<p>It doesn't show up in the link, but there's also a chart showing how the number of colleges kids apply to has changed over the years. In 1967,
63.7% of high school students applied to TWO OR FEWER colleges, 31.8% applied to 3-5, and only 4.4% applied to six or more. Compare that with 2003, when 44.8% applied to six or more, 24.7% to 3 to 5, and only 30.8% to two or fewer.</p>
<p>Good article, but the one thing I noticed was it was the student worrying about it. I wished that was true in our household! My ds still needs to get four more (out of six) apps in over the next week or so. I had to hold him to the grindstone over Thanksgiving break to get the essays done (they are so right about the extra essays). For an ADD kid, with organizational problems, this is not a good time of year!!!</p>
<p>Choff - I have told my daughter that she MUST start doing essays over next summer. Do you think there is any chance at all that she will do that? HAHAHAHA!!!</p>
<p>Carolyn: Son did his early application essay in October, the UC essays on one of the last possible days in November before the UC apps were due, and the rest (4 other colleges, 3 of them common app and 2 with supplements) after winter break started. It all worked out as he had lots of time at that point to focus on them. Not ideal, I know, but manageable. (I haven't read the article so I may be missing something). One of his classmates floated the idea of letting the seniors have an "essay day" in the fall where they would come to school but would not have formal classes, instead would have the day to work on essays, go over them with senior English teachers, etc. I don't know if the idea got any support, but it sounded good to me.</p>
<p>Our high school does do a couple of essay days, so to speak, in their senior English classes. They spend at least two days and the students all have to work on and come up with at least one essay. It helped this ds but several years ago my older ds tried to get out of it because he had already been accepted at Purdue (in Sept) and didn't need to do an essay (clever kid). Also on the PSAT day, all students grades 9 - 11 take the PSAT's and the seniors are supposed to be home "working on their college apps". Yeah, right. They just can't come out and say to the kids, stay home! My ds and his friends also had a college app "party" (girls stayed for a sleepover) where they were supposed to be working on apps and essays. He did say they passed around essays, so maybe even did a little work among the socializing. I guess, somehow, it all gets done, one way or the other. It has to, as one person told my ds, the more he delayed, the more he was limiting his choices. Hope that made sense.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this article. I will have my daughter read it tomorrow. We were just discussing this topic earlier today. She is applying to 7 schools (possibly more depending on EA decision from Georgetown tomorrow). Many of her friends (and mine) are baffled at the amount of work she has been doing for the applications. She (and I) have tried to explain the many essays (not to mention the many rewrites and editing sessions she's done on those essays) she's written. She constantly has recieved comments like "I can't believe you're STILL working on your essays and applications", etc. It has been very frustrating for her, as most of her friends are typically only applying to one or two Florida state schools, and frankly, very little work is required for those schools. Her Brown application, for example, was very tedious with their many different questions, having to prepare the resume in essay form, etc.
Sorry for the rant, but its been frustrating trying to find a way to convey to others all of the work that has went into her applications. At the very least, when she reads the article, I think it will make her feel better and a little less of a "black sheep".</p>
<p>"Take Chicago's Uncommon Application: The school is famous for its off-the-wall essay questions, which this year include asking students what they would do with a superhuge jar of mustard."</p>
<p>My son loved that question and had a fun time answering it. Unfortunately that essay was only good for that application.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this article. Even now, two years later, I can feel the stress of that period bearing down. My son was also doing the IB diploma and his extended essay was due at exactly the same time. The upshot was that his first semester senior grades really did suffer. Luckily he was accepted ED, so it wasn't a factor, but had he gone to RD it might have been.</p>
<p>I also wondered at that statistic that Justice mentioned: "In 1973, just 20 percent of students earned A averages in high school; 30 years later, fully 47 percent did." This plus the general trend toward excellence in SAT scores really emphasizes the need to figure out a way to differentiate between outstanding applicants.</p>