Guess we aren’t talking about how long it takes to write an application anymore…
It’s difficult to discuss rationally with some. We say X (usually conventional advice, the sort that’s CYA) and a certain poster says no, that’s not what applies to us. And heaves between “it’s impossible” (at times, with a wink,) and “I know there’s a formula.” And “I want the top, but I’ll do it my way.” There should be some basis. That is, other than what grad school was like X years ago or perceptions of the food at various schools, X years ago.
And remember, she doesn’t want to check Hispanic, because…she’s blonde.
Make much sense?
Well, I tried to suggest some universities with common app and few if any supplements. Practicing on ‘easier’ apps now is also a way to make an application more time -efficient later on.
Kenyon (undecided) and case western reserve (business) would both make sense in terms of time too and definitely have prestige. If the common app’s ready, all OP’s daughter has to do is click submit 
and both are highly ranked (with Kenyon having the added prestige of being John Green’s college). Great use of five seconds. But does require showing ‘interest’ ahead of time, hence the advice of getting into the mailing lists for all these colleges.
Here’s the answer @lookingforward - blonde Hispanics go to UVA. Mic drop. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victoriamoran/fully-white-not-fully-ame_b_7832244.html
Barnard has the word Columbia on their diploma, right? And you can date Columbia students. Who cares if it has a business program.
I have to comment on a post by OP way back on page 9 or so, and no doubt someone else already has. OP, your D wants to apply to 30 plus schools? Really? That is totally crazy. It will be insanely expensive. Your child will have to write many many essays. Yeah, I know, UCs, just click and pay. Still, all the other 20 plus colleges will mostly want their own supplemental essays. Your original question was how long does it take to fill out an application. Let’s say that, having read everything we all have to say, the minimum average needed for an app, including research time, etc…is 3 hours. So your D is looking at at least 60 hours and probably more completing apps. She is okay with this? And you are okay with spending that kind of money? That will cost well over $2k. What a waste of time and cash. Surely your kid can narrow her choices down to colleges she is actually interested in?
Kenyon not a good choice for OP, IMO. Need to express genuine interest.
Maybe its April Fool’s day…
We must be idiots. We never owned a copy of USNWR before out kids applied to colleges. We didn’t really care about the rankings. We cared about what OUR kid wanted in a college.
As an example, we asked DS to look at info about Ithaca College. He politely declined because he wanted to be in a large urban area.
If that DS had gotten accepted to a higher ranked school in a rural area, he would not have been a happy camper. He applied only to college in major metro areas.
DD made a list of criteria. It included strong sciences, ability to play oboe in the college orchestra, and pleasant weather. She also wanted a campus with about 5000-6000 undergrads…max. So she targeted colleges that fit that list.
She only applied to three colleges initially. And she was accepted to all before December. Good. In November, she added a reach, and we asked her to add a parent sure thing. So…five applications total. No common application. We had visited all of these places, and DD felt confident that they fulfilled her criteria.
But I will say…it took a lot longer than one hour to complete each application.
The certainty it’s a crapshoot baffles me. It’s just not hard to get an idea of the differences, not dismiss them. The U in a gritty city vs the more suburban, the ones that offer more research or internship opportunities vs those with closer academic relationships. Large vs small, big fish/little fish. This really isn’t as simple as picking a grocery store, any one will have your brand of tomato sauce. Oh, but you want the very best tomato sauce and you found a magazine list. And, as long as someone says X is best, good enough for you, regardless of taste preferences or tolerances. Any Birkin bag, as long as it’s Birken.
And then there’s the “interest” factor. It’s not exclusively visiting or getting on a mailing list. It’s how you convey the match. To just say, well, it’s a mystery, a lottery, no one really knows (wink, wink,) or suggest you don’t care what they (the college adcoms) want, just what a parent wants…it’s incomplete. When kids post this, they don’t get 17 pages.
Maybe this is really about just going to whatever UC admits. Or the college where the parent works.
It sounds like the OP is using a shot in the dark approach to me. I cannot imagine how the kid will convey to ANY of the schools that she is genuinely interested in THEIR program.
I missed the not Hispanic cause she’s blonde thing. My blonde haired, blue eyed mother is from Spain… Hispanics run the spectrum, but of course you can choose whether or not to self identify.
I’ll be very interested to see how things work out for OP. I think in the end it’s going to work out fine. I know my own kid would be happy at about any school that had her area of interest and high achieving peers. Most kids are pretty resilient and they some how survive their high school and most kids don’t have choices there even though the local public high school isn’t a ‘fit’ for many. I’m sure there are plenty of kids that visit lots of colleges multiple times and still pick the “wrong” college and transfer. There have been so many kids that have attended colleges throughout the ages and the first time they visited was the day they enrolled.
As for the essays - if the kid can write then 75% of the battle is done. Adcoms spend 15 minutes on the app and as long as the kid doesn’t come over as an arrogant [word meaning “make a small hole with a sharp object”] then I think it’ll turn out ok. Sure not having that nuanced essay may tilt the balance unfavorably at a couple of places but I don’t believe everywhere.
I spent last 30 minutes looking for how to join mailing list on a college website. (demonstrating interest) It might take me over an hour just to find out how to apply to it. ~X( [-(
Yeah, they really want to test your interest and resilience 
Trick: type < name of the college> + “request info”
If that doesn’t work, repeat, using “Join the mailing list”.
@MYOS1634 Thank you. 
After clicking through pages and pages, I resorted to search “join mailing list”
Some worked. other schools, work in progress.
Webform is broken! “U.S.A” on the drop down menu is not a VALID country choice!
Taking only internationals? =))
Using your browser, copy paste
college + “request info”
then enter the name of the college… very quick
A college + “request info” => open link
replace A with B
B college + “request info” => open link
replace B with C
C college + “request info” => open link
etc
If you use things like NoScript, Blockers, etc. You might get weird behavior with some forms.
The option to join is always somewhere in the “admissions” pages on the website.
Thank you very much for all advise! Special thanks for crash course in the geography or Scotland, Ireland, and England. Always appreciate an opportunity to learn.
You are so lucky, that your children really know what they want in college. Mine is still very open.
- Large city vs suburbia: NYU and Washington University in St. Louis are in the urban area, but the cities are very, very different. Stanford and U Mich are in suburbia (small cities), but again, the difference in tremendous.
- LAC is not possible. My father and in-laws think that LACs are finishing schools for rich girls, and I would not be able to convince them otherwise. I am not planning to pick this battle.
- UC Riverside is not bad. I would not mind it at all. They provide very decent education.
My (my!) first choice is, of course, Berkeley. Very decent school, that is relatively cheap. Visiting Berkeley is a bit of a problem. Very bad neighborhood. Crowded auditoriums. Dorms are pretty bad. Students smoking weed in open view. Certainly, Santa Clara looks far more presentable.