How many colleges did your DC apply to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2025: 9 schools including two schools abroad, will attend in-state public

in at 4 (safety, target, and both int'l), WL at 1 (target/reach) rejected at 4 (reaches)

This is the person who got it right.

If your kid is applying to more than 10 schools, they have no idea what they are doing or what they want and you have been of zero use to them.

Harsh. A 17 year old should know exactly what they want or they are clueless and their parents are a zero? Some kids and parents are savvy enough to realize that it's nearly impossible to ascertain what a "a good fit" is from visiting a school for an hour or two or, worse yet, doing an online tour. Or reading useless anonymous posts on social media.

Glad you are perfect and have it all figured out.

Yes, it was harsh, but most kids should be able to figure out which schools are likely to be good fits for them. My DS had clear criteria for schools, and, based upon this, we worked to come up with a list of 11 reach, target and safety schools that were plausible with his academic performance and ECs.

Tours helped a lot, despite their limitations, because he was able to envision himself in that landscape and social setting, and decide if he would enjoy going to school there. A lot of kids do this.

Of course, it isn’t perfect, but it strikes me as a better approach than applying to a large number of reaches, a collection defined primarily by their ranking and prestige, which have different qualities that can significantly affect your kid’s experience there. I’m shocked at the schools in some of the YouTube college acceptance videos, where the applicants appear to have no idea about the schools other than their ranking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2025: 9 schools including two schools abroad, will attend in-state public

in at 4 (safety, target, and both int'l), WL at 1 (target/reach) rejected at 4 (reaches)

This is the person who got it right.

If your kid is applying to more than 10 schools, they have no idea what they are doing or what they want and you have been of zero use to them.

Harsh. A 17 year old should know exactly what they want or they are clueless and their parents are a zero? Some kids and parents are savvy enough to realize that it's nearly impossible to ascertain what a "a good fit" is from visiting a school for an hour or two or, worse yet, doing an online tour. Or reading useless anonymous posts on social media.

Glad you are perfect and have it all figured out.

Yes, it was harsh, but most kids should be able to figure out which schools are likely to be good fits for them. My DS had clear criteria for schools, and, based upon this, we worked to come up with a list of 11 reach, target and safety schools that were plausible with his academic performance and ECs.

Tours helped a lot, despite their limitations, because he was able to envision himself in that landscape and social setting, and decide if he would enjoy going to school there. A lot of kids do this.

Of course, it isn’t perfect, but it strikes me as a better approach than applying to a large number of reaches, a collection defined primarily by their ranking and prestige, which have different qualities that can significantly affect your kid’s experience there. I’m shocked at the schools in some of the YouTube college acceptance videos, where the applicants appear to have no idea about the schools other than their ranking.

+100. My kid took the same approach and the tours helped a lot when it came to figuring out what they liked and what was important to them. There are some “what if’s”, re: would they have landed at a higher-ranked school if they had taken a chance and shot-gunned the top-ranked schools but happy with results/choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2023: 1 ED, 1 Rolling, 1 EA (both safeties). In at all, didn’t have to keep going after ED admit to SLAC.

2025: ED Ivy reach (reject), ED2 T20 reach (deferral), 1 rolling safety and 4 EA Safety (accepted all), 3 EA Target (accept 2, defer 1), 2 EA Reach (defer both)
RD (included deferrals from above): 1 Target (WL), 12 Reach (accepted 3, WL 5, rejected 4)

We classified schools based on their acceptance rates, over 50% was safety, 26-49 was target, and bellow 25 was reach. But all
The reaches on the list were under 20, most under 15%.

Total applications: 22, accepted 11, WL 6, rejected 5

Where did your DC end up going?

Also, looking back at the list, we could and should have cut some of the safeties and some of the reaches. They applied to, I would say, 10 schools with really had no interest or intention of attending. Got into 4 of them (all of the safety/targets, none of the 6 reaches in that group).

Cutting those would leave a list of 12 schools. Of those 12, the stats would have been 2 safeties (accepted 2), 3 targets (accepted 2, WL 1), 7 reaches (accepted 3, WL 3, rejected 1). Total acceptances would have been 7/12.

I think once they got rejected from the ED1 reach school, they and we had a bit of doubt and started adding schools, both “just in case” and “why not” because they had lost of essay variations written and it wasn’t a ton of extra work to do so.

This is easy to say in hindsight though. When you are in it, it’s hard to not add a school because you don’t know what the outcome will be and you want your kid to have choices. We could afford the application fees, so we said okay when they suggested adding a school and they said okay when we suggested adding one.

We are all happy with the outcome, and they are excited to start in a few weeks.

This. Admissions is unpredictable. Having choices is our goal. At my child’s school there isn’t a lot of Naviance data on many of the schools they are applying to, so they must cast a wide net.

Same. Glad they applied to 20+ schools bc of this. It wasn't that hard or that much more work.

How can it not be a lot more work? Most of these colleges have 2-6 essays each. Adding 5 colleges means 10-30 more essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2023: 1 ED, 1 Rolling, 1 EA (both safeties). In at all, didn’t have to keep going after ED admit to SLAC.

2025: ED Ivy reach (reject), ED2 T20 reach (deferral), 1 rolling safety and 4 EA Safety (accepted all), 3 EA Target (accept 2, defer 1), 2 EA Reach (defer both)
RD (included deferrals from above): 1 Target (WL), 12 Reach (accepted 3, WL 5, rejected 4)

We classified schools based on their acceptance rates, over 50% was safety, 26-49 was target, and bellow 25 was reach. But all
The reaches on the list were under 20, most under 15%.

Total applications: 22, accepted 11, WL 6, rejected 5

Where did your DC end up going?

Also, looking back at the list, we could and should have cut some of the safeties and some of the reaches. They applied to, I would say, 10 schools with really had no interest or intention of attending. Got into 4 of them (all of the safety/targets, none of the 6 reaches in that group).

Cutting those would leave a list of 12 schools. Of those 12, the stats would have been 2 safeties (accepted 2), 3 targets (accepted 2, WL 1), 7 reaches (accepted 3, WL 3, rejected 1). Total acceptances would have been 7/12.

I think once they got rejected from the ED1 reach school, they and we had a bit of doubt and started adding schools, both “just in case” and “why not” because they had lost of essay variations written and it wasn’t a ton of extra work to do so.

This is easy to say in hindsight though. When you are in it, it’s hard to not add a school because you don’t know what the outcome will be and you want your kid to have choices. We could afford the application fees, so we said okay when they suggested adding a school and they said okay when we suggested adding one.

We are all happy with the outcome, and they are excited to start in a few weeks.

This. Admissions is unpredictable. Having choices is our goal. At my child’s school there isn’t a lot of Naviance data on many of the schools they are applying to, so they must cast a wide net.

Same. Glad they applied to 20+ schools bc of this. It wasn't that hard or that much more work.

How can it not be a lot more work? Most of these colleges have 2-6 essays each. Adding 5 colleges means 10-30 more essays.

Most do not have 2-6 essays.

[Anonymous]

Essays are easily adaptable. Help your kid with research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC ED Chicago and got accepted. I’d rather him applying to 20+ schools and had the better options.

Same. If I could do over, I would say no to Chicago ED. I hadn't discovered DCUM yet so I didn't know it was a scam.

A scam? If your kid is going to Chicago, how is that a scam?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC ED Chicago and got accepted. I’d rather him applying to 20+ schools and had the better options.

Same. If I could do over, I would say no to Chicago ED. I hadn't discovered DCUM yet so I didn't know it was a scam.

A scam? If your kid is going to Chicago, how is that a scam?

Chicago is a bit of a scam in terms of its so-called selectivity. It really should be outlawed the way they bully kids and parents into early commitments. Whether it not it's a good school, it's just not cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC ED Chicago and got accepted. I’d rather him applying to 20+ schools and had the better options.

Same. If I could do over, I would say no to Chicago ED. I hadn't discovered DCUM yet so I didn't know it was a scam.

A scam? If your kid is going to Chicago, how is that a scam?

Chicago is a bit of a scam in terms of its so-called selectivity. It really should be outlawed the way they bully kids and parents into early commitments. Whether it not it's a good school, it's just not cool.

I had a lot more respect for U Chicago back when they were a niche school with a self-selecting student body and took something like 60%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC ED Chicago and got accepted. I’d rather him applying to 20+ schools and had the better options.

Same. If I could do over, I would say no to Chicago ED. I hadn't discovered DCUM yet so I didn't know it was a scam.

A scam? If your kid is going to Chicago, how is that a scam?

Chicago is a bit of a scam in terms of its so-called selectivity. It really should be outlawed the way they bully kids and parents into early commitments. Whether it not it's a good school, it's just not cool.

I had a lot more respect for U Chicago back when they were a niche school with a self-selecting student body and took something like 60%

I think this feeling is ubiquitous. We will see how this pans out for them going forward. I wouldn't be surprised if people start recognizing this and taking a pass.

[Anonymous]

SDSU admitted early and offered Honors program; so safety locked

1 EA admitted and finished before Xmas break

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC ED Chicago and got accepted. I’d rather him applying to 20+ schools and had the better options.

Same. If I could do over, I would say no to Chicago ED. I hadn't discovered DCUM yet so I didn't know it was a scam.

A scam? If your kid is going to Chicago, how is that a scam?

Chicago is a bit of a scam in terms of its so-called selectivity. It really should be outlawed the way they bully kids and parents into early commitments. Whether it not it's a good school, it's just not cool.

I had a lot more respect for U Chicago back when they were a niche school with a self-selecting student body and took something like 60%

I think this feeling is ubiquitous. We will see how this pans out for them going forward. I wouldn't be surprised if people start recognizing this and taking a pass.

Chicago is the more selective version of Tufts/Northeastern/Tulane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC ED Chicago and got accepted. I’d rather him applying to 20+ schools and had the better options.

Same. If I could do over, I would say no to Chicago ED. I hadn't discovered DCUM yet so I didn't know it was a scam.

A scam? If your kid is going to Chicago, how is that a scam?

Chicago is a bit of a scam in terms of its so-called selectivity. It really should be outlawed the way they bully kids and parents into early commitments. Whether it not it's a good school, it's just not cool.

I had a lot more respect for U Chicago back when they were a niche school with a self-selecting student body and took something like 60%

I think this feeling is ubiquitous. We will see how this pans out for them going forward. I wouldn't be surprised if people start recognizing this and taking a pass.

Chicago is the more selective version of Tufts/Northeastern/Tulane.

Yes, except Chicago parents think they're signing up for an Ivy, when they're actually signing up for...Tufts.

[Anonymous]

We choose 7 but the counselor suggested 10. She was accepted by 7, so we should have stuck with our original plan.

[Anonymous]

Our schools says 8-12
Son (2024) applied to 10, accepted to 9 (this was unexpected)
Daughter 2026 will also apply to 10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2023: 1 ED, 1 Rolling, 1 EA (both safeties). In at all, didn’t have to keep going after ED admit to SLAC.

2025: ED Ivy reach (reject), ED2 T20 reach (deferral), 1 rolling safety and 4 EA Safety (accepted all), 3 EA Target (accept 2, defer 1), 2 EA Reach (defer both)
RD (included deferrals from above): 1 Target (WL), 12 Reach (accepted 3, WL 5, rejected 4)

We classified schools based on their acceptance rates, over 50% was safety, 26-49 was target, and bellow 25 was reach. But all
The reaches on the list were under 20, most under 15%.

Total applications: 22, accepted 11, WL 6, rejected 5

Where did your DC end up going?

Also, looking back at the list, we could and should have cut some of the safeties and some of the reaches. They applied to, I would say, 10 schools with really had no interest or intention of attending. Got into 4 of them (all of the safety/targets, none of the 6 reaches in that group).

Cutting those would leave a list of 12 schools. Of those 12, the stats would have been 2 safeties (accepted 2), 3 targets (accepted 2, WL 1), 7 reaches (accepted 3, WL 3, rejected 1). Total acceptances would have been 7/12.

I think once they got rejected from the ED1 reach school, they and we had a bit of doubt and started adding schools, both “just in case” and “why not” because they had lost of essay variations written and it wasn’t a ton of extra work to do so.

This is easy to say in hindsight though. When you are in it, it’s hard to not add a school because you don’t know what the outcome will be and you want your kid to have choices. We could afford the application fees, so we said okay when they suggested adding a school and they said okay when we suggested adding one.

We are all happy with the outcome, and they are excited to start in a few weeks.

This. Admissions is unpredictable. Having choices is our goal. At my child’s school there isn’t a lot of Naviance data on many of the schools they are applying to, so they must cast a wide net.

Same. Glad they applied to 20+ schools bc of this. It wasn't that hard or that much more work.

How can it not be a lot more work? Most of these colleges have 2-6 essays each. Adding 5 colleges means 10-30 more essays.

The essays are generally across a few topics and once you have one essay for that topic you can very easily adapt it to a similar topic at another school. For example:
“Why major” and “why school” sometimes this was one essay covering both but at a few it was 2 shorter essays separated out.
“Diversity”
“Community”
“Adversity”
Once you have an essay for these topics you can adapt them to be longer, shorter, and/or more specific to a school as needed.