S24 pressed “submit” on his first 3 EA applications! Two likely and one target. I am amazed and pleased with his organization and planning. Now it’s time to focus on the reaches, including his dream ED school and program.
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August SAT scores were released! While the net score only went up 10 points, the super score went up 50, so I think that’s a success. All of her schools super score, so I am glad I already ordered all of the reports to go to her school.
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congrats!
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Do you need to send them? All but one of my 24s schools required an official report.
We are still waiting for né next score release 
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Yes. We needed to send them to the majority of the schools. Either because they needed an official score report for automatic merit or required a score report if you were not test optional.
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S24 just got his SAT score. Improved by 30 point in english so we are happy with the score now. Before that he was in 25 to 50% for some of the colleges he was applying and now he will be 50% above so that helps.
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S24 is ecstatic. Got a 1580 his second time around (800 math) after a disappointing (for him) 1470 the first time. A big sigh of relief in our house.
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Isn’t it interesting sometimes to think about what your child thinks they want, socially and in the classroom, versus what might be an unexpectedly fulfilling situation for them? I wish I had the power to allow her to experience the first 3 weeks of school at 3 completely different universities, before she has to make the choice.
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I don’t know if schools have gone back to allowing for longer visits but pre-pandemic, there were schools that would allow for overnight visits in the dorms and sitting in on classes.
While my D never did an overnight visit, she did sit in on classes wherever she could and we always ate in the dining hall and just would watch and observe interactions between students.
There are some schools that run their own summer programs as well. That’s what sealed the deal for my D at Purdue (she did their STEP program which is run by honors engineering).
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I feel like an overnight visit would answer some really important questions: is this small university full of people who just like to smoke weed and play videogames, or is it actually a place where individuals think deeply and have fun, in the way college students used to? Is this large university a hell dominated by bro and hookup culture, or is it large enough that regular people play, work, learn and love in more productive ways?
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If you have a friends with kids at any of the schools on your list, you can also see about doing an unofficial overnight with them!
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My S24 did a six-week summer program that was enough to knock that college way off his list. Not exactly the same, but he got a taste for the dorms, the campus, and (most importantly) the types of kids who really want to go to that college. And it was not his scene.
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Depending on the size of the college, and you are specifying “small” here, but I think it’s also important to remember that depending on who “hosts” you can end up bringing you into a very different social environment. So I think it’s also important for visiting students to take a look around to see what other social circles seem available, even if the circle of the person they’re visiting is not “their scene.”
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I have very much enjoyed the recent discussion of ED and assistance from counselors and appreciate all the thoughtful comments.
My S24 got his first acceptance this week to a OOS with rolling admission, so that’s a nice confidence boost, but S24 now seems to be backing off wanting to apply to ANY reaches and I’m feeling lost. He is not a great standardized test taker, but is top 10%, 4.0 UW/4.7W, 5s on 4/5 APs so far, Student Body President, Varsity XC Captain … so could be a solid candidate at some more selective schools if he applied ED, but now he doesn’t want to apply ED and I think he likely won’t make the cut for his top choices RD. I am struggling hard with letting him make his own choices when I think he is passing up his best shot at a school he declared was “perfect” when we toured last spring.
D24 is making good progress on her ED1 app an enjoying senior year so far, so that’s great!
The anxiety over this process is a lot to deal with.
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Is he no longer sure that would be his favorite if admitted?
@southernfemmom Not sure this will be helpful, but one of the mantras I repeated to myself during D20 and D23’s college admission processes was, “They can make this decision over again. It isn’t set in stone.”
Choosing a college is a big decision, but if they don’t like the schools they apply to, they can choose to re-apply the following year. Or look at the NACAC list come April. Or choose one of their acceptances and try it. And then apply to transfer if they don’t like that school.
It was also something I told the girls a couple times during the process, usually when they were a bit stressed about making such a huge decision.
There are so few decisions in life that can’t be re-made. This is one that can and often is. I think normalizing the idea that you can change your mind and it isn’t the end of the world is important. And there are lots of roads to success, and lots of ways to define success.
I think this is one of the most important times for us to remember our children are watching how we react to their decisions, doubts and questioning. Keeping perspective in our own minds makes it easier to help our children keep perspective in theirs while navigating this process. 
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Your S24 sounds a lot like one of my twins. Similar stats etc and DC is also backing down from reaches so far. I have a feeling that DC has just decided on state flagship (auto admit), but hasn’t admitted it (to self/us) yet. And that is fine (great in many ways) but another part of me wants DC to explore other options. We have one more round of visits planned and then we’ll see.
It is definitely a hard spot for a parent. I want DC to own this decision, but I also feel like there is so much they don’t know yet. I don’t want to push them to go somewhere, but I also don’t want them to come back and say - “you didn’t tell me” or “I didn’t know xyz and I wish I had”.
At this point, all I can do is set out what I see as pros and cons and let DC make the decision.
Other DC24 just got in to an OOS with rolling and feels much less stressed! I think this one has two main frontrunners that should be likelies. So the plan is to get those apps in soon and then apply to a couple reaches. No ED in our house, but lots of EA.
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Wow - kudos to the school for coming out and saying that. This is HUGE and hope it pays off for the school and does not affect them negatively (lower enrollment etc.)
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Same here with DS24 he seems to have second thoughts about his reaches. Rethinking if it is worth the cost as compared to our state schools and wondering if it is even worth applying.
Trying to be supportive without pushing him but it is hard.
I wish my DS24 is doing the same. He finished ACT couple of months ago ended up with 35. Now he wants to ED to super-super-reach school. On one hand, I don’t want him to waste his ED but on the other hand, I don’t want to push too hard for another school where he might not be happy at.