<p>Ha ha - I came home from work to find S working on an Honors program application which I can TELL he knows he wants to submit but I can also TELL he is wore out of “filling” out apps!</p>
<p>Since I know that he will also need to fill out several local scholarship apps, I think I should just zip up the thought - he seems satisfied, we will go with what he has. We will schedule a couple of revisits, he has been invited back a couple of places for further scholarship competitions - best leave it at that.</p>
<p>He will be disappointed if he doesn’t get accepted at his reach (who wouldn’t?) but not defeated. He recognizes the reach as well as the possibility of the expense at this school being difficult. </p>
<p>Thanks for the good advice! I am going to peek at the lists above ^^^ just to see what schools are still accepting apps just out of curiousity!</p>
<p>As usual, I’ll be the contrarian. He’s a year older than when he chose what he was looking for and it would be perfectly normal for him to be thinking bigger.</p>
<p>He has a Common App that worked well at several schools, I’d consider throwing in some more ambitious apps. Applying to some schools a bit farther away to spread his wings.</p>
<p>Many colleges extend their deadlines every year and others are happy to take late applications.</p>
<p>DD only wanted to apply to three schools…(one rolling and two EA and like the OP, had acceptances to all three by Christmas). We insisted she apply to one school closer to home just in case she changed her mind…so she did. BUT then she asked if she could throw in an application for a reach school. We said yes.</p>
<p>Well…in the end, her top three schools were the three that she heard from before Christmas. She didn’t get accepted to the reach and she didn’t change her mind about going far away so her acceptance to the school close to home was nice but not needed.</p>
<p>In retrospect…we should have just left her alone with the three schools. She is attending one and it was her number one choice all along anyway.</p>
<p>“I sometimes wonder what her school list would have looked like a year later.” Bingo.
There is a TON of growth between late summer/ fall/early winter of senior year and spring/summer of that year. If something is telling you or your son to cast a wider net, do it. There is nothing (except app fees which can add up!) to lose.</p>
<p>I would say to aim for about 4-5 acceptances.</p>
<p>I am applying to 13 schools.<br>
6 reach
3 match
4 safety</p>
<p>I don’t expect to get into any reaches but if I somehow did then I’ll probably go there.
I expect to get into maybe 2 of my matches.
I expect to get into all my safeties.</p>
<p>Abasket.
My son has applied to two YES (2) schools. A safety and a reach. He has gotten into his reach early action, and his awaiting his safety response. He is fully aware of the deadline of schools of interest. There is still plenty of time for him to ask for the CC#. I have learned not to ask unless I’m solicited…all is calm </p>
All true, but that wasn’t the part of the story I was telling this time. (I was specifically thinking about schools that would have originally been outside her comfort zone- UMiami for one.)</p>
<p>The point I was trying to make was that the OP knows the lay of land better than any of us out here in cyberworld. If the OP has any inkling that her student was changing their parameters, a few different choices wouldn’t be that bad a thing. No such feeling? No reason to add any.</p>
<p>I wish ds had applied to fewer schools as I can tell I will want to explore all his options when the time comes and I think he’ll be happy to just focus on two or three. So, what was the point of applying to all these schools if you weren’t SERIOUSLY going to consider them??? If your ds is happy, I say let it be.</p>
<p>I don’t see anything wrong with having a conversation with him about whether there is anyplace else he’s thought about applying, any locations that appeal to him, any schools that don’t fit the small, safe, close to home parameters that he seems to have stuck with. </p>
<p>The only downside I can see is if he gets in somewhere that you can’t afford to send him. Barring that, floating the idea seems reasonable, especially since it sounds as if he hasn’t really stretched his wings in terms of school choices. </p>
<p>If he doesn’t want to do it, I’d drop it of course.</p>
<p>I am a relatively happy dad. S2 likes his safety/matches (already admitted with merit $$) as much or more than his 2 reaches (one more of a low reach). He eliminated many of the potential reaches to which I thought he might apply early on. He said why apply, if admitted he would likely go to one of his match/safeties rather than to any one of them. I argued a case for more options, but he stood his ground. Now I like the fact that we will not be facing the possibility of a big-time disappointment this spring.</p>
<p>I’m jealous, however if you think there’s a chance he’d regret not having another choice in March he could apply to another reach. Frankly though, he sounds like he’s in great shape. We’re happy in this house to have ONE good acceptance - five sounds like heaven!</p>
<p>My son has also had some doubts about not applying to some Ivy schools. He has 10 apps out and 5 acceptances with money from 4. UW-Madison hasn’t offered anything and we didn’t think they would. Today he sent his last app. in and smiled when he was done. Now he has some scholarship apps. to get in by Jan. 15th. I don’t know how he has done all this and managed to stay on top of his studies. I hope he is as successful in college!</p>
<p>While I was coming up with my list the summer before junior year, something that I remember really influencing which schools I applied to was my strong aversion to rejection. If your S is anything like me, which he may not be at all, he might have applied only or mostly schools which he felt he had a good chance at getting into, with a token reach thrown in just for fun. As others posters have mentioned, now that he’s happy with the acceptances he has in hand, he could be more open to applying to schools where he thought he might be rejected. If you’re willing to pay to extra application fees, I don’t see any harm in aiming a bit higher admissions-wise knowing that you have a cushion to soften the (potential) fall.</p>
<p>idad said " He said why apply, if admitted he would likely go to one of his match/safeties rather than to any one of them. I argued a case for more options, but he stood his ground".</p>
<p>Do you have my son? lol. There were a couple rollings that I suggested and he was not interested saying he would still go to his safety over those schools. These are Great rolling admission schools. Oh well, it was his boat to float. Classic example of listening to kids and have them live with the choices they make.</p>
<p>I’d try to get him to throw in a couple more reaches. If he is accepted at all his schools, he may always wonder if he should have aimed higher. If I remember correctly, your son is very bright and also an athlete. Isn’t he in the running for valedictorian at a large high school?</p>
<p>It depends on your kid, of course, but my DS3 is almost relieved he was deferred. That way, he’s not bound and he’s still in the running. He always wished it was EA instead of ED. His GF got into Yale EA, but ended up choosing Stanford in the end. There’s something magical that happens to kids in their senior year.</p>
<p>One of mine doesn’t like to dicker. He makes decisions quickly (too quickly in my opinion); doesn’t ask for outside advice very often, likes a limited set of choices, and in my recollection, has never once regretted a decision he’s made. He makes the best of every situation he’s in, works hard, has fun, tomorrow is another day. </p>
<p>Another one of mine (more like me, I confess) can make even minor decisions seem torturous. Data, input, opinions, bring it on. Can’t have too many choices- no deadline is really a deadline. This kid would be unhappy with a narrow set of choices- and was throwing schools onto the list and chucking them off up to the deadline. And then we get Buyer’s Remorse. Shoulda coulda woulda.</p>
<p>What kind of kid is yours? If you’ve got a son who is usually happy with the hand he’s dealt I’d leave it alone. No sense clogging up the works with another set of choices or complicating his life come April.</p>
<p>If you’ve got a son who will experience lingering regret at not having considered more options, aimed higher, pushed himself out of his comfort zone, etc… then you can try to add a few more options to the mix.</p>
<p>But tread lightly. Your son may be signaling to you that he’s happy and done-- and it may be in your own head that he’s ambivalent.</p>
<p>I am going to post again here that my nephew is at at school where my sister sent in his application at the very last minute (she asked him first before she hit the button). It required no additional essays, and it was also his top reach. I wondered if he would have been happy there because of its academic reputation. I just saw him over xmas, he is very happy.</p>
<p>If your s has 5 acceptances he is happy with and there is no other school he is dying to consider, I’d say enjoy those choices and tell him to relax and enjoy his senior yer!!</p>
<p>He did end up putting one other application in - Butler University. I think he is totally satisfied now. He can put away his “application hat” now, and get out his filling-out-outside-scholarships “hat” on now!!!</p>
</p>
(I was specifically thinking about schools that would have originally been outside her comfort zone- UMiami for one.)</p>