<p>Thanks again! We’ve had a lot of discussions about risks and the likelihood of a bad outcome (not in this context, but I will remind her again!). She did have an interview at MHC and thought it went really well. She was in there for over an hour, while other girls came and went from their interviews, so either they liked her or thought she was a total pain.</p>
<p>I would love for her to apply to BC, if only because she’d be close to home, but I don’t think that’s a safety for anybody. She did once consider Sarah Lawrence, which probably would be a good safety, so I’ll mention that again.</p>
<p>Any school is a safety once she gets in. Early Action allows a student to apply by November 1st and have an answer by December 15th, no strings attached. BC is very likely to admit your daughter Early Action. All of the schools I mentioned are. </p>
<p>The concern is not that she won’t get into a school on her list, but that your nerves will both be shot having to wait until April to find out when so many others will be admitted to a school by Christmas. </p>
<p>I don’t see any point in adding any school that doesn’t have early action. </p>
<p>If you both can handle the pressure, then I think you’re fine!</p>
<p>My S sounds very similar to your D. He had similar stats to your D’s and only applied to 5 schools (Georgetown, Northwestern, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton). He applied to Georgetown EA and got in. Had he not gotten into Georgetown, I would have absolutely made him apply to a true safety at the end of December (after he heard from Georgetown). But the way things turned out, he didn’t have to. So why doesn’t your D apply to at least one of her schools EA and see what happens? She can always add another school (true safety) after she hears back from her EA school(s) if need be.</p>
<p>I agree with most everyone that she will get into one (or more). </p>
<p>But I don’t think it is a disaster if she doesn’t get into any. Your D has fantastic stats; the worst that happens if she does it her way is a learning experience. She takes a gap year and applies next year to colleges - and she will get accepted with that future, hypothetical list (which would be a little broader in reach).</p>
<p>The only thing sacrificed would be time - of which the young have plenty. There is really no downside - colleges accept gap years (some are enthusiastic about it) and with your daughters record, I doubt she would sit and loaf for a year. She would put the time to good use.</p>
<p>Ask your D if she would consider any other New England schools just to make you feel at ease? Go visit, you never know, a “sleeper” school she was not considering may “click”. </p>
<p>UCONN (Honors Program)
UVM (Honors College)
Wheaton College (MA)
Bennington College (VT)
Holy Cross (MA)
Connecticut College (CT)
Providence College (RI) </p>
<p>I know it is difficult when they dig in their heels and say “I am only applying to these 5 schools.” One of my 4 kids did this and it worked out, fortunately, but I was worried about it from January to March-April of that Senior Year.</p>
<p>Wise words, Stemit. She has said that she is willing to do a gap year, but would still be very upset at not getting in somewhere. But you’re right, these experiences are character-building like no other!</p>
<p>Yikes, Curiousmother! Your son’s list was even scarier than my daughter’s! I’m so glad he got in, but I can’t imagine either of you enjoyed the stress of waiting to hear.</p>
<p>I would emphasize to your daughter what mikemac said in post #19: you never know how essays will be received by adcoms and you don’t know what teachers will include in LOR. One example I read in an admissions book was of a teacher who intended high praise by writing “student is a solid contributor during class discussions” without realizing that “solid” is often interpreted as below average. Similarly, “hard-working”, “industrious”, and “nose to the grindstone” are terms that might be intended to flatter, but be received by adcoms as covering up deficiencies.</p>
<p>Your daughter has tremendous stats, but her five choices all make admissions decisions based on more than stats. Unfortunately, she has no control over how the non-objective factors are evaluated.</p>
<p>Glad to know other people have kids like this one, SLUMOM. She’s really not a very stubborn person at all, quite rational most of the time and willing to change her mind, but every once in a while, she turns into a bulldog. I think she’s thinking, “these are the schools I really liked when I visited them, I’ve done my research and that’s it!”</p>
<p>No matter how smart your D is - and even with the legacy - that list gives me the HUGE willies. You need a safety. You need to go down the ladder. None of these are guarantees for anyone. Mt Holyoke is a maybe with the legacy - but she’s also from Massachusetts, which may bore the heck out of them as their applicant pool is disproportionately Massachusetts.</p>
<p>According to collegeboard.org, Mt Holyoke admitted 51% of it’s applicants. </p>
<p>This is an outstanding student and a legacy. I think admission is pretty likely. </p>
<p>That said, according to our Naviance at our Massachusetts high school, there were students with very high SATs and decent grades who got waitlisted. None accepted a place on the waitlist. Mount Holyoke used their waitlist, so I’d be surprised if these students would have been passed over had they accepted a place on the waitlist. Still you never know. </p>
<p>The University of Vermont is a pretty public university, on the smaller side, with an Honors Program that has non-binding early action. The supplement requires no additional essay. Why not just have the common app done by Nov 1st, and submit this application too. The only extra work would be getting the application done by Nov 1. </p>
<p>If she’s applying Early Decision to Pomona, then it’s trivial to submit the Vermont application too. </p>
<p>While there are some excellent schools that have space remaining come May 1, few are in the northeast or California.</p>
<p>OP, I agree with the suggestion about ED for Pomona, if you are OK with finances. It would be a pity for your D to be accepted ED but to have to turn it down if unaffordable. RD would give you some ammunition (in the form of other, more generous financial aid awards from other schools). If I remember right, applying EA to BC means you can’t apply ED elsewhere. Check to see if that’s the case if your D ends up being interested in Pomona ED/BC EA.</p>
<p>One last suggestion: don’t wait until after ED/EA acceptance notifications to choose safeties. Do that now! Having to do it AFTER getting bad news is like slowly rubbing salt in wounds.</p>
<p>Well, folks, I thank you for your advice, but she has declined to apply anywhere else. It’s her life, and I can’t do anything more than argue not so persuasively for her to consider one more app. So either she gets in one of these schools, or she will be doing a gap year. She did love that French family and got fairly fluent, so if they need her for the year, well, she might be available!</p>
<p>I did get her to consider applying ED to Pomona and to doing an arts supplement, so there’s some hope…</p>
<p>The good news is that I do actually like her and think she’s fun to have around (unlike some of my friends and their teens), so if she is at home for another year, it will be pleasant for me, at least.</p>
<p>The sad thing is the thought that this really shouldn’t be that hard or stressful. Bright, interesting, intellectual kids who love learning should get into college somewhere, but the whole thing feels like such a game with rules no one understands until they unintentionally break one.</p>
<p>The fact that she is considering ED is good news. She can apply to Pomona ED and still apply to her other schools as well. If she has the good fortune to be accepted, she will need to withdraw her other applications.</p>
<p>If she does not get accepted or is waitlisted than she still has options open with one of her other choice picks for regular decision.</p>
<p>Pomona is a fabulous school. Any of the schools on her list are really terrific and she should get into one of them.</p>
I was with you all the way thru this post until I hit this sentence. Unintentional? Hardly, IMHO. You’ve told her, as have others, that she’s taking a risk by not applying to a safety. Now, I have my fingers crossed it all works out for her and she gets in ED or has several of these wonderful schools to choose from RD; heck, even just getting into one of those schools RD would still be a good outcome. </p>
<p>But if, just if, that all falls thru she can hardly turn around and say this was an unforseen event. She was given every opportunity to mull over the potential consequences of violating the “rules”. All of the rules may not be known, but one most will agree on is the importance of having a safety. And she’s intentionally chosen to ignore it; which, since she’ll be the one bearing the consequences, is a choice she can make. Its not the one I’d make, but I’m not her.</p>
<p>By “unintentionally” I meant things like being an Asian math whiz when the ad comm this year is looking for more Latino athletes, for example. Or writing an essay about your dying mother when there are several applicants in the same situation. Or having a teacher write a really dull recommendation because he or she is just a dull person. These are the things beyond one’s control. (And no, none of these hypothetical situations applies to us.)</p>