<p>Back in the fall, I was involved in some discussions (public and PM) here at CC about what constituted the "right" number of schools to apply to. Obviously there is no single right answer...as everyone's situation is different. But there seemed to be a "3 to 6" guideline that made sense to many. As noted in the Master list, my D applied to 3 and was accepted by 2, rejected by 1.</p>
<p>I know there are some kids who only applied to one school, and am wondering how it worked out for them?</p>
<p>Additionally, for the people who applied to more than one school, I wonder if people feel they applied to the right number (and to a lesser extent, type) of schools?</p>
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<p>FWIW, my happiness/relief about my daughter's M10 results has been tempered by less favorable outcomes for various posters/kids here. My fingers are still crossed for those on waitlists...</p>
<p>I personally planned to apply to six schools but I only ended up applying to three schools. If I could do it again, I would have probably applied to around five. That said, I have received two waitlists from HADES schools and I am waiting to hear from Loomis. For me, I applied to three schools that I could see myself fitting in and attending. Right now, that won’t be happening but that could be for the best. I don’t know yet, though. I’m just hoping that I can get off those waitlists because I don’t think I’m accepted at Loomis.</p>
<p>I’ve known a few people who applied to just one school and got in, and I’ve known some who applied to 7 or 8 schools and ended up not having one viable option. Sometimes it’s less a matter of how many schools to apply than who is applying to what schools, how one approaches the application process and some luck. 7D, your strategy of hand picking a small number of schools and focusing on them obviously worked very well. Congrats!</p>
<p>I wish I could have been able to apply to Choate, Lawrenceville and maybe somewhere else as well, but the application fees were just too much. :/</p>
<p>@DA: Since we used the unique school apps for all three schools, I think that really was the limit for our family from a “I’m going to lose my mind!” POV.</p>
<p>Non sequitur question: Did the forum blow up this crazy last M10? I wasn’t really around then, but it seems like a bunch of new commenters joined in and the new thread count is very high…</p>
<p>DC applied to 5 they got accepted 2, waitlist 2 and reject 1. Good news is 2 accepts are top picks. I am not sure how DC managed to study SSAT, go on 5 interviews, crank out 5 apps, work on graded writing sample and pull all A’s at current school while playing sports. </p>
<p>In hindsight we knew up front 1 school was a long shot and as we anticipated DC was rejected. Since this was our first time applying I think we underestimated the amount of work involved. Maybe if we focused on just 3-4 instead of 5 the time and energy could have been used towards better apps for WL schools or studying more for SSAT to boost score.</p>
<p>One thing we learned, it is hard to complete app without touring/interviewing at school. You get so much info during both that can be used in app and it is easier to write. Some of the apps we started early we went back and revised after visits. Sign up early for those interviews!!!</p>
<p>Now the good news has arrived but FA is not what we anticipated. We had some magical thinking in this department on our part. We have cautioned DC all along private school would not be possible without FA and it is hard to bring up in the excitement of opening thick envelopes and sharing news with family and friends. We are enjoying the payoff for all the hard work but come Monday a tough look at tuition bills will be in order.</p>
<p>The only school I applied for was Deerfield, mainly because I was only informed of this entire prep school thing less than 2 weeks before the SSAT and application submission, so I wanted to concentrate on writing 2 essays well rather than writing many mediocre essays. And I was accepted anyway, quality > quantity I guess!</p>
<p>It’s hard to say, isn’t it? My son applied to 4 last year, was accepted at 2 and waitlisted at 2. That would suggest that 4 was enough. And yet, I’m well aware of how blessed we were to get those acceptances, with the FA we needed, and how easily it could very well, in Jane Kenyon’s words, have been “Otherwise.”</p>
<p>Those of us who need significant FA and who don’t have good local options are also in a whole different boat from those who have both financial resources and good schools at hand. Is it better to carefully select just a few schools, and let them know, or to cast a wide net, knowing that even the best fits may not work out because of funding? I guess I’d opt for a wider net of carefully chosen schools, and I’d be sure that each school knew why we were choosing it.</p>
<p>Great response classical.We did metioned we would be applyng for FA at interviews but did not set up meeting with FA office to discuss in detail. We were so methodical about rest of process, I think maybe we were hoping for the best but didn’t want to deal with the worst, getting accepted was the main goal. If we had completed parent FA form earlier we could have asked FA office what realistic expectations for FA (none!) and used that info on whether or not to apply. I suspect they would have been direct and honest. The FA letters are very clear that you should not reapply for FA unless you have drastic change so you are looking at 4 years without hope of relief. I guess reapplying counts as insanity - doing the same thing and expecting different result.</p>
<p>I actually applied to 10 schools when I was first applying as an eighth grader (Exeter, Andover, Choate, Deerfield, Groton, Middlesex, NMH, Taft, SPS, Loomis) and I didn’t take the application seriously. My brother was a tenth grader and was desperate to go to a prep school, so I just tagged along and applied. Writing ten applications, let me tell you, was so tiresome. But I did it, and I got waitlisted in all those schools but NMH.</p>
<p>I went to NMH and spent ninth and tenth grade there. And I fell in love with prep school life. Everything about it just felt right to me, and due to family reasons I had to apply to Choate as a repeat sophomore. This time, I took it much more seriously, and I was accepted. </p>
<p>Our son applied to six, was accepted by four, and wait listed by two. Had he only applied to three schools, he might have ended up with only one acceptance, if he received the same admissions results.</p>
<p>I think “three to six” is a good guide, when it comes time to write applications. If the parents are realistic about the child, and the family applies to a range of schools, 3 to 6 is a good range. Finishing six applications well was stressful for our son. These students are all doing many other things at the same time. </p>
<p>If the student needs financial aid, though, I think 3 to 6 is probably too few.</p>
<p>With the competitive nature and low acceptance rates at top school,s I think it is wise to include reaches, fits and a safety–there’s something about BS where parents and kids think “only the top schools” (we did this), and with this strategy, there could be a disappointing outcome. This CC section needs to start talking more about a broader range of other BS great schools . . . .</p>
<p>Periwinkle, I think you hit the nail on the head. We are a high FA family. My D applied to 7 schools last year and was waitlisted by five, denied by two. This year she applied to twelve and had three acceptances. What I find so mystifying about the whole process, however, is that I cannot make out any pattern with the schools she got into. It was not selectivity. She got into two Gladchemms while being waitlisted by several schools that are less talked about on CC. And for her anyway, it was not fit. In fact, if we had cut our list down to six schools, two of the schools that accepted her would not have made it onto her list.</p>
<p>That sad thing is that there is no predictable pattern. The needs of the school in terms of “balance” shifts each year as classes graduate, and because the pool of applicants varies widely, it’s very hard to tell.</p>
<p>Add to that, I wonder if some lower “ranked” schools assume top students will be accepted at HADES and turn them down thus - waitlist or rejections. Schools often try to choose students most likely to choose them based on subjective clues.</p>
<p>For those on a waitlst, my advice is to pick your top one or two schools and let them know they are the only “choice” for you and ask if you can add additional information to the files. They have no way of knowing that you still want them if you don’t tell them. Because many waitlist kids go on to place deposits at other schools, or accept positions and forget to decline their waitlist positions.</p>
<p>We applied to a single school the first year and it was a mistake (or not - because I loved having her for an additional year). She was a double legacy with good stats. The next year she and her father chose six schools in a range but focused primarily on Ten Schools for the unscientific reason that it was going to be like pulling teeth to get the school district to do the paperwork (we’re struggling to get accreditation and she’s one of their few top scoring kids). So five “ten school org” schools plus one that was not. We got a Ten school waitlist, a solid acceptance, and an acceptance outside the network. Based on some of the results I’m hearing this year, we might have been waitlisted everywhere if we were starting now. </p>
<p>One thought, though, - because of the huge number of people hit by the stock market crashes and the Bernie Madoff type schemes, and general unemployment, many families who didn’t need aid, are asking for it now. It’s harder to get equity loans because so many people are underwater. So that’s a drag on the FA for new students as well. At a local school, 20% of the parents who were full pay returned to their public school districts because of financial distress and lack of FA.</p>
<p>So be the polite but squeaky wheel for your child - especially if you need aid. Humility will count a lot. The Adcoms are getting yelled at by angry alum and other parents. They’re being bombarded with pleas from waitlist parents. Be the one with the sense of humor, who recognizes how hard their job is, and let them know you still love them best. Kids with FA do decline their positions so it is possible aid will open up.</p>
<p>It might work - it might not - but you’ll have done everything humanly possible to advocate for your child and you’ll be the one who is remembered for being sympathetic to the person on the other side of the phone.</p>
<p>We only applied to one because my daughter was applying for the Second Form (8th grade) at Groton. She got in so it worked out well. Had it failed we had a list of 7 for next year (sooo grateful I won’t have to schlepp around all of those in the fall! ) :)</p>
And I was accepted anyway, quality > quantity I guess!</p>