<p>Cool! Thank you very much for passing along such useful and interesting information. Doubling the quota of non-local students is a really big change and, I would think, translates to a better shot at admission for a U.S. student. I’ll send that to my son.</p>
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<p>My D is ecstatic to have submitted her ED app to Pomona. Now we have to settle on a fallback strategy, which is complicated. Waiting to see what happens means missing merit aid deadlines at some schools she likes, so there will be some work to do while she waits for what she really wants: one and done.</p>
<p>Congrats on your D, FauxNom! Hug your D for putting one down.</p>
<p>Re: Waiting to see what happens, I fear the same - DS1 may just wait on the EA’s and miss the deadline for a few planned RD’s. Oh well, I’m gonna let him enjoy a little break from college apps before I light a fire under him again. The past couple weeks were brutal. </p>
<p>Honestly, DS1 still works until the wee hours almost every day because of his research internship. He got home tonight just before 11 pm.</p>
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<p>Yes! Son got his Chicago application in about 9pm Sunday night after much agonizing and doubting himself about his essay (plus he had heard a bunch of kids from his HS decided to apply to Chicago after the headmaster told everyone how great a school it is - which send him in to a panic). Chicago is his dream school but he started to rethink his decision to apply EA vs. RD. He has been working on his essay for weeks - not like he threw it together at the last minute. His essay is pretty darn good and a great reflection of who he is.</p>
<p>I had to give him one heck of a pep talk. I finally told him that if he was going to be denied, chances are he would be denied in both EA or RD but if he did EA, there is a chance he would get deferred to RD and then he would have another chance at it. That convinced him to go ahead and hit that submit button.</p>
<p>Now on to the RD applications…</p>
<p>My son and I worked all day on Sunday just to get the common app to our state u (UVM) in. It was stressful (especially the essay which still needs work for his other schools) and after proofing it at least 10 times, I discovered a small typo after it was sent! Oh well, it was good practice and yes, it’s a big relief to have one finished! Those Chicago essays looked daunting - we skipped that school for now. His ED app due on the 15th, so that’s hanging over our heads now.</p>
<p>S1 applied EA to Chicago - it was touch and go as to whether he’d make the deadline and whether he could put a good enough application together to make it worth it. In the end he took a somewhat risky approach with his main essay. If they get it, they’ll either love it or hate it. If they don’t get it they’ll be scratching their heads. I love his why Chicago essay. The optional essay about what books/music/movies etc you like, was a bit thrown together, but ended up being very him. I’ll be very interested to see what happens, but both Chicago and his other EA application (Georgetown) are so reachy - he’s not getting really invested in high hopes.</p>
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<p>This vividly describes what happened at our house on Saturday. If Common App tracks the number of upload per essay and sends this data to colleges…:o</p>
<p>Congrats to all EA’ers. Sounds like Chicago is a popular destination.</p>
<p>Paperchase- good to think of the college computers working as hard as our kids this weekend!</p>
<p>S submitted the app to his ED reach today (with an 11/15 deadline, rather than the 11/1 so many schools have). It was kinda scary watching him hit Submit.</p>
<p>On Sunday he had submitted to his public in-state safety with rolling admissions. He wasn’t completely happy with his main common app essay though, so kept refining it before the ED submission. Isn’t it amazing how sometimes less is more? Just removing one sentence made a whole paragraph flow better.</p>
<p>I liked this post about Early Decision on The Choice blog at the NY Times.
[Cautionary</a> Advice Before Hitting the Early Decision Button - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/tip-sheet-ed/]Cautionary”>Cautionary Advice Before Hitting the Early Decision Button - The New York Times)</p>
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<p>Interesting how this formerly hot thread has now been dormant for 11 days.</p>
<p>Speaking for myself, as December 1 approaches, I am focused on getting my son to apply to more safety schools. Top-twenties are the farthest thing from my mind right now.</p>
<p>Chicago is the school I’ve seen the most great kids get into when others missed their greatness. Good luck to all!</p>
<p>Mantori,
what safety schools is your son considering?
Make sure he realizes that all of them are excellent schools in their own right, and that for a lot of other students, those schools are their dream schools.</p>
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<p>DS1 had his Chicago interview last week. He felt it went well. The interview lasted only 1/2 hour which was what he interviewer had told him to expect. Now we are in the waiting phase…</p>
<p>Well, my UW 3.6 son submitted his app to #28 (Wake Forest) yesterday. That’s the highest ranking school on his list. </p>
<p>We shall see…</p>
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<p>PCP - I read through a bit of this thread and saw your kid’s stats. Those ECs are really impressive, and I don’t think the UW GPA is entirely out of the ballpark. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>After completing the EA apps, I find it hard to motivate my son to work on the RD’s and get them in early. Anyone else having this difficulty? Also, how many waves of RD LOR’s does your child plan to request from his/her teachers? We are considering sending in the RD’s in two waves.</p>
<p>bovertine, thanks for the encouragement! Yes, good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>^Son got his app in yesterday for the honor college at our State U (took a heck of a lot more work than the Chicago app & essay). I suspect his enthusiasm is going to start to wane and he may drop a college or two off his list simply because he doesn’t want to do another 5 essay intensive applications. Fortunately, his Common App essay is done and most of the remaining schools on his list use it. </p>
<p>I don’t understand what you said about the RD LOR’s - my son has already requested two - those have been sent to the 1st three colleges he applied to. At our school, that’s generally all you do - unless you need or want to send more - but you don’t request LORs for each individual college. The GC office sends those same 2-3 LORs to any college you apply to that requires them. Are you requesting a different LOR for each college?</p>
<p>YES, about the lagging interest in getting the RD apps completed after the flurry of EA apps.</p>
<p>We counted approx. 23 essays/personal statements/"why applying pieces he has to write for his 8 RD apps and he wants to put off a lot of them until the Dec. holiday break when hell have more time. No way is mom going to let him do this!</p>
<p>(Plus, Im still looking for one or two safeties, since that part of his list is scant.)</p>
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<p>DS1 only requested the LOR’s for the EA schools so far. There are some colleges that he will apply RD for sure and some still on the iffy side. Our plan is to request the LOR’s now for the ones he for sure will apply (first wave), and then request LOR’s for the rest when the list firms up. We’d like to send in the first wave NLT early December. Hope this makes sense.</p>
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<p>The schools he will have applied to by December 1 are Colorado School of Mines, Pitt, Ole Miss, Alabama, and our own State U. Of these, I consider the latter three to be safeties for admission and the latter two to be financial safeties.</p>
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<p>Thank you! That is a great way to put it, and I will indeed tell him that. I think and hope that he is gradually coming to realize that you can get a good education at many schools, not just those that someone considers elite. He really has a hard time with that concept, unfortunately. (Isn’t it usually the parents who have that problem?)</p>