<p>Well, after dd had an exceptionally good admit year, I'm almost feeling contrary to your advice. She was waitlisted for Yale, the only school on her final short list that she did not get admitted to. We were trying to be measured and not greedy, but if we had realized she was a contender, she might have applied SCEA. And even to some other uber's. Instead we treated it casually, like the long shot it was. She still has a great list and is perfectly happy. Mom is just slightly frustrated. I love our GC, but really, the Jr. year spring before he was talking about a nice respected top 40 local LAC that might give a full ride. By Sr EA this was not in the running and he was using a top 30 as backup. Now she is waitlisted and not even rejected at Yale--who would have thought? Not us.</p>
<p>If you get accepted EA somewhere, you can throw out any schools you want and forget about safety or reach unless you like the school. After EA, dd had a short list of 5. If we didn't have to worry about fin'l aid it could have been 2 or 3.</p>
<p>I think interest is over rated, but just because we had that experience doesn't make it so for everyone. dd did not call or visit any school except the one EA, but still had great acceptances.</p>