13 is not too many when you are chasing merit.
Provided there is flexibility in choice, you should use all 20 common app spots (imho) bcuz right now you have two local that it doesn’t seem like the student wants to attend and six that don’t cut it financially.
You need one, preferably two auto merit or low cost that will 100% cut it financially so you have that fallback. Depending on stats, desires and budgets we can provide suggestions.
My son does theater but hates feeling like the center of attention at home. Hes asked me to watch his college only email and filter it to what he really needs to see. He would only want to do a graduation party if he felt he would get money out of it as gifts.
Son found out his LoyNo admit decision has been held up as he is being treated as an athletic recruit. He is talking to the coach tonight (son texted coach and set up a phone call).
He passed musical prescreens at U of Minn-TC, U of Dayton, and DePaul.
So far Jacksonville U is the cheapest followed by Ball State then Gustavus.
will check it out, ty!
D23 applied to 18. It’s a lot to track, but if you are chasing merit you have to spread out your options. We also found that if you apply EA, usually the app fee is waived, which helps on the overall application cost.
I would be very interested in hearing ideas for my musician kid. For music performance, the money is very subjective and unknown, and it would be interesting to know about a couple of auto-merit schools that are in music cities and have a music BA. (Cities such as New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, Nashville)
GPA: 3.95 UW, SAT 1360
I guess for auto merit, that’s all you would need to know, right? Not activities or anything else?
I don’t know about your kid’s major, but they have a great Music Entertainment & Industry program within their College of Arts & Media. I believe they are also known for medical degrees? But as a public U, they probably have a great range of programs. The campus is in the city, not a traditional college setting.
Most importantly you need 1-2 that are guaranteed to make cost - ie you know the cost up front.
The rest need to be possible but not assured. That’s the schools that have merit to get you there but it’s variable and not assured.
Hence the Alabamas of the world and there’s many more in all shapes and sizes that have merit tables - so that you know in advance, depending on stats, will meet cost. Low cost schools like W Carolina also work. $5k a year OOS.
Best of luck to OP.
My D17 wanted me to check the portals and kindly give her the results. I think S23 will probably want me to check as well. He is weirdly detached from the process. He says he’ll get excited when he knows where he’s accepted and can start comparing programs. He doesn’t want to get emotionally invested in any school.
He will not want a graduation party. He’s an introvert and would not enjoy being the center of attention.
D23 submitted last app last week, has last interview this week, and has handed in all work for first semester. Seniorititis has already struck. I told her to plan on going back to working part time in February.
My D19 applied to 17 schools in chasing merit spread out to all types of schools. She had tons of options. Some were simple apps and some were tough. My D23 ended up applying to 12 schools. I had made my D19 apply to 1 school and I ended up making my D23 apply to 3 schools.
I am all about having options and you really never know who might like you enough to give a good amount of $$$. I saw it with D19. Some schools I thought would give more and some surprised us. So far we have had one school come in with more money than I would have predicted. I really thought that school would be out of the running, but it isn’t.
Both got plenty of app costs waived, but I really don’t mind the app cost to have options.
We use Informed Delivery and in my daily email it showed a box coming from Whitman the day after the portal decisions; it arrived at the end of the week and I would imagine that these days most colleges would mail a welcome box at/after the portal announcement so that everyone who’s awaiting a decision will find out at the same time vs. boxes arriving all over the place on different days depending on how far away someone lives. (Although back in the olden days of course, we all received our college acceptance letters in the mail and they got there when they got there! And you knew the answer…depending on the thickness of the envelope. 
).
D23 applied to 13. We’re chasing merit as well and also didn’t know how her poor freshman grades would play out. Turned out they didn’t matter much at all and she’s been accepted to 11 schools so far and I expect now she will be accepted at all of them. Merit hasn’t been as predictable, higher than expected in a few cases and lower than expected in a few cases. I’m glad she applied to a ton of schools (it felt like a ton to me!) but we are both burned out at the process and she still has two more scholarships to finish applying for, one that comes with a presentation and interview. It’s a lot and she’ll be ready for spring break!
I put a goal of $80K out there for my D19 and she ended up coming in at about $55-60K. Things get fuzzy when they move off campus plus there was some covid refunds from freshman year.
I have the same $80K goal out there for D23. We have some below that. Of course waiting on merit$ decisions like most everyone else. I would be beside myself if D23 got a full COA met. It would really be hard to turn down knowing she could use her 529 for a Masters.
I just want my kids to graduate without loans. So far D19 will make it. That just gives the kids so many more options after they graduate.
My kid received a decision day and time notice a few days in advance, and I was disappointed to see that it was going to be while he was still at school. There’s no way I could/would ask him to wait to open it together, but I was privately sad not to be able to be with him when he was going to find out. Serendipitously and suddenly though, he was home early from school that day and so we opened the portal together
But I didn’t film him and wouldn’t do that; we’re too private. There was a flurry of texts to our friends and family, that was it.
My D17 also asked me to check the portals for her, she was pretty checked out on the whole process until accepted student visits where she suddenly woke up and started having opinions. 
D23 has had pretty anti-climatic decisions so far - 2 of the 3 acceptances have just shown up in email, so there was no suspense. For Case Western, she opened the portal by herself on her computer while DH and I were in another part of the house. We figured out she got in when we heard her yell, “let’s go!” from the living room, then came in to see the letter. She’s got WPI this Friday, so hopefully that will be similar! 
Are you referring to the decision for the one school by the student or the acceptances by each college?
For acceptances by colleges, I usually ask 23 to check the portal after I read here that students are finding out. lol! In one case, 23 asked me to video the checking of the portal. They don’t post these to social media so I’m not sure why a recording is desired, but I took the recording anyway.
I know UNC-Greensboro gives great merit and your kid will be near the top. Not exactly a music city but close enough (~1 hr) to both Raleigh and Durham. UNCG has a fantastic jazz program.
https://vpa.uncg.edu/music/
I had to beg both my kids to go check their portals for decisions. No reaction videos or any such. My son is very poker faced. Daughter applied to 5 schools and son applied to 8. I wish he had applied to more schools but he told me the other day that he wants zero debt and all the auto merit schools were out since he applied to a few already. He is happy with his acceptances so far.
I think with merit chasers, some research prior to applying can make a big difference. I have no idea how kids can apply to 15+ schools unless they are up all hours or something crazy like that. Most selective schools have multiple supplements to boot and more essays for honors!
I was referring to the acceptances.
My D23 has had three decisions so far. Two came during school, both while she was in last block Spanish. With teacher permission, she opened both in class, so her Spanish class is now very invested in her college process 
. The last one came in right after school, and she read it in the car before leaving school. So I haven’t been with her for any so far. Her best friend recorded all of hers last year, which my D enjoyed watching with her, but that’s not her thing.