Proper Reach/Match/Safety college app distribution?

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why this thread is about how many schools he got into vs. how many schools he applied to, and not which schools he got into.

The numbers game is over now. Time to actually figure out where he will fit in/will be happy/can afford/will get a good job afterwards. Fill out a March madness bracket tonight if you're concerned about the numbers game.

[Anonymous]

Is Naviance used by schools only? Or is it accessible to parents and individuals who want to use it outside the school.

[Anonymous]

Mine applied to 5 reach, 8 match and two safety. Some w merit, others with scholarships, and some w no chance of money. Sometimes how many and where to apply depends on a mix of factors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 10-12 is a good number (3 reach/4 prob/3 safety), so 13 is not far off. Obv you need a mix of reach, probables and safeties, and nowadays even with naviance it is not easy to predict the probables so you can't just apply to one in each category, or you could wind up with no options!

Agree. I would be uncomfortable if my kid only applied to 3.

My kid applied to only 2. 2-3 may make sense if DC is doing EA or ED and ends up getting a yes at that stage. Even SCEA lets applicants apply to public and/or foreign schools early and some have rolling admissions. So you can hedge your bets early and then opt out of RD if you get what you want in the first round.

Basically, there's no one-size-fits-all right answer to OP's question.

[Anonymous]

To the OP: if you student applied to CS in engineering and got CS + in the college of arts and science, this may be a great thing not a disappointment. Schools are filled to the brim with CS applicants and this is a way to circumvent the caps on admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had very little help from Guidance this year for my son's college apps, so I tried to take a lot of it on myself in terms of helping him research and target schools.

When he was rejected early from his number one choice (but a "reach") we ended up applying to another 15 schools.

Of those schools, we currently have 4 accepts, 2 accepts but not to the school he applied to, 6 rejections, 1 waitlist, and 2 schools left to hear from.

Did we plan this operation properly? Shoot too high?

Is the goal to get mostly acceptances or is it to apply to such a variety of schools that you get a realistic picture of where your child is showing with colleges in larger context?

This is my first kid to apply to college so I appreciate any insights.

As long as he has one college he likes to go to, it is enough. 15 seems high. It looks like you applied to quite a few reaches- so perhaps you could have curtailed those. My older DC is currently majoring in Engineering and a college and he applied to four schools. Three were big rural state engineering schools and one was a state LAC (I wanted him to apply to something completely different incase he woke up and decided engineering was not for him). He applied to Penn State in October of is senior year- rolling admission - he found out two weeks later. So that took care of "safety". I would recommend this to anyone wanting to major in engineering. Then he applied to VA Tech and Purdue. He got into Purdue in December and that was it, it was his first choice. He did get into Tech, but it was an anti-climax as he was already set on going to Purdue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had very little help from Guidance this year for my son's college apps, so I tried to take a lot of it on myself in terms of helping him research and target schools.

When he was rejected early from his number one choice (but a "reach") we ended up applying to another 15 schools.

Of those schools, we currently have 4 accepts, 2 accepts but not to the school he applied to, 6 rejections, 1 waitlist, and 2 schools left to hear from.

Did we plan this operation properly? Shoot too high?

Is the goal to get mostly acceptances or is it to apply to such a variety of schools that you get a realistic picture of where your child is showing with colleges in larger context?

This is my first kid to apply to college so I appreciate any insights.

As long as he has one college he likes to go to, it is enough. 15 seems high. It looks like you applied to quite a few reaches- so perhaps you could have curtailed those. My older DC is currently majoring in Engineering and a college and he applied to four schools. Three were big rural state engineering schools and one was a state LAC (I wanted him to apply to something completely different incase he woke up and decided engineering was not for him). He applied to Penn State in October of is senior year- rolling admission - he found out two weeks later. So that took care of "safety". I would recommend this to anyone wanting to major in engineering. Then he applied to VA Tech and Purdue. He got into Purdue in December and that was it, it was his first choice. He did get into Tech, but it was an anti-climax as he was already set on going to Purdue.

Not necessarily. A high stats kid looking to attend a university commiserate with their high school performance has to play a numbers game. The odds of getting into an "elite" school are quite small no matter what your stats and if you don't have a hook they are even smaller.

[Anonymous]

Our high school counselor advises up to 9 max. 2 reaches, 4 matches, and 3 safeties sounds about right give or take 1 here and there.

[Anonymous]

My son's school strictly limits students to ten applications - they just won't submit more recommendations and transcripts. You only go to one college, so collecting multiple acceptances is pointless. But, you don't need to apply to ten colleges. While things may change, my 11th grader wants to apply to his top choice ED (he's in the middle 50% of their acceptances) and be done. If he gets deferred or rejected, he'll submit one match (he's above their middle 50%) and the only safety (way above their middle 50%) he really likes. No matter what, he goes to a college he wants to be at. If you can figure out what you want and have realistic understanding of admissions odds, there's no need to apply to so many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had very little help from Guidance this year for my son's college apps, so I tried to take a lot of it on myself in terms of helping him research and target schools.

When he was rejected early from his number one choice (but a "reach") we ended up applying to another 15 schools.

Of those schools, we currently have 4 accepts, 2 accepts but not to the school he applied to, 6 rejections, 1 waitlist, and 2 schools left to hear from.

Did we plan this operation properly? Shoot too high?

Is the goal to get mostly acceptances or is it to apply to such a variety of schools that you get a realistic picture of where your child is showing with colleges in larger context?

This is my first kid to apply to college so I appreciate any insights.

As long as he has one college he likes to go to, it is enough. 15 seems high. It looks like you applied to quite a few reaches- so perhaps you could have curtailed those. My older DC is currently majoring in Engineering and a college and he applied to four schools. Three were big rural state engineering schools and one was a state LAC (I wanted him to apply to something completely different incase he woke up and decided engineering was not for him). He applied to Penn State in October of is senior year- rolling admission - he found out two weeks later. So that took care of "safety". I would recommend this to anyone wanting to major in engineering. Then he applied to VA Tech and Purdue. He got into Purdue in December and that was it, it was his first choice. He did get into Tech, but it was an anti-climax as he was already set on going to Purdue.

Not necessarily. A high stats kid looking to attend a university commiserate with their high school performance has to play a numbers game. The odds of getting into an "elite" school are quite small no matter what your stats and if you don't have a hook they are even smaller.

^^this is double speak for "I only want to apply to Ivy League caliber schools because that's the only schools worthy of me".

[Anonymous]

i have no idea of college applicaton but by the definitions of reach/match/saftey should the ratio be something like 10+/4/2? iow the acceptance rates would be 10 % (or 5%?) / 30+% / 70+%?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had very little help from Guidance this year for my son's college apps, so I tried to take a lot of it on myself in terms of helping him research and target schools.

When he was rejected early from his number one choice (but a "reach") we ended up applying to another 15 schools.

Of those schools, we currently have 4 accepts, 2 accepts but not to the school he applied to, 6 rejections, 1 waitlist, and 2 schools left to hear from.

Did we plan this operation properly? Shoot too high?

Is the goal to get mostly acceptances or is it to apply to such a variety of schools that you get a realistic picture of where your child is showing with colleges in larger context?

This is my first kid to apply to college so I appreciate any insights.

As long as he has one college he likes to go to, it is enough. 15 seems high. It looks like you applied to quite a few reaches- so perhaps you could have curtailed those. My older DC is currently majoring in Engineering and a college and he applied to four schools. Three were big rural state engineering schools and one was a state LAC (I wanted him to apply to something completely different incase he woke up and decided engineering was not for him). He applied to Penn State in October of is senior year- rolling admission - he found out two weeks later. So that took care of "safety". I would recommend this to anyone wanting to major in engineering. Then he applied to VA Tech and Purdue. He got into Purdue in December and that was it, it was his first choice. He did get into Tech, but it was an anti-climax as he was already set on going to Purdue.

Not necessarily. A high stats kid looking to attend a university commiserate with their high school performance has to play a numbers game. The odds of getting into an "elite" school are quite small no matter what your stats and if you don't have a hook they are even smaller.

Based on what the OP stated (eg DC getting into 2 colleges but not for their requested major), I don't think we are talking about this type of thing. I still think it is too much. My current senior applied to two "elite" crapshoot colleges- two that best fit his wants and needs. I disagree with the spaghetti on wall method of applying to "elite" colleges. If you are just applying to a dozen "elite" schools just to try to get into one so you can say you are going to an "elite" school, then there is something wrong - you will not find a good match.