<p>Instead of responding endlessly to "Chance" threads, How about a thread that we can keep "growing" that has advice on it for applicants?</p>
<p>Here are mine, please add yours:</p>
<ol>
<li> Start Early. You will have more time to craft your essays. You will have better luck at getting your reccomendations. The earlier you submit the better your chances. I am sure that there are students that barely make the deadline, but you need to set yourself apart.</li>
</ol>
<p>1a. If you are hoping for one of the awards (Bloomberg, Hodson) you need to get your stuff in well ahead of the deadline. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Allow teachers/family to assist you by reading/proof reading your essays. Dont allow anyone to write your essays or over contribute. </p></li>
<li><p>Chance threads do not mean much. If you are in the right range for grades and test scores you are good to go. No one on the board has any real insight based on what you portray in a chance thread.</p></li>
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<p>3a. Your chances for admission go up with ED. It shows drive and commitment to the school.</p>
<p>3b. It is a crap-shoot. My child was accepted at schools that were a reach (JHU) and was rejected by schools that she 'should have' been accepted to (using scores/grades as a guide). It makes no sense at times.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Cast a wide net. If you are not doing ED, apply to a lot of schools. The cost of application/sending scores is nothing compared to the overall cost of your education. Although JHU became my D's final choice, she was offered Full Ride at 1 school, Full Tuition at 2 schools, and 75% tuition at 2 more schools. If JHU's envelope had bad news, she still had a lot of great choices. The old days of 1 reach, 1 safety, and 1 in the middle are over.</p></li>
<li><p>Have the money talk with your folks early. Tuition is $55,000 give or take at almost every single college. EFC calculators are easy to work. How much debt can the family take on, how much debt can the student take on. My D has friends that were accepted to their dream school and were crushed to find out they could not attend due to money. In my D's case, she was accepted to one of her first choice schools but offered no aid. She KNEW from our conversations prior that it was out of our reach. Again, our story ended happily (JHU), but had she been rejected she still had some great options.</p></li>
<li><p>Make your essays sing out with who you are! If you are applying to JHU, there is a good chance you were not part of the 'popular' clique in high-school. You've had 4 years of learning to fly under the radar, and maybe even had to act 'less smart' around your peers to fit in. At Hopkins, being above average intelligence is the norm, so you have to stand out. When you sit down to write the essay, you have to break through that and present YOU.</p></li>
<li><p>Interview on Campus, after you have attended the tour and the information session. </p></li>
<li><p>If possible, visit your top campus' twice. Our first visit to JHU was wet, cold and slippery, and not at all fun. On her 2nd visit she knew she belonged there. (Same thing happened at another school...Oddly enough, during her 2nd visits to a few other campuses she realized they were not for her.)</p></li>
<li><p>Do an honest "chance me" thread in reverse. Is this college right for you? Two years ago my D wanted to be in NYC and also loved a few small LAC's. Visit after visit she realized she needed grass to be happy, and realized that a small LAC would not really 'fit'. What are the chances you will be a fit, will be happy, will be succesful at these schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Visit dorms, eat in the cafeteria, go to a party (if you can), read the student newspaper. (In another thread there is a comparison of JHU to Brown, where the 'accepted knowledge' seems to be that Brown students are more laid back. Newsflash: Although a 'vibe' can be different from school to school, in reality you will only have 15-20 friends and a few hundred aquaintences, no matter where you go. So even at "Serious, Cut-Throat, Competitive" JHU, I know you can find hundreds of students that are the exact opposite of that. Out of those hundreds, you WILL find people that are just like you....There is no such thing as a typical ABC University student, just a mass of individuals that go to ABC University. Visit the Dorms/Cafeteria and you will see that.</p></li>
<li><p>Would you rather be the smartest kid in the class or the dumbest? My D needs inspiration, so going to her "Reach" will push her to constantly excel. On the other hand, she had quite a generous offer at a school with significantly lower standards. It was a good conversation that we had prior to her choosing schools, and one that led us to understand she would be more motivated in the most challenging environment. If her self esteem needed the ego boost from being the smartest kid in the room, she might have chosen differently.</p></li>
<li><p>Try not to stress out. It doesn't help. :)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Please add your own tips. Sorry to write so much. Just packed my freshman off to Pre-o. It was either write a book or think about how sad I am :(</p>
Thanks!</p>