Lessons learned: 2025-2026

[Anonymous]

When making a list of safety, target, and reach schools, make sure the safety schools are indeed safety schools academically AND financially! If a school is a safety academically but a reach financially (and vice-versa), put that school under the "reach" column to temper expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't feel pressured to apply anywhere ED1 or ED2. EA, REA and rolling admission are all great options.


Don't apply to 3+ safeties. 2 safeties that your DC would be happy to attend is sufficient.

Too many applications leads to burnout.

Take a trip with your DC that is not college related just to have fun, even if it's only for a long weekend 1:1 and bond and tell them you love them and are proud of them while you are waiting for decisions.

Agree.

Firmly disagree. Once you’ve completed the common app, another safety school costs nothing but the application fee. A deluge of rejections feels miserable. Apply to 1 safety for every reach.

Agree with this on the deluge of rejections. I think having a bunch of early YESes makes the process feel better.

Different strokes.

My kids didn’t do any early to just get yesss. Or early acceptances. They didn’t want to really go to any of those schools.

Both had their first acceptance EA UVA. and then more good news.

We wasted so much $ on extra RD safety/targets for our 2024. My 2026 applied to far less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't feel pressured to apply anywhere ED1 or ED2. EA, REA and rolling admission are all great options.


Don't apply to 3+ safeties. 2 safeties that your DC would be happy to attend is sufficient.

Too many applications leads to burnout.

Take a trip with your DC that is not college related just to have fun, even if it's only for a long weekend 1:1 and bond and tell them you love them and are proud of them while you are waiting for decisions.

Agree.

Firmly disagree. Once you’ve completed the common app, another safety school costs nothing but the application fee. A deluge of rejections feels miserable. Apply to 1 safety for every reach.

I disagree. My child spent about $600 on 6 safeties (Vermont, Clemson, Pitt, UGA, Wisconsin, etc) and wish they had stopped at Pitt and called it a day. There was just no point and wasted our money and their time and the admission's person time. Plus it cluttered up the field for classmates who really wanted to attend those schools. My kid ended up wit a LOT of rejections in RD but the safety admits didn't really ameliorate this at all..... getting into UGA didn't make them feel better about being rejected form Dartmouth or Penn

NP. I disagree. Getting the early merit $$$ admits from Pitt, Case, Vermont, CU-Boulder and Elon showed DC they had a very compelling app. So when deferred from their private T20 ED1, they DID NOT ED2. Instead, doubled down on RD reach - and ended up getting into 4 T20.

It was well worth it as a "sign" and for confidence. DC felt extremely good about the process and had high self-esteem. Even with multiple March rejections.....

Disagree again. My kid got early merit from Clemson, UGA, Pitt and Vermont (pretty much 25-50% off at each). Never got into their ED1 (Dartmouth) and ended up with only 2 top25 schools in RD and rejected/waitlisted from a dozen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't feel pressured to apply anywhere ED1 or ED2. EA, REA and rolling admission are all great options.


Don't apply to 3+ safeties. 2 safeties that your DC would be happy to attend is sufficient.

Too many applications leads to burnout.

Take a trip with your DC that is not college related just to have fun, even if it's only for a long weekend 1:1 and bond and tell them you love them and are proud of them while you are waiting for decisions.

Agree.

Firmly disagree. Once you’ve completed the common app, another safety school costs nothing but the application fee. A deluge of rejections feels miserable. Apply to 1 safety for every reach.

I disagree. My child spent about $600 on 6 safeties (Vermont, Clemson, Pitt, UGA, Wisconsin, etc) and wish they had stopped at Pitt and called it a day. There was just no point and wasted our money and their time and the admission's person time. Plus it cluttered up the field for classmates who really wanted to attend those schools. My kid ended up wit a LOT of rejections in RD but the safety admits didn't really ameliorate this at all..... getting into UGA didn't make them feel better about being rejected form Dartmouth or Penn

NP. I disagree. Getting the early merit $$$ admits from Pitt, Case, Vermont, CU-Boulder and Elon showed DC they had a very compelling app. So when deferred from their private T20 ED1, they DID NOT ED2. Instead, doubled down on RD reach - and ended up getting into 4 T20.

It was well worth it as a "sign" and for confidence. DC felt extremely good about the process and had high self-esteem. Even with multiple March rejections.....

Disagree again. My kid got early merit from Clemson, UGA, Pitt and Vermont (pretty much 25-50% off at each). Never got into their ED1 (Dartmouth) and ended up with only 2 top25 schools in RD and rejected/waitlisted from a dozen.

So they had 6 acceptances, 12 rejections/waitlists, and went to a T25? The T25 is an objectively good end result, but even from your comment it sounds like all the rejection was pretty hard to take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't feel pressured to apply anywhere ED1 or ED2. EA, REA and rolling admission are all great options.


Don't apply to 3+ safeties. 2 safeties that your DC would be happy to attend is sufficient.

Too many applications leads to burnout.

Take a trip with your DC that is not college related just to have fun, even if it's only for a long weekend 1:1 and bond and tell them you love them and are proud of them while you are waiting for decisions.

Agree.

Firmly disagree. Once you’ve completed the common app, another safety school costs nothing but the application fee. A deluge of rejections feels miserable. Apply to 1 safety for every reach.

I disagree. My child spent about $600 on 6 safeties (Vermont, Clemson, Pitt, UGA, Wisconsin, etc) and wish they had stopped at Pitt and called it a day. There was just no point and wasted our money and their time and the admission's person time. Plus it cluttered up the field for classmates who really wanted to attend those schools. My kid ended up wit a LOT of rejections in RD but the safety admits didn't really ameliorate this at all..... getting into UGA didn't make them feel better about being rejected form Dartmouth or Penn

NP. I disagree. Getting the early merit $$$ admits from Pitt, Case, Vermont, CU-Boulder and Elon showed DC they had a very compelling app. So when deferred from their private T20 ED1, they DID NOT ED2. Instead, doubled down on RD reach - and ended up getting into 4 T20.

It was well worth it as a "sign" and for confidence. DC felt extremely good about the process and had high self-esteem. Even with multiple March rejections.....

Disagree again. My kid got early merit from Clemson, UGA, Pitt and Vermont (pretty much 25-50% off at each). Never got into their ED1 (Dartmouth) and ended up with only 2 top25 schools in RD and rejected/waitlisted from a dozen.

Early merit like that is usually because of strength of application esp for major. What major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't feel pressured to apply anywhere ED1 or ED2. EA, REA and rolling admission are all great options.


Don't apply to 3+ safeties. 2 safeties that your DC would be happy to attend is sufficient.

Too many applications leads to burnout.

Take a trip with your DC that is not college related just to have fun, even if it's only for a long weekend 1:1 and bond and tell them you love them and are proud of them while you are waiting for decisions.

Agree.

Firmly disagree. Once you’ve completed the common app, another safety school costs nothing but the application fee. A deluge of rejections feels miserable. Apply to 1 safety for every reach.

I disagree. My child spent about $600 on 6 safeties (Vermont, Clemson, Pitt, UGA, Wisconsin, etc) and wish they had stopped at Pitt and called it a day. There was just no point and wasted our money and their time and the admission's person time. Plus it cluttered up the field for classmates who really wanted to attend those schools. My kid ended up wit a LOT of rejections in RD but the safety admits didn't really ameliorate this at all..... getting into UGA didn't make them feel better about being rejected form Dartmouth or Penn

NP. I disagree. Getting the early merit $$$ admits from Pitt, Case, Vermont, CU-Boulder and Elon showed DC they had a very compelling app. So when deferred from their private T20 ED1, they DID NOT ED2. Instead, doubled down on RD reach - and ended up getting into 4 T20.

It was well worth it as a "sign" and for confidence. DC felt extremely good about the process and had high self-esteem. Even with multiple March rejections.....

Disagree again. My kid got early merit from Clemson, UGA, Pitt and Vermont (pretty much 25-50% off at each). Never got into their ED1 (Dartmouth) and ended up with only 2 top25 schools in RD and rejected/waitlisted from a dozen.

Early merit like that is usually because of strength of application esp for major. What major?

Merit from these four schools definitely does not mean anything with respect to T20. They offer merit to most halfway decent admitted applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't feel pressured to apply anywhere ED1 or ED2. EA, REA and rolling admission are all great options.


Don't apply to 3+ safeties. 2 safeties that your DC would be happy to attend is sufficient.

Too many applications leads to burnout.

Take a trip with your DC that is not college related just to have fun, even if it's only for a long weekend 1:1 and bond and tell them you love them and are proud of them while you are waiting for decisions.

Agree.

Firmly disagree. Once you’ve completed the common app, another safety school costs nothing but the application fee. A deluge of rejections feels miserable. Apply to 1 safety for every reach.

I disagree. My child spent about $600 on 6 safeties (Vermont, Clemson, Pitt, UGA, Wisconsin, etc) and wish they had stopped at Pitt and called it a day. There was just no point and wasted our money and their time and the admission's person time. Plus it cluttered up the field for classmates who really wanted to attend those schools. My kid ended up wit a LOT of rejections in RD but the safety admits didn't really ameliorate this at all..... getting into UGA didn't make them feel better about being rejected form Dartmouth or Penn

NP. I disagree. Getting the early merit $$$ admits from Pitt, Case, Vermont, CU-Boulder and Elon showed DC they had a very compelling app. So when deferred from their private T20 ED1, they DID NOT ED2. Instead, doubled down on RD reach - and ended up getting into 4 T20.

It was well worth it as a "sign" and for confidence. DC felt extremely good about the process and had high self-esteem. Even with multiple March rejections.....

Disagree again. My kid got early merit from Clemson, UGA, Pitt and Vermont (pretty much 25-50% off at each). Never got into their ED1 (Dartmouth) and ended up with only 2 top25 schools in RD and rejected/waitlisted from a dozen.

Early merit like that is usually because of strength of application esp for major. What major?

Merit from these four schools definitely does not mean anything with respect to T20. They offer merit to most halfway decent admitted applicants.

I'm that poster and I agree. It meant very little in our case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Literally everyone here will tell you not to ED to WASP if not FGLI or recruited athlete.
But non hooked regular smart kids get in ED. If it’s the first choice, and kid is competitive, don’t discourage from EDing

Agreed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Literally everyone here will tell you not to ED to WASP if not FGLI or recruited athlete.
But non hooked regular smart kids get in ED. If it’s the first choice, and kid is competitive, don’t discourage from EDing

Agreed!

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