<p>My daughter does not pay attention to the emails and mailings, thank goodness. I am not even sure that she has much interest in these schools.</p>
<p>We started visiting schools this year only because the list is huge and there is no way we can cut through it all junior year. I thought we were starting the process early, but to my surprise there were a lot of sophomores and freshmen on these tours. Just thinking about all of this is making my head spin.</p>
<p>Can you clarify what “make it through the first round” means?? Its perplexing to understand what the yardstick is at this point for a sophomore whose GC will encourage her to apply to ivies, who has been “contacted by ivys”, who is a strong candidate for Full tuition or full ride scholarships at some schools and whose alum interviewer family friends suggest shes a strong candidate at this stage of the game. Not meaning to be nosey-- just trying to understand.</p>
<p>I am so not into this to be honest. My goal in life is to have two kids who are happy and healthy and who will eventually be able to get a job and support themselves. I enjoy this web site and have learned a lot, but sending my kids to a tippy top school is not my priority. We are already " fighting" with my BIL, who has been through this and keeps insisting that we are " setting the bar too low." Honestly I do not know what was meant by making it through the first round. I did not ask for any details. Right now we are just introducing her to different types of schools- big, small, etc.</p>
<p>Good plan-- for the girls to be happy and healthy. All to often parents get convinced by some well-meaning folks that their student is somehow a shoe-in for the top schools, and its a recipe for disaster. Getting mailings does not mean they are “being contacted”, and alum interviewers for the mostpart have no bearing on the admissions process.</p>
<p>Do your homework, read up, when you have stats on your dau (GPA, SAT/ACT, etc) where she is likely to be in the upper band of applicants and where she may be a good candidate for merit money. Speaking from experience, there is nothing wrong with being in this situation!</p>
<p>Exactly. My neighbor’s daughter applied to 10 schools and was accepted to zero ( she is a current senior). It’s very upsetting and is a perfect example of what not to do. There are no guarantees. Of course I happen to live in a community where everyone is entitled and they all think that their kid is a superstar. That attitude will only get you into trouble.</p>