Helped my daughter apply to 14 colleges. Glad we did and here's why

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much money did that cost??

Not OP but about a third of the colleges my DS applied to have no application fee. And they are top schools

[Anonymous]

Just curious, what top school doesn't have an application fee? I think some Catholic colleges suspend the fee if you are coming from a Catholic high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd has done 7 applications (2 more shortly) and other than paying the application fee, I had nothing to do with them. Never even read them... it's her thing.

+1 = if you want to go to college get yourself in.

Same. Four kids in or through college and one preparing to leave in a year. I had zero to do with the applications, other than writing checks. This is one of my biggest concerns about the future if our country. Parents just cannot let their kids grow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, what top school doesn't have an application fee? I think some Catholic colleges suspend the fee if you are coming from a Catholic high school.

To name a few - Colby, Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We experienced the opposite. My DD applied to 9 schools and felt herself getting burned out by the ninth one. Dozens of supplementals, honor college essays, scholarship essays, etc to write. All on top of a busy schedule and heavy course load at school. Her essays towards the end weren't necessarily worse than her earlier ones, but it wasn't like she was suddenly so much better or much more inspired to write them. She was tired out by the process and was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of money necessary for the whole process (sending test scores, CSS, application fees, etc.) and was frankly more than ready to be done.

I applied to the top 20 colleges and none of the supplements were very extensive. I doubt shitty colleges that require all that writing even read the essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How much money did that cost?

A drop in the bucket compared to the complete picture. Very short sighted when parents whine about this.

No, it's not short sighted it's being over the top and not able to use common sense to slice your list down to at least the top 8. No need to go crazy.

If you are applying to the most highly selective schools those with admissions around 12% and below, you do indeed need to send out more applications that if you are applying to schools in the 50% and higher admissions range. Comparing number applications between the most selective schools and schools with higher admissions stats is like comparing apples to oranges--and I say this as a parent who has kids in both categories.

+1

[Anonymous]

We had the same experience as OP. DD got deferred after applying SCEA, and then got into a bunch of colleges regular decision, because her application essays got better and better as she got into the groove. She did end up going to Yale (no kidding!)

[Anonymous]

Yale's admit rate is under 6%. Unless she is already in EA, you don't know anything. I interview many many lovely kids, almost all of whom could probably succeed at Yale, and almost none of them get in. The common thread on the ones that have gotten in is that they are good at "adulting" - holding conversations, taking care of their own stuff, and having confidence.

So focus on he finding the right place for her, understanding her life is what she makes it, and this college decision will not wind up to be the highlight of her life.

[Anonymous]

PP here whose kid goes to Yale. I agree that being able to "speak adult" helped DD enormously in getting into Yale and a bunch of other highly selective colleges. If your DC is interested in going to a highly selective college, it is very helpful for them to get involved in activities that encourage them to interact in a meaningful way with adults. There are lots of nonprofit or city- or county-based groups that would love to have a teen member.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Odd. My DC applied to 12 schools and his applications were pretty uniform because he worked on all of them before submitting anything. When he polished one, he carried that polishing over to others.

Some kids perform well early, others perform better under the intensity of deadlines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, what top school doesn't have an application fee? I think some Catholic colleges suspend the fee if you are coming from a Catholic high school.

To name a few - Colby, Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin

Yep, they figure more students will apply if free and no extra essay. Then they can reject more applicants, appear more selective and move up the US News rankings. All a game to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odd. My DC applied to 12 schools and his applications were pretty uniform because he worked on all of them before submitting anything. When he polished one, he carried that polishing over to others.

Some kids perform well early, others perform better under the intensity of deadlines.

PP here. My DC is not a super-organized person, to say the least. I helped him organize it this way.

It makes no sense to submit applications that will be improved on later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, what top school doesn't have an application fee? I think some Catholic colleges suspend the fee if you are coming from a Catholic high school.

To name a few - Colby, Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin

Yep, they figure more students will apply if free and no extra essay. Then they can reject more applicants, appear more selective and move up the US News rankings. All a game to them.

All schools are forced to play this game and as long as parents define "top school" as highly ranked on USNWR this will continue. That being said, all of those schools are great places to learn no matter how you define them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much money did that cost??

Not OP but about a third of the colleges my DS applied to have no application fee. And they are top schools

Is this a humblebrag? My DS got some emails about no application fee for some schools, but only for schools that were recruiting him (he's a very good student and these were schools a step below him).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much money did that cost??

Not OP but about a third of the colleges my DS applied to have no application fee. And they are top schools

Is this a humblebrag? My DS got some emails about no application fee for some schools, but only for schools that were recruiting him (he's a very good student and these were schools a step below him).

Not a "humblebrag" and now that you get snarky, it will be a flat out brag since my DS is also a very good student with perfect scores on both the ACT and SAT and received plenty of the emails to which you refer. He didn't bother with those. I'm talking about schools and similar ones listed in 18:38.