My college list...just...keeps...growing...

Parents Forum
1

<p>Guys, I've decided to hold an emergency meeting. Somehow, my application list has ballooned out control! I can't control it, I just keep adding schools with the idea that the more I apply to, the better choices I will have. I'm using all of my money, and I'm going to be poor :(</p>

<p>Here is the list </p>

<p>amherst (reach)
bowdoin (reach)
brown (reach)
chicago (reach)
columbia (reach)
dartmouth (reach)
denison (free)
georgetown (reach)
harvard (reach)
haverford (reach)
kenyon (free)
NYU (safety)
penn (reach)
princeton (reach)
trinity (safety)
tufts (match--->reach--->don't wanna go there)
wesleyan (reach)
williams (reach)</p>

<p>I think the crisis occured a few weeks ago, when I realized I don't really want to go to an LAC. For weeks I was debating between Dartmouth & Williams, and now I find both of them to be too small. I was always very anti-ivy, and now I ONLY want to go to one. Once I saw Princeton, I realized that the 4,000-8,000 number is what I am truly desiring. Now when I look at Haverford's course offerings, I just get bored. If I went to Haverford and majored in Fine Arts, I would have the same photography professor all four years. As opposed to at Brown....</p>

<p>So I haven't sent in any application fees, just the applications....but I don't know what to do. I hate my safeties...even my matches...I have actually been trying to figure out a way to defer a year if I don't get in to one of the top choices and re-apply - part of my deranged/psychotic way of thinking in the midst of this college frenzy.</p>

<p>What do I do?!</p>

2

<p>So, drop the LAC's. Simple enough. But more importantly, calm down --- don't drive yourself crazy with "what if" questions.</p>

3

<p>I fear that the only schools forgiving of my class rank will be the LACs, thats the only reason I kept em on.</p>

4

<p>So pick three LACs: a reach, a match and a safety. Drop the rest. And, try to remember that by this time next year you will be at a very good school even if it's not your "first choice" today.</p>

5

<p>Well...if you ditch the six smallest schools (Amherst, Bowdoin, Kenyon, Williams, Haverford, and Tufts (since you don't want to go there anyway), you'll only have 9 left. Then, I would encourage you to find a couple of matches that you would like to attend. And finally, even though you love all those reaches....that's a LOT of reaches (in my opinion). Maybe you could find the four or so that you like the very best....and are the closet to a match for you. And as Carolyn says....don't go nuts. If you can narrow your list just a little, it should ease your stress because you will be able to do your very best with those schools. Don't spread yourself too thin.</p>

6

<p>I think you should focus on just a few schools and do in-depth research on them, rather than apply to a bajillion of them. Visit what schools you can and try to find a place where you think you can thrive best. Amherst, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, etc, all have good names but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's somewhere you can thrive in, even if you are the next Albert Einstein. </p>

<p>Harvard, Columbia, Penn, and Princeton are all Ivies, so what do you mean you only want to go to one? </p>

<p>What's a LAC?</p>

7

<p>ya know, i often get the idea that as an applicant, we have to apply to schools of the same "genre" - </p>

<p>people think it doesnt make sense to apply to columbia and kenyon, for example. i'm not sure why, but i just tend to like a very wide assortment of schools.</p>

<p>so yea, ill try to cut some of those LACs, but then i'm stuck with very few options....after all, the majority of the schools will be rejecting me lol - and im not kidding. if you look at the stats, about 100 people are accepted outside the top 10% at most of those reach schools. im assuming they are URMS/athlets. so i would have to be some outstanding applicant and then some to get in.</p>

<p>who knows! im kinda hoping one school will take a risk.</p>

8

<p>Ilcapo...Kids apply to all different types of schools. DD is only a junior, but her top four choices are College of Charleston (safety), U of South Carolina (safety), Southern Methodist University (safety), and Davidson (reach). Big, small, private, public. The only common denominator is warm weather.</p>

9

<p>I'm curious about which colleges take chances and why. Is your class rank the only statistic below the median for your schools? What do you see as the reason schools should take a chance on you and how did you present that?</p>

10

<p>Ilcapo,
For ANY student, and not you specifically, I would advise against such a list as yours. I do not think anyone's list should be as heavily weighted to almost all reach schools, sorry. I would not call Trinity or NYU a safety school either. My guess is they are match schools. When many of the reach schools on your list have such LOW acceptance rates, they are quite unpredictable even for the very very best students. For instance, in my own kid's case, there was not a whole lot more she could have done to present that much better of a profile but as good as it may have been, she knew the odds were slim at the top schools in the country. That is the nature of that beast. </p>

<p>I also think it is an unhealthy outlook to feel you must attend an Ivy. You are entitled to your viewpoint but it is not one I would support. There are many highly regarded institutions in this country that do not have the Ivy label. </p>

<p>If you don't want a LAC, it is fine to eliminate those because everyone should utilize certain college criteria in selection (and I don't mean the word "Ivy" as the criteria but more things like size, location, level of challenge, academic program, etc.). I also have no clue why you would have any school on your list like Tufts where you say you don't want to go. Um, don't apply to where you don't want to go. Frankly, I don't even know how you can express interest in a school (important aspect) when you feel that way. I know for certain at Tufts, they care about students who really want to attend. </p>

<p>Everyone needs to find safeties where they could be happy. Maybe not as happy as if they had gotten into their reach schools, but happy enough. Safeties should not be some consolation prize you have no interest in. A safety need not mean a "gut" school if you are a top student. My D had Lehigh and Conn College as safety schools which for her, pretty much were. She liked them and put as much into exploring those schools and the applications and interviews, etc. as elsewhere. </p>

<p>I strongly encourage you to balance your list along these lines: 40% reach schools, 40% match schools, and 20% safety schools, or a slight variation of that. If you have all reach schools, you may have less choices come April. Also, if you apply to gadzillion schools, you cannot devote the kind of inquiry and energy into each one that is needed at this level of admission. </p>

<p>The idea that you have proposed before and again today to take a year off if not get into an Ivy seems misguided to me. A gap year is a positive thing for the right reasons. Not getting into an Ivy is not the right reason in my view. The concept of Ivy or bust is not one I would support. Yes, you want a challenging college. Clearly there are more than just the Ivies that fit that bill. And even with the Ivies themselves, they vary so widely that it is hard to imagine someone being attracted to both Columbia and Dartmouth as they fit pretty different criteria. If your criteria is just name, then I guess it fits. </p>

<p>Susan</p>

11

<p>Ilcapo, I don't recall your stats but you comment that you are not ranked in the top 10%. What you need to look at in the college directories is what percent of admitted students are ranked in the top 10% of their class. If it says something like 98%, then you know your chances are slimmer than the typical lottery ticket student there. If this is the case at the majority of your schools, then you really really should look at some selective schools just a tad below. I don't know your college criteria (do you have any besides name?) but schools in the ballpark below your reaches might be more like Johns Hopkins, Boston College, Boston University, WashU of St. Louis,Carnegie Mellon, Emory, UVA, UNC-Chapel Hill, Bucknell, Tulane, Northwestern,Vassar, Rice. These are truly really top and selective schools as well but just one level of selectivity down from those Ivies. Aren't any of these attractive to you?</p>

12

<p>I knew this was happening when I saw your earpier post on the other thread. Your list was going off in a different direction....You seem to know what you want but have lots of unmatched schools on the list, even new ones! </p>

<p>Anti-ivy? Your have FOUR Ivies on the list...lol. FIVE, I just noticed Brown! Where's Columbia? You have NYU, but no Columbia? </p>

<p>Could it be that you, at this point, still don't know what you want? I say pay the app fees for them all and sort it out once the acceptances come in. By then, maybe you'll have a better sense of your own needs. </p>

<p>Good luck!! You've got 18 wonderful schools on the list. It would be interesting to see your results.</p>

13

<p>I would even go a bit further down the selectivity scale. My boys applied to a lot of colleges--I have one in the process now with 20 picks. But the apps and all supporting info have been out since mid October, and there is not much of a demonstrated interest issue in most of the schools since many of these schools are audition schools. (Which leads to a whole other problem which does not need to be addressed here). Many of those schools on your list, Ilcapo, are schools that want personal attention, personal details, demonstrated interest. If they get the feeling that they are just some more clothespins on the line, you are going to be O-U-T. If you are getting cold on LACs, you better drop them off of your list, because if you are not excited and interested in them, it will likely show and you are not going to have a good shot in getting in there. Schools like Kenyan, Haverford, Bowdoin and others on your list try hard in gauging interest in the school. My experience with kids your age is that you guys are pretty transparent in your interests and are not going to fool experienced adcoms who are looking for kids enthusiastic for the Maine experience, or really love the idea of an honor code, or have been researching that writing program. I just took a bunch of kids to visit Trinity, and they loved the school and the adcom who was there just loved seeing this bubbly enthusiastic group of kids. Though my kid was auditioning down the road at Harrt, I talked to some people there, and spent a little time on the campus with these kids, and I could see that they were being scrutinized as to how they were taking in some of the sights. Harvard does not care how much you oooh and ah and love their school. Trinity cares a lot, and it meant a lot to them that these kids came to spend the day at the school. I told them all to write a note to the adcom and to mention a few things they like about the school, their experiences that day and even about the great meal we had at a local eatery. Every little bit counts at schools like that. You cannot possibly devote the time and energy for a bunch of schools like that, and if you don't even like the schools and are getting cold feet, this whole charade is ridiculous. I am getting a strong feeling that the most important thing for you is getting into a school with some tinge of "prestige" in your definition attached to it, rather than find a good match for yourself.</p>

14

<p>Keep your "pie in the sky" schools as they do not require any more attention from you than the app. Cut out all of the LACs that require some concerted demonstrate interest. Keep Chicago and NYU as your next level school. Now add a few safeties, and you are set.</p>

15

<p>Will you share SAT scores, race, location and type of school? Too many posts to search!</p>

16

<p>Are NYU and Trinity really not safeties for this kid?</p>

17

<p>I once heard a Yale admissions officer say, "I know something's wrong when I see the same person applying to both Dartmouth and Columbia. Those two schools are so far apart in character that the inclusion of both reveals a prejudice in favor of the Ivy League, and a lack of research." While Columbia and Dart may not necessarily be totally mutually exclusive, I do think your list shows some serious confusion about what sort of place you want to go to. Looking at so vast and diverse a list, I get the impression that you either don't know what you want, or you don't know very much about the schools' atmospheres. Your selections are based too much on selectivity for my taste. Put down US News and consider which has the better opportunities for a budding photographer: Yale or Penn? Again, that's just an example, but I think an important one.</p>

18

<p>Nyu would be a good match. The problem with NYU is that despite its name it would love to have fewer NY students and Ilcapo is from NY. That said, I think he will get into NYU if he does not let his first semester marks plumment from missing too many classes. Trinity and other LACs are colleges that really look for interest from their candidates. My S's school cannot stress the demonstrated interest enough. Go to their meetings in the area. Talk to a student. Ask to talk to a an alum. Visit the school. Too many New Yorkers apply to too many schools and Connecticut schools are well aware of this . Also Trinity loves the prep school kids and enjoys relationships with the college counselors at such schools and gauges interest of the applicants that way. Still, all in all, he would probably get into that school as long as any adcoms from there lurking here don't figure who he is. He could scratch several schools off of his list based on this thread.</p>

<p>I think he will get into several schools that he will enjoy. Since LACs do not seem to appeal to him and he wants a "name" school, he should probably look at some state flagship school that carry some cache and have strong programs that he could benefit from as he is a strong student and a smart kid. Also universities like Syracuse, Tulane, Vanderbilt would be good choices for him and he would likely get some money from them. Emory is also a good choice. But though these schools are bigger, he still had better give them a visit and a good word that he loves them and is serious about them if he wants to get in.</p>

19

<p>No Fair. Hafta edit.</p>

20

<p>Paranoid...sorry</p>