Are you saying you had him add reach schools…and are only now starting on the matches?
@intparent Agreed. It’s a great school and students that can get past the area love it there, and most students wouldn’t see it as much of an issue as some adults would. I’m realizing my role needs to change from college tour guide / counselor (look at this college and that opportunity) to more of an encourager / cheerleader. There’s some family dynamics going on too, as our kid is super laid-back (more of a thinker than doer right now) like a kid you’d see on the Wonder Years or Leave it to Beaver…meaning they’re ok just taking a back seat. Hopefully, they’ll learn to lead this process at some point.
@MYOS1634 Yes, most were reaches with a safety and couple of matches. Now starting on this group of match/safety schools as they have a later deadline.
Your role is really mostly banker now. 
How many colleges are you forcing this kid to apply to in total?
The kid had a safety and a couple of matches in the first batch of applications…right?
So…what is the point of doing more applications…especially since the student is less than enthusiastic about doing so…
Seems like it would have been better to start with the safeties, since:
a. Some are rolling admission, and there may be advantages to getting admitted early (e.g. getting direct admission to the major being more likely). Having an admission letter in hand early eliminates the stress of “what if a shutout happens?”.
b. Some have earlier deadlines for potentially large merit scholarships.
c. Some have fewer application items (essays, recommendations, etc.) so it is relatively easy to get the applications done.
Sounds like they are where they are now, and the kid & parent are stressed – but the kid needs to finish the ones that are left.
I think that everyone needs either ice cream or egg nog.
Senior year is stressful.
Or both. 
Not a problem, it seems to me. But for my #1 I chose all of the schools he applied to except one (large public flagship). And #2 chose all of the schools she applied to and couldn’t be persuaded to apply to one of the large publics.
In the end, unless the list is really a large one, it’s not likely to be too burdensome to add a couple more. Essays, or parts of essays, can be recycled.
My D2’s last essays were quite unique to the school (it is a school that is quite concerned about fit, so is looking for a couple of essays that are not really questions she was asked at other schools). It was kind of torturous. But… she was so worn down that she didn’t balk at suggestions from me when she asked me to look them over, either. So that is something!
S has applied to 9 schools and is done. Yet. Yet he and I both are getting slammed with emails from schools that have Jan 15 deadlines. They are really pushing for apps. And for whatever reason they are so tempting. And then I remind myself that they just want more apps to increase their numbers. I’ve kept up the resistance so far!
I think your role now should be banker and baker. DK needs to advocate and make decisions on his/her own. That skill will help wherever s/he ends up.
@TekSan I thought I’d circle back around and tell you how our “bonus” apps turned out. In the final week of December my husband and I each asked S to apply to a school (adding two to his list). Both were reaches. He was burned out but powered through without too much groaning. In the end he got into one of them (rejected at the other) and has now committed there. Who’d have thought this last minute addition would turn out to be the one?!
Woot! Nice payoff @ProfessorMom1
So true, you never know! Glad it worked out for you and your S. Congratulations to him! <:-P
Nice story! Can you share the name of the school?
@ProfessorMom1 Thank you for the update and congrats! Your story sounds very familiar…I love the “without too much groaning.” I wonder if the last minute additions are sometimes us, as parents, taking a step back and reassessing from a different perspective than the research hawks that sometimes some of us can be.
Our son got into 1 of the 4 universities that we added last minute. All were East Coast, so we were planning an April trip just in case. We loved the college visit (and the city) and it was the overall #1 for about a week. In the end, we did some direct comparisons to our top LAC contender and realized that the LAC was a better fit for where our S was at emotionally and academically. In the end, he’ll be attending a Midwest LAC and eyeing some of those universities for grad school.
Yep, my daughter’s last minute January addition turned out to be the perfect school for her!!!
Congrats!!
My son’s last minute FEBRUARY addition ended up being the one - funny!