions/dp/1982116293/ref=sr_1_2?crid=YSNU023FVBT2&dchild=1&keywords=who+gets+into+college+and+why&qid=1618332889&sprefix=who+gets+in%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-2 It's an easy and interesting read and does a deep dive into the college admissions process.

If colleges aren't using the SAT and ACT in the admissions process, then they will have to rely on primarily on grades and essays to determine which kids are a good fit for their school. I suspect they will go back to requiring standardized test scores because it makes their job easier.

Princeton recently said it does not plan on being test optional after next year. I expect others will follow for the reason you mentioned.

[wendibird22]

I think people just keep applying to the same top 50 ranked schools on US News (the name brand schools, which includes all the UCs) and that's why they're not getting in. I see parents online posting that their kids applied to 20+ schools that are all ranked in the top 20 (2 separate lists for universities vs LACs) and are now lamenting over multiple rejections and wait lists. There's just way too many kids applying for so little spots at these few schools. There's over 4000 colleges and universities in the US and the majority accept most of their applicants. In fact, for schools not ranked in the top 50, applications are actually way down this year and schools will be scrambling to make their yield on May 1st. DS1 is probably a slightly above average kid (nothing crazy spectacular) and got into 8 of the 9 schools he applied to. He just avoided all reach schools (those in the top 50) since we're full pay for them all, they don't give merit, and no school is worth $70k+ a year in my eyes. It was a pretty stress free process for us and 3 of his final contenders ended up being Colleges That Change Lives schools.


Interest Surges in Top Colleges, While Struggling Ones Scrape for Applicants
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/colleges-covid-applicants.html

Sent from my SM-A515U1 using Tapatalk


Congratulations LatÃ*a! Isn’t a good feeling when they find the right fit? And agree that asking for more merit aid is worth the effort.

Regarding the UCs being test optional- the higher-ups in the UC system have wanted to go this route for a long time. COVID-19 gave them the opportunity to move forward. I believe the plan is to remain test optional for several years, potentially indefinitely. The tests are only marginally better than grades at predicting college retention/graduation rates, wealthy students tend to get higher scores, and thus the tests are a known and significant barrier to admissions for under-represented students. I don’t see them changing from test-optional anytime soon (if ever.)

Yes to both of these. I work in HEd. Nationwide applications to college are down simply because there's a decline in high school population. The prestigious schools have more apps than they know what to do with and everyone else is struggling.

And yes, most schools will stay test optional permanently. They are a poor predictor of success and are a huge barrier to enrolling underrepresented populations. Anyone with a DEI enrollment strategy cannot meet that goal without going test optional. I'm sure some elite privates are not worried about their DEI enrollment and will bring back SAT/ACT to help them manage the deluge of applications.

[sariana]

DS1 and I had a great time on our 11 day mom and son college trip! We toured 5 schools in 4 different cities in the Pacific Northwest. It was basically a food and college tour!

DS had been leaning towards Whitman College for months BUT it was way out of our original budget (like $17k a year more even after his $14k a year in merit initially). We attended their Admitted Student Saturday in person 2 weeks ago and then immediately came home and drafted our appeal. We qualify for zero need based aid so our only hope was way more merit. DS wrote a letter basically saying what drew him to Whitman (including specifics from attending the Admitted Student Saturday), told them that our budget all along was the price of a UC school but that a small liberal arts college is what is the best fit, and that Whitman was his first choice but the most expensive choice out of the 8 schools he had gotten into. We included a comparison spreadsheet of all the current colleges’ net costs and attached the aid letters of each school he’s been accepted to. We just heard back that they gave him an additional $16k a year in merit, bringing the total merit to $30k a year! That puts Whitman squarely in our budget and now he can commit. We knew from day one that we would always appeal his first choice school. You have nothing to lose and a ton to gain! Colleges are a business and in the end they need to make their yield and financial goals. If they didn’t budge in price then we could walk and they’d get $0 from us. So in the end it was a win win situation. We got the price we wanted and they are still getting money from us and another student to add to their yield numbers. I looked over their Common Data Sets from the past couple of years and saw that their freshman class from last year was significantly smaller due to Covid. I assumed they were at risk for not making their yield again (they are actually still accepting applications) and therefore we had the upper hand as the consumer. Also, most small liberal arts colleges skew very heavily female, with Whitman being 60% female, 40% male. I knew they needed more males. And in another crazy turn of events my in-laws have offered to pay for Whitman, but now that the price is in our original budget, if anything goes awry with the in-laws we know we can still afford it on our own. We are all ecstatic for how things turned out! [emoji175]

I just checked and Whitman is ranked #47 for LACs in the US, so I guess he did apply to a school in the top 50, plus 2 UC schools since we're in CA. Whitman has an acceptance rate of 56%, probably due to it's location. If it was in a bigger city I think it would be much more popular. It wasn't even on our list of schools to visit last year because it was such a far drive from Seattle. It's truly a hidden gem and we probably would have never known about it if it wasn't for the Colleges that Change Lives book that I read DS1's freshman year.

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That’s awesome! I seriously considered Whitman College and even visited it with my parents. I ended up going to Cal because I wanted to do marching band, lol! But I loved the atmosphere at Whitman.

[carolinamama]

DS1 and I had a great time on our 11 day mom and son college trip! We toured 5 schools in 4 different cities in the Pacific Northwest. It was basically a food and college tour!

DS had been leaning towards Whitman College for months BUT it was way out of our original budget (like $17k a year more even after his $14k a year in merit initially). We attended their Admitted Student Saturday in person 2 weeks ago and then immediately came home and drafted our appeal. We qualify for zero need based aid so our only hope was way more merit. DS wrote a letter basically saying what drew him to Whitman (including specifics from attending the Admitted Student Saturday), told them that our budget all along was the price of a UC school but that a small liberal arts college is what is the best fit, and that Whitman was his first choice but the most expensive choice out of the 8 schools he had gotten into. We included a comparison spreadsheet of all the current colleges’ net costs and attached the aid letters of each school he’s been accepted to. We just heard back that they gave him an additional $16k a year in merit, bringing the total merit to $30k a year! That puts Whitman squarely in our budget and now he can commit. We knew from day one that we would always appeal his first choice school. You have nothing to lose and a ton to gain! Colleges are a business and in the end they need to make their yield and financial goals. If they didn’t budge in price then we could walk and they’d get $0 from us. So in the end it was a win win situation. We got the price we wanted and they are still getting money from us and another student to add to their yield numbers. I looked over their Common Data Sets from the past couple of years and saw that their freshman class from last year was significantly smaller due to Covid. I assumed they were at risk for not making their yield again (they are actually still accepting applications) and therefore we had the upper hand as the consumer. Also, most small liberal arts colleges skew very heavily female, with Whitman being 60% female, 40% male. I knew they needed more males. And in another crazy turn of events my in-laws have offered to pay for Whitman, but now that the price is in our original budget, if anything goes awry with the in-laws we know we can still afford it on our own. We are all ecstatic for how things turned out! [emoji175]

I just checked and Whitman is ranked #47 for LACs in the US, so I guess he did apply to a school in the top 50, plus 2 UC schools since we're in CA. Whitman has an acceptance rate of 56%, probably due to it's location. If it was in a bigger city I think it would be much more popular. It wasn't even on our list of schools to visit last year because it was such a far drive from Seattle. It's truly a hidden gem and we probably would have never known about it if it wasn't for the Colleges that Change Lives book that I read DS1's freshman year.

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Congrats to your DS!! I love that he found a great fit and you all were able to make it work for everyone. Such an exciting start to his adult life!

[AngB]

DS1 and I had a great time on our 11 day mom and son college trip! We toured 5 schools in 4 different cities in the Pacific Northwest. It was basically a food and college tour!

DS had been leaning towards Whitman College for months BUT it was way out of our original budget (like $17k a year more even after his $14k a year in merit initially). We attended their Admitted Student Saturday in person 2 weeks ago and then immediately came home and drafted our appeal. We qualify for zero need based aid so our only hope was way more merit. DS wrote a letter basically saying what drew him to Whitman (including specifics from attending the Admitted Student Saturday), told them that our budget all along was the price of a UC school but that a small liberal arts college is what is the best fit, and that Whitman was his first choice but the most expensive choice out of the 8 schools he had gotten into. We included a comparison spreadsheet of all the current colleges’ net costs and attached the aid letters of each school he’s been accepted to. We just heard back that they gave him an additional $16k a year in merit, bringing the total merit to $30k a year! That puts Whitman squarely in our budget and now he can commit. We knew from day one that we would always appeal his first choice school. You have nothing to lose and a ton to gain! Colleges are a business and in the end they need to make their yield and financial goals. If they didn’t budge in price then we could walk and they’d get $0 from us. So in the end it was a win win situation. We got the price we wanted and they are still getting money from us and another student to add to their yield numbers. I looked over their Common Data Sets from the past couple of years and saw that their freshman class from last year was significantly smaller due to Covid. I assumed they were at risk for not making their yield again (they are actually still accepting applications) and therefore we had the upper hand as the consumer. Also, most small liberal arts colleges skew very heavily female, with Whitman being 60% female, 40% male. I knew they needed more males. And in another crazy turn of events my in-laws have offered to pay for Whitman, but now that the price is in our original budget, if anything goes awry with the in-laws we know we can still afford it on our own. We are all ecstatic for how things turned out! [emoji175]

I just checked and Whitman is ranked #47 for LACs in the US, so I guess he did apply to a school in the top 50, plus 2 UC schools since we're in CA. Whitman has an acceptance rate of 56%, probably due to it's location. If it was in a bigger city I think it would be much more popular. It wasn't even on our list of schools to visit last year because it was such a far drive from Seattle. It's truly a hidden gem and we probably would have never known about it if it wasn't for the Colleges that Change Lives book that I read DS1's freshman year.

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This is so amazing!! I am so happy for you and your family!

[bisous]

Wow! Great story Latia! I'm so happy for you guys. This is just too crazy seeing these kids that I "know" going off to college!

[StantonHyde]

That’s awesome! I seriously considered Whitman College and even visited it with my parents. I ended up going to Cal because I wanted to do marching band, lol! But I loved the atmosphere at Whitman.

Whitman is a great school but then I am SLAC fan [emoji1]

[Globetrotter]

esssnce629, wow!! I am so impressed how you appealed and got them to lower the costs. Way to go, mom! And I'm also happy that he found his perfect fit :) yay! We are LACs people, too, so I get it. Mine is still undecided- 2.5 weeks to go.

[Globetrotter]

This year was crazy for selective admissions. the less selective schools had the opposite issue and some are struggling financially. Cal states enrollment went down, except for SLO and Pomona. UCs went up by approx 30%! They were test BLIND- they didn't look at scores at all- It was very holistic this year.

Going forward, I'm all for test optionalbut I think it's important to figure out a fair way to compare candidates- maybe give test optional folks another essay, or something, but I know that's hard for large public schools to manage.

Selective private apps were through the roof, fueled by the same people applying to tons of places due to test optional policies, deferrals from last year, uncertainty of where to apply since they couldn't tour (people applied first, then toured where they got in), international students now feeling comfortable to apply (there was a Biden boost, too!).. So due to all this there is a ton of waitlisting going on as colleges have no idea how many will commit.

I hope they figure out by next year how to manage the test optional boost. Popular colleges had to hire and train readers just to manage the load, and they had very little time to read the apps. And a lot of folks had pass/fail grades last spring and cancelled extracurriculars, making it even harder to compare candidates. What a nightmare of a job.

there is also a push to recruit more first gen low income students, which is a good thing, and btw they tend to apply for free.

But I guess what do you expect in a pandemic? It was bound to be chaotic.

[AnnieW625]

Congrats to your DS1 Essnce.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

Congrats, essnce!!

[gatorsmom]

Latia, I'm so proud of you and happy for your son. I bet the fact that you attached a spreadsheet to the essay stood out in a very position way to the application readers. Way to go, you two!

[marinkitty]

DS1 and I had a great time on our 11 day mom and son college trip! We toured 5 schools in 4 different cities in the Pacific Northwest. It was basically a food and college tour!

DS had been leaning towards Whitman College for months BUT it was way out of our original budget (like $17k a year more even after his $14k a year in merit initially). We attended their Admitted Student Saturday in person 2 weeks ago and then immediately came home and drafted our appeal. We qualify for zero need based aid so our only hope was way more merit. DS wrote a letter basically saying what drew him to Whitman (including specifics from attending the Admitted Student Saturday), told them that our budget all along was the price of a UC school but that a small liberal arts college is what is the best fit, and that Whitman was his first choice but the most expensive choice out of the 8 schools he had gotten into. We included a comparison spreadsheet of all the current colleges’ net costs and attached the aid letters of each school he’s been accepted to. We just heard back that they gave him an additional $16k a year in merit, bringing the total merit to $30k a year! That puts Whitman squarely in our budget and now he can commit. We knew from day one that we would always appeal his first choice school. You have nothing to lose and a ton to gain! Colleges are a business and in the end they need to make their yield and financial goals. If they didn’t budge in price then we could walk and they’d get $0 from us. So in the end it was a win win situation. We got the price we wanted and they are still getting money from us and another student to add to their yield numbers. I looked over their Common Data Sets from the past couple of years and saw that their freshman class from last year was significantly smaller due to Covid. I assumed they were at risk for not making their yield again (they are actually still accepting applications) and therefore we had the upper hand as the consumer. Also, most small liberal arts colleges skew very heavily female, with Whitman being 60% female, 40% male. I knew they needed more males. And in another crazy turn of events my in-laws have offered to pay for Whitman, but now that the price is in our original budget, if anything goes awry with the in-laws we know we can still afford it on our own. We are all ecstatic for how things turned out! [emoji175]

I just checked and Whitman is ranked #47 for LACs in the US, so I guess he did apply to a school in the top 50, plus 2 UC schools since we're in CA. Whitman has an acceptance rate of 56%, probably due to it's location. If it was in a bigger city I think it would be much more popular. It wasn't even on our list of schools to visit last year because it was such a far drive from Seattle. It's truly a hidden gem and we probably would have never known about it if it wasn't for the Colleges that Change Lives book that I read DS1's freshman year.

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This is such a great outcome! Congrats to your DS, particularly for advocating for himself and going after what he wants!