The NMSF thing is one of the most frustrating thing. I understand the college board created this but the different cut offs for different states is infuriating, esp those in the northeast. I am fairly sure he wont make it since we are in NJ but would in any other state.
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@MAmomto4 can you share a bit about the good and bad? Tulsa is possibly one of our safeties, but donāt know much about the area. Thx
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S24 has his list pretty much set. Applying to 13 schools, a few are rolling and the rest are EA. Only one offers ED and he definitely does not have a clear favorite so it isnāt worth it.
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My ds just got back from his summer program and absolutely had the time of his life. He felt that he finally met his āpeopleā. He claims to be reinvigorated because he was burnt out during junior year. With a 228 SSI, we know he will be a NMSF but we are still working out the college list. He will probably apply to 12-15 schools since a lot of his top schools are super reach heavy. He has two likely schools and two match schools on his list. His top school doesnāt offer ED (just EA) but he will most likely apply to his second top favorite as SCEA or REA. Still deciding though. We wonāt qualify for aid but the idea of shelling out $70K + per year will hurt a lot. I want him to choose a school that gives a lot of merit but he wants what he wants. It will all depend on where he gets in.
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D24 left several days ago for a summer internship at a camp on an island in the northern part of our state. Sheāll be there for about 4 weeks and gets back a few days before school starts, sheāll do 450 hours of community service during her time there. I think itās a tremendous leadership opportunity for her. Even though sheās already had summer jobs as a swim instructor and lifeguard, this also gives her āpracticeā being away from home for an extended period of time. Also, camp is fun, and I believe kids this age still need to have fun (away from their phones), in nature, and feel a part of a community for their mental health and overall well-being. She chose the program, applied, interviewed and was āhiredā and also liked that itās free! (she has multiple friends attending summer academic programs on college campuses that cost 6k-8k).
That said, when she gets back sheāll be busy with the start of the school year. She is expected to have at least a draft of her main common app essay a few days after she gets home, for a senior application work day at her school the Friday before school starts. She has a list of about 10 schools to apply to with a wide range of selectivity (from under 10% to 80%). She will not ED anywhere, but 2-3 of the schools will be EA. We are still trying to decide whether to do a trip over fall break to visit a few more out of state colleges on her list. She prefers to apply (sheās done virtual visits and info sessions at these far away schools) and then visit when she sees where sheās been accepted. Sheās visited about 6 of the 10 in person. Iām inclined to agree, weāve traveled enough this year and Iām not sure any more visits are needed unless she wanted to ED somewhere, which she doesnāt.
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D24 will be applying to 13-14 schools. She has a ābreak glass in case of emergencyā safety school with a deadline of Feb 1. Itās a good school, but thereās no reason to apply if she gets a good result or two beforehand. She has no ED school (we arenāt in the right income bracket for it), but she has about 9 EA schools. Their deadlines range from Oct 1 to Dec 1. Itās going to be a crazy semester!
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We are going to see a SLAC that has a 40% Ed acceptance rate and a 11% RD rate when we drop my S21 off at school. S24 should have no issue getting in if he applied ED and it is a good fit. I am holding the tiniest bit of hope that he loves it as much as his current ED choices and we could actually be done!
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I will try! Some of the things we consider pros and cons wouldnāt apply to everyone but here goesā¦
Tulsa is the ācityā that supports a fairly large area, which includes a significant part of Oklahoma, southeast Kansas, northwest Arkansas, and even a bit of Missouri. Because of that it has a lot of amenities like restaurants, interesting entertainment options, stores, etc. But it feels more like a really large spread out suburb like a city. Overall, this is a pro for us, but it does mean traffic can be a real pain. I mean, nothing like I hear about Houston traffic, but it can be frustrating/time-consuming to get where you want to go. And there is really no public transportation, so I canāt imagine not having a car there. Probably everyone at TU who is from nearby will have a car with them, so itās probably probably possible to just make friends with someone who has a car, but doing anything off-campus will definitely require one.
Overall, the weather is very nice for the school year. Summer is miserably hot, but September through May is very temperate. HOWEVER, tornadoes are a real possibility. Although in the 40 years I have been familiar with Tulsa no significant tornadoes have hit the city itself, about every year a significant tornado hits somewhere very close. Itās something that I would think a student there would need to learn how to be aware of and deal with, and itās not something that has ever been an issue for my S24 so itās some thing new he would need to learn.
The thing that is the biggest con for my son is the culture. Itās an area with a big population, so there are all kinds of people, but overall Oklahoma and even Tulsa are very conservative, and I mean the really far-right kind of conservative. For Massachusetts Iām fairly conservative, culturally and pretty moderate politically, but if you put me on the scale with the majority of people from Oklahoma I would probably be one of the furthest left. It is a little bit of a joke, but thereās a lot of truth in it that Republicans in Massachusetts are more liberal than Democrats in Oklahoma. I donāt know how much of an issue that would be as a student at a university in Tulsa, but I think it would definitely be a challenge to live there after graduation. The state is, in my opinion, pretty poorly run because the main goal of many of the people elected is to keep the government out of everything which leads to relatively poor funding for services. Gun laws are also very lax which I donāt like, although Oklahoma has not had the kind of high profile gun incidents that Texas has had.
And, along with a culture issue one thing that is a particular negative for us is that Tulsa itself is famous for having a kind of performative Christianity, which I find very negative. Tulsa is still a place where a lot of people go to church because thatās the culturally expected thing to do, but a lot of those people donāt live out those values in their lives. I find the hypocrisy really frustrating, and people I know who are serious about their faith have had difficulty finding churches that are a good fit.
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If finances are an issue, does the ābreak glass in case of emergencyā have a merit aid deadline? Many schools that have RD deadlines of January or February might have a merit aid deadline of November or December 1. Thatās just something I would check out, in case it would be a consideration for your family.
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D24ās list is still in flux. She has two top contenders that would give a large boost for ED, but isnāt sure if she wants to ED anywhere. Sheās an āaverage excellentā student, and Iām afraid she will get shut out of her top schools if she doesnāt āplay the Ed cardā. I so wish I had a crystal ball and could see how it all turns out!
Adding to my own stress, D20 will be applying to law school at the same time - someone send wine! 
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We have our college list ready and are doing virtual visits now. Elon last week and University of Denver upcoming. Baylor is also doing an event here in a couple weeks we are going to, showing their episode of The College Tour at a local Alamo Drafthouse. Also in the mix are TCU and Texas Tech (guaranteed admission there). She is at half a dozen schools, and we just added Alabama back in the mix. She does not want to go there, but we researched her grad school plans and learned that Baylor is the only school that fully funds the doctorate she wants to get, so her grad school could be free or could be a couple hundred grand. Baylor only takes six per year for their program. Itās frustrating not knowing.
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D24 will apply to 8-12 schools. Her list is pretty finalized but we are visiting 6 schools the week after next so that could lead to a few changes. She has a definite favorite where ED should give her a boost so she is going to go ahead unless our upcoming college tours changes her thinking.
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D24 has a list of 11 schools of 2 safeties, 2 likelies, & the rest are reaches, though 3 of the reaches could be much more likely given our schoolās Naviance data.
We are touring 3 schools over fall break and she will make the final decision on ED then. We have toured all but 1 of the others, and 1 is in possible contention for ED. Iām torn about ED- I wonder if in the 6 months between Nov 1 & May 1 she could change her mind / preferences. Iām hoping it will be clear after we do the final tours. If there isnāt an obvious choice, she will only do the 3 EA schools & RD the rest.
There are also 3 other āmaybeā schools that could be added depending on her interest level. But knowing her I seriously doubt it. She is more likely to want to ED just to have the whole thing ādoneā with.
S24 is a committed D1 athlete so just 
that all continues smoothly with his school. He will be finishing his first draft of his essay this week (hopefully) & filling out the Common app Aug 1, & doing his supplementals, then applying Nov 1.
Exciting times !
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Though this is not my first rodeo, I woke up today daunted by what lies ahead in the next few months. So many mixed emotions. Still trying to herd cats. I know all will be well in the end one way or another, but boy do I need more coffeeā¦
The list is still a struggle. At least the safety is established (our state flagship) and the visit was fine. Not ideal, but ok. Most of the rest are reaches, which seems not uncommon for high stats kids. I wish there were more targets on the list, but kidās personal preferences seem to cross off most of those. What is annoying about the reach-heavy list is that the uncertainty is through the roof.
Also, I never thought Iād be tired of visiting colleges, but here we are. Maybe itās temporary.
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The list is fairly set with 10-11 schools. However, DD24 is now at a summer program taking a class at a school on their list that theyāve never visited (we purposely decided summer program would also be the initial tour/visit). It will be interesting to see if this changes intended major and where the school will stack up against the other schools theyāve seen.
Since seven of the schools on the list offer EA, and most of those on their list have a merit or acceptance rate advantage to EA, there are roughly 90 days left before the bulk of applications will be completed. Common core essay and activities list are in progress. Once school starts the art portfolio will need to be pulled together along with supplemental essays. Itās both scary and exciting at the same time, like those boohoo/yahoo parties I would read about to mark the first day of kindergarten!
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Ah, thanks for the info. Tornadoes donāt bother us, but the culture is probably going to take it off of her list. I assume the campus would probably be fine, as most campuses seem to be mid- to left-leaning, but it sounds like she wouldnāt be happy in the area overall. Thank you!
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Yes! To take DC24 anywhere, I need to take a day and a half off of work (because all of the schools on their list are several states away). Iāll take them on one trip, my husband will take them on another, seeing a total of 4 schools. We really canāt afford to do more than that right now.
We are kind of chasing merit, not heavily, but we are trying to keep private schools to less than $50K. I think that she will get invited to scholarship weekends at most of the schools sheās applying to, so we will visit then. For that reason, we are not EDing anywhere, but applying EA everywhere. Our goal is to have all applications in by end of September and all honors program apps done many the end of September. Then we will see. Some of the schools have kind of rolling acceptances to honors, so we want to make sure it doesnāt fill up. Until then we are going to demonstrate as much interest as possible where it matters.
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D24 will apply to about 18 schools. She has 3 safety/likely schools and everything else will be reaches.
3-4 T20 and then the most of the well known state schools. Sheāll apply to one LAC - Amherst, just because 2 of her cousins attend/just graduated from there and loved it.
Her goal is to be financially independent so she can: buy a summer home on Block Island, order whatever appetizers she wants, and never have to use coupons.
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S24 has eight public schools (state flagships in the northeast and the midwest) and five private schools (all in the northeast) on his list. One of the private schools may be an ED after he visits a second time next week. Fortunately, our state flagship is pretty good for CS, his desired major, and he has a better than even chance of getting in there.
He had visited all of the schools on his list, many of them in winter while the colleges were in session. So he has a good sense of size, weather and culture of his target schools. I think heāll be happy to go to any of the schools on his list, so we donāt have the schools rated.
Four of his state schools are rolling, and heās already been admitted to one. The other four (including our state flagship) are EA with notification dates in December and January.
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