How/When did you know what school to ED to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a junior and I can't believe he'll have enough info to ED in under a year.

We've seen a few colleges and will spend more weekends and all of Spring Break looking. I like the olden days when you also get an accepted weekend, etc to decide. Now it seems like game is to ED somewhere. Are kids confident enough btw junior and senior year? Or is ED for kids who have always known they wanted XYZ college?

You don’t. Your child does. Your only responsibility is to help your child understand what you can actually afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a different perspective: we picked a school and encouraged our kid to ED there. It was the only school he toured officially in person (pandemic restrictions, -only an outside tour.) The school met his criteria, which were fairly minimal, and ours which were more specific. It was also the most selective school that we thought he had a reasonable chance of admissions, and one where ED made a big difference in the odds. He got in and two years later he loves the school and is doing really well academically.

This sounds painfully practical and probably was only possible with a very easy-going kid. But I really think one of the many problems with our college admissions process is that it is treated like a teenage romance novel when it is really an economic and strategic decision. My second kid will be much less easily persuaded but we're making sure he understands that there's no such thing as a "dream school" and that fixating your 16/17/18yo brain on one option in such an irrational process does not set you up for success.

This is an interesting perspective. Thank you for sharing. I can definitely see that our process has been less pragmatic and more emotional. My kid is a junior, so no decisions have been made.

[Anonymous]

I'm hoping my junior has more clarity by next fall. Current favorite colleges include on with no ED and a sub-10 acceptance rate and one with ED with a sub-15 acceptance rate. My junior has a list of about 5-6 schools right now where they would likely apply, but the one w/o ED complicates things. I hope things become more clear in the next year. I actually don't like ED at all, but it seems to be part of the process that can't be ignored. Also, I wonder if my perception is skewed by DCUM. When I checked out the class admits IG page last year, a lot of kids weren't selecting until late in the year. Maybe ED isn't as huge as it sometimes feels.

[Anonymous]

Applied ED to the university which was top ranked for intended major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a different perspective: we picked a school and encouraged our kid to ED there. It was the only school he toured officially in person (pandemic restrictions, -only an outside tour.) The school met his criteria, which were fairly minimal, and ours which were more specific. It was also the most selective school that we thought he had a reasonable chance of admissions, and one where ED made a big difference in the odds. He got in and two years later he loves the school and is doing really well academically.

This sounds painfully practical and probably was only possible with a very easy-going kid. But I really think one of the many problems with our college admissions process is that it is treated like a teenage romance novel when it is really an economic and strategic decision. My second kid will be much less easily persuaded but we're making sure he understands that there's no such thing as a "dream school" and that fixating your 16/17/18yo brain on one option in such an irrational process does not set you up for success.

I’m the PP whose kid didn’t ED bc she didn’t want to pretend. I like what you say here, and although the conclusion/action was different from my kid, the two stories feel like flip sides of the same experience — maybe bc a lot of the emotion has been removed from the decision. It does feel like there’s a lot of pressure for kids to fall in “love” with one school.

[Anonymous]

So what do you do if your kid has been fed the idea of a "dream school" from every direction?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm hoping my junior has more clarity by next fall. Current favorite colleges include on with no ED and a sub-10 acceptance rate and one with ED with a sub-15 acceptance rate. My junior has a list of about 5-6 schools right now where they would likely apply, but the one w/o ED complicates things. I hope things become more clear in the next year. I actually don't like ED at all, but it seems to be part of the process that can't be ignored. Also, I wonder if my perception is skewed by DCUM. When I checked out the class admits IG page last year, a lot of kids weren't selecting until late in the year. Maybe ED isn't as huge as it sometimes feels.

I would visit these two schools asap. He will definitely get more clear after a visit. There are only a handful of schools that have a sub ten acceptance rate without ED, my DC is at one of them. Forgoing ED absolutely changes the application game plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm hoping my junior has more clarity by next fall. Current favorite colleges include on with no ED and a sub-10 acceptance rate and one with ED with a sub-15 acceptance rate. My junior has a list of about 5-6 schools right now where they would likely apply, but the one w/o ED complicates things. I hope things become more clear in the next year. I actually don't like ED at all, but it seems to be part of the process that can't be ignored. Also, I wonder if my perception is skewed by DCUM. When I checked out the class admits IG page last year, a lot of kids weren't selecting until late in the year. Maybe ED isn't as huge as it sometimes feels.

I would visit these two schools asap. He will definitely get more clear after a visit. There are only a handful of schools that have a sub ten acceptance rate without ED, my DC is at one of them. Forgoing ED absolutely changes the application game plan.

We did visit the no-ED school (in California). That's the problem. :p

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm hoping my junior has more clarity by next fall. Current favorite colleges include on with no ED and a sub-10 acceptance rate and one with ED with a sub-15 acceptance rate. My junior has a list of about 5-6 schools right now where they would likely apply, but the one w/o ED complicates things. I hope things become more clear in the next year. I actually don't like ED at all, but it seems to be part of the process that can't be ignored. Also, I wonder if my perception is skewed by DCUM. When I checked out the class admits IG page last year, a lot of kids weren't selecting until late in the year. Maybe ED isn't as huge as it sometimes feels.

I would visit these two schools asap. He will definitely get more clear after a visit. There are only a handful of schools that have a sub ten acceptance rate without ED, my DC is at one of them. Forgoing ED absolutely changes the application game plan.

We did visit the no-ED school (in California). That's the problem. :p

Oh Damn, yup my DC is in CA, I fully understand! Good luck!

[Anonymous]

My oldest had a top school, but we weren't sure how FA would shake out, so she applied RD to that and several others and did very well. At the top tier, ED isn't really a big boost at most schools. It is for some and for many LACs, though. DD did well at T15 in RD but not at LACs.

This year, younger sib will apply ED to same school older sib chose. They have had lts of opportunities to visit and meet students and faculty in field of study, and we know what FA will be there. They also have several EA apps in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a junior and I can't believe he'll have enough info to ED in under a year.

We've seen a few colleges and will spend more weekends and all of Spring Break looking. I like the olden days when you also get an accepted weekend, etc to decide. Now it seems like game is to ED somewhere. Are kids confident enough btw junior and senior year? Or is ED for kids who have always known they wanted XYZ college?

You don’t. Your child does. Your only responsibility is to help your child understand what you can actually afford.

DP. You have a very limited view of parenting which is fine, but save that for a parenting forum. Your chiding is out of scope and annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what do you do if your kid has been fed the idea of a "dream school" from every direction?

Talk them out of it. Do everything you can.

My kid's "dream school" was of their own making, and I tried everything to talk them out of out it. Now they've applied EA and will learn of their rejection in a month or so, and it'll be a struggle to get them to choose another school.

[Anonymous]

We visited 14 schools, a crazy number, and dc meanwhile was looking at schools online, and one of those bubbled up to ED2 spot this August/September of senior year and then we visited and now it's dc's ED1 choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm hoping my junior has more clarity by next fall. Current favorite colleges include on with no ED and a sub-10 acceptance rate and one with ED with a sub-15 acceptance rate. My junior has a list of about 5-6 schools right now where they would likely apply, but the one w/o ED complicates things. I hope things become more clear in the next year. I actually don't like ED at all, but it seems to be part of the process that can't be ignored. Also, I wonder if my perception is skewed by DCUM. When I checked out the class admits IG page last year, a lot of kids weren't selecting until late in the year. Maybe ED isn't as huge as it sometimes feels.

The etiquette at our school is not to announce on the class IG until after decisions are out in April—so there’s no way to tell from the class IG who ED’d (a lot do). But also, many kids I know didn’t get into their ED last year.

It’s okay to decide senior fall. Kids and their preferences change a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm hoping my junior has more clarity by next fall. Current favorite colleges include on with no ED and a sub-10 acceptance rate and one with ED with a sub-15 acceptance rate. My junior has a list of about 5-6 schools right now where they would likely apply, but the one w/o ED complicates things. I hope things become more clear in the next year. I actually don't like ED at all, but it seems to be part of the process that can't be ignored. Also, I wonder if my perception is skewed by DCUM. When I checked out the class admits IG page last year, a lot of kids weren't selecting until late in the year. Maybe ED isn't as huge as it sometimes feels.

The etiquette at our school is not to announce on the class IG until after decisions are out in April—so there’s no way to tell from the class IG who ED’d (a lot do). But also, many kids I know didn’t get into their ED last year.

It’s okay to decide senior fall. Kids and their preferences change a lot.

Surely they know anyway.