@AlmostThere2018 I agree. It sounds like a pretty firm policy and parents and students go in with eyes wide open. Whatever works!
Good luck on your endeavors! I hope I had your confidence though
Of course I don’t think I could’ve only applied to Stanford, schools like that are always toss-ups and I’m just a poor kid with good stats. Acceptances came out December 11th, and I hadn’t started applying to any on my list yet, that’s all I meant. And while yes I see how I could be seen as the worst person in the world, it seems like people have forgotten why the waitlist exists. Who gets mad about stuff like this anyway, sorry your school limits how many apps you can send, that sounds pretty wack.
2 Likes
Congratulations!!! All the best to your son.
My D applied to 5, but one she had no interest in (Mines). They offered a free app and she wanted to see if she could get in to a competitive school.
My D21 applied to 9 - 3 dream, 4 just right, 2 no problem. So far in at the 2 no problems and 2 just rights. Deferred at 1 dream and 1 just right (U South Carolina - which seemed to defer a huge amount of kids). OOS for all of them.
My D applied to seven - two reach, three target, and two likely. Four are EA and three are RD.
I applied to 15: 5 reach, 2 match, and the rest were safeties.
Denied ED from my dream school (which was such a bummer), accepted to one of my match, and accepted to 6 of my safeties. Waiting from the other reaches—which i highly doubt will accept me—so I have some choices to make.
5 Likes
Mine applied to 16 schools. His list kept growing, mainly because wasn’t entirely confident if some of the schools would be reaches or matches given his major. So far he’s been deferred from his biggest reach school and accepted to a safety he really likes.
4 Likes
Let’s see how the numbers come out when colleges announce class size, at least the more selective ones. Between covid and test optional, I think apps may go up between siblings in the same family.
curious, you needed 8 safeties? 
it is not cheap
1 Like
Haha, so, I do agree that it was definitely not cheap, but I am thankful for free application waivers as well. The majority of my applications are somewhat closer to home as I am unsure of where I want to go, so I want to have choices that are a mix of close to home and far away. I applied to the following:
Reach:
Vanderbilt University (ED—Denied)
Cornell University (RD)
Scripps College (RD)
UC Berkley
UCLA
Match:
Baylor University (Free app for everyone, EA—Accepted)
Cal State Fullerton
UC Riverside
Safeties:
Southern Utah (Free app—Accepted with full-ride)
Cal State San Marcos (Accepted)
California Baptist University (Free app, close to home, and a lot of my friends put in apps here—Accepted)
Sonoma State (Accepted)
Westmont College (Accepted)
Point Loma Nazarene University (Free app—2nd gen legacy, and i have family who goes there)
Biola University (Free app—Accepted)
I might put in an app for Flagler College as well because I have close family-friends who live very close to Flagler, and my best friend was just accepted tonight.
6 Likes
S21 applied to 16. A good mix of reaches, matches and safeties with a few honors colleges thrown in the mix.
This year is even more difficult to have narrowed it down since we need merit/financial aid. Some schools that have given money in the past have reduced awards claiming Covid issues. The in state safety that should have given the most, is coming in thousands of dollars more expensive per year than OOS public schools. Yet another IS offered him a great award.
We also felt he needed a few he could commute to if the government shuts down for a while. Who knows what the next few months can bring? Did any of us expect this last January?
He has not toured some of his top choices and really hope to be able to soon.
4 Likes
U of SC did defer a lot, so did UGA. Both received an unprecedented increase in EA applications. A surprising number of kids from our high school deferred from U of SC (we are just over the boarder in NC so we always have a high number of applicants to U of SC). Some deferrals for candidates who should have gotten in, no problem, given their stats.
My daughter has a classmate who has been deferred everywhere she applied so far! She knows others who have applied to 7-8 and only have 1 or 2 acceptances to choose from.
That can be anxiety-inducing (unless one of those acceptances is a “dream” or “just right”). Kids are hearing similar stories and are upping their application numbers in the RD round.
I do think a good number of the deferrals/spots on waitlists will turn into acceptances as kids pick “the one” and turn down spots at the 15+ others. I also think lots of last minute offers over the summer.
My D21 applied to 9. She had 7 on the original list but we threw in 3 more “no problems” because of the stories above, but we ended up kicking one of those off the list - so 9, all EA. Deferred from one, accepted with merit to 4, will hear from 4 more in Jan/Feb plus a final decision on the deferral in March.
Of the remaining 4 EA decisions, 1 should be “no problem” according to stats, but she is OOS, which ups the anti a bit, 2 are in-state and in a normal year, would be targets (again, according to stats - maybe one is a little more of a reach than a target) but because this is a crazy application cycle, are more likely reaches - and the final one, also OOS, should be a target but this year, who knows???
Ultimately, she’d love to get a yes from the deferral, as that is her top choice but we’ll see. She’d also be happy at 2 of the 4 acceptances (and got merit awards from both, which is of course a big +). I’m a big believer that she will end up where she is meant to be.
4 Likes
@CollegeNerd67 @CollegeNerd67 UGA seems to have admitted only really high scoring students (with or w/o tests). I know many kids who thought U of SC would be a slam dunk and were shocked by a deferral. One thing is for sure; this year has been chock full of surprises. Last March/April/May, there seemed to be a lot of speculations that applications would be down, especially for OOS. The thought was that students would choose to stay closer to home because of COVID, and international applications would be down. Definitely not the case, as we can see in the increase in applications. Believing that applications would be down, we rolled with the idea of applying to schools we wouldn’t normally apply to. In retrospect, those were wasted application fees (and essays). My daughter initially applied to 8 and then added 3 more last minute. I thought 11 was a lot, but after reading the number of schools others applied to, I don’t think it is such an outlandish number after all.
I agree, for those willing to wait it out, a lot of deferrals will turn into acceptances once applications are withdrawn.
The next few months should be very interesting!
2 Likes
I have applied total 23 (mixed with safe, target & reach schools, including 2 Service Academies). So far I have received 4 admission letters and 1 no-go.
5 Likes
S21 applied to eight schools.
Total cost $529 = $249(CSS Profile) + $280(Application fee)
D21 applied to 5. So far 3 acceptances with merit. 2 of them are her top choices, based on programs offered, reputation and location. The only reason we added more than those 2 was because all her friends were chastising her for only 2 apps. Then her guidance counselor insisted she try one state school even though we agreed she’ll go oos. We havent heard back on that yet but I feel like it was a waste of the app fee since we had no real interest.
3 Likes
My D applied to 23 as well. She wanted to have options. We were able to visit 8 schools pre-covid and some of her top schools, at that time, she ended up not liking after the in person visit. She wanted to be able to apply and use this year to research more and hopefully be able to physically visit the schools if things get better.
She applied to a mix of safeties, targets and reach schools. She’s been accepted to 12, denied at 1 and waiting to hear from the rest.
7 Likes