Only applying to 2-3 schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has a major in mind that very few schools offer and none are at the super competitive schools. Their first choice is the most competitive of the bunch and will most likely ED there. Their second choice is a school with rolling admissions and is a true safety which isn't popular with the DCUM crowd. The third choice school would be a local state school which doesn't have the exact major but is major adjacent and is also a safety. There are other schools they could apply to but they would be applying just to apply. Assuming they apply early to the rolling school and get a favorable notification before the ED school, is there a reason to apply to more schools just to apply?

If the student has visited all 3 schools, then there is no need to add additional schools if accepted early.

[Anonymous]

Funny when I look back - I applied to ONE school, got in because it was not overly selective, went there, graduated, went on to grad school, started a career and am happily living my life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Waste of $$.

+100

It takes bravery not to fall into the traps everyone else sets for themselves. I admire your child and your thinking about this.

[Anonymous]

Hey, if DD had VCU at the top of the list, due to the guaranteed admission she’d only be submitting one app! In reality I think there are about 6 schools currently on the list, 2 safeties, 2 (high) matches and 2 reaches. I’d love to see a more reasonable match school but my kid is actually ok with going to NVCC for a year or two and then transferring if that’s what it takes to get where she wants to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My concern would be about limiting themselves to a very specific major. Some high schoolers think they need to have a major that is as specific as possible. In some cases this may be helpful or possibly even necessary, but in others it might be overly limiting.

I'd also make sure that they're applying to schools they'd want to attend even if they switched majors. A lot can change even over the next year, before making a final decision, and it's even more likely for them to change their minds over the next two to three years, once they're taking college classes.

Good advice here.

[Anonymous]

If your child gets in early decision, then it's fine to apply to one. If your child does not get in, I think you might want to apply to a few more. Strange things happen and a "true safety" one year isn't necessarily so the next.

[Anonymous]

We are a lower middle income family and need scholarships and merit aid, so DS has a list of 10 schools to apply to by mid-December, which seems to be the deadline for scholarship consideration at many schools. We want to see what kind of aid packages he’ll end up with.

Our worry is that if he just applies EA/ED to 1-2 schools, he could miss out on aid $$ if he doesn’t get into those schools and then has to apply RD and miss the scholarship deadlines for other options.

If we didn’t need the money and cost wasn’t an issue, we’d prefer the approach that most here are doing of applying to a couple schools early and go wherever he gets in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For what it is worth I was doing well at our state flagship before my parents pressured me into applying to a top 10 school. Somehow I got in and transferred. For the most part it was a big mistake. Looks great on my resume and opened some doors. Just not the doors I was hoping for

Exit doors ?

[Anonymous]

Sounds good.

Only thing popping into my head is to be sure the schools offer a wide enough range of other studies, should your kid change their mind. It happens. Sounds unlikely for yours, but make sure they would like the school even if it didn’t offer this niche major. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

My son was an average student. Applied to 4 schools in Nov - all nice schools. Accepted to 3 in December, 1 WL. All the competitive kids were jealous he was so much less stressed out senior year. He loves his school.

The entire admissions industry is about everyone trying to get in approx 50 schools. If you look outside the top 50-75, there is very little stress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My concern would be about limiting themselves to a very specific major. Some high schoolers think they need to have a major that is as specific as possible. In some cases this may be helpful or possibly even necessary, but in others it might be overly limiting.

I'd also make sure that they're applying to schools they'd want to attend even if they switched majors. A lot can change even over the next year, before making a final decision, and it's even more likely for them to change their minds over the next two to three years, once they're taking college classes.

This. My DD changed her major after one semester.

[Anonymous]

The only reason people apply to so many schools is because they are applying to hard targets and reaches and not even confident of their likelies to come through.

My DC would rather apply to only 2-3 true matches. If she had your scenario she would. It sounds like in your case it makes sense to apply to only 2-3. Good luck and good for your DC! Sounds like a sensible plan.