<p>You can leave the “what other schools are you applying to” question blank if you want. Both my sons did this, with their high school counselor’s blessing.</p>
<p>Tokenadult, thank you!</p>
<p>jrpar, Do you feel this impacted admission decisions in any way? Thanks.</p>
<p>My 10th grader just began looking at a few schools. He has already been asked by 2 admissions counselors which other schools he is looking at, even though they know that he is just in 10th grade! His answer was that he does not know yet, because he is just beginning his college search. That answer is truthful, btw.</p>
<p>I believe my kids left it blank on college applications. In an interview, it’s a little harder to leave blank. They generally named the state school and a few similar schools.</p>
<p>Get TONS of sleep, exercise, and healthy food since these are your growing years!</p>
<p>Northeastmom, my kids’ college counselor advised that leaving the question blank would not impact decisions. With one exception (I think Rice?) the schools that asked the question in the application would have been safety schools for my kids, and it didn’t seem advisable to emphasize that. Having said that, in interviews my kids both answered this question multiple times - they usually rattled off schools that were roughly comparable to the school they were interviewing at. For a 10th grader, I think your kid’s answer is the best and most truthful answer!</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, that’s a very unrealistic suggestion; at least the sleep part is.</p>
<p>Reading all your comments is invaluable to someone trying to understand the process of getting an international student into a US college.</p>
<p>Re: International students. Periodically check with the college to see what kind of mailings are sent to accepted students. (Harvey Mudd has a calendar online that has a copy of all the mailings that go out, and when they were mailed.)</p>
<p>Housing worksheets, week of welcome schedule, orientation information, etc. were all mailed to our house, AFTER we had left for our summer leave in the states. We were able to have duplicate copies mailed to a relatives house in California, but would have been in trouble if we hadn’t asked for them.</p>
<p>2collegewego, and jrpar, thank you.</p>
<p>Talk to people in the colleges you are looking at- not just admissions kids!</p>
<p>My mom and I went to one school where we got to have lunch in the cafeteria at the same time as the students. Two freshman boys came over and sat with us at the table. They were so friendly, and eager to answer any questions we had. It was great to get a new students perspective on the college, because not only did we hear the tour guide spiel (The college is beautiful, there are so many opportunities, etc.), but we got to hear real opinions of kids who loved the school but had their own problems (the food is good about once every three days, learning to manage time is hard, etc.) It was definitely beneficial!</p>
<p>I saw at the beginning of this thread some parents were expressing their concerns about standardized testing. A misconception I would like to dispell would be that the PSATs are not completely indicative of SAT scores. On my PSAT, I got two questions wrong and it predicted I’d get mid-600s on my math SAT. My actual SAT score was over 100 points higher. (It was mostly accurate, however, with the critical reading). Also, I cannot stress how much better the ACT was for a computational thinker.</p>
<p>Finally, encourage your child to (within reason) be themselves on their application. I know this is oversaid,sorry, but I’d like to point out that many of the admissions workers are in their mid to late twenties and remember what it’s like to be a high schooler. In my application I included “The Onion” among the periodicals I read and a rock concert as one of the exhibits I’ve been to in the past year. More serious responses were included as well, though.</p>
<p>Acquire a separate filing cabinet for all college material. Mark each file with any ID #s, passwords, usernames etc in an easily and quickly accessible spot, in our case…on the inside of each hanging folder. With the # of such passwords, ID#s etc, that are never remembered for each diff school, it saves a lot of time fishing around amongst papers and correspondence.</p>
<p>Be sure to prepare some kind of spreadsheet or system that tells you what you sent to each school and when, and by what means (fax, mail, email) especially during the period when all the financial aid documents are forwarded.</p>
<p>Make hard copies of all email or mailed correspondence and file.</p>
<p>If a non custodial parent is involved who may be uncooperative, save all correspondence as well.</p>
<p>The op is obviously ignorant of many, many cases in which students actually got into reach schools. I for one, attend Princeton University, and my high school stats were not perfect, and i have no hook.</p>
<p>“Not perfect” means myriad things on CC, though, Erroln. I understand what you’re saying (here’s hoping I get into my reach and top choice), but to many people here, “not perfect” is a B+.</p>
<p>DO OVERNIGHTS at colleges when deciding which college is your number 1. And try to do the overnights with someone similar to yourself.</p>
<p>Zamzam, are you kidding? An A- is not perfect :D</p>
<p>Don’t visit a college campus when no students are there. It is nigh impossible to overcome the sense that the place was dead and sterile. Do know why the campus is deserted on your Saturday morning tour…they are all in bed asleep still…go after lunch. Eavesdrop in the cafeterias and see what is up socially get the vibe of the place.</p>
<p>lol faline we went to a preview day on a Sunday morning and I was a litte concerned by the lack of population 
I asked in the bookstore and the student employee pointed out exactly what you did. Everyone was still asleep or holed up iin their rooms getting ready for Monday.</p>
<p>What a heartbreak to get accepted to top choice but not be able to enroll because the financial aid package isn’t enough.</p>
<p>I never even heard of the admit/reject decision phenomenon until I stumbled on CC</p>
<p>^^^ Completely agree with ahoo2U. It was a harsh lesson for us.</p>