How many colleges will your senior apply?

[Anonymous]

Definitely good to get some of those safety/early schools in. My friend's kid did her research and really liked Penn State as a safety through EA. After her acceptance, she was really relaxed and though about all the benefits of going there over other, more highly ranked schools.

She ended up at one of those other schools, but honestly I think she would have been happy at Penn State.

[Anonymous]

2 EA's and 1 ED.

With 5 others in the wings if ED2/RD is needed. Applicant is more than happy with the EA options so it may end up being just the 3.

[Anonymous]

I suggest narrowing the search and not applying to so many.

2019 Senior - applied to 8, accepted into 7 and he was totally overwhelmed with deciding.
2021 Senior - applied to 4, accepted into 3. He new right away which one he wanted, very happy two weeks in (still so early).

[Anonymous]

DS applied to 2 (one ED and one EA), got into ED in December.

DD applied to 6 (one ED, 4 EA, 1 RD), got into ED in December. Got into two EA schools before pulling the rest of the apps. Worked out well, the ED was a long shot, and she was happy she knew she would have been able to get into one of those 2 EAs schools that accepted her worst case and both were top choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hoping to do one ED and be done. If not there are maybe 9 others DC would apply to.

Same

Well actually he’s going to do ED2 if ED1 doesn’t pan out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year there were quite a few folks who applied to 20+ schools.

In our little Fairfax neighborhood, we had a kid who applied to 25 schools (2 doctor family, so full pay). That kid is now at JMU, so go figure.

My kid only applied to 7 schools. In hindsight, he should have applied to maybe 2-3 more schools because of the potential risk for not getting into a preferred choice, but he is now at his first choice school so it didn't matter in the end.

BTW, really recommend applying to a rolling admission school in September/October. It really takes the edge off the process.

Was your DC open to this? Did the first choice school @ all compare to the rolling admission (size, location, etc)? DC is dragging feet on doing this as it seems most rolling admissions are large universities and DC wants a small LAC. Love any insights/suggestions. GL to your DC in college!

[Anonymous]

People who apply to tons of schools seem to apply to a lot of safeties with low admission requirements (and thus, a low bar for essays) or too many highly-ranked schools with rigorous essay reviews. The result is lots of acceptances at schools kids don’t really want to attend and rejections from those they do. It’s much better to select a few (no more than 5 or 6) schools across the selectivity spectrum and file quality applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year there were quite a few folks who applied to 20+ schools.

In our little Fairfax neighborhood, we had a kid who applied to 25 schools (2 doctor family, so full pay). That kid is now at JMU, so go figure.

My kid only applied to 7 schools. In hindsight, he should have applied to maybe 2-3 more schools because of the potential risk for not getting into a preferred choice, but he is now at his first choice school so it didn't matter in the end.

BTW, really recommend applying to a rolling admission school in September/October. It really takes the edge off the process.

Was your DC open to this? Did the first choice school @ all compare to the rolling admission (size, location, etc)? DC is dragging feet on doing this as it seems most rolling admissions are large universities and DC wants a small LAC. Love any insights/suggestions. GL to your DC in college!

The rolling schools are typically larger but we did find some LACs were notifying EA very early. My DS got accepted to the College of Wooster on Dec 11, the same day he heard from UVA ED. My DD was accepted to St. Lawrence in early January. So now they are not rolling, but some LACs will notify earlier than most EA schools and well in advance of RD schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year there were quite a few folks who applied to 20+ schools.

In our little Fairfax neighborhood, we had a kid who applied to 25 schools (2 doctor family, so full pay). That kid is now at JMU, so go figure.

My kid only applied to 7 schools. In hindsight, he should have applied to maybe 2-3 more schools because of the potential risk for not getting into a preferred choice, but he is now at his first choice school so it didn't matter in the end.

BTW, really recommend applying to a rolling admission school in September/October. It really takes the edge off the process.

Was your DC open to this? Did the first choice school @ all compare to the rolling admission (size, location, etc)? DC is dragging feet on doing this as it seems most rolling admissions are large universities and DC wants a small LAC. Love any insights/suggestions. GL to your DC in college!

The rolling schools are typically larger but we did find some LACs were notifying EA very early. My DS got accepted to the College of Wooster on Dec 11, the same day he heard from UVA ED. My DD was accepted to St. Lawrence in early January. So now they are not rolling, but some LACs will notify earlier than most EA schools and well in advance of RD schools.

Thanks for your helpful response. DC flat out resisting looking at safeties similar to targets/reaches. Still working on it.

[Anonymous]

I think it is hard for high stat kids who don't have a clear hook. Every school comes up as a match - but you know there is so much luck involved. They want to apply to the handful they really want to go to, find some schools in the 25-30 that won't yield protect them, and then some safeties (their state school, less selective SLACs) - you can get to 10+ pretty quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is hard for high stat kids who don't have a clear hook. Every school comes up as a match - but you know there is so much luck involved. They want to apply to the handful they really want to go to, find some schools in the 25-30 that won't yield protect them, and then some safeties (their state school, less selective SLACs) - you can get to 10+ pretty quickly.

Definitely. Ignore people saying it’s too many if you’re in this category.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is hard for high stat kids who don't have a clear hook. Every school comes up as a match - but you know there is so much luck involved. They want to apply to the handful they really want to go to, find some schools in the 25-30 that won't yield protect them, and then some safeties (their state school, less selective SLACs) - you can get to 10+ pretty quickly.

Especially if that kid has great scores and wants a SLAC. The odds are low, but not zero, so why not Apply to Carleton, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Heverford, Bowdoin, Swarthmore.... A kid happy at one will likely be happy at any. That kid will still need matches, so add anther 3 and safeties, so a few more

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is hard for high stat kids who don't have a clear hook. Every school comes up as a match - but you know there is so much luck involved. They want to apply to the handful they really want to go to, find some schools in the 25-30 that won't yield protect them, and then some safeties (their state school, less selective SLACs) - you can get to 10+ pretty quickly.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is hard for high stat kids who don't have a clear hook. Every school comes up as a match - but you know there is so much luck involved. They want to apply to the handful they really want to go to, find some schools in the 25-30 that won't yield protect them, and then some safeties (their state school, less selective SLACs) - you can get to 10+ pretty quickly.

Especially if that kid has great scores and wants a SLAC. The odds are low, but not zero, so why not Apply to Carleton, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Heverford, Bowdoin, Swarthmore.... A kid happy at one will likely be happy at any. That kid will still need matches, so add anther 3 and safeties, so a few more

So...what are the safeties for kids in this category? What schools won't yield protect? DC is legacy at one of these schools, but that may not be enough of a hook these days. DC has a set of matches, but the safety is not so clear - worried that DC may be over generous with what DC is considering a safety and that it may be a match, then worried about yield protect. Blah blah blah.

Grateful for any concrete suggestions or what to look for in admit rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is hard for high stat kids who don't have a clear hook. Every school comes up as a match - but you know there is so much luck involved. They want to apply to the handful they really want to go to, find some schools in the 25-30 that won't yield protect them, and then some safeties (their state school, less selective SLACs) - you can get to 10+ pretty quickly.

Especially if that kid has great scores and wants a SLAC. The odds are low, but not zero, so why not Apply to Carleton, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Heverford, Bowdoin, Swarthmore.... A kid happy at one will likely be happy at any. That kid will still need matches, so add anther 3 and safeties, so a few more

So...what are the safeties for kids in this category? What schools won't yield protect? DC is legacy at one of these schools, but that may not be enough of a hook these days. DC has a set of matches, but the safety is not so clear - worried that DC may be over generous with what DC is considering a safety and that it may be a match, then worried about yield protect. Blah blah blah.

Grateful for any concrete suggestions or what to look for in admit rate.

My child applied to seven competitive SLACs (five of the ones on PP's list, plus two more). Applied to state school plus two safeties (EA) from this larger list: Allegheny, Beloit, Earlham, Hendrix, Juniata, Kalamazoo, Knox, Lawrence, Muhlenberg, Wooster. Did get into both safeties with merit aid.