<p>The anxiety of the wait is weighing on my mind. And, it seems like the traffic here on CC are slowed as well.</p>
<p>So, I got to thinking.....if U of R doesn't pan out, what other schools do people have in mind as a second or third choice?</p>
<p>You’ll hear soon from UR, so put it out of your mind. You don’t know what the choices will be until you get all the answers and any aid / merit packages. If your kid is a good candidate for UR, I’m sure he or she is a good candidate at a lot of good schools.</p>
<p>Lergnom - thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>I wasn’t trying to put U of R out of my mind. In our house, everything about U of R puts it at the top of the list. Obviously, there are several factors that come into play when deciding what college to attend. The cost of U of R is the factor that scares me the most. The cost, like the other factors important to us, starts out above all his other choices… in some cases by more than a factor of 2! So, the only real unknown, aside for the acceptance decision, is the financial aid package. </p>
<p>By this post I was hoping to explore what factors others were weighing and how they felt other schools aligned with what they liked about U of R. The reality is that we make the final decision where he will go. I was just looking for some insight into the trade-offs others who may be forced to make the same decision are considering. Perhaps, it’s a case of misery loves company, or just trying to use the time between now and the when we hear wisely.</p>
<p>adkdad–</p>
<p>Still you’re asking for some sensitive information. Many, many kids are reluctant to disclose where [else] they’ve applied for fear of lessening their chances of acceptance at [insert name of any college]. It’s a question that get asked on CC every year: do I have to list all the schools I’ve applied to? [Answer: no, not even if the college asks.]</p>
<p>And you’re asking on forum that is known to be read by at least one admissions counselor…I suspect you’re not going to get any replies.</p>
<p>Also I’m not so sure how rationally kids can discuss plans and alternatives. I’m not sure they’re that logical in their reasoning. Parents can do that, sure. But for the kids it’s much more of emotional process and that process is often difficult to verbalize.</p>
<p>wayoutwestmom - Thanks for your reply. As always, you have very valuable insight. I suspect that you are correct about people’s reluctance to reply. However, I hope that U of R realizes that their applicants are also looking elsewhere. With all the factors that already play into the admissions process, I can’t see how they would work in anything posted here on CC.</p>
<p>Cost is an issue at every school and aid packages matter a lot. You just have to see what’s in the various envelopes and the websites. Having posted on CC for some years, I can say kids get wildly different amounts from the schools that admit them.</p>
<p>I truly doubt Mike Conklin or any UR admissions person would use info from here about other schools in any decision. </p>
<p>A good school is a reach for some and a sort-of safety for others. A list of other applications can be misleading because of that and for other factors like where a kid is from, interest in schools of a particular size (and disinterest in others), personal choices, etc.</p>
<p>Lergnon is right. </p>
<p>If you had looked at D2’s list of schools 3 years ago–you’d wonder if any of the schools had anything at all in common. (I sure didn’t see any commonality. But, hey, it was her list…)</p>
<p>She applied to tiny LACs, to huge state universities. Public schools. Private schools. In state. Out of state. East Coast. West Coast. Places she’d visited. Places she’d never been. Legacy schools. Non-legacy schools. Reach schools. Guaranteed admission schools.</p>
<p>But she had a reason why she chose each one on her list. Reasons that had nothing at all to do with any other school on her list. </p>
<p>And as far as FA went–we got wildly differing offers. From zero aid to full tuition plus.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m trying to say her decisions wasn’t a </p>
<p>If not A, then B decision. </p>
<p>It was much more holistic/following her gut kind of decision once she knew what her viable (including financially viable) options were.</p>
<p>I applied to 8 schools.
University of Rochester is by far the best school I applied to. It’s a reach for me, but if I’m accepted and can get enough financial aid to make it affordable, I will definitely attend.
If I’m not accepted, or if it’s not affordable at all, I have some other choices.</p>