S24 had four courses with the same teacher last year, two each semester. Both semesters he spent the entire afternoon in the same classroom. Fall semester of this year, he again has two classes with one teacher, although first and last blocks rather than back-to-back.
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My older kid had a reach heavy list which we though was ok because the couple of safeties were solid choices.
It was a really big mental hit though when all those rejections rolled in and took a toll on her. Even knowing the odds, itâs hard for kids (and parents) not to get hopes up.
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We have one last school to visit (going to Open House in October), but otherwise, D24 has her list. Sheâll be applying to 6 schools - 2 reach, 2 targets, 2 likelies. Sheâll be applying EA to 3, 1 is rolling (will target sending that for 11/1 with the other EA apps) and 2 RD.
She has not looked at the common app yet, is still thinking about her essay topic. She has a long track record of procrastinating, but always manages to pull things off, so as much as I would love for her to get started now, I know that is not going to happen and the only thing my constantly reminding her will do is strain our relationship. It is killing me, but Iâm keeping 
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D24 knows many kids from class of â23 who were shut out of all schools except the one safety they applied to. The kidsâ advice to my daughterâs class was apply to more than one likely school if you think youâll want more choice. They felt resigned to their safety and wished they had expanded options. I also think itâs better for most kidsâ mental health to have a few acceptances in a potential sea of rejections.
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The way that I have been trying to convince my S to add safeties is to talk about chasing merit and seeing all of the options if he doesnât get into a reach. That way he is more invested in figuring out why he options are helpful.
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This has been a draw for my daughter too, her refrain has been âTheyâll want me and will give me money!â Once she learned the concept of merit aid, the whole game changed. She still has some reaches (3) that are need-only on her list, and she knows the price tag there, and that we are full pay. It makes the easier admit merit-offering schools pretty attractive.
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That is amazing! We are not there yet and I am sure he will pick the full price reach school if given a choice but having options of safeties with different price points is a benefit. I am also hoping that the early scholarship cut offs will also be motivating to get things done!
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So? If the safety is a true slam dunk that he is ok with, that is all you need. He doesnât have to add targets for the sake of adding targets. Everything should just benchmark against the sure thing (would I really rather go here than my safety?) - if only reaches are a yes, there is nothing wrong with that.
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For us, we know that:
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If our D doesnt get into any of her reach schools, she will be extremely disappointed.
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That disappoint will last a few weeks (maybe a month) and then she will refocus her energy once school actually starts and do her best.
Dâs summer internship at KPMG really opened up her eyes that you really can go to any school and still get a job. None of the associates or partners went to a T20 ranked university but were all very good at their jobs.
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For us, D24 quickly realized that she is in it for the long haul since her field requires a Ph.D. While she would be competitive for some full pay need-based only schools, she has embraced the light chasing of merit, because she knows that any money left in her 529 can help with her advanced degree that may or may not be funded. She is quite safety heavy and even decided against applying to the one reach she identified: âWhatâs the point if I am not going to go there because of cost even if I get admitted?â
Some of the honors program applications can be a lot of essays, so I am glad sheâs holding at 6.
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Weâve got 2 reach, 2 target, and 3 likely. But who knows these days, right?
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So many âlikelyâ schools have become âreachâ in the RD rounds.
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Same here. Her whole list is academic safeties, I think. Maybe a couple are targets, but I think she will get into them all (9). A few are true safeties because they are very affordable with the guaranteed merit. The rest have more work for the scholarships, so she will try for those. But if she doesnât get them, she is 100% happy with one of the safeties and we are too. So much easier than with S22 who didnât know much about where he wanted to go and then ended up at the safety, which was the first application he did. All those essays for nothing! Lol.
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Thatâs why there are more âspray and prayâ these days. I heard from the head counselor during the senior meeting that the average number of applications increased to 14 in 2023 admission. The last yearâs record was 48.
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It hard for us to keep the universities to low.
2 safeties one of which he is already admitted to due to rolling admission)
4 targets
3 reaches
2 high reaches
and the UCâs (donât know how to qualify some of these right now as they seem hard to predict)
In our high school last year the avg number of application per kid was 20 (counting each UC as one college). The school is around 450 kids per each senior class and to see such high number as an avg kind of surprised me. With The UCâs being not easy to predict people are applying to more and more out of state colleges.
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D24 has 2 safeties. We visited one and sheâd be happy to go there. She has 3 medium reaches and 5 high reaches. I find it hard to label anything a target these days.
I agree. Targets dont really exist as they are more âlikeliesâ which is barely a step above safety.
You cant get into T20? How about Tulane? Northeastern? Nope. You ED, yes. RD, and your chances are very low even if you have a 4.0, higher test scores, etc than the majority of students. Schools want commitment. Commitment is more important than 50 SAT points or 4.0 vs 3.8.
Instead of 3 buckets of reach, target and safety, itâs really 2 buckets of reach and likely/safety.
The optimal situation is if your kid really loves a safety or has a very strong state flagship with preference to in state students.
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This is exactly why I hope every family finds at least two safeties their student would be happy to attend that they can afford.
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It would not surprise me at all if this is numerically true via an algorithm.
Can we entertain the probability that most AOs donât see a huge difference between a 1420 and a 1470, a 1510 or a 1560? Or a 3.8 (A-) versus a 4.0 (A)?
Frankly, I understand why any school using ED would rather accept the excellent 1420 (96th %) with a 3.8 (clearly qualified for almost any school) who applied ED than wonder if the 1470 (98th %) with a 4.0 is even really interested in actually attending or using them as a possible safety (EA and RD).
The job of AOs is to fill a college freshman class (taking into account Institutional priorities) with students who will matriculate, not to validate applicants who may or may not end up attending. Qualified students who are ready/able to commit ED are the low hanging fruit of the admission season.
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