@AlwaysLearn we learned with our first that 6 (2 of each type) was the minimum and 12 probably the maximum number of applications that could be done well. YMMV. He went to a match that became a safety with a competitive merit award.
@MuggleMom I agree that the reaches have grown “reachier” and more schools fit into that category than 2016 when I last did this.
And, for some peoples’ lists, 1 ‘true’ Safety (if you are being honest about it) should be enough. I can’t imagine anyone getting denied by a true safety. If that happens, the school was NOT a safety.
After reading the Class of 2019 thread, I’m thinking D’s list of matches may be moving over to reaches!
Keep in mind that the number of colleges on your kid’s list does not necessarily equal the number of applications. S20 plans to apply to five schools, but when you factor in honors college and scholarship applications, it comes to 13 apps. People may think, “oh, I can repurpose my essays,” but that is not always easy or even possible.
My D18’s GC was big on quality over quantity. If you can craft five intentional, thoughtful, flawless applications, your admissions results will likely be better than if you throw together 10+ sloppy applications.
@ShrimpBurrito, good point. D has 7 schools on her list. After this semester, it may change depending on two of her classes which she can’t seem to move out of the B range. The list is “reach heavy” and she needs more matches.
Agree 100% with @bigmacbeth. Most students only need one true safety.
The hardest and the most important part of all this is to find a real safety (checking all those boxes honestly) and love it. “Love Thy Safety” is CC’s pithiest and most useful commandment. (“Love the kid on the couch” is a very close second.)
Essay and application fatigue is very, very real. Kids thinking they are a shoo-in for an HC or specialized program and submitting a thrown together app vs their best effort is mostly likely going to end up a reject.
I would recommend really putting effort into their essays before they hit submit.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek - 100% agree that application fatigue is very real. And yes, one school can seem to be have a never-ending parade of essays. One of our local flagships seems to require an essay for everything- honors college, LLC, additional scholarships, research programs, etc. And none of those were terribly obvious until after S19 was in the midst of applying. Trying to learn from my ignorance to help S20 plan accordingly.
Again, not stressed about the list as his list will all be true safeties. Just want to find that school that is a safety AND makes his eyes light up. That is the sweet spot.
If something is truly a safety, shouldn’t one be enough? Our state flagship is very affordable. D17 received the highest merit there. We expect the same for S20, though it might be harder now. It is a top 100 with a very reputable CS department, all on a very reasonable price tag (his 529 can fully cover even without any merit).
S20 doesn’t want many match schools as he thinks there is no point. Why? They are all too much money and not that much better? If he follows this logic, I can see him only apply to reachy schools in additional to our flagship. I had believed that would be a good strategy. A true safety you are fine attending and then you are free to shoot the stars. But after reading the stressful 19 thread, those hard rejects are making me doubt this strategy. How can a teenager face all those rejections without serious blows to their self-esteem and confidence?
My D20 only wants to apply to one school. It’s a safety as far as admission and financially (as long as scholarships don’t change next year) but it’s 1200 miles away. I’m afraid she’ll change her mind about being so far away next year and won’t have anything else to fall back on. Her brothers all attended our state flagship three hours away.
After seeing so many 2020 kids with just a handful of schools they want to apply to, I’m jealous. So far my D20 has liked most schools we have visited. Also, we need major need-based FA so she will need to apply broadly. It’s going to be a loooong application season around here.
I am getting stressed reading the 2019 thread and how it’s playing out at D20’s school. Until now, we had 6-7 on her list, with a mix of 2-3 safeties, 2-3 reaches. But this year has been crazy and not sure if those safeties are really safeties anymore. Some really surprising results from our instate schools this year, Keeping fingers crossed!
We have a directional state university nearby that many students at my D20s high school end up at. My D has no interest in applying there; she says she doesn’t want a “repeat of high school.” I am having her apply there, anyway, as her ultimate safety. It has a very high acceptance rate and she could even commute there, if she wanted. I doubt she will end up there, but I’d like her to have it in her back pocket, just in case. Fortunately, the application for that university is fairly simple.
@ebh87 Well, I would be very nervous about applying to just 1 school, even if it’s a true safety. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t seem like a good idea…unless it’s rolling admission I suppose.
@whataboutcollege Yeah, I agree, applying only to reaches (and a safety) could result in some bruised egos. If you think your kid can deal with that, then I guess it’s no big deal. I find it hard to believe there aren’t any schools out there that don’t fall into the category of a ‘match’ to throw in there.
Re: App fatigue…D17 had 18 schools on her list…made it through 11 of them before petering out. By then she’d been admitted to a few she really liked, so she gave up. Maybe less ‘fatigue’ and more ‘I wanna go out with my friends’.
@bigmacbeth I am very uncomfortable with the idea of only applying to one school! I am going to push her to apply to at least one more but she has very specific requirements of schools and there aren’t other financial safeties that meet her needs. Still, I’d feel better knowing she had another option even if it meant going over our budget.
D was waitlisted at SCA. She will stay on the waitlist for now but soon we need to finalize summer job and classes if she is not doing this.
I would love for my D to have one true safety and only apply there! Talk about an easy app season! I just wrote the largest check for an extra curricular in my life- D will be going to a dance intensive that offers college credit. My D19 did these big experiences every summer, but we never had to pay for them. When D20 expressed a serious interest in a ballet intensive we decided we had to give her this one since she’s never had the opportunities her sister has, but boy did that one hurt.
My D was not accepted into the summer program she interviewed for. Time to work on Plan B - volunteering, art classes and possibly a summer math class so she can get to calculus in senior year.
Yes, I think that is what is bothering me, watching the current rejections over on those boards was a bit shocking! I now think the safeties are more like matches and so we need to look down a level to find some true safeties. It seems to be changing so fast, the middle SAT numbers for a school just two or three years ago have changed significantly. S20 has always been a confident child, so it’s hard for him to see that he could be rejected by everything he likes.
^^ I have just begun to have these very thoughts and feelings myself, @NYC2018nyc. I don’t really know what I think the winds may carry at this point.