I always made a point of having my kids take both - they figure out which format they like and respond to best. 2 out of 3 preferred the SAT.
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My kiddo took both and did better on the ACT so will
Be retaking that in the fall. I need to look at the dates and to register.
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Mine has taken both, and has the same percentile score on each but prefers the ACT so taking it a second time. She feels she can get that extra point or two. Sheâs sent me screen shots of the practice tests sheâs taking today and is hitting it out of the park, I hope she does as well tomorrow.
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2022-23 Marching Band Leadership was announced today. Thing 2 made section leader for Euphoniums and Thing 1 will be a squad leader for the French Horns! Senior Year is already off to a great startâŠwhat a way to wrap up their high school band careers 
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My son and his girlfriend looked amazing at prom. I did well picking his attire out. 
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I have a question just for the sake of discussion. Is there a number of college applications that you would consider âtoo manyâ? Iâve recently read articles about students accepted into 20+ schools and receiving what seems like a staggering amount of scholarships. Although Iâm sure they are very qualified students, I have to imagine many of these are âsafeâ schools for them, so I wonder if itâs less about having choices and more about âcollectingâ letters and offers for money. Also, in these times of record high applications and low acceptance rates, is it âfairâ to knowingly take so many spots you know you wonât fill? Iâm sure the schools can closely predict the % that will accept, so maybe it really all comes out in the wash. 
Anyway, just curious to hear thoughts!
Applying to more than 20 is completely unnecessary. With good *research (or a good college counselor or both) , 10-15 should be enough for the vast majority of applicants, maybe 15-20 for those who are chasing merit because they do not qualify for financial aid yet cannot pay $60-80k per year.
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I wouldnât consider 10-15 schools to be enough. S23 will probably be more like 15-20? Weâre in California, which admittedly is a different animal. My son will apply to 7 UCs (same app), 4 or 5 Cal States (same app) and another 4 or 5 out of state safeties and privates. It adds up fast.
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If one is applying to T20s, there are no safties regardless of gpa.
CS is a competitive major with lower admit rates. I see kids applying to many schools.
If my kid chooses music, admissions are even more complicated so he will need to apply to many.
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For most kids, 20+ apps seems unnecessary. For students applying to California schools, or families chasing merit then a higher number of apps makes sense. Its the full pay students who apply to 20-30 top schools that are all so different from each other that make me wonder. Could they really be happy at any one of those schools, or are they just chasing prestige?
My S21 applied to 16 schools but probably only 12 were realistic for him. We didnât get to officially tour any schools and he was burnt out on virtual tours and information sessions on top of doing school from his computer. Luckily it worked out and he had some great acceptances. D23 will probably apply to 10-15 schools.
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Lots of âwhat ifsâ. If you want to be a psychology major, yes 20 schools are too much. We solid research maybe 5-6 throwing in some Hail Marys, is all you need. My oldest was biology, he applied to 6 schools. My second was architecture but wasnât sure she has the academics needed for direct admit into a program, so she had a backup plan. She applied to 5 schools for architecture, and 5 for graphic design. My 3rd⊠well, completely different scenario, very high stats, and wanted to be a dancer. Dance applications are a completely separate process, and required auditions. You can be accepted to a school for academics and not dance. We had to throw a huge net, 17 schools in all (like musical theater⊠huge net). We did throw in a couple of reaches for fun. In the end (April) she panicked about making living on a dance income and dropped it all together before enrolling. My 23, is considering 4 majors at the moment. We have 4 definite schools he is applying to, at this time. But things are fluid with him. He will be doing some summer camps exploring his options. I think in the end, he could be in the 6-8 range.
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Just make your list and do a thoughtful analysis of where you should apply. The oldest applied to 15. She was chasing merit and apply to top 20 type schools. She eliminated a few mid tier schools once she was accepted to Pitt in October otherwise it would have been more. S23 knows where he wants to go and is very likely to be accepted and gets free tuition there since both parents work there. Heâd only apply to 1 but weâll make him apply to 2 more local schools just in case.
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No right or wrong answer to this. As noted, CA has a bunch of schools on the same apps. Others want to take fliers on a lot of reaches. I saw a person post last week who was rejected to all but one of her reaches and almost all her matches but then exception was Stanford who admitted her (with no hook; she had been rejected from the legacy school). Examples like that fuel the kids who apply to 20 reaches hoping at least one will break through.
My kid is going to do whatever heâs going to do â he pays minimal attention to our suggestions. But weâre going to encourage him to not apply to more than 1-2 reaches until he has put good effort into (i.e not rushing in the interest of quantity over quality) at least 2 safeties and at least 2 matches. Ideally he wouldnât apply to any reaches (unless he wants do do EA or ED at them) until heâs done the matches and safeties. Then he if wants to go wild investing time into more reaches or matches, he can go for it, as long as it doesnât interfere with his school work. (Weâre fortunate enough to be able to fund his application costs, within reason.)
Unlike our older kids, he also doesnât want to tour, virtual or actual, or attend any interest meetings for any schools prior to being accepted (heâs seen the process with two older kids and is savvy that you can tour the schools you are accepted to and considering after the fact). Weâre also nudge a bit on this. Itâs fine if he skips all his reaches (most of which donât track demonstrated interest), but many of the matches and some of the safeties do strongly track demonstrated interest and have well earned reps for yield protection. Itâs fine if he skips in-person tours but a token amount of face time on a scheduled virtual tour or interest meeting is worth it to check the schoolsâ silly demonstrated interest boxes.
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Generally speaking, 15â20 is not just too many, but way too many. There are exceptions, of course, some of which have already been mentioned: fine arts kids, direct admits to nursing, applying for a spot in the UCs, thereâs a very few others. But in general, no.
And I say that thatâs a no even for applying to T-whatever lottery-level colleges, because if youâre doing that without safeties youâd happily go to, youâre doing it wrong. In fact, even if you justify it because youâre applying for Big Merit Aid thatâs too many, because if youâre wanting that, you can always include an application to, say, Troy University somewhere in there and call it good.
(Also, those stories you hear of kids getting into 20, 30, 50 colleges with tens of millions in scholarships? Yeah, grain of salt. Those are generally students who have a very expensiveâwhether school- or parent-fundedâsupport team behind them. Also, if you look at the news stories youâll see they mix merit and need aid, including things like a full ride to Dartmouth or some other merit-aid impossibility.)
Of course, tied into this is what counts as âan applicationâ. For kids applying to certain combinations of public universities in California or Texas, you might as well count all of those as a single application. Similarly, thereâs a meaningful difference between applying to, say, Mississippi State (where my D19 ended up after essentially âaccidentallyâ submitting her application, it was such a simple one) and applying to a selective LAC with three essays and a resume and a separate statement of purpose and such.
For reference: My D17 targeted selective LACs that offer merit aid (so not the Williamses or Amhersts of the world, but the Smiths and Kenyons and Muhlenbergs). She sent out 12 applications, and that was too many, it was painfulâLACs being LACs, nearly all of them had additional individually-tailored essays, plus other documentation and in a couple cases additional information for scholarships. But my D19 targeted Big Public Flagships that offer generous merit aid (so not Michigan and Virginia, but Iowa State and West Virginia and Mississippi State) and sent out 9 applications, and could easily have done more because they were nearly all quite simple and straightforward.
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NONE of my kids had no interest in applying to many schools - they could count on one hand the schools they were interested in. I think S23 has more schools than his older siblings but its still limited to one hand lol.
Thing 1 will be applying to 7 schools: 6 safeties (where is already and auto admit and guaranteed major) and 1 target/match (a private university so will come down to the $$$). Heâs happy to go to any of them and will likely just pick wherever he gets the most merit scholarships.
Thing 2 will be applying to 10 schools: 6 safeties (also auto admit), 3 matches/targets, and 1 reach. The reach is uber reach but he wants to shoot his shot so to speak and is mentally prepared for the rejection lol.
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Our rule (as a family chasing Big Merit Aid) is that each kid gets one application to a highly-selective college that doesnât offer meaningful merit aid if they want to, just to see if they could get in. D17 did so (and got accepted), D19 didnât see the point (sheâs an industrial engineer, efficiency is what she does), D23 probably wonât, and D25 might.
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our S20 applied to lots of auto merit safeties. maybe 12? he wanted to see what was offered without having to write any essays. he had high stats, and wanted to see what was offered. (several added on extra $ after the first financial aid packages. )
our D23 has asked about colleges - and if she should apply to any that we really canât afford. (Meaning - we just canât meet our EFC at full-needs colleges. Tapped out after paying for 12 yrs now. 6 more to go) So - her list will be short, and what is in our affordable zone. There are a few colleges that offer unicorn/special scholarships. perhaps she will look at those?
I am feeling annoyed though at all of the emails she gets from all over. It makes her feel special; i hate to destroy that confidence boost. But â they are just marketing emails. what do you tell your kids about those?
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As we start the application process in just a few short months, how does your '23 student âdemonstrate interestâ to a potential college? Iâve heard the term thrown around a lot, but not exactly sure how that is done and how this interest ends up being âattachedâ to their file as they apply.
Iâm particularly interested in the best way for my daughter to connect with local recruiters.
Thanks!
Usually it will be by visiting the school if possible, reaching out to admissions and ask to be added to their mailing lists. Attend information sessions if they are in your school or area.
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