As a parent of a rising senior, I am completely paralysed.
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Anonymous
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This thread is sad.
Not one person, or even the OP, asked where the young man wants to go. I guarantee he has a favorite college, and it's probably not Harvard or Yale, probably not close. Maybe it's clutch-the-pearls the state flagship he already knows peers at and he could easily get into. For shame! But a nutty status-obsessed striver mom has to blow this entire process so out of proportion that she admits she's popping pills. The young man is nearly 18 years old, has strong stats, and has a full-time job. There's nothing for you to obsess over. It's not difficult for a self-motivated teen to apply to college, especially if you're UMC as no need for financial aid forms cuts off about 75% of the app paperwork. He'll get in somewhere good to great and you'll (hopefully) look back at this and your unhealthy sad obsession with bragging rights and status with embarrassment and shame. |
Anonymous
| First step is not to delude yourself that your son is special or unique, he's just a dime a dozen UMC overachiever, of which there are easily 100,000 12th grades like him across U.S. Unless your kid is an orphan, minority, legacy and/or you're multi-millionaires, don't waste your time applying to top 20 colleges. Apply to the state flagship the first week the app opens, gun for scholarships and the honors program, and be done with it. |
Anonymous
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See a big school a small school a city school a suburban school.
Don’t do real visits until you are accepted. |
Anonymous
| Look at college vine |
Anonymous
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Hop over to college confidential where there are already some applicants in CS asking readers to chance them, or estimate their chances of getting into various colleges. You’ll probably be able to stack your child’s stats against the posted applicants. If you have some extra time read Jeff Selingo(sp?) book on the college application process. It may make it more transparent to you what happens.
Best of luck to you, your son worked hard all these years. |
Anonymous
PP, you know what? First of all, thank you so much for coming on this thread on page 3 and not before. It is a clear signal that a hefty chunk of good advice has already been posted. Now, I have some to-dos and some food for thought. Calling me a "nutty status-obsessed striver mom" is like a warm embrace of acceptance that I am indeed a DMV/DCUM native having a perfectly normal DMV/DCUM freakout and totally deserving of not being handled with care. 😘 |
Anonymous
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Budget first. You said UMD so that’s good for CS. For MD that is all I can think of in- state. I’m sure Townson has as well but not maybe his caliber?
Univ of Delaware was good. Obviously Va Tech and GMU for OOS. Carnegie Mellon if really smart and can get aid. Pitt as alternative. 7 schools right there! |
Anonymous
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I really appreciate all of you taking the time to give your honest feedback and opinion.
Many many thanks. - OP |
Anonymous
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The most important thing is to write all the essays this summer- easier said than done. I had a high stats kid who took 7 APs senior year and I knew it would be difficult to do in school year. Write supplementals too. Have someone else (beside you) review the essays. It’s amazing what a non immediate family member can offer.
We looked at College Confidential to see how much merit aid we would potentially get at safety schools. Common Data Set is a great resources too as it provides SAT scores, acceptance rates, retention rates etc. We are in Maryland too and I really wanted to like UMBC but their retention is bad. Defenders will say that’s because it’s still partially a commuter college. The problem with being a high stats kid is that your kid will likely get into some elite schools with BIG price tags. If you don’t want to spend a fortune and won’t qualify got aid don’t apply. It’s so much harder to turn down Yale with an acceptance in hand. Most flagship universities are like Costco for most students. Look for ones where you kid will likely be in a special program. I don’t think going to a school ranked 30 or 60 is going to make much of a difference. If your kid wants individualized attention, try a less SLAC where they give high merit aid to high fliers. It’s super stressful- good luck! |
Anonymous
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Be sure to try to nail down preferences in terms of size (big, medium, small) setting (rural, urban, suburban) and location (New England, Mid Atlantic, South, Midwest etc)
Does your kid want to be at a place where things like school spirit, big time college sports etc is important, or not at all? there is a spectrum. Think about quality of life issues almost separate from the academics, because that will cut a list down in short order. |
Anonymous
| We started college tours informally to reduce the stress. If we happened to be in a place with a college we would just walk around campus. Get a sense for big, small, urban, rural, etc. |
Anonymous
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1- Buy books to educate yourself on the college application process like Fisk Guide with good college descriptions and College Admissions Essentials by Ethan Sawyer.
2- If you can swing this financially (my guess: $500), and I suspect I think you can since you said you can pay for instate college without aid, I would book a 1–2 hour college counseling session at a place like Prep Matters so they can give you an overview and “to do” lists/timelines. They have lots of free resources on their website and even offer some info sessions. 3- If you can’t swing that financially, Have your son set up an appointment with his hs guidance counselor with you to be in attendance to get some guidance and resources. |
Anonymous
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I think you all are making it way too complicated.
I am telling you, go check out collegevine.com. |
Anonymous
Schools have early decision (ED) deadlines vs regular deadlines too I think. Pros cons anyone? I would hire coach or consultant. |
Anonymous
Understand that if you apply ED, you kid has to attend that school if accepted. So only do that if he is sure and you can afford it. |