The issue is that though you can apply early to the publics, you don’t tend to get an “Early” (capital E) response before RD deadlines. So you still have to apply to your RD schools (and perhaps an ED2 school) as if all of those publics to which you applied ‘early’ are rejections.
I so hear you on that!
D24 finally has her common app essay done, for real this time I think. 
I just can’t see her putting that level of effort into the bazillion other supplemental essays though.
She’s in an expansive state of mind right now in general…adding adding adding, way more things than she is finishing. Does she really need to start a new club her senior year? No, but it was something she wanted to do last year and finally got the traction/support this year and so, off she goes. And now she is waiting on submitting apps so she can add this (it was an activity she did as a sophomore and is bringing it to her new school, so it will be a small addition to an activity already listed on her common app). She also wants to add a UK school to her application list. And volunteer for elementary school tutoring. And several other things.
She also had her college meeting with the school counselor, who expressed surprise that she was applying to 9 colleges “that’s a lot!” From what D24 said, the meeting was much more geared toward people at a different level of preparedness. Counselor did agree that applying as a transfer to Chapel Hill specifically would be good idea (D24 will graduate high school with an associate’s but will apply as a freshman everywhere else).
I checked the new FAFSA SAI stuff and confirmed our donut hole status, so that is that on any privates that do not have merit (already suspected so it doesn’t really change her list, just confirms that I won’t bother filling out financial aid forms).
I just realized that the upside to being donut hole is that we don’t have to figure out ED!
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Right, but if a student haven’t gotten any acceptances then they can put in as many RD applications as they want. I suppose a contradiction comes up if they have an acceptance from one or two of their early apps, but they haven’t yet heard from the others. Frankly, I am not sure what happens in those cases (since my child only applied early to one school), but I imagine that the D22’s school still pressured them to put in no more than a couple of additional RD apps. Or at least that is how I read the letter. Nevertheless, I think the main benefit of applying early action is the chance to wait until May to decide, and I think that should be a benefit regardless of where one applies early the restrictive early action colleges.
Second this! We learned with D21 (10 schools and over 22 essays —but had some last minute things to do after submitting that surprised her!). D23 was ready and she started very early and had a complex spreadsheet as well as a 60-page google doc of essays once all was done(16 schools, over 45 essays including arts-supplement essays). My kids managed it all themselves with me only the last-minute final proofreader just skimming through the common app over their shoulder before they hit submit. But many kids need more help juggling it all. It is almost as much as an extra class for them.
The essays take a while. They need to double check deadlines and turn everything in at least a couple days early just in case. Your kid should look through each website early and figure out how interviewing works! There is a lot to do, even “surprise” extra essays after submitting that they won’t see unless they look in their portal /set up their portal after submitting.
Nothing is truly optional and everything takes longer than expected.
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Sorry I thought you were saying that it was possible to have acceptances from the publics you listed, and therefore shouldn’t apply RD to other places. Which could not be the case bc of timing.
I didn’t even really think about it until I read a comment here that if a top LAC like Williams or Amherst was already accepting athletes ED from a school, they knew they had little chance of getting in, and I thought that was a valid point, and figured it could apply to any ED students to small/ elite schools, athlete or not.
I am breathing a sigh of relief. D24 announced to me today that she has her final college list, just needs to decide which in-state safety to apply to.
We’ve had a working list for a long while, but she seemed a bit checked out over the past month so I stopped pushing the issue and asking about it. I really thought she had pushed college aside for the moment (for some peaceful headspace - IDK?), but apparently I was wrong.
I am very very glad that there are only nine schools on the list.
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I think the general view in our HS (which sends quite a few recruited athletes to NESCAC LACs, Ivies, and such) is that is all pretty irrelevant to non-recruited applicants. Like, it appears it is basically a separate admissions process, there are not any particular caps on how many applicants can get admitted anyway, and so recruited athletes are not somehow taking away available admissions slots from non-recruited applicants.
Of course you might think the lack of caps applies across the board, and I think that is a plausible view. But at least among the kids, there seems to be some wariness about applying somewhere where you would be competing with another non-recruited-athlete who has some other potential advantage over you in ED/REA.
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Our HS (which also sends a decent number of recruits and non-recruits to those schools) specifically offers the opposite guidance. The college counselor often warns students when several recruits are already committed at the school and advises the bar will be higher, and that they may want to consider a different choice for ED. None of this is absolute. Friend of our son had been given such a warning and still applied ED because it was his dream school and got in. He was double legacy (both parents), had a sibling there already and was a MNSF.
You just described what we are going through with D24 in our house. I tried gentle reminders but may be i just need to be patient for a bit longer 
That is really fascinating, and implies that your counselors perceive there to be some sort of cap or quota or such at those colleges (at least loosely) for your high school which can be largely exhausted by recruited athletes. And they have the experience, so obviously I would not try to suggest otherwise.
I think we are uncovering some notable differences among how different high schools approach these issues. As I also did above, I wonder if some of this is explainable by different patterns of application and enrollment at different high schools.
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Have any of your kids had admissions officers from their top choice colleges visit their HS? One of the Ivies is coming to my kid’s school this week – the place she is applying early to – and she is low-key freaking out. Worried it will be awkward and she’ll somehow mess up the encounter. Anyone know what these are like? Do they generally give a presentation or is it just kids drop by and introduce themselves? The HS has been vague about the format of these things and they haven’t done them in a while due to the pandemic…
Anyone have knowledge about how these things go?
D24’s school has many of these info sessions given by AOs from all over the country and she attended quite a few as a junior and now more as a senior. She says they are more informal than a traditional info session on campus, which she has also attended. She says that the AOs hand out a pamphlet/brochure from the school, perhaps give a slide show or show a short video, and then most of the time is open for Q and A. The AO is usually the regional/representative AO from the college. She has found that other students often ask questions which appear to want to impress the AO, which she finds funny and probably unnecessary. This is one 17 year old’s view on the sessions, so take what you will.
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Our HS has a lot of these. They’re usually college-specific info sessions held during the school day. It’s a good way to demonstrate interest. Even better if the student comes prepared with 1 or 2 questions to ask. Basic etiquette is expected…don’t be rude, don’t talk while the presenter is talking, don’t have your phone out, pay attention & be engaged, be polite. Don’t act like a butthead.
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This has been my kid’s experience, as well. Tell your kid not to freak out and not to view this as the opportunity to impress the representative, as that will almost certainly backfire. Totally fine/normal to just go and listen.
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Yes, I think me shutting up about it a little helped. I wish you the same luck!
I also had to keep reminding myself that neither of her brothers started any of the process at all until around October of their senior year, and they both turned out great.
We’ll get through this!
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This lines up with what happens at our school as well. I’m not sure many of the kids even take the time to introduce themselves individually (which I personally think they should, esp if they are quite interested in the school).
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excellent advice. thanks to all!
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Here is my tip (which will probably now be ruined by my mentioning it in public): ask something about housing. Whatever you like–do first years all live in the same dorms or same part of campus? How many upper-class students stay on campus? Are there kitchens in the dorms? And so on. Doesn’t really matter what you ask, although it helps if you actually would like to know the answer.
I think this is a great type of question because it doesn’t sound like you are trying to be impressive, but it does sound like you are already thinking seriously about actually being there. And interestingly, you often get useful information!
Just a suggestion if your kid is nervous and wants to be prepared to participate, but is not sure how.
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Make sure she signs in.
If the AO gives their contact info, send a short email thanking them for visiting. She can mention something that she found interesting or learned, but keep it short and sweet.
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