@thumper1 @bouders - Thank you for the list. Although my son’s not applying to the ones you listed, it’s still very helpful to know about this. We’re going to review all colleges on his list to make sure he’s not missing any merit deadlines.
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If accept, then he’s done. Save us money, time, effort, and anxiety. If reject, deferred or waitlisted, he will then apply to about 12 with a mixture of safety, match, and reach.
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@TiggerDad
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Applying to safeties in Dec (or after Dec) is a bad idea.
If you’re expecting some or a lot of aid, finding safeties can be very difficult, particularly if applying after Dec 1.
Are you looking at safeties from an admissions stand point? Or from both admissions and aid?
Do you know which schools are his safeties? Do you know FOR SURE that you have all costs covered? If not, then how can those schools be safeties? It sounds like your son may need to add some real safeties to his list.
D applied to 16. 1 safety and 15 others that offer very competitive full ride or near full ride scholarships.
@suzyQ7 lol. My Son is going to try the same thing. He was proud to have earned the Harvard Book Award his Junior year in HS and ever sense he has wondered if he could get in. I tried to explain to him in a nice way that the award is not an indication that he can be accepted. He just wants to try. I am against it as I think it is just a total waste of money ($75). He does well in school but not Ivy league good. Those kids are mad smart.
Great! I also thinking to participate my kids at least 10-12. And preparing well.
Our son applied to one, although he was an athlete so a completely different process. Our daughter is planning on applying to seven. Four are in now, one ED, three EA. Two of the EA schools are potential merit scholarship schools. The other is a “reach for everyone” school. The ED school is a “reachy match” I guess. If things don’t work out in this round, she will add three RD applications. Two of those will be matches and one true safety.
@mom2collegekids – Good points. My son’s safety in-state public school automatically offers merit aid based on his GPA + SAT or ACT scores. But I’m going to double check to be sure that there’s no hidden deadline.
D applied to 12, which was two more than she needed. She had totally lost interest in a couple and applied “just in case.” But we had really done our homework and in hindsight, it was a waste of energy, not to mention money. The time she spent on those extra apps could have been better spent finishing essays or chilling out. With my son, I expect him to apply to 6-7. We know better now. If you do your homework, there is no need to go insane with apps. I think for those who are gunning for merit aid, more apps is perhaps understandable.
This thread prompted me to look up D18’s school’s policies. Turns out they will write counselor recs for a max of eight schools, and strongly encourage quality over quantity. I’m glad to find this out now, as D currently has ten schools on her fluid list.
We are in the low # of applications. Financial options with fields of study within our geographic area which both DDs liked.
DD1 wanted to also apply to OOS flagship and I said “H— no” - turns out it was because of a romantic interest; great guy - actually already married to someone DD knows, and besides ridiculous cost, she couldn’t have completed her major there - and following a fella was not a good reason in this situation. Had her apply to 3, one in case she decided a different major and one in case she took coursework summer at home (all had scholarship $$ and in-state); DD2 applied to 2, and one was in case she took coursework summer at home. First finished in 4 in original major; second is on track to finish in 4 with original field double major, but is taking summer courses to have the double major completed on time.
Our private HS had less students apply to a high volume of schools. Our area public HS had a pool of bright kids that did apply to a lot of schools - parents went along with it for the most part. A lot of it was energy spent w/o really producing results - should have focused the list with visits before, soul searching before.
D applied to a lot ( 19 or 20 I think , 7 of which are UCs) and is going to her lottery school ( got into several reaches). In retrospect, should have applied to less safeties ( and less matches probably). But hindsight is always 20/20 , so we really have no regrets .
@ShrimpBurrito - my pups HS GC wrote only one rec, it was the same letter uploaded electronically and sent to all of the schools they applied to. Same with the teacher rec letter. Is it common, or even an option to get a customized rec letter for each school? Does this vary by high school?
Not to threadjack, to stay on topic, my S applied to 10 (and got in to 8 of them), D applied to a baker’s dozen, and only got in to 12 of them.
My D’s current list is 15 and is well constructed with research and visits. She’s applied to 7 and 6 more will go in by 12/1. I could see the last 2 fall off the list if EA is favorable.
@3puppies , that’s a good question, and the printed info I have does not say one way or the other. As this is a public school in an underfunded school district, I’m guessing it’s just one rec letter that gets sent out. They repeatedly state that they recommend applying to no more than eight schools. If a student wishes to apply to additional schools that do not require counselor recommendations, it seems s/he is free to do so. They also limit students to one ED or two EA applications, and that those count towards the eight school maximum. Now, this is according to the official handbook that is posted on the school’s website. When a student goes into their counselor’s office to discuss options, there may be a little more flexibility. We will find out soon.
I’m assuming, @GAcollegemom6, that you’re in Georgia. For us, the idea of HOPE/Zell Miller when staying in-state/public made the whole “apply to a zillion places and see what happens” thing a lot less attractive. I actually found myself encouraging both kids to apply to MORE schools, and neither of them wanted to.
It sounds like your daughter hit upon a logical number that offers her options. That’s all that matters – what works for one family maybe doesn’t for another, etc.
(For the record, both of my kids only applied to two schools. My oldest got into both and went to her first choice; my youngest is dual enrolled so is waiting to hear on EA application to first choice, but is already accepted to second choice. I rarely tell people because there is this notion that “smart” kids should be applying to a dozen+ schools. It simply wasn’t for us.)
I must say I am somewhat surprised at the total number of schools some kids applied for.
From the 2015 State of College Admissions Report by NACAC report, page 8. http://www.nacacnet.org/research/research-data/Documents/2015SoCA.pdf
First two of my kids applied to a high-match ED and luckily both got in. Both could then relax over xmas break and they have been happy with the college.
Third child did not get into his ED, so ended up applying to a total of 13: 5 reach, 5 match, 3 safety. It was a good list and good decision. He ultimately got into one of his reaches and is very happy there today.
Yes 13 apps was a lot of work. But if you are aiming for the more competitive privates, and especially is your child is ‘lopsided’, then you have to apply this widely to improve chances at a happy outcome. My 3rd child was ‘lopsided’: excellent scores, so-so GPA, light on ECs and APs, great essay (IMO). Didn’t even get accepted at one school we considered a safety! In this situation, you have to cast a wide net.
@pickpocket , DS had similar profile and almost the same strategy. We were all happy with the strategy in the end. There was only 1 school where he was accepted that he didn’t want to consider in April. While he did get into his top 2 choices, both were off the WL in May, and as we all know, that doesn’t always work out like that. For a kid like him (sounds like yours), it felt like the right approach.
As others have mentioned, early acceptances can really cut down the number of applications. I was accepted non-binding EA to a college that I especially liked and could afford. In the RD round, I only needed to consider the few schools I would choose over the EA acceptance, which was an additional 4 colleges.