<p>Since apps are(for the most part) in, I was wondering what you-or your child-regrets about this whole process. </p>
<p>It can be silly regrets or serious...but I'm just curious....</p>
<p>I'll start: I regret not sucking it up and taking a few SAT subject tests</p>
<p>I work with kids from the high school on their apps and I think the regret I hear most often is kids that didn’t prepare well for their SATs.</p>
<p>hmmm, definitely waiting to the last minute to do my essays. I submitted my last app literally three minutes before the deadline yesterday.</p>
<p>This may be lsightly OT, but my s regretted that when he chose his freshman yr roommate, he didn’t inquire about his bathing/showering habits (or lack thereof :eek: )</p>
<p>I regret not discussing financial aid with my parents before applying.</p>
<p>I regret not getting S1 to start on the apps earlier. You really need to do a lot of research on a college in order to write a good “why xyz” essay that is very specific and highly relevant. There is another bonus: If after spending a lot of research, you still can’t write a satisfying “why xyz”, then perhaps xyz should be taken off your list.</p>
<p>Not (yet) a regret but I sometimes worry that my daughter’s choice to be well-rounded in several academic and extracurricular pursuits has prevented her from reaching great heights in any one of her pursuits and this may hurt her at the tippy top colleges. I’m beginning to suspect that, despite their claims to the contrary, these colleges are more attracted to ‘pointy’ kids than to well-rounded kids.</p>
<p>Actually I don’t think my daughter has any regrets at this point. We completely did away with the whole concept of safety, match, reach when helping her to come up with a short list. All the schools on her list were solid matches where she’d be happy at if it was the only choice. I will say that this does come after a near 2 year quest for schools that fit her personality and interests. We started off being a slave to the rankings, considered ivy league, big schools, business programs, etc before finally coming up with a list that suits her. I’d have to say the biggest lessons we learned are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A 16/17 year old should not have the pressure of soley deciding what is best for them in terms of college. It was a comfort to our daughter to know that we as her parents know her best and have her best interests at heart when coming up with a short list of colleges that match her needs. </p></li>
<li><p>Ratings are meaningless in the college decision making process</p></li>
<li><p>With all the focus on the input statistics, it is easy to lose sight of the outputs. Does the school produce good world citizens, are they tolerant, well spoken, and well prepared to enter the work force/grad school/volunteer after graduation</p></li>
<li><p>The way in which a college interacts with their prospective students during the admissions process is often indicative of how they interact with their students once they are admitted</p></li>
<li><p>Always apply to an EA or Rolling admissions school. It makes the months of January-March a much more peaceful place for the student</p></li>
<li><p>Be prepared to change direction if your child at the beginning of 11th grade is not the same child one year later</p></li>
<li><p>Pick the school that is best for your child, NOT the one you as a parent would secretly love to attend</p></li>
<li><p>Everyone finds their place in life</p></li>
<li><p>It’s ok to be a late bloomer</p></li>
</ol>
<p>10 The majority of kids seem to love the college they are attending.</p>
<p>Allowing DS to become too attached to one school.</p>
<p>^^^Ditto for us too.</p>
<p>Not pushed (advised) D1 to retake SAT just one more time. We thought it was good enough.</p>
<p>No regrets here. Everything turned out fine for both of our kids. The process went smoothly. And at this point, we’re at the end of the road for the second kiddo’s college years.</p>
<p>-I wish I’d found CC sooner. Far above any other college resource, this has made a positive difference.</p>
<p>-I wish I’d double-checked information given by the GC earlier in the process. </p>
<p>-Again, I consider us all so lucky to have found CC because without the people here, the regret list would be much, much longer.</p>
<p>^^^ Agree that I wish I found CC earlier. I have learned so much about schols I wouldn’t have thought twice of before for my daughter and unfortunately learned of some great merit money places past the deadlines. I don’t think we are at a disadvantage given we did a ton of our own research and really culled a good list of schools for her but we may have removed a few from the list and added a couple with strong merit possibilities if we’d known. At least I’ll now have CC for the younger 2 when we get there!</p>
<p>D regrets that she was born in 1990 (HS class of 2008)…but is happy where she landed…her younger friends (2009, 2010) had very different admission experiences with lower grades…</p>
<p>I regret wasting my energy worrying about whether S would finally send in all the pieces of all his apps. To this day, I’m not sure whether he ever did, but untilmately it didn’t matter because he got into a school he is happy with and doing well at, and should be graduating on schedule in a few months, with at least one solid job offer in hand! It just goes to show that we should really “Not sweat the small stuff,” and much of this really is “small stuff” in the big scheme of things.</p>
<p>I kind of wish DS hadn’t applied to so many schools (11). Since he’s an athlete, it took a lot of time to correspond with all the coaches and make overnight visits. I’m not sure which schools he should have eliminated, though!</p>
<p>I think my son regrets not taking any SAT IIs as well. There is one college he was interested in, but didn’t apply to because of that. (Alternatively, he could have taken the ACTs again and perhaps scored as well as he did on the SATs.)</p>
<p>I have these moments where I regret applying ED to Ithaca. I feel like I should’ve weighed options or something but no one really offered this specific of a major.</p>
<p>
This would definitely depend on the family. I don’t even want to think about where I would end up if my parents were making my list (no offense to them, but I think their understanding of my needs is rather faint at best…)</p>
<p>noimagination-thanks for correcting my spelling!! </p>
<p>I can certainly attest to the different strokes for different folks. My husband and I are both first generation college graduates who somehow through hardwork, trial and error, and a lot of good luck ended up with professions we enjoy. Neither of our parents had any input into our college decisions. My brother and I were emancipated minors and both paid 100% for our educations. I remember filling out the FAFSA forms the first time around and again for my brother. I love my parents and am immensely proud of them, but they would certainly have not been in the best position to guide my college choices. Choice in my and my brother’s case was purely an economic one. </p>
<p>My daughter’s upbring is different, she’s a different person. We would not want her to have to face such a difficult decision as to where to go to college without the life skills and necessary experience to know how to evaluate the options</p>
<p>On a separate note-does CC have a spell check?</p>