DD has a great list of 8 schools. She has a great safety, 4 good match/ high match and three stretch schools. After completing all of these applications, she wanted to add on two schools where she is just in the bottom of the 50th percentile.
She has worked so hard during school that I said that adding 2 more is not a problem. I don’t care about the small amount of application fee but I’m concerned about the high % chance of rejection. She says that she understands that these are real long shots but now she is likely to get rejected by more than 1/2 the schools that she is applying to.
She is our oldest so this is uncharted territory. Any words of advice for a nervous dad?
If it doesn’t happen she may have some tears and “I worked so hard for nothing” moments. The tears dry and the reality of the new school kicks in. They’re much more resilient than we think.
She might just want the pride of saying she applied to x and y among her friend group or to not have any “what if” regrets. It also tells her you believe in her which is worth saying out loud.
I would also get very real with the math involved with her. As an example. Harvard admits only 300 or so students per gender with no preference category like legacy or athletics. There are roughly 38000 high schools in America. So 72000 vals and sals. Doesn’t mean they are all the same. It also doesn’t mean they only take vals and sals. It’s just to make a point that you may be competing with 30k equal superstars for one of 300 seats. 29700 get rejected in the end. Roughly.
It’s the same across many up and down the top 50 forbes ranking type schools and lacs. (This ranking combines small and large schools)
Honestly, I’d be concerned she only has one safety. I’d have another on the list. Murphy’s law. What if a hurricane hits her safety (Miami, UNCW), has mold issues (take your pick), or over admits (Va Tech) and she has to dorm with 5 other kids in a 4 kid dorm room. It happens.
Are these just academic reaches, or are they also financial reaches as well? Are you truly ready, willing, and able to tell her she has to turn down a reach if the aid package turns out to be unaffordable?
Congratulations to your daughter on being focused and creating a strong college list. I’m sure her “worked so hard” means that she has a well-rounded application demonstrating what the colleges are looking for. No doubt she will have many acceptances. If she gets some rejections so be it. Not a big deal. Just chuckle together and move on.
I agree with the tone of the thread. No harm in letting her apply to two more but discuss the realities. Nothing wrong with swinging for the fences. Also, I would add one more safety just because you never know. College admissions is far more art than science. Not linear unless you are auto admit based on scores (and if that’s the case with your safety, and she would be happy there, and it’s affordable, then no need for another).
I wouldn’t mind her applying “eyes wide open”. I would say that should also include the finances. If the school is likely to be unaffordable even if she gets accepted then she should know that upfront. My D at one time asked if she could apply to MIT? I asked her if she really had any intention of attending if she were by chance to be accepted. She said probably not it was really to see what would happen. I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to apply but it was her decision. She chose not to.
We let our two Ds apply to one swing for the fences school each, with them understanding the likelihood of acceptance.
D1 was accepted, shocking her GC. D2 was not.
As someone said above, we saw $ for the two streeeetch applications as a sign of our support. The costs for the schools were not significantly different.
Timing could be a factor too. Are any of the safeties/matches EA or rolling? It can be a real emotional lifesaver having one acceptance in hand before rejections come! You could also hold off on those last two super stretches and see how the other decisions come in and see if that changes her mind.
My younger son got into a super-reach school EA which made the rest of the application season much more relaxed - though in the end he chose a different school. He didn’t get into any of his other three reaches though.
My older son had the sort of stats and activities that made a reach heavy list inevitable. He got into his two safeties and two of the reaches and was rejected from three reaches and waitlisted at the fourth. He didn’t seem to be at all bothered by only getting into half the colleges he applied to. In fact I think I was sadder about a couple of them than he was!