<p>LL, funny you should mention the specifics. Columbia had been my D's #1 choice until she did the visits. Women's colleges were her top three when admissions came in.</p>
<p>Weird =) What was the third women's school (I know S and W were her #1 and #2)?</p>
<p>I just read this whole thread...it's great. We are in the middle of second child's college search. The only thing different about DD's search vs. DS's search (other than they have totally different criteria for what they want in college!!) is that DD will apply to a maximum of 6 schools, maybe only 5. We have visited 17 schools already with DD and she really only likes 4 or 5. Best thing we did with DS was have him do his applications early...the earlier the better. DD will do the same thing. I would advise everyone to do one application with either rolling admissions or an early application process (not EA or ED...but just a process whereby if you complete the ap by a certain date...usually November 1...you will hear before Christmas). DD will also do drafts of essay paragraphs this summer and put it all together in a final essay or two at the end of the summer.</p>
<p>LL: B was her third women's college.</p>
<p>A bit funny to see her choose S from the standpoint that "urban envrionment" was third on her list of criteria after "highly competitive academics" and "access to high-level ballet." Which is why one of the two big questions for <em>her</em> as she focused on S was "Is NoHo big enough?"</p>
<p>D liked NYC but didn't love it. She's since visited twice...enjoys every minute of it. But not enough to have made it a defining point of her selection. The best ballet class she took was at B and the most helpful and in every way great interviewer was from B.</p>
<p>She didn't even consider BMC based on size and location.</p>
<p>Lukester -- Yes, I'm basing my essays on last year's apps. For the most part, it's doable -- it helps that four of my schools take the Common App (essay topics don't change), two of them are UC's (ditto), and Columbia and Saint Mary's (CA) have the same topics from year to year. As for Stanford (my first choice), their three short essays have the same prompts every year, and the long essay has two choices, one of which is the same every year (though I'm hoping that the "changing" topic this year will be compatible with the essay I want to submit).</p>
<p>this is possibly the most useful thread in the world.</p>
<p>I concur :)</p>
<p>I would start planning the financials when my kid was a sophmore. There are a variety of ways in which many people can reduce their EFC (legally!) if you start 2 years ahead. In our case, we could have reduced it by about $9,000 if I had looked into it.</p>
<p>If you are an applicant, spend more time choosing your parents. ;)</p>
<p>so true! :)</p>
<p>Apply to your dream school, even if you think there is no way you could ever get in or attend there.</p>
<p>Old and Tired -
Can you give some details on the variety of ways in which people can reduce their EFC legally - what exactly did you do?</p>
<p>Spend down the money in your child's accounts, for orthodontic work, car, insurance.
Make sure your own money is in IRAs rather than stocks/banks.</p>
<p>Come on Old & Tired, help us out....</p>
<p>For example, my D initially thought she wanted to go to UCLA. She had picked it nearly out of a hat; it was a school she had heard of and she had friends that had chosen it. But she had no idea that the population was 40,000 kids there, or that many classes were huge lectures. </p>
<p>She then thought she wanted a school of 7,000-10,000 kids-- something much bigger than her HS of 2500-- because she was getting a little tired of her social options in HS. I pointed out that in her honors track at HS, she actually associates with about 200 kids; to be with 1000 like-minded kids would feel 5x larger than HS already. So she began considering LACs and fell for them.</p>
<p>She thought that by staying near home her friendships with HS friends would be able to be better preserved-- till her older firends came home after just one quarter at a nearby college, and they were completely absorbed in their <em>new</em> college friends and slightly detached from their old pals. My D realized that staying put would not prevent life moving forward, and began getting interested in other areas of the country.</p>
<p>Talk about the detailed reasons your kid loves or hates a certain school. You want them to base the opinion on accurate info! Have them talk to kids who attend those dream schools to verify the accuracy of your kid' impressions. Ask the students to reveal the "hidden downsides" of their schools-- "what don't you like abut College X?"-- because all schools have downsides too and you may as well know what they are.</p>
<p>My basic advice - listen to mom when she says start doing what you can over the summer so as not to rush during Christmas Break! ;D</p>
<p>Oh - and don't feel bad reusing essays for different applications - it will save you a ton of time.</p>
<p>Wow, what great insights! </p>
<p>Our daughter thanked us repeatedly throughout her senior year for pushing her to do essays during the summer, visit during junior year(and earlier if we were in the neighborhood), prep early and test early(ala Xiggi-although we didn't know the name of the program then). Senior year can be so panic-ridden for many when it should be busy but manageable, and yes, even enjoyable.</p>
<p>Looking back I think we were not prepared for how much our daughter would change (and change her mind about what was important)over that last year of HS. ED would have been a disaster for her! Also, it really seemed like, for a lot of kids, college choices kept getting closer and closer to home as time went by. Then again, 9/11 influenced her group...all of those threads about whether or not to depend on airlines for college transportation.</p>
<p>If I could change anything about my college application process, I would have applied to more schools where I could have been offered more money. I applied to my "dream schools", Penn and BC, and I was rejected at Penn and waitlisted at BC, but I'm still happy that I did apply there, mostly because I don't want the "what if" syndrome to appear 20 years from now. </p>
<p>I'm planning on going to Medical or Dental school in four years, so money was certainly a major player in my decision and though I was accepted at quite a few good schools, I am going to Holy Cross next year because they offered a very large amount of money to me. I was also accepted at U of Rochester, 'Nova, UPitt (Honors), and Catholic U (Honors), but in the end like many other people the decision was based almost entirely on money. (It's almost funny that the best Catholic LAC was cheaper for me than a state school, but I guess that happens more than I thought) Honestly however, I am entirely happy with my decision, I just wish I hadn't stressed out about what colleges I was going to get accepted to between January and April. It was entirely out of my hands at that point.
My best advice to those applying to college is that if you have put your best effort into your work and have found success, relax. The process really takes care of itself in the end, no matter where you decide to go in the end, it's really all about having a good attitude going into the first semester.</p>
<p>What is xiggi?</p>
<p>Check out xiggi's posts under the SAT/ACT and Parent forums (thread = "Xiggi's SAT prep advice")</p>
<p>Xiggi is the single-most prolific and knowledgeable poster on CC when it comes to insights on the SAT and prepping for same. He's been around for about three years and is currently a college student. </p>
<p>I don't always agree with Xiggi, but I consider carefully before I do--except on the subjects of politics and Texas--and I consider three times when it comes to the SAT.</p>