<p>Mudge, nowhere did I criticize you or your family, but that morally superior cr*p is getting old (thats not a criticism?? really??). Throw it at someone else. All I am doing is giving you our schools perspective. Get over it. I asked questions. I disagreed. I made a funny (unless you did sell the goats ) I cut/pasted someone elses post (in another thread, no less) and that quote from the other poster contained a line that was probably off-putting. I will forever wonder where/how someone draws the line at the number of applications to submit. Sure âlimitingâ applications limits potential FA offers. So unless a student applies to every 4 yr college in the nation (and perhaps a few in Canada or overseas) they are âlimitingâ their possible FA offers.</p>
<p>*** and many of the students at our school are on scholarship. Need based is important to many, especially in this economic climate.</p>
<p>** sorry-- missed something elso⊠Xig pointed out earlier that in todayâs college app climate, its a different scene, and parents/students are probably way less likely to successfully play the âmatch my offerâ game.</p>
<p>Although I doubt jymâs analysis of my Dâs app process as âtrophy huntingâ actually swayed anybody, to be quite clear on a couple of points: </p>
<p>When the money is gone, the money is gone. Selling goats wouldnât get it done. And jymâs memory appears to have gone walkabout. I agreed to pay for Yale. The way it worked out, she wouldnât have been able to finish there butâŠsheâd have started. I think middle class kids deserve a chance to apply to see if FA smiles on them. I know that leaves a bad taste in mouth of some high-dollar folks on CC (not jym) but⊠itâs just the way I feel. Sue me. </p>
<p>Had the FA been more reasonable, in line with Fafsa, my kid would likely be attending one of the 2 uber-reaches. She only applied to 2. Not THAT much of a trophy hunter, huh jym?</p>
<p>Iâm gonna admit that I have not read the last few hours of posts, though read this thread earlier today. I donât know what the âargumentâ is over. So, just posting out of context, if you will. </p>
<p>CurmâŠ
Not sure I have this right, but are you saying your D applied to 15 schools? By the way, to each their own and Iâm not criticizing it, though generally feel that most circumstances should be able to come in under 12 schools but maybe there are justifiable reasons to need more. So, I am not gonna comment on how many your D applied to. </p>
<p>But what caught my eye in skimming this page was this:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Let me relate my kidsâ high school similarly:</p>
<p>
Similar. Most of the highest tracked classes were called Honors. I think when my kids attended, only two classes had an AP designation. No IB, nobody heard of that in these here parts.</p>
<p>
Same.</p>
<p>
Our was also unknown, unconnected and overworked. However, we did love him dearly and while we did not rely on any help with college selection or the application process at all, the one thing he was very good at was writing a really good recommendation. We did our girlsâ college processes on our own and just let him know what we were doing. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is also the norm here as well. However, when D1 had an EA deferral to a very selective school, we did ask if he could make a call to advocate and he was willing. The only other call I am aware of was with D2 who already was accepted to her colleges and planned to enroll at that juncture at her top choice, but had been recently severely injured and in the hospital and missed a lot of school that she had to make up. Her AP Calculus class was an independent study and she missed 3 full weeks of doing any of it and was out of school and the AP exam was coming up and she never thought sheâd get caught up (it was around the very end of April) and he offered to call the school she was enrolling at and ask if it mattered if she did not finish AP Calculus and just got part year credit (she had more than enough to enter college and in fact, graduated after junior year and was accelerated beyond what any other child in our school system does in math). They said fine. That was the only two calls that I am ever aware of made on my kidsâ behalf. The second call, the kid was already admitted and deposited. </p>
<p>
I recall one âcollege nightâ at the school for parents and someone from the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation did a presentation about FA. Otherwise, we navigated all of it on our own (our kids were FA applicants and my husband dealt with that aspect and I guided the kids with the other aspects). </p>
<p>
This is probably the only difference I can say. While a majority of kids might have stayed in state (and a third do not even go to college), a small number of kids do apply out of state (our state is MUCH smaller than yours with less options) to schools in the region, many which are not discussed much on CC. There is a small handful of kids who apply to pretty selective schools (not necessarily Ivies but maybe a couple do). </p>
<p>
I donât recall any SAT prep at school. </p>
<p>
There was a college fair 50 miles from us and the school took a busload of kids to it. Most of my girlsâ schools did not have reps in attendance. As far as college reps visiting our high school, I can think of only one out of the combined list of my two daughters. Just Smith. </p>
<p>
While our nearest airport is 50 miles away, most cheap airlines do not service it. No Southwest! The cheapest is Jet Blue but they donât fly to too many places from here at all. Nothing was cheap for us. Like you, I believe the closest SW airport would be 2 1/2 hours away (did not use it). </p>
<p>
Surely not here either! In fact, many of my advisees in my job, seem to have to write and get feedback on, college essays at SCHOOL! Nothing like that went on at our high school. </p>
<p>
Naviance? Nobody here ever heard of that! We donât have it and I first learned of it on CC myself!</p>
<p>
Differ here a little. Our school had a profile and I asked to see it. It was so outdated that it has numerous glaring errors that were in fact FALSE about what current practices and offerings and so on were at the schoolâŠso much so that anyone interpreting the transcript would have misinterpreted it. I had to show the principal and write out all the mistakes on it and she did have a new one drawn up. </p>
<p>I had one child, who like yours, I believe, was valedictorian. She applied to highly selective colleges. She only applied to 8 colleges. She had a successful outcome. My other child applied to the highly selective BFA programs which even the best GC likely has no clue about that admissions process, and we researched it on our own. She only applied to 8 colleges and had a successful outcome. The girls got need and merit based aid offers as well.</p>
<p>Wow quertykey, charging after the first app? How much do they charge? And wow also to the poster pages back who said their school limited their college application to ONE. Ouch.</p>
<p>Oh, puhleeze. There arenât that many colleges that are both need-blind in admissions and meet full need. The list is easily manageable, even for someone as simple as me.</p>
<p>AGAIN, I havenât read all the posts and get the feeling Iâm posting in the middle of some back and forth slinging (!!!)âŠso donât mind me for interrupting and am likely out of contextâŠ</p>
<p>I donât believe a high school should limit how many apps you can send in. I think that it is up to each student/family. I would not want to be told how many I could do. Iâm even a private college counselor and I do not give a limit but I certainly ADVISE about it. Each circumstance differs and so the total number of schools will differ. That said, I find it very rare where a student ever needs more than 12 or so apps. I think MOST students can create a list, for MOST circumstances, anywhere between 8-12 colleges.</p>
<p>This is our last dance, mudge. Gotta take care of other things. Its been fun.
My comment was not a dig. The way you described it, (applying at the end to schools you probably couldnt afford), it DID sound a tad like trophy hunting. Just sayinâ.</p>
<p>We usually have a similar sense of humor. Today we differ.</p>
<p>Well, off to lend neighbors our dehumidifier and fan. Fortunately, so far, our basement is dry!! They arenât so lucky.</p>
<p>And soozeâ
Thanks for all your comments. Mudge said his dau applied to 19 schools. I was explaining (ad nauseum) our HSâs policy of limiting apps to 6-8. And round and round it went.</p>
<p>And forgot to mention mudge, I donât remember what I did last week-- never mind what someone did 3-4 yrs ago with their college acceptances. Sorry.</p>
<p>Re: high schools putting a limit on number of appsâŠ
</p>
<p>However, curmieâŠwhile I donât believe in a school or counselor limiting the number of apps for a student, I find it very rare even for a FA or merit applicant who is a good student, to have to need more than 12 schools. Did your D apply to 15? I may have missed this tidbit. Again, it is personal choice. My gut feeling is that 15 schools are not needed to have the outcome that you got in terms of both acceptances, FA packages and merit aid for a very good student. Iâm not criticizing you as it is a personal choice but making a blanket statement that I find it a rare necessity to ever have to apply to more than 12. As I said, my kids each applied to 8 and their school had some similarities with your high school circumstances that you listed and like your girl, they were accomplished students with good apps, etc.</p>
<p>I cross posted with jym. But if your D, curm, applied to 19, that does sound like a lot to me. I think it is your right to apply to that many but I would never advise it myself.</p>
<p>(jym, psssst. I said find where I criticized yâall on your app process. Iâm highly critical of your position, your argument, your schoolâs position, your defense of it, your not so subtle charectorization of my D as a trophy hunter, a whole lot of things youâve said here. Just not the way your family approached the app process. Yâall did fine as far as I know. I applaud your efforts on behalf of your family.)</p>
<p>Bluebayouâ
I was being tongue in cheek about applying to every college. My semi-retorical question remains-- how does someone decide when enough apps are enough. If one wants to compare as many FA options as possible, how many is enough??</p>
<p>Well, I gather some tiff is going on but I think I am in the middle of the positions. I am not into the school dictating how many you can apply to. But honestly, I am not into 17 or 19 apps either and find it unnecessary. I think total number of apps will vary from applicant to applicant given individual circumstances, but canât figure a situation where 17 or 19 are all that justifiable either. </p>
<p>Again, it is a matter of personal choice. I think my own kids who entered very competitive college admissions processes, as very good students with lots going for them, and also as FA applicants, did more than fine with 8 schools each. Just sayinâ.</p>
<p>Gosh, whatâs next? Quotas on the number of job applications each seeker may send off to places like NY, DC? When the economy was hot, there was a lot of turnover in some jobs; maybe we should make sure that annoying scenario doesnât reoccur by limiting the number of times one may change jobs.</p>
<p>I thought the whole point behind College Confidential was that choosing a college is kind of a big deal. This thread features a lot of people who would be very happy to cede some control over that Big Life Decision toâŠI donât know, who is going to set this arbitrary limit, anyway?</p>
<p>Nobody should be apologizing, explaining, or justifying the approach their family took to the Bossy Brigade here.</p>
<p>IBClass: Iâm sorry, but who cares how they do it in the UK?</p>
<p>soozievt, it is perfectly OK for you, or anyone else, to have an opinion or a recommendation on the appropriate number of applications. However, the suggestion has been made here, and approved by many, that everyone should be limited, circumstances irrelevant, to the same arbitrary number. That is not OK, in my book.</p>
<p>midmo-
A poster started this thread as an offshoot from another thread, to pose the hypothetical. This issue has been addressed many many times on cc and elsewhere. Since our kidsâ HS limits the number of applications and then, with justification and a cash outlay allows more, I guess thats âbossyâ. Thats the rule. We have 2 choices- take it or leave it. But its a private school and thats their perogative.</p>
) I cut/pasted someone elses post (in another thread, no less) and that quote from the other poster contained a line that was probably off-putting. I will forever wonder where/how someone draws the line at the number of applications to submit. Sure âlimitingâ applications limits potential FA offers. So unless a student applies to every 4 yr college in the nation (and perhaps a few in Canada or overseas) they are âlimitingâ their possible FA offers.</p>
</p>