@washugrad I am a WU alum and it ended up a close second for D17 but not sure it be on D20’s list. 
@washugrad I’m with your D20! Hope to my D20 is picking out school school gear and finding a roommate by this time next year.
Another thing to work on before the summer are the LORs. Some teachers want to wait until the fall but others will write them sooner. My two older kids school had one or two favored teachers who wrote excellent LORs and they were always slammed with requests at the last minute.
I had never thought of starting apps earlier! My oldest filled out apps in the fall like most everyone else. Middle kid was on an athletic scholarship a their process was different. I will definitely urge my youngest to start earlier as some of the schools on her list are more selective.
Our hs requires all apps to be complete by 11/15, no matter what the deadlines are for the colleges. It’s great bc it gets done early and guidance counselors do all the nagging.
Ok so have narrowed down the list a little (yay!), and our Spring Break College Road Trip tour will consist of the following in this order:
Holy Cross
Smith
Amherst
Mount Holyoke
Hamilton
Wesleyan
If anyone has any suggestions regarding our best bet for hotels near any of these schools, I welcome those. Trying to finalize a a non-stop flight into either Newark or Boston and, either, way, it looks like I’ll be doing a lot of driving. 
S1 and S2’s school follows the same policy as yours, @taverngirl. And the counselors require that they show up for the first day of senior year with a draft essay as well.
It was our “house policy” with our older two that we wouldn’t sign any ED agreement unless all other apps were queued up and ready to go if the desired result wasn’t achieved. If S2 wants to apply ED we’ll activate the same rule.
@whataboutcollege With respect to safeties, I think it depends on timing. If your S can get accepted to the state flagship before the RD deadlines of other potential safety schools, then there’s no need to apply to those safeties. However, if the state flagship doesn’t notify until March or April, I would probably add another safety with an earlier notification date.
My D19 applied EA to a number of schools and had 2 acceptances by mid-January. As we waited, I scoped out some (a bunch) of other safeties and found some with 2/1 RD application deadlines or rolling admissions. So I knew that she still had some options even if none of her EAs came thru.
If I had to do it over (which I do with D20, lol) I would find a safety with rolling admissions, so she could have a viable acceptance in hand before the holidays. Takes the pressure off.
The Inn at Middletown is the way to go. It’s right on Main Street and the campus is walkable. Just keep in mind it will be uphill for much for the way going.
@whataboutcollege I think it depends on what major your child is interested in. If s/he is interested in CS or nursing or an impacted major, I wouldn’t take any chances. We have a friend whose stats were above average at the schools where he applied but he applied CS and wasn’t accepted anywhere. He is at community college and will transfer at the end of the year.
I made my older child apply for more than one safety. I was worried that my calculations might be off and he would be left empty handed. He applied to NAU in August an was accepted within a week. He also applied to two CSUs and one UC that I considered safeties. The California schools can be difficult to predict so we figured better safe than sorry. He would have been disappointed if he was only accepted to his safeties but even more disappointed if he didn’t apply to them and wasn’t accepted anywhere. He ended up being accepted to four UCs and three CSUs so was pleased that he had options.
@AlwaysLearn When we visited Hamilton, we stayed at the Homewood Suites New Hartford Utica. Fairly new property, 12 minutes from campus. If the weather is nice, they have a sport court outside - my son enjoyed that.
@momzilla2D @lkg4answers Very good points. I need to dig a little bit more into it to be sure. The official notification date for EA is 1/31 on the website. But I know they come out earlier than that. I remember D17 got her acceptance on 12/15, several hours after her SCEA deferral. D wanted a ChemE major so she applied to both Engineering and Business school. I need to find out where CS falls. I think it is school of arts and science. If that is true, it should be an easier to get into one.
In theory, practice follows theory. In practice, it does not.
In theory, all apps are to be completed by November 15th. In practice, I will not be making New Year’s Eve plans.
Novice question: Do only private schools have EA and ED? Is the general rule of thumb not to apply EA or ED if financial aid is needed?
We’re still narrowing down DS’s list but like @lkg4answers stated above, the CA schools can be unpredictable so we have many of the UCs and a few CSU’s on DS’s list with a spattering of private reaches with strong financial aid. I’m not sure how to narrow it down further.
@Redslp obviously the UCs and CSUs don’t have EA/ED. I believe Oregon, ASU, Michigan and other state schools offer EA.
@Redslp EA is not binding so I don’t think you have to refrain from applying to schools EA if financial aid is needed.
@washugrad How did the Reed visit go? D20 spent January in Willamette Valley doing a winery internship (with my in-laws) and my sister-in-law and the kid ended up visited Reed one day. I had it on the list for D20 but she wasn’t sure. They didn’t do official tour & info session (grumble!) but stopped by admissions office for brochures and maps and then walked around. D20 reported that she knew Reed would make it onto her apply list when she saw a student “grazing her black rabbit” on the front lawn. :))
@Itisatruth we are touring Reed tomorrow… I’ll report back after. OSU today. U of Oregon was a hit yesterday - nice campus, we were there on a Sunday afternoon so there was a good mix of kids studying and hanging out all over the place. D20’s friend that gave us the tour lives on the gender equity floor so we got to see that and meet a couple of other LGBT kids. That said, I don’t think they are as strong in math or CS as a couple of the other state schools on our list and D20 prefers a school with smaller class sizes, but it was good for D20 to see what a larger campus has to offer for advantages to offset having some huge lecture classes.
When we toured Reed with D17 she ran away “too weird!!”
D20 loved it.
We can’t afford it.
Many state schools have EA or rolling admissions. It, in fact, may be the best time to apply if looking for FA, and certainly if looking for merit.
If your student needs scholarship$$, check out deadlines. Some are very early. GT’s deadline is Oct 15. Nov 1 and Nov 15 are 2 other common deadlines. Dec 1 is the next.
Early scholarship deadlines can catch students unaware.