Awesome, congratulations on your acceptance!
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Plenty of shotgun kids do both common app
and coalition as well as apply directly to schools. I would cap all apps at 10 across all systems and make it punitive if found out. But thatās good for us, who donāt have to compare financial aid/merit packages.
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Personally, I donāt like ED. Too many families canāt check on financial aid/merit. To me it veers towards people that have the means vs those that donāt. Which doesnāt make it something that everyone can partake with.
Plus people donāt uphold it anyway. Many people use it to gauge themselves. Just say you canāt afford it and your out. Even if you sign contracts. It screws the school and their connection to X school. It happens more then you thinkā¦
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They are very strict about ED at private schools. Iāve heard anecdotes about counselors sitting down with admitted students to yank their other applications in front of them.
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Our school will not allow students to back out of ED. They separately send emails to parents to confirm what they can or cannot afford prior to ED submittal, and if the ED acceptance meets or exceeds that amount the student must accept. A few years back a student threatened to pull, and the headmaster wrote a very direct email saying āitās your choice, of course, but our college department will send email updates to all of your sonās schools letting them know what has occurredā. They didnāt threaten to pull his apps, simply inform the schools that he backed out.
Regardless if you think this is a good idea (I do not), courts would never allow for this type of anti-competitive behavior. Suggesting that applying to College X will preclude one from applying to college Y would never stand.
As far as your comments about counselors, this is disturbing. Anyone that overstepped and interfered with my childās apps would pay a steep price. The schoolās role is to support the student; they are not a party to the application.
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Iām assuming this is a private HS. Public school GCs are usually overloaded and donāt have the bandwidth to do all this.
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There have been a number of posts on Letter of Continued Interest for those Postponed, but I cannot clearly tell if a letter is needed and where to post it. I thought in the announcement, it says no need to do anything except having your school send over updated transcripts.
Also will connecting with regional rep help?
Have you looked under āAction Itemsā ā āResolveā ā āVerify Continued Interestā for the LOCI?
Legally - not sure this violates antitrust law. Thereās no collusion as to price fixing.
You can apply to any college A-Z, just not more than 10. Happens in other 1st world countries without collusion. Private HS - different game.
Can we talk about the honors program at UM - is the LSA honors program worth it? what do we know about it? do you have to be a part of the honors program to be considered for some scholarships? what extra work do you need to do?
just all-around curious about it. . .
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Thank you.
I hope the process is never changed in any manner that limits a students ability to apply. It takes a lot of effort to apply, and do all the specific essays that schools require in addition to common application. If a student wants to apply to 100 itās up to them. Choosing a college is a big decision and encompasses everything from academics, finances, location, and many other factors. Whatever steps a student, and their family, need to take to get to a good decision for them is fine with me.
I think many of us get frustrated with waiting but that just part of it unfortunately. Each school and student should do whatever works best for their desired outcome. We may not all like Michiganās process, but they are a tremendous institution and what they do seems to be working.
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Thanks for sharing. My S was deferred at Georgia tech the same weekend as his Michigan postponement, so we saw this and was so appreciative for the insider perspective, and the transparency.
Yes, private school. The biggest conversations are over ED2. Most students ED1 to their dream school. ED2 rolls around, and some of these kids get into UVA, UNC, or UM prior to their decision and decide that since theyāre already into a fantastic school that theyād be thrilled to attend, they want to pull ED2 or kick it to RD.
In the past, schools like UChicago and WashU have been understanding and not given the GCs a terrible time. But with most it hurts the relationship. The HS canāt FORCE them to uphold their ED agreement, of course, but they have absolutely contacted AOs and let them know that they have a kid who went back on his or her committment. As a parent, I have zero issue with this as long as consequences are clearly spelled out in advance.
My D was considering ED2, but liked UNC, UM, and UVA enough to believe she would prefer to ride everything out with the hope sheād get into one of those. So far, only what we thought was the longest shot of them- UNC- has come through.
I think youāre 100% correct about how the #ās are going to evolve over time. Iām with ya on that. But I do kinda like score choice b/c of this: my 1540 could validate my 4.0, so I put it in and it probably helped me. Sure. My twin (equally as smart as I am) had a lower score and didnāt put it in b/c we all agreed it was NOT AT ALL representative of who he is. We did worry it would hurt him but it didnāt at all!! Heās getting more and better offers than me! Why? Because without the scores , he still had AMAZING leadership and ECāsā¦all legit stuff and not the usual āI cured brain cancer BSā. I do not think it was deceptive to tuck away his lower score because his ECs show that heās dedicated and a TRUE leader. He really will do very very well anywhere he goes. (Yea, Iām really proud of him 
) So for future ppl, Iād advise asking yourself if youāre weaker with or without the scores. Can your ECās speak for you without needing a test score? (And trust me, they do not need to be research/startups/publishing a novel) Just my two cents. But I agree the stats will become ridiculous and thatās a problem.
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Interesting that the issue is around ED2 and EA. Another anecdote from this year - even though a friendās child got into ED choice, called UVA to withdraw application, it didnāt register with UVA. But they had the proof they emailed and called, so did not get into trouble with school.
Rick Clark is the master as I have said before. Read all his blogs that are related. My son was wait listed from GT so I know the pain but he didnāt care. We, the parents, liked GT more then him but he was fortunate to get into Michigan and couldnāt see him anywhere else.
Good Luck in this marathonā¦
Yes! This is exactly what most college counselors advise, too: Unless your standardized test scores enhance your application, there is no reason to submit them to test optional colleges. In cases like your wonderful brotherās, colleges are happy to have him and glad they didnāt have to worry about a test score that might impact their averages.
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