<p>@ChoatieMom I think CK’s CC is taking a sensible approach. It also helps parents, as well as kids, to have it all spelled out. That way, no one can point the finger at the CC and try to blame her for not being everywhere, doing everything, for everybody, down to the last dotted i. Being a CC has to be an exhausting job as it is @-) </p>
<p>D2’s ED app is in a little over 24 hours early! Next week is finals (trimester system) then Thanksgiving break. The challenge will be getting her to work on the next set of essays before she hears from her ED school…</p>
<p>Congratulations, Sudsie! I can imagine with these kids’ schedules, it has to get exhausting to even think about cranking out more essays. </p>
<p>In the Times today…</p>
<p><a href=“Applications by the Dozen, as Anxious Seniors Hedge College Bets - The New York Times”>Applications by the Dozen, as Anxious Seniors Hedge College Bets - The New York Times;
<p>Yes… I was going to post the Times article and ask… so parents of current applicants, What is the number of school’s your student is looking at? </p>
<p>schools not school’s oops</p>
<p>ChoatieKid has applied to six (including our state flagship to which he’s already been accepted) EA and will not pursue any others unless he is shut out of all of the other EA schools. In that case, he will apply to the remaining four RD.</p>
<p>I suppose someone could come up with a reason why a student would apply to 29 schools, but I can’t think of it and the article didn’t articulate a good one. That admissions is competitive is a general statement and not a reason for a shotgun approach to applying. If the college list is crafted to fit the student and includes affordable schools where the student’s stats make make him/her attractive and that the student would like to attend, then only a few are necessary. Until recently,Choate limited applications to ten: three reaches, three matches, three likelies, and the student’s state flagship. I believe the current flexibility is based more on parent anxiety than on the competitive nature of admissions.</p>
<p>CK looked around for a good likely school to add to his EA mix so he can end this nightmare as soon as possible and move on. I asked him if he’d just like to know if he’d be accepted by any of the RD schools and he said, “No. I can only attend one, and all of the (non-state flagship) schools on my EA list are fine.”</p>
<p>At this point it’s 7–of which D2 applied to one ED and one EA. No other schools offered the EA option or she would have done more.</p>
<p>7Daughter applied to 2 EA schools. According to latest Naviance, there are 11 (2 EA + 9 RD) schools on her “apply to” list…but I think we will revisit over break — to both subtract and add. I think she’ll net out to no more than 11, but if she gets one of the EAs, will stop at 2.</p>
<p>DS applied to one ED and one EA. He has 13 other colleges on his Naviance’s “applying to” list. I understand that’s the max set by his CC. If he gets the EA, he probably will try two reaches. If not, 6 to 9 combo of reaches/mids/probables… but who knows, panic attacks — maybe 29???</p>
<p>Does any else find that their kids cg seems overly optimistic? Maybe I’m just overly pessimistic. </p>
<p>Perhaps I should ignore national admit rates and just look at the school naviance picture. </p>
<p>I just dread reliving the hell that was prep school admissions. </p>
<p>I think it was GMT who calculated for BS admission that, if you apply for FA, it is twice as hard compared to the average admit rate and if you are FP, it is twice as easy. So there is a factor of 4 involved in the ease/difficulty of admissions without/with FA. Does this scenario apply to college admissions also? Because the colleges have more endowment, is the situation is not as bad? If it matters, the colleges of interest are the top 20 which are mostly privates with good endowment. I don’t have access to Naviance, but does it show the data whether the applicants applied for FA or not?</p>
<p>
Oh my yes. I’m not sure it’s quite as drastic, but it does exist. To be an intl applicant needing FA at a need-aware school will probably cut your chances in half.</p>
<p>I know that my Ds multitude of prep school waitlists were due to FA.</p>
<p>Colleges are different. </p>
<p>The ones that guarantee to meet full need but are not completely need blind (tufts, hopkins) may waitlist kids for FA reasons. Schools that don’t claim to meet need will just offer an insufficient FA package. Some will use preferential packaging, where need based aid is tied to stats (Boston University). Schools that meet need AND are need blind are crap shoots for even the highly qualified. </p>
<p>My D has a mix of these schools on her list. She has the grades, rigor and test scores for any college in the country. I have run the NPC for all the schools on her list. As a matter of fact, it’s what determined which schools even got put on the list. Many great schools aren’t on the list simply because I know she won’t get the funding she needs, even if she’s likely to get in (NYU) </p>
<p>She’s not nearly as stressed as I am, which is really all that matters. She’s had an amazing first term, academically. I have to think that it’s a really good thing I’m not around for her to see my nerves. </p>
<p>I’m just so glad that she’s at a school with teachers who understand her, that she meets with regularly just for intellectual simulation and who can write her recommendations beyond the form letters that kids from our local school get. </p>
<p>If only there was an early app in somewhere… We won’t know anything until mid March when decisions start rolling in…</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> and UNC Sued Over Their Admission Policies](<a href=“https://www.boston.com/news/education/2014/11/17/harvard-and-unc-sued-over-their-admission-policies/Yn4qC62cQMpB5lJXkgwDLJ/story.html?p1=Topopage:Test_B:Main_headline]Harvard”>https://www.boston.com/news/education/2014/11/17/harvard-and-unc-sued-over-their-admission-policies/Yn4qC62cQMpB5lJXkgwDLJ/story.html?p1=Topopage:Test_B:Main_headline)</p>
<p>How have your students handled interviews? So far D2’s interviews have occurred during campus visits but we anticipate some local alumni interviews for some schools. Obviously she can’t drive to locations although she is within walking distance of the nearest town. </p>
<p>When my kid went through the process, local alumni understood the problem and met with him on campus. Usually, but not always, there were fellow students being interviewed as well. </p>
<p>Georgetown, which requires interviews, sent an alum to my daughter’s school and he interviewed several students while he was there. She has had four interviews at colleges (each with a senior) when we visited. </p>
<p>I think they all understand that the prep kids can’t really get off campus, especially Mercersburg. It’s just so isolated. </p>
<p>Two of CK’s schools require interviews; he has flown in for each of them. Choate allows seniors three excused absences for such purposes.</p>
<p>For one of 7D’s EA schools, an alumni interviewer visited SAS…and I think interviewed any other EA applicants. SAS CC handled scheduling for this. SAS is 100% boarding, so it’s not like kids even have a car to drive to meet someone off campus.</p>