Thank you for sharing. You have rendered me speechless. I am without words . Clearly I live on an island. The island of misfit application writers !
That sounds like an application factory working overtime with super high production levels. From practical and clinical (and frankly just plain curious) standpoints I am intrigued. Not only the âhowâ but the âwhyâ and âto what endâ of it all. Motivation, desire and effort were/are not tied to the number of applications my crew produced so I donât think they are slackers ⊠It was more of a maximum capacity issue. For them, I can only say that it came down to time utilization and balance. Even more so this cycle under covid circumstances. The mind is darn fragile and itâs being tested in ways that ours was not yrs ago.
What is the best use of time - researching and thus eliminating options proactively or up til midnight writing w decision on back end ? Itâs completely personal which is the beauty of it. Sure, our D could have checked off another dozen boxes of schools which did not require additional prompts (nor had any interest in) but I can say with certainty writing another 15+ essays would not have resulted in the best representation of HER as an applicant or served her emotional health. What will the back end narrow down/final decision process look like ? Are they ranked ? Is there a financial component ? Is there a dart board ? How do you know if kids will be taking classes âliveâ this fall ? Etc. etc. In my professional opinion an unhealthy, outsized importance is placed on the âwhere exactly do I go to collegeâ question. We all know the factors driving this escalation. I fully believe this is not make or break time for any of our kids nor is there one perfect school for them. Goals/dreams good, resilience even better, self worth best ! Every student has their own agenda (to extent they can formulate at this time) and unique circumstances so have at it !
Haha as someone who had to do that for 2 kids at the same time itâs rough! Thank god for good 529 savings and investing. And there are a lot of extras on top that people also never consider or are unexpected. The one for me was I never knew how much a sorority could cost!! Making it up this year being so much cheaper than any dorm or apartment but still freshman year at a southern school, woah watch out!
I love this and your analogy. This is how I feel. The whole process can be overwhelming. When my son was deferred from his top choice which doesnât defer many do he still has a chance (which is possibly more frustrating than if he was just outright rejected), and so many schools having delayed notifications this year he had to go back to the drawing board to the schools he put on hold to apply to only if he didnât get in. So, he had to do those essays and add another likely or so but some schools I named that would be definitely likely for him he said no way. Maybe because so many from our high school go there. I guess we just have to wait and see how things shake out and go from here.
I want to get out of Covid prison ASAP, but I see some parents and students may have a difficult time sending their kids to CA because of our Covid issues.
D21 only applied to CA schools, so I think our Covid issues may potentially help her/us. Maybe. But Iâd rather just get back to normal and for everyone OOS to come visit their CA choices.
@sushiritto I think you might be right about the covid effect, especially when it comes to ultimate decisions by students. My daughter is high stat but didnât apply to any CA schools (we are in Virginia). She mostly avoided schools that would require flights. So much uncertainty.
My D21 was googling âliberal arts college + no supplemental essayâ
I was pleasantly surprised how little we spent on application fees. Just $310 for 15 applications. We didnât do fee waivers but 10 of D21âs colleges were free to apply including:
Bryn Mawr
Colby
Grinnell
Kenyon
Mount Holyoke
Oberlin
Smith
Tulane
U of Minnesota
Wellesley
Santa Claraâs current situation has vastly lowered any resolve I have to argue with my parents to go to CA from home in NY.
Leading contender now is SMU. A major reason is the fact that it is much more likely to be open in the fall and beyond.
Many of my friends have applied to decent rep schools in the south they might not otherwise have looked at like Furman, Rhodes, SMU and Trinity just because they believe they will actually be able to attend class and have a somewhat normal college experience.
Especially since the medical data more and more showes that Covid simply does not affect kids our age.
So if that means I go to Dallas instead of Santa ClaraâŠso be it.
We live here, so weâre used to it. My D21 was likely going to attend college in CA regardless of the pandemic. D18 is OOS. But I keep telling D21 that she shouldnât make any decisions today, but wait until April and then make a decision.
We had a few waivers and a few free apps. For the remainder I think we spent about $400-500. Thatâs a far cry from the travel expenses college touring for older sibling. We will have at least 1-2 trips in April, Iâm hoping, but much less than we did a few years ago.
I think schools might be extending deadlines to account for some students dealing with unexpected delays due to the pandemic/personal situation changing because of pandemic. Not necessarily because they are low on applications.
To be sure, I also think schools donât mind if some families want to believe that deadline extensions may mean improved chances of admission. They are marketing at all times.
It sounds like youâre S may have a more definitive idea about what exactly he wants to pursue than my D. She wants to pursue BME related to neuroscience and has found at least some âbrain researchâ that interests her at the schools to which sheâs applied.
Thanks for the contact info! I will pass it along.
I . . . would be careful about that sort of statement. Age is an important factor in severity of symptoms, but teenagers can die. Perhaps more importantly, anyone can be an asymptomatic carrier. So itâs not as if COVID-19 is not a concern for college students.
. Clearly I live on an island. The island of misfit application writers !