Where should DD apply?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where are her friends going? Most kids who have no strong feelings about a particular school end up following siblings or friends. She should consider applying to:

Mom’s alma mater and dad’s
Any uni a sibling attends
Closest big public university (e.g. UVA)

She should also consider applying to a range of other schools to get a feel for what she likes. Apply to a SLAC, a Midwest school like Chicago or Wash U, another big state school like Wisconsin or North Carolina.

It's also possible that she is nervous about the application process (and possible rejection/disappointment) so she's not committing to liking anything, even to her parents and friends. If she has watched friends go through the process this year and seen the roller coaster of emotions and disappointment, she may be practicing some "self protection" with her easy going attitude. My suggestion is the visit some schools and focus on generalities - what did you like about xxx, are you liking the bigger or smaller schools and so forth. Then create a list that has some schools she seems interested in... it does't matter if they are all different. Apply and see what happens. If application fees are an issue, have her pick a reasonable number and go from there, ensuring a mix of safety (real safety) possible and reach schools. For our "easy going" DD who seemed to be all over the place when thinking about school and applying, things became more clear when acceptance, waitlist and decline letters came in.