I have been accepted to two of my matches and two of my safety colleges. I want to know how long can I wait to hear from my Reach colleges. I worry about loosing a Bird in hand . I can ask the admission counselor but don’t want to offend. Thanks
Some universities do not send their acceptances until March. So, you could be waiting for some time depending on where you applied.
Can I colleges withdraw their acceptances if I don’t enroll?
@CCagain - no, except in rare instances.
We went over the common app last night and it seems like almost all of my son’s colleges say they have zero “required” recommendations and then anywhere from 1-10 “optional” ones. Are we reading these correctly? I thought most of my D22’s school required at least one. Some of his schools are Clemson, Delaware, Providence, Elon and Umass.
Didn’t they give you a deadline by which you have to enroll/make a deposit?
Most EA decisions have the same May 1 deadline as RD applications, IME. Early deadlines are usually for ED.
One of S22’s schools, Rochester Institute of Technology, shows 0 required as well on the Common App. That sounded odd to me. I went to RIT’s site and checked application requirements. There, it says “Submit a letter of recommendation.”
You may want to check out colleges’ websites to confirm the 0 recommendations required.
That indeed seems to be the case for many of the public universities, including the flagships. A bit back, I posted a link about Rutgers admission website where they say they don’t even consider any recommendation letters.
Many of the students who got early acceptances did so without a single recommendation letter, my son included. He did assign optional recommenders to that school, but neither of them have submitted the recommendation letter yet. I am sure he isn’t the only one who hasn’t got his recommendation letters yet. The same thing happened to S20 a couple of years ago.
Many of the big universities have a huge number of applicants. Not reading recommendation letters simplifies and speeds up the process for the AOs.
Check the information that came with your acceptances, but most schools do not require a response before May 1 and there is no reason to respond now. The one caveat is that some schools (not many?) assign housing on a first-come-first-serve basis, so students who accept early may get better housing. Again, you should be able to check if this is an issue with any of the schools where you have acceptances.
I checked with D22 - of the 24 essays/questions due for her 10 EA schools, 22 are complete. She has linked Naviance with her CA profile, completed the school-provided info sheet for recommenders and sent the actual rec request to the teachers (she had asked them before summer break), plus the transcript request.
I’m staying out of the way and she seems to have things under control.
For some reason, she said she really wants to get MIT, her only non-CA application, in this weekend.
(or as she’s tracking it - 5,950 words down, 1,100 to go)
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We’ve also been wondering whether my D22 should submit her REA application early. In part, I just want her to stop tinkering with it and move on to other things (the potential improvements to be gained seem so marginal at this point, relative to other things she could focus on).
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S22s essays done (Common App + 8 EA + 3 possible ED + a few RDs), transcripts and test scores sent, one LOR submitted, the others requested. Per the advice of his counselors, he’s waiting to submit applications until late October, just in case there’s an additional award, EC development, or he wants to tweak an essay. I would love for him to hit that submit button though! Only one month to go! 
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That’s interesting. We got email from one of D22’s schools on her list urging her to submit her app by Oct 1st if possible because in mid=October they complete their first round of consideration for their full tuition scholarship. She is not ready, though, so I doubt if she’ll make the Oct 1 date, but maybe before mid-October.
Dang! That is a lot! Was it 24 essays?? I think only one of D22’s schools asks for an additional essay in the Common App. I think some may want more for scholarships, though.
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There may be an advantage to submitting early for scholarships. That’s a good point!
He may receive merit, but is not actively seeking scholarships so this hasn’t been on our radar.
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This school that emailed us about the mid-October first round scholarship essays emails us the most of any of her schools. And they email ME directly too! Almost every other day, definitely every week. They emailed ME today to see why we hadn’t signed up for their Zoom session tomorrow. I usually just ignore them, but I replied this time and explained that it conflicts with D22’s after school job (which it does), but the other part of that is she is sooooo done with Zoom at this point. She would be happy to never use Zoom again in her life so the idea of going to a Zoom presentation for a college is not very high up on her list. She has already interviewed with this college and we are signed up to go visit on their super visit day in a couple of weeks. She’s shown plenty of real interest, but she is not interested in Zoom sessions.
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Wow. That’s aggressive! If this particular school is an over-communicator, maybe take that early application email with a grain of salt? We’re getting flooded with emails as well, particularly from a handful of schools. Never been asked why he isn’t attending a zoom though! I would love to know an insider’s perspective on demonstrated interest…how it’s tracked, how it’s used etc. Some kids just attend one zoom and apply. Others attend everything they can get their hands on! We’re aware of which schools consider DI and try to show them a little extra love 
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@Search2022 – S’ high school counselor urged him to apply as soon as he was ready as the AOs are already reading applications, and some of his colleges are small and oftentimes will handle reviews more like rolling admissions.
None of the colleges on his list are highly selective though. (Certainly no MIT!)
@RichInPitt – S has 8 essays remaining for his 5 schools – one 250 word, one 400 word, five 500 word, and one 650 word. 
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That makes a lot of sense. S22 is waiting on a couple awards, otherwise I would have him hit send! It’s interesting to hear the different pieces of advice from different high school counselors.
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D22 submitted all 10 apps last night. We both took a very loud and deep breath. And now the waiting game begins!!
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What school says they are making scholarship decisions before the application deadline? Is this documented on their admissions page? Seems very, very odd.
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