<p>Brooklynborndad,</p>
<p>With S1, we knew the flagship would take him, give him tons of credit, and that he was a good candidate for merit $$. He had been doing research there already and we know many friends who took the merit ride and were happy. He was willing to make a go of it.</p>
<p>The rest of the list focused on schools with excellent programs in his intended major(s) that were flexible with placement and would give him access to early graduate work. (This knocked out most LACs off the bat, somewhat to S’s disappointment.) He never had 25 schools on the list; a dozen, tops. This boiled down to mid-size research universities in urban areas (since he has no desire to drive).</p>
<p>We looked at S’s friends at school with similar interests to see where they applied. Keeping an ear to the ground with parents and paying attention when one is carpooling were great ways to gather info. </p>
<p>Naviance gave us an excellent idea of how college admissions would respond to his academics, GPA and scores. He was at a similar school to your D’s. Most importantly, he talked/IM’d FB’d with folks from the programs he was involved with (USACO, HCSSiM, etc.) and got feedback from students who were a year or two ahead of him, some who were grad students, and some faculty from these programs. This helped give S a sense of the strengths/politics/paths of the various departments and helped him cut some schools from the list, as well as increasing his interest in some.</p>
<p>He had nine on his list, dropped three after getting into two of his top three EA, and added one pie-in-the-sky after hearing good news EA. In retrospect, I would have kept only three applications still active after the EA admits (one was the flagship, one was his #2, and the other a school he dropped which I now think would have made him quite happy).</p>
<p>We asked both kids to include a couple of schools fitting their parameters that offered merit $$, and both were accepted at places that gave them scholarships.</p>
<p>With S2, the main focus was also on quality of programs in his intended field – though his specific major is a little more flexible. Applied to flagship, but did not want a huge school (even though he’s a sports nut; we’ll see how that plays out). With this kiddo, there were 29 schools under consideration. We visited most of them over the course of two years – some in the process of looking at S1’s schools, a good number were within a couple hours’ drive, some he visited when there for sports camps/Model UN conferences. He was considering playing D-III football and had talked to coaches, but halfway through senior year got cold feet about it. He was VERY glad he focused his list on academics, not football, and that he had not made any commitments or asked for early reads, etc.</p>
<p>He split his apps between mid-size research Us and LACs. Considered two Ivies but chose not to apply.</p>
<p>Naviance was again our friend. We looked at schools that were kind to students from his IB program and would understand that his GPA did not represent slacking. Most of his list was to the low reachy side since we did not know how schools would react to his application. </p>
<p>S2 had 10 on the list, dropped three after getting in EA at his tied-for-top-choice, added one mega-reach LAC after getting in to the EA.</p>
<p>Lesson we learned: don’t bother adding a reach after getting EA results. In retrospect, neither kid would have chosen the mega-reach over the EA acceptance already in hand, and that last-minute app just didn’t get the same kind of love as the other ones did, so not surprisingly, neither one got into that last-minute reach.</p>
<p>Didn’t look at USNWR rankings. Had the “365 most selective schools” book, which gave some general gist of the place. Both my kids spent time on CC asking questions and reading threads.</p>
<p>Other criteria:
Weather was irrelevant to both of them. Did not want the south. Did not care for Ivies, though both considered them (and one applied). Liked cities with good air/train connections (yeah Southwest!). Mid-size schools with graduate programs. I was thrilled to see they both liked the Midwest. Chances to get interesting and/or well-paying internships. Places where students cared about academics. House system was really important to one of my kids. Neither was looking for Greek life. Wanted some Jewish presence on campus. S2 wants access to kitchen facilities. One school dropped right off the list when the guide sniffed that “we don’t cook here.”</p>