WHy do kids apply to schools they don't want to go to?

Applying to College
1

<p>I have seen several posts regarding kids who were rejected from # 1 choice, were accepted at some of the other schools they applied to, but don't want to go to them because they are too big, too faraway, too something</p>

<p>For instance, why apply to Berkely if you don't like it?</p>

<p>Is it for the name? If we can figure this out, maybe we can help other students not make the same choices, and to really think about where they are sending in their applications, each school an application is sent to should be someplace the student would like to go, if its not the top choice, would it be adequate and I place I could go to if my favorite does not work out...</p>

<p>I just don't understand sending in an application to a school one has no interest in attending</p>

<p>And I know i will hear, well, they had a dream, and now, they don't have their # 1 choice, so they are disappointed, etc., and they don't want to go to the other schools that have accepted them...if you don't want to go there, why even bothering to apply there? Isn't that WHY you send in so many applications? So if one doesn't work out, you have options...otherwise why send them in at all</p>

<p>And some kids, do say, well, its not my first choice, but its a great school, and I will do well...so many students do accept their own choices and the results, even with disappointment</p>

2

<p>I applied to Columbia and Harvard because they required no additional effort and i wanted to see if i could get in?</p>

3

<p>Sometimes, there are parts you like but then realize later that there's no way you could matriculate. I applied to Hope College because they have a strong English program. I knew they were a christian school and I thought I wouldn't mind it that much. Shortly after I applied I visited the campus. Christianity was a large role on campus, and as an athiest it made me pretty uncomfortable. In hind sight, I should've looked more into the christianity aspect of the school and not just the english program/academics. But I don't mind, I'm pretty pumped about the school I will be attending.</p>

4

<p>Well a lot of people apply to schools they hope they won't have to attend because they are their safety schools.</p>

<p>Some people apply to a school they won't go to unless the school offers them money. So if they get scholarhip money or financial aid, the school is in the running, if not then no big deal just wasted time on an extra application.</p>

<p>Other times, applying to the extra school takes no extra time (because it's on the application), but just some extra money</p>

5

<p>Well I'm still a junior and haven't applied to colleges yet but next year I will likely apply to a whole rack of schools that I only have a very slim intention of attending. Some of them I will apply to just to see if I could get in and some of them just as safeties. Hopefully it won't cost me a whole lot either since next year I'm joining College Discovery club and if you are a member they give you as many college application fee waivers as you want.</p>

6

<p>Yeah, I had only applied to seven schools originally, but then my parents and gc both suggested that I apply to more schools, so basically I looked for easy applications to add to my common app, and b/c of them, now i'm going to one of those five other schools that i added on :)</p>

7

<p>Well, for me, schools that I applied to mattered more earlier in the process than later. For example, once I knew I was in UGA, it really didn't matter to me about University of Cincinatti; once I got into NYU, I really didn't care about Cornell or WUSTL at all.</p>

8

<p>I also wonder about this question after going through the process. I would have been happy to attend any one of my schools (even my state school to some extent because I would be with most of my friends and probably have a car). When I didn't get into some of my first few choices, I was disappointed, but happy because I had some great schools I could definately do well at. There was really only one school I would've probably not attended that I applied to, and I felt like I should apply because I visited. </p>

<p>I can understand trying to see if you'd get into HYPS, etc. But when it comes to matches, and even safeties, it is important to pick ones you'd realistically want to go to. People apply to too many colleges that they would never attend, making everything more of a hassle with so many applications and trying to predict the yeild. I applaud colleges for having the Why _____? essay to discourage this in a way.</p>

9

<p>I don't know. The school I'm going to was my last choice at the beginning of the school year. I got into every school I applied to. I'm very excited about my choice.</p>

<p>The point is people change their minds about schools over the course of a year.</p>

10

<p>To waste their parents money, that's why. Honestly, how can people afford to pay for the ridiculous number of applications that students are submitting. </p>

<p>The school I'm going to was the ONLY school I wanted to go. I applied EA, so that I would find out the outcome in enough time that if I had to send apps to my backups I would have had plenty of time to do so. I ended up getting in to my one school, so I didn't waste my time or money applying elsewhere.</p>

11

<p>My son applied to a school he probably would have never attended (Davidson) because he couldn't say no to the coach. The coach recruited my son hard, and was a wonderful man. He talked my son into putting in an early application (not ED or EA) for consideration for a big athletic/academic scholarship.</p>

12

<p>The biggest bum in my entire school just got into Davidson- I no longer respect that place.</p>

13

<p>huh.... I applied to Harvard, UVA, and Brown because my dad wanted me to. Princeton, Cornell, JHU, College of William and Mary, and My state school were my picks.</p>

<p>over 200 bucks in app fees was worth getting him off my back, although Brown was kinda hard because there were soooo many $%^ing essays to write.</p>

14

<p>One of my friends wants to study math and will apply to Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Princeton, Cornell...</p>

<p>... but he wants to go to Carnegie Mellon. It's his confirmed, definite, "nowhere-else" choice. But he doesn't want to be "confined to one choice" so he won't apply there early decision.</p>

<p>So I can see how people apply to colleges they don't like... for the prestige, to beat their friends, to get merit aid, or to feel secure "just in case" the first choice doesn't work out.</p>

15

<p>college admissions is so unpredictable. You want good choices and your preferences fluctuate so often. It's unpredictable. Your top choice might be Yale but if you don't get in it wouldn't be a bad idea to apply to Harvard and Columbia and go there if you get in instead of goign to some crappy state school.</p>

16

<p>A lot of people apply to shools during like Oct and Nov and Dec. Priorities change as senior year progresses. Besides you have to meet application deadlines. If you apply and get in you have that many more months to decide where you really want to go. And you will have more options.</p>

17

<p>Well, I guess sometimes people just aren't sure. I mean, it's pretty hard to be 100% committed to something, even your future.</p>

18

<p>But, for instance, if you want an intimate, LAC, why apply to Berkeley in the first place</p>

<p>It seems that some people pick a list, a big list, with schools that even if they got in they don't want to go there</p>

<p>that is very different from having choices of schools you would attend</p>

<p>One poster says her child got into several schools, just not the top choice and is now considering a gap year because he dislikes all the schools he was admitted to...</p>

<p>come on, all of them</p>

19

<p>well, thats a cool way to show off... I got blah, blah...</p>

<p>but I agree... Many people do pick places due to pressure and all. OPeople have told me why havent u applied to the Ivies.. and all... but I say 'cause i dont want to'.. Im now going to Rice and feeling happy about it :)</p>

20

<p>A lot of people just don't know what they want when they first start with the admissions process. I filled out half of the UT application before I decided that I wanted a small college. But on the opposite end of the spectrum is people that apply to only one school. Let's just say it was a very nervous time waiting to get my admission/rejection letter from Rice in December. Because if I hadn't gotten in I would have missed a lot of the deadlines to other schools that I was interested in.</p>