How many schools do kids apply to?

Parents Forum
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<p>Came late in Ds process to this forum. I have to note that I didn't even know this concept of Reach, Match, Safety - only about safeties. (I just tried that Princeton Review site now for the first time). </p>

<p>In our uneducated state she applied:</p>

<p>3 Reach
3 Match
1 Safety</p>

<p>Deferred SCEA from one Reach. Accepted already from Safety with full tuition paid for. Invited to apply to two Matches for scholarship.</p>

<p>I would love to name the schools and ask your hindsight on our choices but figure discretion is still critical. However, here's what I know. Now that we have had the experience of her acceptance to the Safety and the scholarship invites for 2 Matches, I have a nagging wish that we had applied to more Matches. I also wish we had not applied SCEA to the most selective of her reaches - given that she had not determined her first choice. She is a wonderful student and has done really well in school on her own steam and I wish now that she could have had a little more experience with the joys of recognition and not such a long, long wait to hear.</p>

<p>My concern is not about where she will go to school. Frankly, her matches are fabulous places whether she gets the scholarship or not, and she would love to attend them. My concern is more about this application process. I see that had I not been so blithely sure that all would go well we could have set up an application process that better mirrored her accomplishments.</p>

<p>As it turned out, she has had no acceptance in hand until last week - while many many of her friends with different types of high school records have had acceptances pouring in. To different schools, sure, but my D was so proud and even shy to get her acceptance when it finally showed up that I sort of wished we had set it up differently.</p>

<p>Did any of you think about the way results would come in along with the final outcome? I do understand that another way to look at this is that it's character-building to suffer setbacks and make the best of an outcome, and that it could be a signal of a truly over-privileged child if her mother engineered the application process to support the child's ego and in doing so perhaps caused the colleges not to accept someone else who would have loved to attend. Beururah (sp.) I notice that your experience with your son's EA may have caused you some similar doubts and his acceptance to UM some similar joys.</p>

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<p>alumother:</p>

<p>while we have another year to think about the results coming in, IMO, for kids with strong records (i.e., don't need senior grades/awards), it's better to apply EA if the essays and apps can be completed with care. In your case, that full ride would come in before the holidays -- what a treat. Moreover, schools with rolling admissions become more selective as the class starts to fill after each admission round -- if three oboeists are already accepted when the orchestra only needs two, that 4th oboeist in Jan will not look so strong to the adcoms. Thus, kids who apply early to RA schools have a better chance for acceptance.</p>

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<p>Any family who has been throuhg this once would agree that having an acceptance, even to a rolling school that the child does not want to attend unless everything goes sour, makes the whole process much more bearable. </p>

<p>Thinking back to this past Nov and Dec - my daughter was very proud and pleased with her acceptances and scholarships to 2 rolling admit schools, even though she only applied as a safety to use if something truly bad happened in the family, and she didn't want to go away to school (a friend in her class has a Mom dying of cancer, it is in everyone's thoughts). Even with those in hand, the last 10 days before ED results came out were h**l, in fact I didn't realize how bad, until she was accepted and almost overnight I had my daughter back. I can't imagine the tension families are working through this month!
Most rolling admit schools are big state schools where they could probably care less if you actually came or not. DD promptly declined the scholarships after ED acceptance, although I'm not sure that mattered either - the state school scholarship is almost automatic for anyone applying in the fall, I don't think her going or not going really impacts anyone else.</p>

<p>Should a student apply to 5 safeties and every Ivy League school just to stoke their ego - no. But anyone needing siginificant need-based or merit aid should apply to "enough" schools to have some choice. And, that early acceptance in the fall, makes the whole process a little easier, it really does.</p>

64

<p>i applied to 8 schools
1 safety
2 safety-match
5 reaches </p>

<p>we'll see how it all works out in a month. Most of the kids at my school applied to 1-3 schools, however most of them are staying instate. Kids going for sports or high academics typically have either 1 school (ed) or around 8 like me. Those numbers seem pretty accurate to my school.</p>

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<p>cangel</p>

<p><i can't="" imagine="" the="" tension="" families="" are="" working="" through="" this="" month!=""></i></p><i can't="" imagine="" the="" tension="" families="" are="" working="" through="" this="" month!="">

<p>It's day to day...let's see, today is March 2.....how many days until April 1? :-) Thank GOD for Spring Break! We surely are needing it BIG TIME!</p>
</i>

66

<p>Tension! Right! When April 1 comes, 50% of the load will be lightened, and when the decision is finally made, I will feel free as a bird! Hawaii, anyone? A nice pampering spa weekend? Or maybe the funny farm - they're coming to take me away, ha ha!</p>

<p>S applied to:</p>

<p>4 reaches
7 matches - (3 required no extra effort)
3 safeties</p>

<p>So far, Withdrew 2, admitted to 6 - waiting to hear from 6. Five unsolicited offers for free rides or free tuition.</p>

<p>The US match schools offered merit aid, although at the 'high matches' it is very competitive to land (one to date, a welcome treat!). So far among the admits, 3 free tuition, another one highly likely.</p>

<p>My advice for freshman and sophomore parents - if you want merit aid, you just cannot do enough research early on. I started three years ago. Use the college books, web sites, CC, and college catalogs (for the truly fanatical, this is the very best resource before visits) to determine which schools have strong offerings in the areas of interest, ECs that fit the student, good outcomes, and the possibility of merit aid. Some will disagree on this, but I think parents should do the initial screening, because we have learned to be more detail oriented and have the patience to read exhaustively. Visit, visit, visit - some schools that sound great on paper may NOT fit your student. Have the student do most of the research once you have identified the most likely 15-25 colleges, and if they have the patience, encourage them to use CC. Apply to at least 3 matches and 2 safties, 3-4 reaches. </p>

<p>Prevent EA/ED/SCEA heartbreak! Encourage the student to explore and appreciate all of the schools that they have selected. Cast the applications process as the means to achieve multiple wonderful choices.</p>

67

<p>If my son was going in state, he would have applied to one school. It would have been an auto-admit situation.</p>

<p>Since he was applying out of state, and most of his schools have anywhere between 45% to 20% admit rates, he applied to eight. This was mainly because we had a very hard time calling anything a "match" when they have a low admit rate. Also, "average applicant" credentials have a nasty habit of shifting upwards from one year to the next along with a hefty increase in applications. The goal was to have at least two or three to pick from in the end.</p>

68

<p>Determining the number of applications and the mix of Reach / Match / Safety schools can be difficult for intended performing arts majors. Things get complicated beacuse of the audition process. Typically, a 15-30 minute audition will count for between 50% and 99% of the admissions decision. Most of the top schools insist that this be a live audition, perhaps with a videotape required for a preliminary screening round. A few accept a tape alone but judge it to a much higher standard than a live audition. </p>

<p>Most applicants will wind up producing a videotape or two (because different schools have different audition requirements) and performing live auditions at several schools. The judging can be very subjective and quirky, and you may simply have an off day when your audition rolls around, so you need to apply to many schools, even though that gets expensive.</p>

<p>High school guidance counselors may not be familiar with admissions procedures at performing arts colleges. That can lead them to steer you toward or away from certain schools based on academic rather than artistic criteria. You have to do your own research and be prepared to explain to the GC how, for example, a division of Johns Hopkins University could be a Match or even a Safety school for someone with below-average GPA and SAT scores, even though they rejected last year's valedictorian for pre-med.</p>

<p>My daughter applied to 2 Reaches (we estimate less than a 25% chance of acceptance), 6 Matches (25% to 75% chance) and 2 Safeties (>75% chance.) One of the Matches has a non-binding Early Review program and, after being accepted there in mid-December, she withdrew applications at the Safeties and two of the less interesting Matches. Based on a tape, she did not get invited for a live audition at one of the Reaches, so we are now waiting for regular decision results from one Reach and three Matches. We are hoping to have two or three acceptances when all is said and done. Had she been deferred or declined in December, we would have gone through with all of them. </p>

<p>The accptance in December was extremely helpful. It let us cancel four auditions, saving some money and allowing her to drop two pieces from her repertoire to concentrate on the others. It also provided a sense of confidence going into the other auditions, knowing she has what it takes to get into a good school, and having something to fall back on if everyone else rejects her.</p>

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<p>Although we overdid it, my son applied to a large number of MT/music/drama programs that were contingent upon a 5 minute (at most) audition. He also applied to HPY which are lottery tickets as well. Being the type of person he is, he well knew that he needed to hear something early, so he was torn between how he should strategize things. His first choice school does not have ED for theatre and his second choice school (at the time did). He agonized over what he should do, and really at the very last moment spontaneously applied SCEA to Yale which was not even discussed, and RD for everything else with rolling admissions for our state school and a few other programs. He was accepted to Yale and to 2 MT programs, and deferred at two others. He still has his app into his original first choice school but has pulled his apps from the rest of the colleges except for our state program. He was turned down by Juilliard immediately following that audition. For him, this was the way to go.</p>

<p>My friend's son applied to 10 schools, and auditioned as we did, early. She did not get good news from half of those schools EA and rolling, so they applied to at least 10 more, maybe even more than that now that they know that it is going to be an upward climb. They added some non audition schools with good music/theatre programs to the mix, and he went to the Unified Auditions and picked up some schools that way. Given the circumstances, 20 schools for them is not too many, given the odds of the school and the early outcomes. So it can really depend on the situation.</p>

<p>I would recommend pairing a reach ED or SCEA with some good rolling choices because, yes, I could see the hurt and panic on a lot of kids' faces when they got that deferral or rejection. It would have been nice to have a safety in the pocket from a state or local school to buffer that. Or a number of EA schools with a reach ED if the rules allow it or all EAs and rolling schools along with some RDs. There are kids at S's school who are discussing scholarships and honors programs already, and some still just waiting for a positive response from one school, and it can be nerve wracking. That way when a more favorable acceptance comes in April, it can be wonderful but not prayed for as much.</p>

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<p>3 safeties
3 match/reach
3 ivy</p>

<p>My kid was rejected by what we thought was the safest of her safeties, but was accepted by the other 2 safeties, one a free ride in an excellent, selective honors program. Go figure.</p>

<p>I have no clue what a safety/match/reach school is. To me, the whole process is very arbitrary. </p>

<p>The college guidance office at my kid's school says that the rejection from the safety is probably a yield thing, but who knows? </p>

<p>What if all safety schools decide to reject kids that they feel will get in elsewhere and not attend? By the same token. what if the so-called reach schools reject these same kids because they fall short of the mark? If a kid can't get into his/her safety, then what is a "match" school.</p>

<p>Well, hurray, I'm certainly interested in the free ride. Now I just hope I can convince my kid to take advantage of it, and forget about the other schools. I'm just as happy to put this whole process behind me (at least until kid #2 comes of age).</p>

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<p>A school is not a safety if you do not work with it. I know someone who was rejected from UFlorida, and accepted to MIT. He sent his app in too late to his state school, and all of the engineering slots were filled. UFlorida would have been a safety had he sent the app in early. This is a possibility with many of the rolling admissions schools where only 3 numbers determine the outcome: the SAT1, class rank, and date of application. Not too much you can do about the first two things by the time you are applying, but the app date is certainly a factor under your control. </p>

<p>The other time a safety is not a safety is for some of these schools that are concerned about yield and look strongly at demonstrated interest. If they sniff out that they are just a safety to the student and little interest is shown--visits, attending local sessions, e-mails, personal contact, then you are likely to be rejected. My son's friend had to hurridly add some safety schools to his list after he was deferred and turned down by a number of audition schools. He HAD to visit each of them and really make nice as he did get those apps in under the deadline wire. They are all strong choices, but he needed to get that message across to them. You do not ignore even safety schools, which is why it is a crazy thing to apply to too many schools. You just cannot possibly give them all due attention and unless you juggle things carefully, yes, you can get rejected at some schools because of lack of interest.</p>

<p>There are also some specialty schools where it looks like they are safeties but they are not, as the kids are preselected by some handle. An example of this are the former all female schools. A female who is an artsy type and near the bottom of the midrange may not get into the school, though statistically it should be a match given the high accept rate. What you need to understand is that many of the males are given a pass in the door, and many of the underselected majors are also easy admits, but if you are applying to an overprescribed program, it could well be a reach for you. Another related situation is if you apply to a school with high accept rate for a selective program. That is what my son did. Yes, he is a shoo in statistically at most of those schools, but the Musical Theatre Program where he applied had lower accept rates than HPY at times. So it would be nuts, for instance, for him to have Emerson, Harrt, Oklahoma City , Syracuse as safety schools, though he is in the upper end of the SAT range for each of them and would probably an ********* with scholarship if he were applying to a general program, not the MT program.</p>

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<p>I have used PrincetonReview's Counselor-O-Matic and I like it. However can anyone suggest another online college search engine that gives Reach/Match/Safety results. The C-O-M has a lot of bugs and sometimes comes up with strange results (i.e. listing Mount Holyoke as a Match for a Male student). Thanks for any suggestions.</p>

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<p>Plantree, destination-u has a site, but it costs money ($80 or so, I recall). Unfortunately, I haven't been too impressed with it -- seems to be missing a lot of schools from its database.</p>

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<p>I applied to 11 schools</p>

<p>9 reaches
2 matches</p>

<p>It's cool though, cause i've already been accepted to a reach</p>

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<p>Looking back, it might seem a bit silly but here is how it happened. </p>

<p>Junior year was not a great time for D and she wasn't really in the right place to take advantage of college visits so we began the process with pretty much of a blank slate. GC at her school don't provide any one on one advising. Most students go to state (CA) schools. </p>

<p>Super SATs, took all Honors and AP classes in very competitive HS but didn't always get the best grades. No laundry list of EC but 12 years in Girl Scouts with Silver Award and 4 years of serious competitive marching and concert band. Counselor and teacher recs? How does one really know at a big, understaffed public high school? </p>

<p>College interests: big city, international relations, good selection of languages</p>

<p>So, we started making lists of the schools that fit the bill. The thing was, we really didn't know how she would be viewed at a particular school. If she had had a little better grades and a bit lower SATs, it would have been easier to predict. Many schools are now emphasizing grades over test scores. Would schools that seemed like safeties turn her down? </p>

<p>So, we decided to pick at least 3 safeties, 3 matches and 3 reaches. Then we discovered that quite a few of the schools on her list were on the Common App. So, we looked at other Common App schools "just in case" and ended up adding a few more reaches that we wouldn't have chosen to include otherwise and 9 became 13 with 8 on the common app. Casual talk about Canadian schools became more serious as d investigated and we all ended up very impressed by the education offered there at a very good price. Canadian entrance requirements are based on grades in upper level courses plus SAT scores with consideration given for AP and Honors level classes. We had no idea how she would fare. Applications were easy, online with no essays! So she applied to 5.</p>

<p>A few of the schools had rolling admissions but she didn't send in any applications until December so didn't hear from any schools before the entire crop of applications were submitted. Probably a good thing from the motivation standpoint. In January acceptances started. This was a real boost and I would reccomend a rolling admission safety school to all applicants as a stress reducer. D has been admitted to 6 schools at this point. One is a top notch U in Canada. Another has offered a substantial merit scholarship. She is awaiting the rest of the decisions and looking forward to making a final choice. </p>

<p>Any regrets? No For her, I think it was the right thing.</p>

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<p>My school highly encourages we apply to 5-10 though there is no official limit. I actually like that they tell us ahead of time, no more than 10, because as a junior it makes me seriously have to look at every angle of a school.</p>