<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>