BS Class of 2018 Thread

We finished the summer with a spate of college visits. One of them (Hobart-William Smith) I LOVED, and think DS would absolutely thrive there. He liked it but was not as enthused as I was. I’m trying to temper my excitement so as not to turn him off of it…his interest in a school seems to be inversely proportionate to mine. Sadly. 2 more schools to visit at the end of Sept, if the Dean of Students lets us pull him out for 3 days (the distance requires a plane ride).

Wthout telling about the kid who is very good friend of my daughter in the prep school. Kid is in top 10% ( maybe even higher) and very stellar record in extracurricular activities and not an athelete, but national level academic achievements and breathtakingly summer internships. Kid attend school on very substantial need based aid, have taken extremely challenging course load. College list is very very ambitious. School GC is supporting the candidacy. Just wondering if GC top heavy recommendations carry weight in admission process as they have seen it all.

@infinityprep1234 , I would think it does. With that said, I am guessing that they are expert at highlighting what makes each kid attractive rather than in expressing it in a hierarchical way.

Most of the CC at BS have relationships with the colleges, and the most effective ones really understand how to get the fit right. That is key to the relationship. They can say that Susie would be ideal for xyz school and the AO knows that’s reliable.

Obviously, I will get my answer on the following from our college counselor, but in the interest of starting discussion: How many “likelies” do you think a student should apply to if they are selective schools? Context: I noticed that Naviance had been updated and, because of technical difficulties at work preventing me from actually working, I spent some time this afternoon perusing the scattergrams. I realized that my daughter has about 5 colleges on her overlong list where, according to the scattergrams, no one (or almost no one) from her school with her stats has been rejected. Yet they are selective colleges and there are no guarantees. And she doesn’t have any absolute safeties. So I’m thinking maybe apply to three of these? My son is OK because he has a state school on the list that he should absolutely 100% get into and which would be affordable if he got decent merit aid. If he didn’t get money from them and had to go there anyway, because it’s a state school he would end up only in moderate rather than life-destroying debt. So he’s covered.

It sort of depends on how selective. I would say 3 is probably enough if everyone got in. But if it seems a little less sure than that, well, who’s to say what the differentiator is and whether you D has that thing. There was one school on DS list where his cc said he’d almost certainly get in if he did ED but RD would be a gamble. But the dots on the scattergram didn’t show which were ED and RD. Just an example but it was one that got a lot of ED love from our school every year, so slightly misleading for the RD kids.

Curious to hear what guidance you get.

Our scattergrams do show ED and RD, also if students were waitlisted (and then the outcome, if known). It was interesting to go over them, especially now armed with test scores and official GPAs. Some are terrifying, and some are more favorable than I expected. Some are a complete wildcard; for instance, there apparently have been no early applications from Mercersburg to one college where my children are considering applying early. I will let you know what the college counselor says. I’ll tell my daughter to ask him when they meet.

It is interesting, isn’t it. The scattergrams aren’t so helpful to us, since DS has a high test score but low-ish grades. None of the scattergrams look like him. He either exceeds on the test score or falls behind on GPA. We have opted to apply to at least 5 likelies… in fact, 2 have already been submitted, as they waived the fee if we applied before Sept 1. But we’ve also added at least 3 “Far Reaches”, due to the most recent test scores. I honestly have no idea how he’ll do. All I can say, with certainty, is that Marks Education (test prep company that BS uses) earned their money in DS’ case.

@twinsmama For likelies as opposed to guaranteed admits, and likelies from a college counselor designated perspective as well, I’d say anywhere from 2-4.

It is interesting to see a specific school’s pattern in Naviance. At the time of my kids’ applications, it was obvious that certain schools did like grads from the school and the chances were much higher than normal. However, landscapes do change. Ex: Kenyon or Colby over the past few years saw huge improvement in their applications for a few reasons and acceptance rates really dropped accordingly.

I’d say trust college counselors on pinpointing things. Only one of my kids wound up applying to their full lists but got into every likely and every match school. I think the college counseling staff did a good job at forecasting the odds (helped by my kid doing a good job at demonstrating interest to all schools on the list).

@hellomaisy , my kid was more like yours. Our CC did a pretty good job of telling us which schools would be willing to discount the grades in favor of the scores and which were likely to hold them against him. But it did make Naviance a much rougher guide than it might have been. The whole thing made for above average suspense.

In a holding pattern while we wait for OVs. I think 7D1 did eventually eke out a rough draft of her essay in the first week of school. Even with her accelerated and streamlined process (as athlete), really looking forward to this being over — I’m sure I’m not the only parent who feels this way.

@SevenDad - We now have two recruiting trips for the fall to schools that are a great fit for Swimkid. It is a good thing they are both high on his list since he is only allowed 2 college visit absences ; ) As both schools are DIII we are in this to the bitter end (Spring) to see what other acceptances and scholarships/financial aid are offered. I don’t want to wish my year away…but I too will be glad when there is more certainty about the future!

That was a typo in #309…I meant 7D2 (but I’m sure you all knew what I meant…after all, 7D1 is well into her first semester as college junior at this point!).

@NCSwimmom: 7D2’s OV schools this Fall are D1…she had done one Div3 visit last year (relatively recent rules changes allow D3 to get kids on campus as early as Jan 1 of Junior year). You underscore one thing that’s been on my mind lately…how good a fit are the various schools still in consideration. And by fit, I mean…if we take away the sports aspect, is School X still a good school for the kid? Would we have selected it if it were NOT for sports aspect?

And yes, how to manage around the the allowed college visit cap…

@SevenDad I’m so with you. I am ready for this all to be over. Besides dealing with the college applications, I’m also doing high schools applications for DD2 who also wants boarding school (we will also apply to day school). Can December come any quicker??? I already need a glass of wine 8-}

@SevenDad Being able to swim in college is not deal breaker for us. Swimkid would like to keep swimming (especially now that his shoulders have been fixed), but he picked all the schools on his list because they offered his majors, were in areas of the country he liked and had other X factors that he found appealing. Even though he has been “fixed” we are not 100% sure that the shoulder problem won’t resurface. We have encouraged him to choose a school he feels great about even if swimming ends before he graduates…so long as we can still write the check ; )!

That college visit cap is tough on athletes.

Back from first OV…7D2 definitely stressed due to pressure of making up missed work/class time and getting college app completed, but I think it was very worthwhile to take the days needed for visit/travel to-from. One more OV, then hopefully she feels strongly enough about one vs. the other that she is ready to apply to one ED. Fingers crossed!

Are any of you pushing back against the pressure to apply ED?

@twinsmama: Where is the pressure coming from, the college counselors? I think EA/Rolling (especially to a “safety”) is a smart idea — that way, the kid knows s/he has somewhere to go before the end of the year. ED is a little more risky…because there is the commitment before you know how much FA you might get. For athletic recruits, ED is sort of accepted as the trade-off you make for a roster slot/likely letter/scholarship/etc.

What are your/your kids’ reservations with ED?

@SevenDad There is modest pressure from the college counselor, in that he keeps mentioning certain schools as ED2 choices; ED1 is a definite no, for reasons I don’t want to discuss here. My objections to ED are that 1) we have to know the financials and 2) I would like the kids to have choices and time to choose.

As noted above, I think ED (not EA or rolling) is definitely a bit more fraught.

Swimkid is applying to two EA/rolling schools this month to try and reduce stress. The rest of his apps get sent in by 12/1. When he went on his OV, he was clear with the coach that he wanted to be there, but it was dependent on FA. Hopefully, things will work out.