Anyone’s kid apply to more than 20 schools?

[Anonymous]

Acceptance rates go down because more people apply so more people apply to more places due to acceptance rates going down.

So crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup. If you are keen on top 20 and did not succeed w ED, this is what it comes down to. The process sucks.

Exactly. Now you’re forced to shotgun.
26 applications in already here.

Was told by CCO to throw in 4 more with Jan 8-15 deadlines this weekend.

Wtf? Your child doesn’t DESERVE a spot at these schools no matter how much you think he does. If you had more reasonable expectations your kid would be in somewhere already.

I weep for kids and parents like this. I can’t even imagine.

*cue parents jumping in to declare it’s all kid driven and they have nothing to do with it…*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1550 / 3.9 GPA - rejected in ED round.

Total ~30 Colleges

10 focused with will written essays
10 mix of safety & target where essays are not required, such as Middleburry, Colby etc
10 additional target/ reach where the essays are being recycled

Avoiding colleges that don't favor test scores.

You and your son consider Middlebury and Colby to be a target/safety? I’m assuming these 30 apps are mainly for RD? No wonder he needs to apply to 30 schools!

Yeah, those are no one's targets, especially in RD when most of their classes are already filled! I also thought that the poster made a mistake recycling essays. Schools want to feel special. Fine to somewhat recycle, but there should be some tailoring to each school. Hard to do if 20 apps have supplements. Also, hard to show the love to 30 schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS24 applied to 20. I thought he was crazy at the time in August but I’m so glad he didn’t listen to me. This cycle is a bloodbath. All apps were completed by November 1. Had 4 acceptances with great merit in August- September. 3 more in acceptances in October. One in December. 3 deferrals and waiting on 9 more. Friends who only applied to 5 or less got clobbered and were panic applying over break. He feels really good about his current choices come what may for the others.

Your kid was accepted to seven colleges and you call that a bloodbath!?!?

Is he planning to attend more than one college?

😅🤣😅🤣😂🤣

[Anonymous]

Applied 18
15 EA
2 Rolling
1 RD
Did not do ED
2 waived the application fee. Spent around $1000 on application fees. Spent $450 on college counselor who helped us identify safeties and read the Common App essay and gave feedback.

So far in at 4, 2 deferred, 1 rejection. Happy with the 4 acceptances and scheduling visits, so will quickly decline most of the 11 remaining if offered a spot.

[Anonymous]

I have four kids. Each applied to ONE school ED1 and, thankfully, got in. I can't imagine the stress of applying to several schools. Best wishes to all of you and your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional admissions certainly contributed mightily, but the unpredictability of college admissions had been steadily increasing over the two decades prior to 2020. Other factors include a growing national high school population that is currently peaking, the increased participation of traditionally excluded groups, and the increased awareness of colleges outside one's immediate region (helped by the Internet).

THIS is what has a lot of DCUM parents mad.

Oh please. The unfair advantage to lesser academic/intelligent students because if the fixation on increasing First Gen and URM numbers and the number of students falsifying one or both of those hooks is what has them mad.

If you look at the demographics at most colleges they in no way, shape or form come close to the actual demographics in the US.

Harvard President : enough said

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS24 applied to 20. I thought he was crazy at the time in August but I’m so glad he didn’t listen to me. This cycle is a bloodbath. All apps were completed by November 1. Had 4 acceptances with great merit in August- September. 3 more in acceptances in October. One in December. 3 deferrals and waiting on 9 more. Friends who only applied to 5 or less got clobbered and were panic applying over break. He feels really good about his current choices come what may for the others.

Your kid was accepted to seven colleges and you call that a bloodbath!?!?

Is he planning to attend more than one college?

😅🤣😅🤣😂🤣

Seriously. These people are nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup. If you are keen on top 20 and did not succeed w ED, this is what it comes down to. The process sucks.

Exactly. Now you’re forced to shotgun.
26 applications in already here.

Was told by CCO to throw in 4 more with Jan 8-15 deadlines this weekend.

Wtf? Your child doesn’t DESERVE a spot at these schools no matter how much you think he does. If you had more reasonable expectations your kid would be in somewhere already.

I weep for kids and parents like this. I can’t even imagine.

*cue parents jumping in to declare it’s all kid driven and they have nothing to do with it…*

Kid is already in at a few places.

But it’s true that private school college counseling offices are seeing unexpected ED/EA results for seniors and pivoting real time. Expect this next year as well given population issues. Hopefully better after that time.

Private CCO goal is not to just to get you into any school. It is to get you in to the best school that they can. That is also a good fit for you.

There are many many many schools that are good fit for kids. It’s not a small, narrow set of schools.

[Anonymous]

Oh please. The unfair advantage to lesser academic/intelligent students because if the fixation on increasing First Gen and URM numbers and the number of students falsifying one or both of those hooks is what has them mad. If you look at the demographics at most colleges they in no way, shape or form come close to the actual demographics in the US. Harvard President : enough said

Do you honestly believe the kids getting W/L, deferred and rejected from South Carolina, Auburn, Tennessee, Clemson, TCU and Alabama are "losing spots" to First Gen and URM students? I'm sure there will be more 1st Gen kids to meet the new US News metrics, but these schools will continue to be overwhelmingly white. Asian kids don't even apply to those schools in any significant numbers. So it's the same old problem - 1)people don't do their homework so don't know the difference between reach/target/safety and 2) too many kids applying to the same 50-60 schools and PP's whose kids are applying to 20+, within that same list of schools. Most private schools don't allow that many apps and no experienced counselor would support that approach. Then people like PP create hysteria with their "bloodbath" language even though her DS was accepted to 7-8 schools, so people submit even more apps, and the crazy cycle continues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone gets knocked down a tier. When UW 4.0/35+ACTgreat ACTs are getting denied and deferred EA/ED they start applying to more schools T30-65.

Now kids that normally would get in those schools are getting knocked down a tier and so and so on.

You can’t blame the high stats kids for getting shut out of top schools and reaching down. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

If you curate a good list of reaches, targets and true safeties/likelies, then you do not need to apply to 20+ schools. Just because you have high stats does not mean you should apply to 7-10 T25 schools. Search to find the 3-5 that are an excellent fit, then find 3-5 targets and another 3-5 safeties. That's 9-15 schools at most. Then show demonstrated interest at all of them, but especially your targets and safeties. If you do it correctly, you should get into at least 50% of your targets and 75-100% of your safeties.

My own 1500/3.99UW/9APs/Good EC but not stupendous had it go this way:

ED1 T10, deferred and ultimately rejected (acceptance rate less than 7%)
T30--WL (single digit acceptance rates)
3 T30-50 Accepted
1 T60 Accepted, but go abroad for first year (single digit acceptance rates)
1 T70 Accepted with excellent merit (30% of total costs/year)---Top Safety
Accepted at the other 3 safeties as well

So as my kid says, they were only rejected from 1 school outright.
They are at one of the T30-50 schools, of course the one without any merit, but the one I knew was probably the best fit for my kid from the moment they set foot on campus. Each visit they just lit up and you could see the excitement. So this was actually a better place then their 3 reaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone gets knocked down a tier. When UW 4.0/35+ACTgreat ACTs are getting denied and deferred EA/ED they start applying to more schools T30-65.

Now kids that normally would get in those schools are getting knocked down a tier and so and so on.

You can’t blame the high stats kids for getting shut out of top schools and reaching down. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

If you curate a good list of reaches, targets and true safeties/likelies, then you do not need to apply to 20+ schools. Just because you have high stats does not mean you should apply to 7-10 T25 schools. Search to find the 3-5 that are an excellent fit, then find 3-5 targets and another 3-5 safeties. That's 9-15 schools at most. Then show demonstrated interest at all of them, but especially your targets and safeties. If you do it correctly, you should get into at least 50% of your targets and 75-100% of your safeties.

My own 1500/3.99UW/9APs/Good EC but not stupendous had it go this way:

ED1 T10, deferred and ultimately rejected (acceptance rate less than 7%)
T30--WL (single digit acceptance rates)
3 T30-50 Accepted
1 T60 Accepted, but go abroad for first year (single digit acceptance rates)
1 T70 Accepted with excellent merit (30% of total costs/year)---Top Safety
Accepted at the other 3 safeties as well

So as my kid says, they were only rejected from 1 school outright.
They are at one of the T30-50 schools, of course the one without any merit, but the one I knew was probably the best fit for my kid from the moment they set foot on campus. Each visit they just lit up and you could see the excitement. So this was actually a better place then their 3 reaches.

Your advice is outdated. Things are diff this year.

Glad it worked out IN THE PAST

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS24 applied to 20. I thought he was crazy at the time in August but I’m so glad he didn’t listen to me. This cycle is a bloodbath. All apps were completed by November 1. Had 4 acceptances with great merit in August- September. 3 more in acceptances in October. One in December. 3 deferrals and waiting on 9 more. Friends who only applied to 5 or less got clobbered and were panic applying over break. He feels really good about his current choices come what may for the others.

This is insane. He got accepted to 7 schools by November? So why keep applying to more and more schools? It's a waste of everyone's time and your money. Did he not like any of the 1st SEVEN schools he got into? You're part of what is causing the bloodbath.

Your kids can only go to one school, folks...so they only need to get into ONE school. They need to focus, pick matches and safeties well, and really like those safeties. Aim for 5-10 schools that you genuinely like. This panic of applying to 15+ schools is a big part of what is making it so hard now to get into schools that a kid could have easily gotten into a few years ago. Don't keep feeding the admissions madness.

It’s all these idiots telling everyone to apply to Pitt and such just to have an admit even when no way in hell would their kid go to Pitt.

My kid did not blast a bunch of safeties he never had any intention of going to. He would rather do a gap year.

I never understand those who apply to schools they really don't want to attend.
We only did that with 1 school--because our private counselor "requires" you to have a safety that is within a 6 hour drive from home, just in case you change your mind in the spring and don't want to be far from home (my kid was applying to everything else that was 2-3K miles from home). And I agree with the Counselor on that and think it's good plan. Otherwise, my kid wanted to attend every school on their list. Sure, within their safeties they had a favorite or two. But they would have been happy at even their "lowest safety". Otherwise it's not really a safety.

With their "top safety", it was even in their final 3 contenders, because it was that "good of a school/hidden gem". When their other 2 choices are actually much better schools, my kid was still considering it up until the end. That is how you do it---pick safeties that you will like

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be super curious how things would shake out if they limited apps like they do in the UK, like 10 tops.

BTW, people have mentioned this before and everyone goes nuts - common app does limit apps! -- but no, it doesn't.

I'd also love to see schools go back to requiring tests and also post a minimum for GPA and test scores. I think 10% of apps at high reaches are totally a waste of everyone's time. you have to have a 1200 and a 3.5, cmon people. We can read holistically from there.

Yeah, but what about someone with a 4.0 and 1550? This is my kid and he got rejected ED1. He has a legitimate shot anywhere but might get rejected by all the top schools.

That was my oldest too.

2nd kid applied to over 15 schools just to be safe. When the first batch came back with a deferral and rejection, they added a few more. Once they got their first acceptance, they scaled back.

Having seen the higher stat older sibling end up with an onslaught of waitlists and rejections made us change our approach to applying.

Did those 15 include targets and safeties? Because applying to 15 schools that are high reaches or reaches is like applying to 5 reaches. You need to include targets and safeties.
Anything with an acceptance rate less than 20-25% is a REACH for everyone (unless your parents are ex presidents or named Gates/Bezos/etc)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much randomness, unpredictability, and luck factors in the dumb US system especially with TO.

System is broken.

Not really. If you apply to actual targets and safeties you will be fine. But applying to 15 reaches/high reaches (acceptance rates less than 20%) does not increase your odds of getting an acceptance. You must include targets and safeties