Over 550 families of senior high school seniors from your Affording university 101 Facebook group responded to our 2023 “Did You Get What You Expected?” admissions survey with College Ave Student Loans. These families, representing 44 states, had varying experiences, from being accepted to each school they applied to, to being rejected by six or more schools.
Did You Get That which you Expected? See What Others Said From Our Survey
The objective of our survey ended up being to gauge family satisfaction with the class of 2023 admissions decisions and financial aid offers students received from colleges. Here are the results…
Most from the families responding (68%) were going through the college admissions process the very first time.
We were not surprised to find out that 27% of scholars applied to 10 or more colleges, 39% put on 1 to five schools, and 34% applied to 6 to 9 schools.
42% of scholars were waitlisted with 17% of those students being waitlisted at Two or more schools.
Two-thirds of respondents were not surprised at the admissions decisions their students received, but that didn't diminish the stress of the college admissions process.
Many of those who were surprised by the outcome had students who have been waitlisted, had students deferred at safety schools but taken in more elite schools, and received an array of merit awards they found hard to understand.
One responder stated, “$3000 in one state school, while $30,000 from another. Much variability in awards.”
Another stated, “Deferred to Tulane but accepted to Ivy and higher rank college.”
89% of responders received some type of educational funding. Of those receiving educational funding, 57% received only merit scholarships, 6% received educational funding based on need, and 37% received a mix of merit and need-based aid.
66% of responders were either OK, Satisfied or Very Pleased with their financial aid offer. 62% of responders chose not to appeal their educational funding award.
56% of responders possess a intend to pay for college, 24% aren't sure if they have a plan, and 20% will have an agenda. (Beyond tuition, here are a few college costs your families should plan to purchase).
Regardless from the outcome, the most common words participants used to describe the admissions experience were “stressful,” “exhausting,” and “overwhelming.”
Here's a flavor of methods many people taken care of immediately what they thought of the overall process-
Real Family Stories From the Class of 2023
We spoke with three moms who took the survey who represent three different experiences to determine exactly what the admissions process was really like on their behalf. Here's what they'd to say…
Cindy Staples, California mom and college student
Cindy and her daughter Allison started searching for colleges in 8th grade. There wasn't a day in high school that Allison wasn't thinking about the academics and extracurriculars that would get her into a good school.
She includes a 4.6 GPA, may be the co-captain of her volleyball team, and she or he was the first intern younger than 15 who worked for her assemblyman.
Despite careful research, she was rejected by 6 out of 12 schools she put on. Allison would ask herself, “Am I not worth enough?” and “Did I neglect to prove myself?”
The emotional rollercoaster was heightened by acceptance and rejection letters on the day that. She put on five University of California schools, but she was accepted to simply one of these.
Why all the rejections?
Her mom speculates it is because the bigger-named schools, such as the UCs, were just more competitive.
If she'd to do it once again, she would have limited the bigger-named schools and helped her daughter choose a few schools in the middle of the country. She would also have considered the ones that were not as well known and had a greater acceptance rate.
The financial part of the story was a smaller amount of an emotional rollercoaster.
Cindy helped pick schools on her daughter which were affordable based on Net Price Calculator estimates. “Spending $100,000 on her education would have been like buying a house without any home,” says Cindy.
Her daughter could get merit aid at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Allison will borrow the federal loan limit for students and her parents will buy books and provide her $100 monthly for spending cash.
Cindy saved in a 529 plan for her daughter and can use any remaining balances for graduate school for her daughter.
Jo Meewes, New york mom and math teacher
“The wait was horrible,” says Jo. Her daughter Jordan received an email from a school in December to allow her know they received her application, however they wouldn't make any decisions until January 31st.
To maximize educational funding, Jordan didn't apply early decision to the college.
Applying early decision might have eliminated her capability to see and compare the other schools might have offered. In addition, when applying early decision students is likely to attend if accepted.
Jordan did, however, seek early action. In this case, schools would tell her if she were admitted earlier along the way, but she would still able to wait for other offers from competing universities before making a choice.
Two schools let her know quickly via the rolling admissions process. Jordan did not apply to any reach schools, and she was accepted to each school she applied to.
One of the very most difficult parts for Jordan was realizing that schools may not be as emotionally involved in the process as she was.
She spoke to some financial aid counselor at Virginia Tech who told her she should be happy she got in, while they couldn't leave her with more educational funding.
The school's response made her feel like they didn't care whether or not she attended.
Jordan received an in-state tuition waiver from Florida State. The waiver was more than financial aid. It showed her that they was really wanted by the school.
Laura Nattinger, Texas mom, homeschool teacher and school counselor
Just like two-thirds of households responding, Laura was studying the admissions process together with her daughter Echo for the first time.
The one huge difference is that she home schooled her daughter, and has four more children.
Laura needed to develop transcripts herself and supply course descriptions. She even wrote her daughter's recommendation letters.
Echo was accepted to 6 from 13 schools she applied to. The majority of the rejections were from reach schools such as ones in the Ivy Leagues.
The only shocking rejection was by Rice. She was upset for any day but quickly recovered.
Echo was offered and accepted a spot within the honors program in the University of Texas Austin.
While she didn't get any merit aid in the school, in-state tuition and also the small classes of the honors college made up for it. Her household is also happy she'll stay close to home.
As the outcomes in our survey and the more detailed family stories display, the school admissions process is exactly what people told us – chaotic, stressful, exhausting, overwhelming, frustrating, unpredictable, complicated, crazy, daunting, arbitrary, eye opening, a crapshoot, and so much more.
Keep in your mind members of our Paying For College 101 Facebook group tend to be families actively searching information and guidance on the school admissions process and the ways to purchase college. We appreciate this highly engaged community that is willing to offer support and share information to help others.
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We thank College Ave Student education loans for sponsoring this survey. For families rich in school students yet to begin the school admissions process, make use of the tips in this article to higher ready your family for what to anticipate. For families needing additional funding to cover college costs, check out College Ave Student Loans for more information and resources. Their tools section – for example their student loan calculator – will help you compare options and figure out how much you can save within the lifetime of has given.