If your school limits students to 8-10 applications

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the rationale for limiting to 8-10? A cost saving move by the school to limit time spent sending records? Or a desire to make kids think more strategically about their options? Or an equity issue, not everyone can afford to apply to 20 schools? Or something else?

the bolded is the main reason

There is simply no rational reason, for example, to apply to "all the Ivys" - I mean some are urban, others rural, some have very rigid curricular requirements and some are very open. In other words, there are huge differences among the schools, so you have to look under the hood to see what the applicants preferences are.

[Anonymous]

Our school limits at 15, but there are extra fees after 6. Large private not in DC. They originally just had the extra fee, I think because of the extra work by the department. But then everyone started applying to so many schools, they put a cap. Some kids, typically from striver families obsessed with prestige/rank, were doing like 20-25 applications. I think it makes sense. If 20 or 50 kids apply to someplace like BU from our school, we would probably have the same number of acceptances, maybe 10 max. I can imagine at some LACs, they’re only going to accept a few kids from the same school, so the cap helps. Honestly I think a 10 school cap would be better. DS has a safety with a 80%+ acceptance rate he’d be happy to attend, so not worried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school limits at 15, but there are extra fees after 6. Large private not in DC. They originally just had the extra fee, I think because of the extra work by the department. But then everyone started applying to so many schools, they put a cap. Some kids, typically from striver families obsessed with prestige/rank, were doing like 20-25 applications. I think it makes sense. If 20 or 50 kids apply to someplace like BU from our school, we would probably have the same number of acceptances, maybe 10 max. I can imagine at some LACs, they’re only going to accept a few kids from the same school, so the cap helps. Honestly I think a 10 school cap would be better. DS has a safety with a 80%+ acceptance rate he’d be happy to attend, so not worried.

I may be the only one but I find this term offensive. For one reason, it doesn't mean anything, so is a sloppy word. Second, it implies there is something wrong with wanting the best fit for your child. For some kids that may be HYPS or top SLACs. Good for them! You should be happy your school can place some kids. Third, the term is elitist.

[Anonymous]

"striver families"

It's also ignorant about the fact that families without lots of money to throw around need to find good fits that are as affordable as they can be. I suppose you could say they're striving to get the best they can afford for their kid. But families "chasing merit" like this are not looking at the top elite schools above T50. The fact that they apply to both Loyola at New Orleans and Loyola at Chicago is going to have zero impact on the other kids at their high school. But it would enable them to play each school off the other to negotiate a better merit award. That's literally how chasing merit works. You need offers from comparable schools, which rarely can happen if you're limited to 10 overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"striver families"

It's also ignorant about the fact that families without lots of money to throw around need to find good fits that are as affordable as they can be. I suppose you could say they're striving to get the best they can afford for their kid. But families "chasing merit" like this are not looking at the top elite schools above T50. The fact that they apply to both Loyola at New Orleans and Loyola at Chicago is going to have zero impact on the other kids at their high school. But it would enable them to play each school off the other to negotiate a better merit award. That's literally how chasing merit works. You need offers from comparable schools, which rarely can happen if you're limited to 10 overall.

If my student wanted to apply to more than the limit in order to add more not-highly-selective schools in hopes of comparing merit, I would discuss that with the counselor to see if there is any flexibility. It seems like, as PPs have said, that the main reason would be to stop students from doing things like applying to all the Ivys/T10s etc. If you want to apply to a lot of schools that give merit that don't normally get many apps from your school there seems to be no downside for the rest of the student body.

[Anonymous]

10 may have been reasonable before COVID but admissions are so much less predictable now that 12-15 may be more appropriate. My high stats DC wouldn't have ever applied to the school they ended up attending if there had been a 10 school limit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this happens at the elite private high school level, and is important at the elite private high school level. (reminder once again that there are no true elite privates in the DC area)

the top 10 kids at Collegiate or Trinity or Exeter or Brearley can get into every ivy league school. This is a fact. Then add in another 10 kids at each of these schools who are on every top school's D list. They can also get into every ivy league school. The problem is if they were to apply to all these schools and get in, they can only enroll at one school each. 20 kids getting 200 acceptance letter btw them at the very best colleges .. but they turn down180 of them.

This leaves the rest of the class at Trinity and Collegiate etc in a tight spot. All those spots were taken -- and 90% discarded -- by their classmates.

In addition to limiting apps at our private hs, our college counselors will also have a discussion with a student if they get admitted to Princeton (etc) SCEA and decide to throw our a few more applications in RD round. They will say, listen, you're a double legacy at Princeton and your dad is talking about a new building. You've been wearing a Princeton sweatshirt since 4th grade. We had this discussion when you decided to make Princeton your early pick. And now you want to see about Harvard? Okay, but just know you might very well get into Harvard, and in doing so you might very well be taking that seat away from a classmate, and then you might very well decide to go to Princeton anyway. So this move could cause harm. What do you want to do?

And most will not move forward with Harvard. This is a scenario that is talked about during the very first college presentation that is given to parents by the school. It's presented positively, "The student is almost always shocked -- they wouldn't dream of hurting a peer's chances! - so they stick with their EA choice". It's made very clear there is no hoarding allowed.

And this is how 40% of Brearley (etc) end up at Ivies + Stanford + MIT

Wrong. That is not a fact--it is simply your belief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10 may have been reasonable before COVID but admissions are so much less predictable now that 12-15 may be more appropriate. My high stats DC wouldn't have ever applied to the school they ended up attending if there had been a 10 school limit.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"striver families"

It's also ignorant about the fact that families without lots of money to throw around need to find good fits that are as affordable as they can be. I suppose you could say they're striving to get the best they can afford for their kid. But families "chasing merit" like this are not looking at the top elite schools above T50. The fact that they apply to both Loyola at New Orleans and Loyola at Chicago is going to have zero impact on the other kids at their high school. But it would enable them to play each school off the other to negotiate a better merit award. That's literally how chasing merit works. You need offers from comparable schools, which rarely can happen if you're limited to 10 overall.

I’m the one you’re responding to that’s talking about striver families. I said my kid goes to private school - it’s around 40k a year and maybe 20% of the class gets financial aid. The kids who were applying to 20-25 schools were not merit shopping. They were prestigious or bust. The good flagship wasn’t good enough for them, but mostly their parents. The school sends a decent amount to the flagship school and that’s where kids often end up if they’re getting aid and are price conscious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are thoughtful about your list and not shotgunning a bunch of reach school there's really no need to apply to more than 8-10 schools.

^ This, in spades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s no reason a kid should be applying to all the ivies. Dartmouth and Penn, both? No.

Limiting apps pushes kids to take a closer look.

That's for the student and their parents to decide, not the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are thoughtful about your list and not shotgunning a bunch of reach school there's really no need to apply to more than 8-10 schools.

^ This, in spades.

Whether or not that is true, why should you get to decide that, or any hs administration?

Shouldn't a student and their family be free to make that decision?

/FYI both my kids ED admits so this did not affect us, so no accusations please. But right it right and this is wrong.

[Anonymous]

OMG. How much do each of these applications cost?! Presumably $50-75 per application, right? I love how DCUM doesn't think anything about the application costs. I guess if you have money to burn, your kids don't have to think too hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are thoughtful about your list and not shotgunning a bunch of reach school there's really no need to apply to more than 8-10 schools.

^ This, in spades.

Whether or not that is true, why should you get to decide that, or any hs administration?

Shouldn't a student and their family be free to make that decision?

/FYI both my kids ED admits so this did not affect us, so no accusations please. But right it right and this is wrong.

People are free to not send their kids to GDS or any other private school that does this. Our school encourages finding the right fit and there’s no way all ivies are the right fit. They’re still able to fill the grade, so it’s clearly not a big enough problem for most families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are thoughtful about your list and not shotgunning a bunch of reach school there's really no need to apply to more than 8-10 schools.

^ This, in spades.

Whether or not that is true, why should you get to decide that, or any hs administration?

Shouldn't a student and their family be free to make that decision?

/FYI both my kids ED admits so this did not affect us, so no accusations please. But right it right and this is wrong.

A student and their family are free to enroll in another school that doesn’t have the same limits on college applications. Nobody is forcing them to go to those schools.