What Happens if You Don’t Get into Your ED (Early Decision) School? – College Bound Mentor Podcast #3

Welcome to the College Bound Mentor podcast! Each episode, hear trends, case studies, and interviews with students who have gone through it all

This is Episode #3 and you’ll hear Early Decision vs. Early Action and our first interview with a student, Zoe, who shares her experience not getting into her first choice Early Decision school. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast spots – follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re enjoying the show!

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• Show Notes
• Learn more about the College Bound Mentor podcast
• Transcript

College Bound Mentor Podcast Episode #3: What Happens if You Don’t Get into Your ED (Early Decision) School?

Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA) are two of the biggest considerations when applying to college. In the first part of this episode, we break down what Early Decision and Early Action are, the different types of each, and restrictions on each. We then feature our first interview with a student, Zoe, who shares her experience not getting into her first choice Early Decision school. She reveals her feelings when she first got denied, why it was actually a blessing in disguise, and her advice to rising seniors. This episode covers everything from Early Decision to feeling rejected. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

• What is Early Decision (ED)?
• Why apply Early Decision I vs. Early Decision II?
• What schools have Restrictive Early Action?
• Where did she apply Early Decision?
• How did she feel when she first got denied?
• What would she do different if she did it all over again?
• How should students handle getting denied for Early Decision?
• What are Fun Facts Abby & Stefanie recently learned about college?

Subscribe to College Bound Mentor on your favorite podcast platform and learn more at CollegeBoundMentor.com

Check out the episode and show notes below for much more detail.

Show Notes

• What Happens if You Don’t Get into Your ED (Early Decision) School?
  • [0:18] Welcome to College Bound Mentor
  • [0:24] Lisa Bleich, Abby Power, Stefanie Forman
  • [0:40] What is Early Decision (ED)?
  • [1:14] Why apply Early Decision I vs. Early Decision II?
  • [3:17] Early Action (EA)
  • [4:04] What schools have Restrictive Early Action?
  • Interview with Zoe
  • [7:35] What was Zoe involved in in high school?
  • [8:52] What got her interested in mental health advocacy?
  • [10:05] Was she able to see the impact she had?
  • [11:08] Where did she apply Early Decision?
  • [12:14] How did she feel when she first got denied?
  • [14:42] What changed after she got denied?
  • [15:38] Villanova University
  • [18:34] How did Zoe’s approach change when she started applying again?
  • [20:35] Did getting into the Honors College impact Zoe’s college decision?
  • [22:51] What would she do different if she did it all over again?
  • [23:46] What advice does she have for fellow students?
  • [25:01] What else would she add?
  • Fun Facts
  • [29:35] What’s a Fun Fact Abby recently learned about college?
  • [30:37] What’s a Fun Fact Stefanie recently learned about college?
  • [32:24] Subscribe to College Bound Mentor on your favorite podcast platform and learn more at CollegeBoundMentor.com
  • Theme Song: “Happy Optimistic Americana” by BDKSonic

What is the College Bound Mentor podcast?

Lisa, Abby, and Stefanie know college. They also know students. With over 30 years combined experience mentoring young people, they’ll show you why understanding yourself is the key to finding the right college. Each episode, hear trends, case studies, and interviews with students who have gone through it all – giving you valuable insight to survive the college application process and beyond. Hosted by Lisa Bleich, Abby Power, and Stefanie Forman, Partners of College Bound Mentor.

Transcript

Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.

Zoe 0:01
When you’re applying to college, you’re only 17. And you’re still trying to figure out your identity and what it is that you want in the future.

Lisa Bleich 0:19
Hey CBMers. Welcome back to College Bound Mentor, where we help you survive the college application process and beyond. Were your co hosts, Lisa, Abby, and Stefanie. And today we are talking about early decision. What happens if you don’t get into early decision school? And how do you move forward in the application process? Regardless, so let’s talk about early decision. And what does it mean? Stef you want to explain it for us? All

Stefanie Forman 0:48
right. So there are two types of early decision early decision one, an early decision to and early decision is binding. So that means if you apply to school early decision, and you get accepted, you have to go in early decision. One is usually due November 1, some November 15. But most November 1, early decision to is usually due during regular decision, which is the first week of January. So why would someone apply early decision one versus early decision to early decision one is for the students who are super confident in their first choice, they had a great junior year, they’re not relying on first quarter or first semester grades, there’s no questions at all, and they’re ready with their applications to go. And then if someone applies early decision to maybe they need a little more time, maybe they’re not confident that their financial need will be met. Or their early decision, one didn’t work out. And a lot of times parents ask or students ask is there a better chance of getting in early decision one versus early decision two, because historically, at most schools, the acceptance rate is a lot higher for early decision versus regular decision. And we’ve seen that early decision one, the acceptance rate seems to be a bit higher for the schools that release it versus early decision to just because when you apply early decision to a lot of the class has already been filled with early decision one and a lot of the early decision to students might have similar profiles to regular decision students. So so that’s just a little bit of a summary of early decision one early decision to

Lisa Bleich 2:29
early action. So early action is available at many, many schools, it’s most common at the state universities. And for that it’s almost an imperative that you apply early action, it’s not binding, it just means that you get it in by an earlier deadline, which could be as early as October 15, all the way through December 1. So early action, as I said, is not binding. And there’s a lot of different ways that students can think about early action. For some schools, it’s important to apply for certain programs. So you want to think about it by program, you want to think about it by type of school. And you also want to think about it by your qualifications. There’s a number of schools that you apply early action, and then they’ll defer you to regular decision. That’s pretty common, we see that a lot at Michigan, it’s a pretty common thing that they do. The other thing that’s important to note is that for some schools, for certain programs, like anything in the arts, it would be music or theater drama, you can’t really get a decision, some schools will let you do an early decision, like NYU will let you do it for the arts. But a lot of them will, if you’re doing it’s an earlier deadline. So you have to even if it’s not specifically early action, you have to get it in by a December 1 deadline, because they need time to schedule your portfolio review or schedule your auditions or to do your screening. So that’s also something to keep in mind for early action. But the big thing about it is it’s not binding, and you just want to get it in early. There’s also some schools that have some restrictions on their early actions. And Abby’s going to talk about that. Yeah, just really

Abby Power 3:57
quickly. The state schools and some private schools like Tulane, and University of Richmond have what’s called non restrictive early action, which means there’s no rules about what other schools you can apply to. So you could apply somewhere early decision and then to too late early action. There’s no restrictions on their early action policies or their early action program. But some schools restrict their early action applicants. So if those programs are either called restrictive early action, or some of them that are even more restrictive, are called single choice early action. So examples of restrictive early action are Georgetown and Notre Dame single choice early action, or Stanford, Harvard and a few of the other Ivy’s. And what this means is that these colleges do not want you applying to any other schools that have any other kind of restricted programs, whether those are early decision programs, or other restricted early action programs. So for example at Georgetown, they don’t want You’re applying to Georgetown restricted early action and Notre Dame restricted early action. Notre Dame has a little bit of a different take on it, where you can apply to Notre Dame and other restricted early action programs. So it’s kind of by school by program. Sometimes they change year the the rules change year to year. So I guess the real message is, check with your colleges and and with us, and

Lisa Bleich 5:28
really be aware of what you’re what you’re doing. And the other thing is the thing I forgot to mention that some scholarships also, even though they have regular decision, there are some schools that you need to apply like Emory, you need to apply by November 15, to be considered for any of their merit scholarships. So it’s really important to look at the guidelines to understand what all of those are, some schools make you do it early, if you want to get an interview, like at Duke, you have to apply by December 1 To get an interview. So like everything admissions, it’s dependent on the school, by the program. And so it’s really important to make sure that you’re aware of all of that. Yeah,

Abby Power 6:01
and some schools have just a cornucopia of offerings. So for example, again, back to two lane and Richmond, they have early decision one early decision to early action and regular decision. So for schools like that, it’s really important to try to understand the strategy of applying to have your best chances. Exactly.

Lisa Bleich 6:21
So we’re going to move over now and take a listen to one of our guests who applied early decision. She also applied early action to several schools, and she did not get into her first choice early decision school. So let’s hear from Zoe shack, who is a senior at Mount Saint Mary’s Academy, or actually, she just finished her senior year at Mount Saint Mary’s Academy in New Jersey, which is an all girls Catholic school, and let’s hear about how that journey ended up for her bye. Looking at maybe it’s not always a bad idea or a bad thing if you don’t get into your first choice early decision school. So let’s take it to Zoe. Well, I’m very excited to have our first guest, the college bound mentor on our podcast and I’m very excited that we have Zoe shack here with us. So we is a actually she’s finished her senior year at Mount Saint Mary’s Academy, which is an all girls Catholic High School in New Jersey. And she it was top of her class, she was been top 10% of her class, which is pretty amazing. She’s very involved in her community, I think of her as a community oriented, intellectually curious leader and an incredibly strong communicator. And I’m just delighted to have Zoe here. So welcome, Zoe.

Zoe 7:41
Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Lisa Bleich 7:43
I wanted to start off before we talk about it, your early decision experience and also your overall college application journey. Tell us a little bit about what you were involved in at high school. Sure.

Zoe 7:55
So throughout high school, I was really involved in mental health advocacy after a fellowship program I participated in throughout my sophomore year, I started a mental health advocacy group with some of my best friends. And we were able to network with local legislators. We did a lot of work with changing High School lesson plans on mental health. And I was also able to give a talk at a TEDx convention give a TED talk on the topic of mental health and activism among young people. From there. I also got involved with a lot of voting rights advocacy and voter registration work. I worked as the youngest paid member of a voter registration nonprofit called voters up tomorrow throughout my senior year and part of my junior year, I was involved in speech and debate as a captain. I was in a junior state of America at my high school. And I was also really into music. I played drums for my school band, and my church ensemble as

Lisa Bleich 8:50
well. Wonderful. So you were very busy, very engaged student. And I’m just wondering what got you interested in mental health advocacy.

Zoe 9:00
It was something that I was always passionate about. From a psychology perspective. I love taking psych courses over the summer through Johns Hopkins CTY program. When I was starting out with high school, I was always really interested in reading about it and the way that patients were treated and how people were perceived based on certain conditions that they may or may not have. And once I got involved with this fellowship program civics unplugged, I really started to notice that mental health is one of the issues that a lot of young people can reach a very clear consensus on when so many other issues divide us in this day and age, because most of the people that I spoke with agreed that mental health is a real concern. And it’s something that should be discussed in schools and communities and classrooms. And from there, I was encouraged to create a project proposal, and I was one of five out of about 300 fellows to have their proposal selected and my project was fully funded by the organization. That’s amazing.

Lisa Bleich 9:59
And were you able to see the impact that your program had in your high school or in other high schools across the country?

Zoe 10:06
Yes, definitely. There were so many kids in my high school once I started working on some curriculum updates, who would actually approach me in the halls, whether they were my age or younger, and say things like you’re a role model, you inspire me. And that’s really what pushed me to keep going is because I realized that even these small actions that may be perceived as inconsequential, because we’re just kids doing these things, even those small actions can have a really big impact. And they can start these really important conversations in our communities, and create that kind of ripple effect that encourages other young people to take a stance, whether it’s for mental health or another cause. That’s

Lisa Bleich 10:43
amazing. And I know that you are going to be an agent of change wherever you go, because it’s just it’s built into your DNA. And so when you, you’re welcome. And that’s the thing that was, for me, it was really surprising. First of all, let’s talk about where you decided to apply early decision. And what drew you to that school.

Zoe 11:06
So for early decision, I applied to Swarthmore College, which is in Pennsylvania, right outside of Philly. And I was drawn to that school because of the sense of intellectual curiosity that it seemed to foster, I could tell the kids were really passionate about what they were studying, and really willing to discuss these topics, whether it be in the lecture hall, or classroom, or even just among friends and their freedom. And that’s something I really wanted to continue in college. And I really was drawn to the small close knit environment. I think I had about 1600 students, I always under 2000, and there was no grad school. So it was definitely one of the smallest schools that I applied to. And I think that sense of familiarity is something that attracted me because my high school is only 300 Kids, or even fewer than that currently. So going to a medium to large college did seem kind of intimidating. And I was looking for something that had that familiarly close knit and kind of small welcoming vibe to right.

Lisa Bleich 12:06
And it’s also school that activism is a big part of it or impacting change. So that makes sense. So how did you feel when you first got denied?

Zoe 12:17
When I first got denied, I was really upset. Honestly, I was surprised because so many of the people that I had been talking to, we’re so confident in me, I was unsure. But I was feeling optimistic. And when I got rejected, I was really disheartened because I wasn’t sure what I did that wasn’t enough in their eyes initially, I was really just, exactly and before I kind of came to the realization that it’s really not you most of the times that you get rejected, and it comes down to the school itself and who they have a spot for what they’re looking for. I did kind of take it personally. And I was wondering if it would affect my other decisions. And this is just the way things were going to go. And I wouldn’t end up with many options in the end, because of some perceived issue with my application. But after a while, I was able to kind of realize that it wasn’t the case. Even though initially, I was really preoccupied with what I had done wrong. And if I was able to fix for most of my applications went out.

Lisa Bleich 13:20
And that’s a really common ideas. What did I do wrong? What was what could I have done differently? I was equally surprised when you didn’t get into Swarthmore, because you had such a strong application. You’re an amazing writer, you had a really, you have a really strong point of view. And it was really clear who you were, and you communicated that really well. So I was also surprised, but I also had faith that it was just not where you meant, where you were meant to go. How do you feel about it now?

Zoe 13:50
Now, I kind of feel like it was a blessing in disguise, because I feel like my perspective has changed a lot over this past year for a variety of reasons, a lot of different things that I had experienced and observed. And because of that, I’m kind of grateful that I had the opportunity to weigh all my options in the spring about a month ago and figure out what was the best fit for me, based on the person that I had evolved into. Because when you’re applying to college, you’re only 17. And you’re still trying to figure out your identity, and what it is that you want in the future. So I think having those additional few months, even though it does seem like a trivial difference really did make an impact for me because I was able to reflect on as I wanted and how those wants kind of developed over the course of my senior year into something different.

Lisa Bleich 14:40
And what changed what changed from what you wanted back in October, say November 1 when you made the decision. And then when because ultimately, you had amazing options. You had so many amazing options. You got it almost everywhere else that you applied, right. So what changed?

Zoe 14:56
For me the main factor that changed was just The size and the overall nature of the school that I was looking for. Because initially, when I first started this process, you remember I was exclusively looking at the small liberal arts schools, and everyone around me was kind of saying, you know, you should try to broaden your horizons, maybe look at some bigger universities, in addition to the small colleges. And I wasn’t really open to that. The first time that we drove by Villanova as we were looking at all the other Philly schools, I just didn’t even want to entertain the possibility. But I think as the year progressed, I realized that going to a really small high school does have its benefits academically. But it can also be a little bit challenging in some aspects to be in a small environment. For someone like me, who is definitely a more extroverted person and likes to be involved and network with all different kinds of people and talk to a new person every day. And as I got older, and kind of realized that this phase of my life, as a high schooler in a very small high school was coming to an end, I was kind of grateful to have options from Haverford with 1500 kids to a school like NYU with over 10,000 kids, and having that range of possibilities was really helpful for me, because I’d realized that I didn’t necessarily want to limit myself to only small schools, or only schools in a certain location, or only liberal arts schools. Right.

Lisa Bleich 16:27
So you brought in your expectation and, or your desires are what you felt like you could handle on what you would do well, and one of the things I was wondering is when you got over that initial disappointment, and you had to change your mindset, what was helpful to you to be able to do that, because you did have some early action schools that you got into pretty closely after you got that denial. So you can talk about that. And how did that help change your mindset, or at least make you feel a little bit weighed by the experience?

Zoe 16:59
Hmm, I think having those early action schools from the get go, was definitely something that made me feel a lot more confident in the possibilities or opportunities for me, because Seton Hall was the school that I heard back from in October, which was a lot earlier than any other, I got in, I received a scholarship, I got into the honors program, and I was able to just kind of take that deep breath and say, I know I’m going to college somewhere. And it was a good option that I did like and resonate with. So I figured that having that would be a great option, no matter what else happens. And then from there, I got into some other schools, like Fordham, Rutgers Villanova. And from there, even though I wasn’t really sure what I was leaning towards, because I wasn’t sure what other possibilities might be out there, it felt really good just to have those options no matter what, and to start researching those schools in depth from a different perspective since I had gotten in, because I feel like there is kind of a shift between looking at a school as a prospective applicant. And as someone who’s been admitted, and is looking for different aspects of student life, and not just worrying, you know, are my scores high enough for me to get into a school like this. So having those schools having that safety net was really helpful. And

Lisa Bleich 18:12
you bring up a really good point, because when you’re looking at a school as an applicant, and trying to understand if you are admissible, there’s a very different mindset than when you’re looking at a school that you’ve been accepted to. And you recognize that now I’m in the driver’s seat. Now I get to really think about what it is that I want from a school. How did that change for you? And what were some of the things that you size was one that you talked about, but what else changed? And how did you weigh your options when you had it? And what schools that it narrowed down to when you were making your final decision?

Zoe 18:47
I think for me, a factor that became less and less important throughout the process was honestly, the perceived prestige or reputation of the school because obviously, I love Villanova, and I think it’s a great place, but I definitely don’t think it’s perceived as academic as some of the other schools like NYU that I was admitted to, or high number of people have that mindset, or Haverford

Lisa Bleich 19:10
zakra, which was very similar to Swarthmore, right?

Zoe 19:13
Yes. And that’s definitely one thing that drew me into Swarthmore in the first place was that level of name and the things that it’s associated with when you say that name. So that’s definitely something I was super worried about at first. But throughout the process, I kind of shifted from saying, I have to just go to the school with the lowest acceptance rate out of everywhere I was admitted to, to figuring out where will I be happy? Where can I see myself living because as that reality kind of approached, I started thinking about, you know, where am I going to wake up in a dorm and feel happy? Where will I be able to get involved in the way that’s the most suitable to me as an individual, where will I be able to appreciate the campus and the location and all that has to offer so I think that’s something that changed for me. And as I was considering schools after regular decision came out, I see my main options were Villanova, Fordham have referred and NYU, I’d say those were the main four. And as I continued to consider each option, I really started looking more at the Student Life aspect and some of the more aspects, some of the aspects beyond academics and name reputation, because I realized there’s a lot more to college than just what other people see. Because it’s also about how you’ll enjoy the experience and how you’ll be able to make the most of it, regardless of that name.

Lisa Bleich 20:38
Right. And you got into the Honors College at Villanova. Yes. Right. And did that sway it at all for you? Because you were in that? Yeah, definitely.

Zoe 20:48
I vividly remember opening letter in school, I just for some reason, felt the need to check my portal again for Villanova that day when I was sitting in class, and I saw this big alert that I had an update to my application, I wasn’t really sure what I clicked on it. And then there was all this confetti, and there was a notification that I was admitted to the Honors College, which I honestly did not even know existed when I was applying. So I was really surprised about that, I was really excited, because initially, I was very happy to be admitted. But it wasn’t exactly a front runner, because I was concerned about the size and the prevalence of Greek life and a lot of aspects that kind of deterred me from other similar schools. But once I got into the Honors College, and I started looking online at some of the students and some of the things that it could offer to me, I’ve realized that it would provide a lot of opportunities, and I’d be able to find my people, even in a bigger school, because they always say you can make a big school small, but you can’t always make a small school big. And I figured I could kind of get the best of both worlds with that small, close knit academic environment that I’d always been looking for. And a bigger social environment with sports and a larger population of, you know, 7000 undergrads instead of 2000, which is something that had kind of changed throughout the year with respect to my preferences on school size,

Lisa Bleich 22:14
right. And that’s a really good point. And I think a lot of people overlook the honors colleges as really good options, if you want that small school experience or you want and even though 7000 is a medium sized school, it’s compared to your high school, it’s still quite big, but it does give you that opportunity to have that intellectual rigor and those small conversations and seminar style classes within a larger environment. Looking back,

that if you had to do it all over again, god forbid, right? Would you think that smarter would have been a good fit for you?

Zoe 22:51
I think it would have been a good fit, I think I would have, you know, been fine. And found my people found my place academically. But I don’t necessarily think it would have been the best fit out of all the schools that I was looking at and was admitted to, because like I said, I feel like I changed a lot and evolved a lot throughout the year with respect to what I was looking for, and the kind of things I was hoping to get out of my college experience. And for that reason, I was really lucky to have the opportunity to choose from so many schools rather than simply having one from December onwards, and not being able to weigh my other options or even see my other options, because I would have had to withdraw from all those other schools I got into. That’s

Lisa Bleich 23:36
true. It’s sometimes it’s really is a all for the best things always happen for a reason. In hindsight, what advice would you give, because to rising seniors who are just about to go through the process, or even younger students who are perhaps juniors looking starting to put their lists together?

Zoe 23:55
This is one thing I was actually just talking about with my friend who’s a junior, is that you should obviously consider the aspects of this that are important to you like academics, the name the alumni network. But really the most important thing in retrospect, to me is whether you’ll be happy there and whether you’ll feel like you have a place as part of that school community. Because as much as you’re worried about the name and the way people will react to where you’re going. They’re not the ones that are going to have to wake up in that school every morning and go through that routine and be part of that community. And once you get to college, from what I’ve heard at least and once you choose a college, you’re not going to think about all the other schools that either rejected you or the schools that you turned down, because you’re going to be so excited for all that there is ahead of you. That was

Lisa Bleich 24:44
such great advice. I’m going to package that and send it out to all of my rising seniors and sophomores as they go through this process. So that’s great. Is there anything else you want to add just at the end? Anything else that we didn’t cover that you wish Last two,

Zoe 25:00
I guess another thing I would want to talk about is just the ways that you can kind of engage with the college once you’ve gotten into different places and how you can make that decision because, for me, I really enjoyed looking at the different Instagram pages that are out there for the admitted students and previous classes where you can kind of see what kind of students attend that school and what their interests are, and whether they resonate with you and are the type of people that you could see yourself, you know, being friends with and spending time with, because as much as academics are important, and were a big factor for me, as well as you know, size, location, opportunities for internships, service, it is really important that you’re able to find your people and find your niche, whatever that may be shortening on your interests and who you are. So I think looking online at different resources, whether that be for your specific majors department, if they have a website or social media, if there’s a page for admitted students, if there’s a website for your honors college or a specific scholarship program that you were admitted to looking at the smaller details, rather than the school at large will probably give you a more accurate view of what your experience would be like, depending on the kind of offer you’ve gotten, or the kind of ways that you plan to engage with the school once you get there. Yeah,

Lisa Bleich 26:25
that’s really good advice. Was there anything that you saw on those media that you felt? Now it’s not for me, or when you were down to those four schools between NYU Fordham, Haverford, and Villanova? Because they’re quite different schools, you know, and they, and they attract quite a different brand. So was there something that either clinched it for Villanova? Or was it? Or was there something that you saw where you saw that? Those aren’t my people?

Zoe 26:55
Yeah, I think for the side of those aren’t my people or this isn’t my school, I think seeing different photos and videos just on the websites or social media of the schools, and seeing what the day to day life of some of those schools really looked like, was very helpful to me, because for instance, NYU is a school that I really wanted to apply to, but I never visited for some reason. And I never really researched from a critical standpoint of evaluating the pros and cons. And I think honestly, one of the reasons I was so excited about getting in was because it was the quote, unquote, best name out of schools that I had been accepted to. And I was happy about that I ended up actually getting a Presidential Scholars offer. And I was just really happy that I had gone in. But once I started looking at them, and some of the other schools that I had been accepted to their YouTube channels, for instance, and videos of the students just going through their routine, seeing the location and the lifestyle, I realized, this doesn’t really resonate me resonate with me, in the same way that the lifestyle and the campus at Villanova does. And I think one thing that really helped me kind of seal the deal with Villanova was admitted students day because there was one speech from a current student. And they said, a lot of schools will say, you know, you would be honored to go to a school like this. But at Villanova, it feels like they would be honored to have you and have you contribute to their community. And that was something that really excited me because I had been speaking to so many students, I’d been figuring out, you know, the classes I would take and the clubs I would join, and how I would kind of make an impact starting on my college campus. And hopefully beyond after that, whether that be grad school or the workforce. And I really saw myself kind of fitting into that puzzle and being able to contribute and have my perspective valued there. So definitely would help me to sign.

Lisa Bleich 29:00
That’s amazing. Yeah. And I can’t wait to see what you do there. Because I know you’re going to make a huge impact there. And I can’t wait to maybe have you back after you’ve gone through similar experiences at Villanova. And see how great that was. Well, thank you so much. This has been so helpful. And I think students will really resonate with this as they are going through the process. So thank you.

Zoe 29:20
All right. Thank you so much.

Lisa Bleich 29:25
Thank you so much. So that was a great interview. And I hope you guys learned as much as I did about the whole process. Before we say goodbye. Let’s go into our fun facts about college. Abby, what was a fun fact that you learned last week about colleges?

Abby Power 29:38
So last week, I learned that University of Wisconsin has an appeal process. So that’s meant for if you don’t get into the school, you can appeal the decision. And there are a bunch of schools that have it. You know, this is not something that works, generally speaking, but a family came to me who I hadn’t worked with they are asked me to review their daughter’s application to see if I had neat insight into why she didn’t get into Wisconsin. And after I looked at her application, I had no answers for them. I thought she was a fantastic candidate. Not overqualified perfectly qualified would have been a great fit. So I recommended that they try the appeal process. And yeah, it worked. mitad Yeah, it was later, later, so that’s awesome. She didn’t get any feedback as to why they reversed their decision. But I don’t know sometimes if if you have that feeling it might be worth pursuing.

Lisa Bleich 30:37
Yeah, no, You never know. You never know what about Yusef

Stefanie Forman 30:40
my fun fact has nothing to do with this. But I am talking about it way too much.

We went to an ICA conference last week in Connecticut, and we visited a bunch of Connecticut colleges. And I learned University of Florida was there. And I learned and this is a big deal. My husband’s gonna be very proud because he’s a gator he went to UF he’s from Florida, you might have, you know, many opinions of that state. But it’s a wonderfully versity. And I learned and this is new in the past year, that if you have a grandparent, and his mom is a resident there. So if you have a grandparent who’s a resident of Florida, that you get to pay and if you get admitted to UF, which is Gainesville, or any of the Florida public universities, which is not an easy feat, especially some of them, you get to pay in state tuition. There are some caveats. I think there’s only about 350 waivers throughout all of the schools, so about 50 to 60 waivers for each college. And there are a few requirements like SAT ACT scores, GPA, but again, that just really excited me and I thought that’s really awesome that a public university would give that opportunity to add upstate. Yeah, smart.

Lisa Bleich 31:58
It’s really smart. Oh, and I think the woman said that we met but she said you have to get in really early. You have to get your application in as early as you can, because they get swept up. So that’s a wonderful, wonderful piece of news for anyone who has a any grandparents living in Florida. Well, I want to thank Zoe again for coming on to college fomentar it was a great interview and we really appreciate what you had to say. And thank you CBMers for tuning in. To catch more episodes of College Bound Mentor, make sure to follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and tell a fellow parent or student about podcast. To learn more visit CollegeBoundMentor.com Until next time, you got this!