<p>I know there are not any disadvantages for students who did not have an interview. But can you say that there are advantages for students who had a wonderful interview?</p>
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<p>Most interviewees tend to feel their sessions went well or even great. However, interviewers are asked to honestly rate the student āin the context of the highly qualified applicant poolā. The fact is most interviewees are (and should be) rated āaverageā.</p>
<p>But to the exact point of your question: even those whom the interviewers rate extremely positive, there is still little correlation ā because the interviewers do not have access to the entire file. For the handful Iāve come across, I donāt recall there being any markedly higher admit rate for this subset of above avg interviewees. This is difficult to hear but the interviews matter very little to none overall, IMHO.</p>
<p>In the very limited experience of my kidsā interviews, all of which were perceived by the kids as positive, there is also the factor that many of these interviewers are gracious and warm. They have the skill of a good host, in that their āguestsā feel welcomed and appreciated. My personal view is that the interviews function primarily to weed out social mismatches who have great scores, grades, ECs, and essays, but who would not be a good fit on campus.</p>
<p>^That is what I have heard also. The interview is not that big of a factor</p>
<p>@WWWard: You mentioned that your DD has applied to 14 colleges. I assume that most of these were RD applications. Did she consider waiting until she heard back from Yale before submitting the others? And saving those application feesā¦ Or did she feel that would jinx the Yale decision?</p>
<p>MImama: Yesā¦ my daughter has applied to 14 schools in total: Yale (SCEA), Brown (RD), Columbia (RD), Princeton (RD), Duke (RD), Penn (RD), Dartmouth (RD), Northwestern (RD), UChicago (RD), Stanford (RD), USC (RD), UMiami (RD), FSU (RD) and UTampa (Rolling). So far, UTampa is the only decision received. FSU will announce Dec 16th. The rest announce March 27th to early April.</p>
<p>I guess that there were a # of factors that led to her applying to all of them prior to receiving the Yale decision. Firstā¦ she is extremely impatient and refuses to procrastinate about anything. Secondā¦ she wanted options and did not want to be swayed to not apply to other schools simply because she was accepted Early to one. Thirdā¦ she started very early, Aug 1st, applying to schools in each month and spending a lot of time on every application. She did not want to be rushed. And when you spread it out from 8/1 thru the end of Nov, the process does not seem very daunting and the fees were also spread out over a 16 week span. So basically it was like one fee per week or so.</p>
<p>Had she applied to only one school during the last four months, I think that it would have drove her crazy in terms of the pressure and sole focus on Yale and that one crucial decision. Instead, it kept her busy and preoccupied, having to think about a # of schools and their application requirements, essays, etc. In reality, it seems to have diffused the pressure entirely. She was fully distracted until just last weekā¦ and also has the luxury of being confident that she will have a # of options.</p>
<p>Had she waited until Dec 17th and then been forced to contend with a negative result, that is an odd mindset to be in while you are also being compelled to then shift gears and try to generate a # of new applications all in the span of 14-16 days. Plus - it would be while she has a lot of school work, exams, etc.</p>
<p>Putting aside the cost factorā¦ I think that her strategy made a lot of sense and offered her great flexibility in terms of time management. If she gets deferred from Yale, at least all of the effort toward securing a back-up will have already been concluded. If she gets in to Yale Early, she will still be able to decide between Yale and maybe a handful of other elite schools during April. If that is the case, the money spent on fees will seem unimportant & trivial. The excitement of getting in to Yale would outweigh everything else anyhow.</p>
<p>And now - either way - late December has no real pressure at all for her.</p>
<p>I do not think that she even considers the notion of superstition or jinxing as an element in the process. She and we doubt that she will get in to all 14. Some schools will just not consider her a match we assume. Hopefully she will get in to 8-10. And weād of course love for Yale to be among those. If not, having options will hopefully soften the blow.</p>
<p>I would personally be content with her attending any of my top 5 among her 14. So as long as she gets in to one of those 5, I will be thankful.</p>
<p>Email crossed with WWWardās reply.</p>
<p>WWWard</p>
<p>Nice job getting all those apps done! My kid would have been completely screwed if he had not gotten in SCEA at Yale. He had not completed any other apps by Dec 15 last year.</p>
<p>Just wondering - would your daughter be content with all (or any) of YOUR top five or is there a difference of opinion?</p>
<p>WWWard, your dd sure did a good job in her college quest. I donāt know many kids as proactive as your dd.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Wellā¦ my top 5 are: Yale, Brown, Princeton, Columbia & Duke. And geography does impact that thinking a bit, as we live in FL, and I prefer the eastern timezone. </p>
<p>Her top 5 has evolved over timeā¦ including USC, Stanford & Northwestern initially & not including Princeton, Columbia or Duke. She is now saying that her top 5 mirrors mineā¦ but I am a little suspect about that. She may just be telling me what I want to hear. But the 8 schools above are certainly her top 8, and I believe that she would be content attending any of them. Recently, she has gotten very interested in Columbia. This is likely due to her having many friends now attending college in NYC.</p>
<p>Her 2nd tier schools would be Penn, Dartmouth & UChicago.</p>
<p>And the FL schools are merely there as her 3 safeties. We would all be disappointed if she had to attend college in Florida. It would be nice if that were not the case.</p>
<p>Does that actually mean that most SCEA applicants actually only apply to one school until they hear from Yale or whomever?</p>
<p>To the applicants on this threadā¦ how many schools have you applied to so far or will you have applied to by Dec 17th?</p>
<p>I applied to two (one state school and yale). I have finished other applications, but I am waiting for my decision because Yale is my top choice. Thereās no reason for me to pay the application fee if I get into my top school.</p>
<p>I have applied to five schools total. Two are reach, and the other three have accepted me. I declined on one to narrow my focus. Currently, while I wait for Yaleās decision, I am competing in leadership and scholarship competitions at the two remaining acceptance schools.</p>
<p>Not wanting to freak anyone out but applicants who applied through the Questbridge program have found out if they matched earlier today. If they match, they are accepted at their first choice school ā some of whom have applied to Yale and other selective colleges.</p>
<p>You may hear that some kids have recād accept notifications. Itās very well possible that they are successful QB applicants. Just an FYI.</p>
<p>^ yep! 2 more weeks for us thoughā¦</p>
<p>Wowā¦ Dec 2nd and some applicants already know (QuestBridge Matched Finalists). Of course, last year there were only 383 QB Finalists matched to the 35 QB partner colleges, so even most of the 4000 or so QB Finalists will still be waiting longer. And I believe that Yale usually only matches with 17-20 or so each year. </p>
<p>Still it would be pretty amazing to already know your fate with a full ride included by todayā¦</p>
<p>And I guess my D was a rarity in terms of applying to so many schools even before learning her fate through Early Action.</p>
<p>I have applied to 0 schools, which, I agree, is very annoying, since I would prefer knowing at least one school I have been accepted to. </p>
<p>A good deal would have been applying early to UChicago. Thatās a great school, and finding out early that one was accepted early to that would be promising.</p>
<p>iāve applied to UF, WashU, and some UCs as well and working on some moreā¦will wait to submit them until after the 17th probably</p>
<p>I havenāt applied to any schools besides Yale except those who had early deadlines (UCās, Rutgers) and I donāt intend to. This doesnāt mean Iām waiting to the decision day to write the apps, and in fact some of my apps for other schools are already done, but I just havenāt finalized and sent, so I donāt need to worry about annoying application fees until I have to. Iām trying to time myself so I finish everything around Dec 30. Part of this strategy is because Iām just lazy, and part of that is if I do get into Yale, then I probably wonāt apply to most/all of my other schools, and Iād hate to have put in useless work. Actually I think that makes all of this strategy ābecause Iām just lazyāā¦</p>
<p>How about also because it costs money, and most of us will not choose another school over Yaleā¦</p>