Scanning the college-side of the forum this week, I am struck by how many kids are reporting that they got rejected from all or nearly all the schools they applied to. OR that they are not happy with their safeties (that they got into). OR that they can’t afford the school they got into.
So I wanted to throw the following thoughts out to the BS families of 2019 and beyond:
The way I see it, the two biggest factors in a college applicant's success (in terms getting admitted) are: 1. The kids' application/profile; and 2. The list of schools s/he is applying to.
Put just as much thought into #2 as #1. I don’t know if people do, based on the threads I’ve read.
Make sure your safeties are schools you are excited to attend. Because you might not have any choice.
Have a serious discussion about what you can afford. I see much more discussion about this on the "other side" of the forum than I ever have on the BS side.
Apologies if this has all been covered before. Just wanted to pay things forward a little.
How do you choose a true financial safety college for a student who needs lots of aid to get into a school? A in state public university is already there. But how do you search for a private college.
How do you also choose the list of match college that can be match based on financial NPC calculattors?
I have ran NPC on more than 100 colleges. Do I show my results to Guidance counselor after May 15 when majority of the 2018 students decision are almost over?
@Frydaddy, on your question about the value of doing college campus visits, I will say that I am a (reluctant) convert to the campus visit after having gone through one college admission cycle, and now embarking on it with soxkid #2. We only visited a few schools with our older son, and largely ascribed to the “he can visit the ones he gets into” view. I had in mind that college visits were only really necessary if your kid had no idea of big state school vs. LAC, north vs. south, east vs. west, etc. But, what I didn’t realize is how important applying early can be, particularly at LACs. Many of the more selective LACs would very much prefer to admit kids who really, really want to go there, and not just as a backup to the Ivies, etc. Accordingly, the admit rate is quite a bit higher for those applying early – admittedly that’s somewhat skewed because recruited athletes also count in the early decision numbers, but even after you account for that, it’s still a statistically significant increase. Most (all?) of the early applications to LACs are binding, so you need to pick the one you love. Precisely because the Northeast LACs are so similar, at least on paper, I think it would be very difficult to pick which one you wanted to apply early to without an actual visit. As an example, my daughter has been to visit Vassar and Wesleyan - two schools that on paper really are just about identical. If I’d had to guess, I would have thought she would prefer Vassar. But in fact, while she liked Vassar fine, she absolutely loved Wesleyan. So if your kid is thinking about doing early applications, I would highly recommend visits to the schools that are the most likely candidates for an early app.
@Frydaddy - after going through one admission cycle (with S17) I highly recommend visiting as many schools as possible before applying. S ended up in a situation where 2 schools he didn’t visit ended up being contenders in March and one is where he now attends. We had tried to visit both earlier, but things got in the way (both are a plane ride). We ended up in a situation where he couldn’t visit until the end of April and decisions were very stressful. He probably would have revisited at the end of April anyway, but if he/we had visited earlier it would have helped the process. S20 will be visiting more schools early, especially if he decides to apply ED somewhere.
Thank you @soxmom and @MA2012 for the helpful advice. We managed to squeeze in one college visit over spring break to our state flagship (we used it as an opportunity for SmallFry to rack up some required driver’s license hours). I’m going to try to schedule some over the summer and maybe one during the spring.
D is putting together classes for her final year. College counselor thinks she can take 5 AP classes. She is a driven student and has done well so far but hubby and I think that’s crazy. Isn’t this too much with college applications happening at the same time and a varsity fall sport? Thoughts?
The fact that it’s designated as an AP class in and of itself doesn’t necessarily say much about how demanding the course work will be. How hard are the teachers? How good are they? How much homework is there typically? Not all AP topics are equally hard, and even then, a topic that could be considered hard may not be if it’s a great teacher. Or if the expectations aren’t very high.
I agree with @soxmom and generally support the move that some schools are making at moving away from offering AP designated classes. That said, at most schools AP classes are generally known to be those that are the highest level of rigor offered and many selective colleges seek students who demonstrate that competitive applicants are those who are taking the most challenging course load available to them so the counselor may have that in mind in making that recommendation. This can backfire if the result is lower grades so that possibility should be taken into consideration. My oldest chose all AP courses his senior year and while he was able to maintain his good grades it came at some social cost. He has suggested that his college admission results may have been the same if he’d taken a few honors level courses instead and if he’d done so he might have had a more rewarding senior year. Hindsight is 20:20. YMMV.
We met first time college counselor who seems a fabulous woman. But sometime we do not understand tone as English is the second language. When we met the counselor she told a phrase. I did not know how to react. What does this phrase mean? Prep school counselor told us, “I am least worried about your daughter daughter. Let me worry about other students.” Does that means counselor thinks daughter is going to do okay in admission cycle?
Perhaps you need to redefine what your definition of “good college” is. Trust your daughter’s college counseling office, first off. Second, as you’ve posted or messaged, your daughter has high achievements beyond the normal stuff. Like any applicant, she needs to build a list of reaches, matches, and safeties/likelies that will be affordable for your family depending on whether you need aid, either based on qualifying for need-based or seeking merit-based. Don’t worry about what other student’s results are but on the same hand don’t narrowly define college admissions success by a handful or two of schools.
@doschicos thanks for your advice. Yes working on the list of reaches, matches, and safeties/likelies. I am telling daughter to cast a very wide area including merit aid college that would fir her area of interest.
Yes infinityprep, I think that is what it means. BUT, I also think there are many " good colleges" and they aren’t all Ivy league or world known publics. There are many good schools you will find in your research.
@infinityprep1234 Where you go to college matters less than most parents and students think. What you do with your education matters more than where you got it. Our family physician went to a low-ranked state school (one that’s known for partying) … and then Harvard Medical School.
@infinityprep1234 I don’t know if I made it clear when we exchanged PMs, but I was confused about the same thing. Should my kids seek out merit scholarships or aim for colleges that meet need? I think the answer partially depends on what kind of environment your daughter wants in college. If she would be happy in the honors college of a large public university, she might be a candidate for a large merit scholarship, such as the one @SevenDad’s daughter was awarded at the University of Delaware. If she wants a liberal arts college or a private university, and if the NPCs show reasonably affordable prices for you, she might not need to seek out too many merit opportunities. As I think I mentioned, my own daughter was awarded the largest merit scholarship at Lafayette (a college that offers merit scholarships and also is generous with need-based aid; they don’t claim to meet 100% of need but say they are close to that point and trying to get there); however, her total aid package was exactly the same as that of her brother, who did not get a merit award (there are other perks with the award, but the money was the same). She only applied to private colleges and universities, most of which claim to meet full need. My son applied to one of our state schools, and also applied to some privates, not all of which meet full need. I allowed that, but then he had to turn down one he really liked because the money wasn’t enough. And for all the talk about applying to a wide range of schools, be aware that some less selective colleges will not accept your daughter because they know she will probably get in somewhere higher in the college pecking order. If she falls in love with a college below the top tier, she really has to make it clear to them that she intends to go there if admitted.
@twinsmama thanks for your detalied answer, it helps a lot. Her school is interviewing daughter for few full rides and will make their decision. Her counselor is fully aware about our financial situation. She, the counselor, has put togather a list which includes lots of great schools that either offer a merit based scholarships or need based scholarships. Counselor has many many years experience. As @doschicos said we are trusting the process as We have conveyed our financial anxiety. Counselor has assured us that daughter will end up in some place that is right for her intellectual development continuation. We are in same boat as when dd applied first time for prep school, we still do not understand lots of things, but let daughter and counselor chart the course. Meanwhile daughter accumualtes more out of school accolades. Counselor thinks these will tip favourable decisions in her direction. Let us hope so. thanks again this has been so far a great journey and we are hoping that this continues in the future.
I worry too much as when we came to USA, we came with 100 dollars in pocket. We did not have much money, we did not speak good English. We struggled a lot financially, but worked very long hours. Eventually slowly slowly build a life in USA, like most of immigrants. We are very greatful for it.