Our kid’s “safety” was my first choice for him. I will always wonder…
“Safety” is a pejorative term even if you don’t think you’re using it that way. It’s ridiculous to consider any school mentioned on this subforum as a safety for anyone. Believe it or not, high stats kids get rejected from ALL of them every cycle (because it’s not all about stats, right?), so let’s drop that term and not refer to any school by any artificial tiering mechanism. Remember, that BS you might be silently denigrating with this term is some other (high stats) applicant’s dream school. Go figure.
I think it’s relevant to re-iterate @PhotographerMom’s pithy insights on the WL thread to this discusssion:
I’ll hazard a guess at what @417WHB is driving at. A kid with a 95 ssat and strong app. #1 might be PA, 2 Nobles, 3 CA. Kid may be happy at those three but not Lawrence Academy that would be what I consider a safety for such an applicant.
I think better to apply to a range of matches than a school with a totally different level of rigor thinking it’s a sure thing.
@one1ofeach Sorry but that kind of thinking negates looking carefully at what students need and want. I have a 99% kid ( no prep) who chose a school that fit. That same kid got into a name school that did not fit. Kid is THRIVING at the chosen school and working hard. My kid would never have been happy at the 3 schools you mention above for various reasons. I’ve seen so many BS lists and the numbers always vary as to which are in the top 10.
My second kid will apply in this cycle and is also a similar stats kid. We’ll apply based on fit. We’d never refer to a school as second tier, just not a fit for us. Remember there are some schools where kids can take unique things which really appeal to them. That school might not make your list, but it makes their list. And there are many unique schools ( we’ve gotten dozens of emails) which seem to be small and offer unique approaches to education. I have received about 50 emails since the SSAT in October and no school is alike. Some I didn’t even know existed but they seem really great. Who knew there was a school for early college? A school where you can travel the world?
Agree wholeheartedly with @ChoatieMom, safety is a negative term, so is second tier, etc. Someone might be at the bottom of a class at a name school and struggling hard to make grades. And someone might be elsewhere and doing awesome, which would most people want for their kids? To use a college analogy, not every kid wants to go to Harvard and kids at Williams are not second tier. They are both excellent schools and one can reach their educational, social and emotional maturity at many schools. The same goes for BS’s. We aren’t talking about second rate educations at any of these institutions more a matter of buying a quality item vs. a designer item. I don’t think there is a school mentioned that isn’t a fit for someone.
? Harvard vs Williams is not the same as Andover vs LA but I get your point. Sure safety has a negative conotation but I think that was part of the point @417WHB was making. Don’t apply to schools you don’t really like just because you think you will definitely get in. If you are choosing a less rigorous/intense school for your own personality reasons that is fit and that’s great. If you apply to such a school as a “safety” but would not actually be happy there what’s the point? My son is like that. He would not be happy so he chose not to apply to a “safety” school.
I absolutely agree that the “top 10” changes frequently and somewhat randomly. After all one or two bad student reviews on boarding school review drops you out. Most top 10 lists seem to come back to that list so sure, top 10 is somewhat meaningless. However, it’s completely disingenuous to assert that there’s no difference in rigor between schools.
My two cents: the false notion that there are only a handful of sufficiently rigorous schools is dangerous and leads to soul crushing disappointment in many young hopefuls – there is more of a risk of that happening if your high stats kid only applies to acronym schools vs. a kid being unhappy in a presumed “safety” that has been vetted by the family in advance. Sure, don’t apply to a school you hate, but don’t hate a school because of its average SSAT score, either. People take that shortcut all the time, with devastating results.
What is “rigor”, anyway? Is it a large school with lots of advanced classes that few students actually ever take? Or is it a small school that can tailor-make a curriculum for a particularly advanced kid? Is it tough grading? Is it a school that burns and stresses kids out? Is it code for “excellent college matriculation”? Is it a school that has more than its share of kids who were already accomplished by 8th grade? Is it a fiercely competitive student body? Or is it a school that takes a kid with potential and gives them the push they need to be truly great at their talent? Rigor is honestly quite a fuzzy concept – and different schools go about rigor in different ways. As do kids. One kid’s “safety” can ALSO be just the right kind of rigorous. Another kid’s rigorous school can shut that kid’s potential right down.
I see my thread has deviated slightly ? — all good info though that has helped me answer my own question… the magic number is the number kiddo can truly see themselves attending.
Now this of course is based on 1 visit, schools website, talking to current students (if one knows any). If doing all these things I think the number will automatically be capped… who can do this for 16 schools?
We visited 7 as visiting any more would have been a strain (expenses, out of towners, missing work & school, One parent family etc) and DD ‘believes’ she will fit into all 5 she applied to.
The level of HOW MUCH OF A FIT will come into play if there is more than one acceptance. And I guess revisit day will then come into play.
Our journey several years ago came down to visiting 12 (we are in NE) and applying to 7. An admission officer where DD attends (Deerfield) and the OP’s daughter is applying, had said during our interview that she felt the magic number was 6. Further, they should be of varying acceptance rates in cases where financial aid was important.
To answer OP’s actual question (lol) – Kiddo applied to one local day school, one Cal boarding school, and 6 New England schools – all visited in one carefully timed 4-day trip (including flights). It was pretty crazy but fun. We chose those schools off of my spreadsheet because they worked with the schedule constraints and scored highly on my various metrics. We did most of our filtering at that pre-visit stage – there were great schools we just couldn’t fit into our plan.
Eight total applications was about kiddo’s limit – that was the biggest constraint in my opinion.
For revisit days, we did Cate, and three New England schools. Those visits were harder to schedule – but the schools were very accommodating. I wouldn’t recommend doing more revisits than that – it made the decision harder, not easier. So, yeah, six total applications, plus or minus two, sounds good to me. More depending upon your financial aid situation, etc.
I am glad to have had the bs application/touring experience – we will be so much more comfortable and confident with the college search now. I am pretty sure we can narrow the college apps to the same number and be more efficient with the touring, too. We learned so much the first time around.
People who have been successful in a past cycle ( with only a handful of apps ) should always weigh in and share their experience, but I wouldn’t try to pass it off as a smart thing to do - with or without a viable school option at home.
Unless I’ve missed something and applying to BS for fun is a thing?
Make no mistake - it’s a rare and wonderful thing to get an acceptance letter after submitting only a handful of apps, but I think it’s a real disservice to give people a false sense for what they’re really up against.
Harder to take is when people giving the advice fail to mention how luck may have played a role in their happy outcome.
I’m sorry, but to me- it can sound a lot like a lottery winner telling everyone how to win the lottery.
We know the OP is totally fine with reapplying next year if this cycle goes south ( let’s all hope it doesn’t and we can all breathe a big sigh of relief M10 ), but I would still caution other people reading this to add more schools to their list ( if they need BS placement for next year ) while there’s still time.
FWIW - there are some really great schools that have a later app deadline and Skype ( for interviews ) is your friend.
Obviously, if it’s too much work, forget it and go with what you have ( fingers crossed ), but what I said on the Freakout thread still stands.
@PhotographerMom Just the sheer amount of writing the applicants have to do (and parents too, some of the parent essays were quite painful) makes it very daunting for a 14yo to complete 15+ applications. Some have 3 or more essays, and they are never the same or even similar enough to recycle much without it being obvious. I still remember the battles with my kid to get him to finish his essays. There was not much time between school, sports and homework to do this even if we did interview over Skype instead of visits (which we were told were expected since they were not terribly far). I think people who apply to that many schools likely hire consultants and outsource a large chunk of the application process, very hard to pull it off for a regular family still living their work/family/school lives, particularly when there are other children in the family too.
I’m fully aware of the grind that comes with multiple apps and the toll it takes on everyone . My kids applied from JBS with an unbelievable workload. We were FP, applied to the minimum of ten schools each and that was a few years ago. I think people should do what feels best, but I believe it’s important to arm people with information that might yield better results.
Wouldn’t applying to schools where the stats say admission is very likely be one way to yield good results without 10 applications?
My sons only applied to 2 boarding schools, because they were going to be day students. There is a third in the area that neither felt was a good fit. One of the schools was a “safety” so we were confident of admission. (We were confident for other reasons too, which are only particular to us). One son attended that safety and flourished, and the other attended the more famous/highly ranked school (and is flourishing )
Wouldn’t applying to schools where the stats say admission is very likely be one way to yield good results without 10 applications?
Not if all the schools are being slammed with applications right now! From what I gather- greater awareness of the BS option and the booming economy are the two main drivers.
And, I’m not even going to touch failing public schools, but I think we can all use our imagination.
Plus- where does it say that admission is " very likely " - anywhere?
Our pool ( several years ago ) was different and highly competitive because of where we were applying from. It was more like an Arms Race back then ( still is ) and so were all the legacy school pools, too - so not a lot of shelter for my kids going in even though everything worked out M10.
TBH - there were times during our three app cycles that I wished I was blissfully unaware about our competition and my kids had pretty strong apps plus all three were Club rowers known to all the BS Crew coaches- and, yes- we still applied to 10 schools and I don’t regret it for a second because it was absolutely the right thing to do.
You never know.
Anyway, @cinnamon1212 - I am very happy for your two wonderful outcomes for both kids! Always nice to hear so Congrats!
The results threads are sobering, for sure. And you know there are a disproportionate number of people who don’t post results because they didn’t get in anywhere - so the results posts are actually deceptively acceptance heavy. It is tough from the parent-who-has-been-through-it standpoint. I want to be an optimistic cheerleader for everyone applying, but I know the heartbreak that is looming out there, too. And I have a small fraction of the experience that @PhotographerMom has. Please please please listen to her. I love the enthusiasm in the Chance Me and Freakout threads, but the naivete also gives me heart palpitations.
Cast a wide net. Apply to as many schools as you can muster, and with a wide variety of acceptance rates. You won’t regret it. We did 8 total, but they weren’t all super competitive. We were grateful to have options after M10, but it could have easily gone differently.
I’m with @417WHB , re the amount of work and effort that goes into applications. It’s a full time job!! And it’s not cheap those application fees add up.
I also think it depends greatly on if you have a good alternative. I can not see myself or DD mustering up enough enthusiasm to apply to more schools just to make up a number. And we carefully researched about 40 before narrowing down to 7.
When I found CC I was truly amazed at the number of schools people applied to. I mean 16 schools?? Most of my non CC friends apply to 3 or less in fact we are constantly being asked why we are applying to so many.
@CateCAParent yes those chance me/freak out threads are heartbreaking. But I feel the difference is that several of these kids (parents?) are choosing the schools for the wrong reasons. In fact I know a family whose DD scored 99 on the SSAT and decide I’m going to apply to Andover and Exeter…no research or anything.
If one is choosing a school for its perceived name and ranking then there might be a rude awakening.
And also those Decision day threads have a lot of “xxxx didn’t accept me but I didn’t want to go there anyway” comments or you see acceptances and people don’t commit and instead stay on the waitlist for their ‘dream acronym’ school.
Maybe the words should be cast a VARIED net as opposed to a wide net i.e applying to 10 Acronym schools as opposed to a mix might also result in disappointment especially when ’wide’ is misconstrued as ‘many’.
Applications haven’t even even been submitted and I’ve already marked M10 on all my 2020 calendars ?
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