<p>My D is now applying for undergraduate programs. Would you mind sharing your experience.
in adimission,essay,ecs,fincial ade and .......
I think that students with DIY can achieve a lot of experience and knowledge from doing all the colleges research work by themselves.
your valuable experience is of great appreciate.
thanks a lot in advance!</p>
<p>Soochow, it would take forever to list what you want to hear about from all the posters here. May I suggest that you use the search function to find info here. OR…start a thread with a specific question.</p>
<p>If your daughter is really DIY for college applications, you might suggest that she open her OWN account here.</p>
<p>A bit off topic, but are you planning to help at all? If not, you still might want to discuss any family criteria with your daughter BEFORE she sends applications off. This could include financial limitations, criteria on distance from home if you have one, or any other criteria you would like her to consider. </p>
<p>And tell your DIY college applicant to pay careful attention to DEADLINES both for applications and financial aid applications.</p>
<p>They are much too young to navigate this successfully on their own. Even the most gifted HS student does not have life experience.</p>
<p>Lots of students DIY. But the student needs to stay on top of things, and needs to know any financial, geographic, or other restrictions that the parents have. One risk with DIY is that the student’s list might be entirely unaffordable, or otherwise unacceptable for the parents.</p>
<p>It’s the rare, rare HS student that can cover the college search / application process by themselves and do it well. Absolutely help them, unless they’re only applying to one college and it’s a safety LAC.</p>
<p>Our kids ideally aren’t, solely on their own, just picking a few colleges, applying to them and then waiting for acceptance/rejection (although a fair number of HS students do that and just attend a LAC, often because they’re not fully aware of the many other possibilities). </p>
<p>There’s also researching best fit for the student, cost of attending, % covered by aid based on your income level, taking tours (video and/or in person), application review, essay review etc, etc, etc.</p>
<p>Speaking personally on what we went through last year, here was our list:</p>
<p>—Have a specific goal: Ours was admission to a highly selective college, either private or public was okay, and size didn’t matter. The college should have a business school or alternatively a strong Econ department, and be ranked nationally for that area of study.</p>
<p>—Brainstorm: Made a list of 20 or so colleges, with some in each category of safety, fit, reach, large reach.</p>
<p>—Researched each college on list regarding majors they offer versus majors DS was generally interested in. Deleted from list as needed.</p>
<p>—Researched college rankings and probable job placement probability based on the college and probable major (ie, pick a combination of college and major that will likely land your child a job, that they’ll enjoy, following graduation). Add/delete from list as needed.</p>
<p>—Research college costs vs probable financial aid: Fortunately we got to skip this part. But if applicable add/delete from your list as needed after researching this.</p>
<p>—Video tour the various colleges, keeping in mind that the videos will only show the best views and wonderful comments—so take it with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>—Visits: We set aside one full week to drive + tour the top choices that were somewhat near each other and also realistic fits prior to applying to any. We ended up seeing 8 colleges and putting a whole lot of miles on the car. Ideally do it when college is in session (your HS spring break?). We ended up doing it during the summer between Junior and Senior HS years and the campuses were fairly quiet. Add or delete following the tours — 2 of DS top 8 fell off the list entirely after touring them.</p>
<p>—Important!!!: Build an Excel spreadsheet listing the MULTIPLE due date choices and “will get a response by” dates for each university for every type of admission they offer (ED date, EA date, RA date, or if rolling admission). Yes, a single college often has more than one admissions due date (often 1ED, 1EA, 1RA). It’s a tough puzzle if you’re applying to multiple colleges that each have multiple admissions date options, and you won’t be able to accurately keep them all in your head! For each college you’re applying to, go to their website and make sure of the rules for each type of application (example: If you apply ED / early decision to a college, most other colleges you’ll also be applying to won’t let you apply ED or EA to them too then — only RA). So, and I hope I’m explaining it clearly, once you’ve chosen a college to apply to in the ED or EA round, that will limit your application type / due date choices at many other colleges (because of those other colleges application rules) to only the RA deadline. <strong>PM me if you want a copy of the Excel spreadsheet that we built & used.</strong></p>
<p>—Let your DS / DD fill out the applications and do the essays themselves, but we (1) discussed general essay topics with DS, and (2) reviewed the common app in full and suggested some minor changes to it before letting him send it out.</p>
<p>—We also had a friend in the “college app biz” that agreed to review and make suggestions on DS essays. There was a fair distance between them, so it was “email essay and chat on phone” style. I’m not saying that you need a pro to review essays, but DO NOT let them get sent out until someone besides DS/DD reads it. DS didn’t want us to read them, so we came up with the above alternative.</p>
<p>—Results for those who want to know how it turned out: Last Oct/Nov, DS applied to 7 colleges (1 ED round (first choice of college), 1 rolling admission (safety), 3 EA round and 2 RA round). Was working on several more supplemental essays for 10 more apps that would be due in early January if necessary (couldn’t send in sooner because of various ED / EA rules at all the colleges). Accepted into rolling admissions safety 2-3 weeks after applying; accepted into ED first choice school in mid-December. Called/emailed other 5 schools that had his apps to withdraw them (so he wouldn’t accidentally take an “accepted” spot from someone else at those schools). Happily got to throw away the additional supplemental essays he was working on!</p>
<p>Feel free to ask me any questions about the above bullets if worthwhile.</p>
<p>P.S. For those of you who might be thinking “They applied to 7 colleges to start, and had 10 more on the back burner for January???”, — a very large number of those schools have crazy low admissions rates regardless of your child’s stats. Also, we had no hooks (like first gen, URM, athlete, legacy, etc) to increase DS chances so were left with using the “take full advantage of the ED/EA application rounds and also apply to a significant number of schools” method.</p>
<p>Ivyparent—that is an excellent summary. Thank you for posting!</p>
<p>The best advice I can give is to research, research, research and look at all the options out there.</p>
<p>Parents need to log on to one of the Financial Aid calculators and plug in some rough numbers. Don’t wait until it’s time to finalize the list to realize you have no financial safeties and that the likely financial aid package from the schools on the list are unaffordable. Long time posters here see the postings from kids every April who were “DIY” with no parental involvement and it’s really sad- kid gets admitted to 8 schools, none of which he/she can attend…</p>
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<p>That in a nutshell is what comprises all of CC.</p>
<p>bump bump bump
post #6 excellent</p>
<p>Soochow…post 6 is excellent only if you are looking at top prestige schools ONLY and have excellent financial resources for trips, applications, sending of standardized test scores, and paying for college.</p>
<p>The suggestions of trying to figure out what you would like, and where are good. Most families also need to set a financial criteria for college costs. If possible, visit campuses. Some people can afford those trips and others simply cannot. </p>
<p>MOST students do not apply to 17 colleges. Most students attend college very close to home. Most switch majors more than one time after they start college (so a search based on major might not work for every student…ymmv). </p>
<p>I would suggest that students first discuss college with their families. This discussion can include distance from home, and family financial resources to pay for college. The student’s interests can then be added in. </p>
<p>Come up with a balanced list of schools starting at the bottom…pick your safety schools FIRST. These should be schools that will guarantee you acceptance, that you can afford, and that you would like to attend if accepted. Then find some matches and reaches. If possible, apply to one EA or rolling admission school early. It is nice to have one acceptance early in the game. Some students don’t apply to any reach schools…and that is fine. Just apply to places where you would go if accepted. If you really hate a school, don’t waste your time and money applying.</p>
<p>You need to look at your SAT/GPA scores and GPA realistically.</p>
<p>Soochow, don’t just rely on one post to figure this out. Go see the sticky threads at the top of the college search & selection, and financial aid forums. Post #6 is full of great advice IF you are only gunning for prestigious schools and “fit” isn’t your concern (that poster should really stop posting that list as if it were a ‘great’ list – it is a “bragging” list about spending money and doing their kid’s work to get them into a “top” college regardless of whether the college is well suited to the kid). About the only thing I agree with from that post is that a spreadsheet is a very good way to track information and target dates. I also agree that it is easier for a student if parents get involved, but a smart, driven student can get good results without much parental involvement as well (one of D2’s friends is headed off to Stanford this fall and he did his entire college search himself with only a small amount of assistance from his HS guidance counselor).</p>
<p>If you don’t have the Fiske Book of Colleges yet, that is a very good resource.</p>
<p>A student and parents can certainly DIY in the college admissions process. But people are in widely varying situations – financial, academic, geographic, etc. College Confidential is a great place to get that info, but posting such broad question is like trying to boil the ocean. Lurk for a while, and make sure you pay attention to all the sticky threads, then ask specific questions about the process and a given school. Don’t do what poster #6 did – make a list of top schools and shoot at them until you hit one with lots of help from adults.</p>
<p>intparent–I didn’t read post 6 as “bragging” list about spending money and doing their kid’s work to get them into a “top” college regardless of whether the college is well suited to the kid)." </p>
<p>The poster said: “There’s also researching best fit for the student, cost of attending, % covered by aid based on your income level, taking tours (video and/or in person)…” </p>
<p>Deleting schools from list for various reasons was mentioned three different times. It doesn’t appear that this was a blanket application to all Ivies, but perhaps I am wrong.</p>
<p>I do agree with Thumper’s summary, as finances should be the starting point for all families, even those who think they have saved enough for college. And I agree with intparent that the Fiske guide is an excellent resource. Lots of sticky flags and highlighting in our copy.</p>
<p>Things that make no sense in post #6:</p>
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<p>What does LAC have to do this this? In fact, the safest choice for most students is an in-state public university or directional. Not an LAC… this sentence is nonsense. Plus, most students would be advised to apply to at least 2-3 colleges, even if they are pretty safe.</p>
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<p>What is with this poster’s bias against LACs? OF COURSE no one would go to an LAC if they were aware that there are other possibilities. How silly of them – what could an LAC offer – um, small class sizes, strong connections with professors, beautiful campuses, great opportunities for things like study abroad. Again… nonsense.</p>
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<p>Ah, well, then you are not like 95%+ of the posters on this website. Even those who are full pay are often looking for merit money to soften the blow. This is a primary factor for many students, and in fact THE primary factor for a very large percentage of students looking for college advice. We are constantly advising new students out here to look at the finances first, because there is no point in applying to places you can’t afford. The #6 poster does not even mention net price calculators in her post, which is pretty much the best friend of most students and parents in the application process today. She also doesn’t think about what it would be like to apply for FA at 17 colleges (brutal – the FA paperwork is a bigger headache than the app because the requirements vary so much by college).</p>
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<p>Don’t spend most of your time visiting your “top choices”. Finding matches and safeties is much harder, and ought to be the focus of most of your visiting. Something poster #6 completely glosses over…</p>
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<p>How nice to “let” the student do some of this (although clearly with very close supervision, every word of the essays and the Common App carefully reviewed and scrubbed by adults).</p>
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<p>This line is just all about “prestige”. I am pretty sure USNWR rankings played a very large role in this poster’s list of colleges.</p>
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<p>Again… this is not something helpful to the “average student” or parent. Most of us don’t know anyone in the ‘college app biz’ except our kid’s hs guidance counselor.</p>
<p>And 17 schools… just a stupid number to apply to (I put comments on this on another thread where the poster put the exact same advice cut & pasted, will not repeat them).</p>
<p>This is the post of a wealthy, prestige-focused, do-most-of-the-work-for-my-kid and to h***-with-true-fit parent.</p>
<p>Families need to consider their financial resources. The post 6 poster seemingly had very good financial resources. Most students are not in the position to be able to fully fund ($60,000 a year) costs for college, plus trips to see schools, application costs for a high number of schools, etc. those tippy top schools accept about 5%-10% of applicants. Most students don’t get accepted,and most don’t apply. </p>
<p>That is no to say your student shouldn’t consider a reach school, or two. But they are called reaches for a reason.</p>
<p>I would suggest that EVERY college student choose two safety schools FIRST. Choosing the safety is more difficult than choosing those reach schools.</p>
<p>Thumper’s post #11 in response to my post #5 rings very true. </p>
<p>Most kids / families apply to maybe 3 colleges that are all relatively local and then pick one of them. I was one of those folks…applied to 3 in-state publics and selected one without ever touring any of them…but that was a lot of years ago.</p>
<p>And lord knows kids, and adults too, change their minds and life goals. Yes, kids will often change majors…I think I changed mine 3+ times!</p>
<p>Pick and choose from the list I made in post #5. All of them are good tips if your child is applying primarily to colleges with below 20% acceptance rates like we did, as practically every kid that applies to those highly selective schools will have stats that match your child’s stats.</p>
<p>Less of the list applies if your child is planning to attend a nearby public that has a (relatively) easy admission bar, but some points are still applicable.</p>
<p>That list was “our story” only. YMMV.</p>
<p>P.S. One other “must”. Have the guts as a parent to sit down with your child BEFOREHAND and tell them what you can afford to contribute to their college education, if anything. Then walk thru the probable financial aid they’ll get (see other posts on CC to find a good calculator). Use those $'s, in addition to any expected merit aid, to set a price range on colleges with your child. You definitely don’t want to go through the “but we just can’t afford it” talk with your child after they’ve been accepted at a too expensive dream school.</p>
<p>re: intparent post #14:</p>
<p>Many good comments, as you’re correct in that my post #5 info doesn’t apply to a lot of folks. I was just sharing a story that I thought might be helpful to others during the application process they’ll be going thru shortly. I certainly didn’t mean it as bragging and it wasn’t intended as such.</p>
<p>Also, in googling “LAC” I see I’ve embarrassingly mis-used it. Apologies, as I meant it as “local area college”, not “liberal arts college”. I’ve no bias against liberal arts colleges. Lots of kids from our area HS’s attend the local public college and since acceptance rate is reasonable they don’t need a lot of extra help in the application process. That’s how the comment was intended.</p>
<p>“This is the post of a wealthy, prestige-focused, do-most-of-the-work-for-my-kid and to h***-with-true-fit parent.”: Hmmm, not quite sure where to go with this comment as it’s not really a fair one. You’re assuming “wealthy”, when we could have $ from an accident settlement or a gift/promise from a grandparent or? Also, DS went to public school straight thru from K-12; no expensive private or boarding school. And by no means did we do most of the work for DS…we had to practically pry the password out of his hands to be able to review the common app before he sent it off. As to “true fits”, I’m a firm believer that with 3,500 colleges out there that there are likely a huge number of great fits for most kids.</p>
<p>“And 17 schools… just a stupid number to apply to”: Well, we only really applied to 7 of them; and the list of 17 was logical and possibly necessary. The first 2 applications sent off were for a safety and an ED round 1st choice/dream school. The next five were EA or RA with early due dates, all 5 of which wouldn’t say yes/no until the very end of January. The remaining 10 were all due in very early January — they’d have been necessary if ED school had said “no” and we still wouldn’t have hear back from the other 5 — we’d have been sitting on only a “yes” from the safety school.</p>
<p>Okay… just saying that someone who does not know the abbreviation “LAC” should not be posting broad advice for “how it is done”. And so what for how you came by the money – you clearly did not have to worry about finances, and that completely skews the search process when you are one of the lucky few who did not. Just don’t keep reposting your list (this is the 2nd thread) of “useful” tips. They are at best marginally useful to most of the students and parents looking for colleges.</p>
<p>Sharing differert application stories,Sharing different strategies
having a broad view , very very helpful!</p>
<p>Soochow…other posts indicate your child is an international,student. Is that correct? If so, this makes the college selection process more complicated especially if you will require financial aid for the student.</p>