<p>No favorites ever emerged for D1 and we were very glad. It never made any sense to us to try to cultivate a favorite or even a short list of the recommended eight schools. Given the insane competition, the less wedded she became to a particular school the better we felt. In fact we deliberately did not go on visits because of this. Why take your kid to see Harvard so that they can feel even worse when the probable rejection comes? It has meant a lot of work on sending out many applications but well worth it psychologically.</p>