<p>Thanks, guys
Momrath, she has another safety I have not mentioned by name, that she will be quite happy to attend, but it is in the South and she was hoping to go a school that was not so strongly dominated by her home region (I realize Davidson is in NC, yada, yada) - that's why the odd wording - "Chances of not being accepted by any...?". Her high school has a strong relationship with this school, and I feel confident she will be accepted - we may have another talk about Kenyon, though. Would you really put Colby as safety or semi-safety for her? She looked at it with some seriousness at one time.</p>
<p>Mini and Marite - coed is non-negotiable, we've been to Northampton twice in 6 months now, and haven't even set foot on campus. I pushed Wellesley rather hard, she knows someone there, and a couple of Southern womens' colleges have inundated us with mail - the 2 things together were enough to make her say NO WAY. She has had a blind spot about this from the beginning, which is too bad, I think Well, Smith and/or Bryn Mawr would be good choices with comfortable acceptance rates and great opportunities - too bad my other one is a boy, now he would love to be a womens' college pioneer!</p>
<p>Coureur - I need to get DH on here to discuss strategy - what little I know says you are probably quite correct - the engineers and logisticians often win battles, but don't get the glory. Remember though these were Victorians, and romantic to a fault - the brilliant map reader will never hold a candle in the papers to the gallant (they loved that word, and we never use it now, we don't see too much "gallantry" in something as horrific as war) young teacher defending the hill.</p>
<p>I would put Colby as safety, but it is even more isolated than Williams. At least Williams is in town--such as it is. Colby is miles away from Waterville. I know of someone who transferred back to a college in Cambridge, MA after spending one year there, and needing to trek by foot to Waterville on a weekly basis. Bates is similar to Bowdoin and Colby, but less isolated, though Lewiston is a rather depressing town.</p>
<p>She might like being out of town, but we want her to only have to make one air connection if possible, what would be the closest "bigger" airport - Boston?, Portland?</p>
<p>You all are confirming my thoughts about her chances - small, but not non-existent that she would not get into a school outside the South with her current list. She likes her Southern safety school, maybe even better than some on the more selective list. She needs to decide if she wants to send one more app.</p>
<p>Portland is closer, though I don't know if there are direct flights from there. As I suggested, if the extra college will take the Common App, and if she has already used the Common App, she can spend another $65 for some extra peace of mind. But if she is happy with her southern safety school, then there's no need to bother.</p>
<p>It sounds like you'd sleep better from December to April if you could convinced your daughter to apply to a Northern less selective. At the end of the day it's her decision. If she's visited and not found any one that excites her, then you'll have to just wait it out. </p>
<p>As far as ease of transport goes, I can tell you we are in a "can't get there from here" situation between Williamstown and Jakarta but truly it's not been more than a minor nuisance. Sometimes it means more money, sometimes more time, but definitely not a deal breaker. Kids and families adapt.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great replies, and encouragement.</p>
<p>DD read your replies, thought it through this weekend, and feels that she hasn't researched any safety range schools she would rather attend than Rhodes. She sent her test scores to St. Olaf's weeks ago, so if there is a last minute change of heart, its just a matter of getting the application together. SO with 2 rolling admit acceptances, she's ready to wait.</p>
<p>Did any of your kids have trouble applying to schools they didn't visit? That's been another source of stress at our house - She's reluctant to apply anywhere she hasn't been, and we haven't been able to go to the Midwest - I insisted on Carleton.</p>
<p>Mine applied to Princeton without seeing it, and we later found out it would likely have been a very poor match. She also applied to Williams, having visited twice and was convinced she didn't want to go there, was accepted and recruited, and turned it down. She had only seen Smith during their fall break, in the evening, and didn't meet anyone. The spring admit days sold her. You can always visit later (though in the case of Carleton, if you haven't been there in the middle of the winter, you haven't really been there, have you? Mind you - I'm cold everywhere!)</p>
<p>It's odd, the ideas they get - she's heard us say a dozen times, if you are admitted to a school, and need to visit to decide, we'll get you out to a visit (some of her ECs have important events in April, I think she's worried about letting other people down). But, at the same time she doesn't want to apply somewhere sight unseen, she's also reluctant to rank her schools, because "It's stupid to fall in love with a school you haven't gotten into!" - I don't disagree, just the two ideas seem somewhat mutually exclusive. Oh well, just 6 more months to go!</p>
<p>Cangel: a little late to the party here, but I enjoy your posts so much that I can't resist chiming in with: Good Luck! I'm sure she deserves to get in all her top choices, and I agree with your prediction that acceptance at one or more is likely. I would peg your chances of getting through the coming months anxiety-free, no matter how many schools she applies to at: zero.</p>
<p>For us, the visits were important, but we found out information after applying at certain schools that changed the formulas as to where would be most desirable. We found two of the schools she considered (both Ivies) actually discourage study abroad - she could do it, but the hoops were considerable, and few students actually did it. We found another school had substantial financial aid for JYA, but only if you went to one of their own programs, which didn't exist in the countries in which my d. was interested. We discovered that the Romance language departments at another very top-rated school were poor - it wasn't so much that the faculty were mediocre, but that the offerings were extremely meager, and there really were relatively few on-campus opportunities (and few students did JYA). (And Italian, while it existed in the catalog, wasn't in fact available, except perhaps in alternate years.) We found top-flight faculty in her prospective mjor listed in the catalog at another elite school who didn't actually teach (and hadn't done so in several years.) </p>
<p>I could go on, but the point is that kids and their priorities change over the course of their last year before college, and the post-application considerations and post-acceptance visits turned out to be extremely important in allowing us to actually 'kick the tires'.</p>