How many colleges are kids applying to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. Parent of a junior. I'm assuming those who are applying to 15+ schools are applying to many that have a common application. Cannot imagine writing supplemental essays for 15 schools?

DD split them between Common Application and Coalition Application. Some school are good with either and splitting them amongst the 2 platforms avoids running out of space in just one platform (just in case). Then there are those universities that are just separate like the UCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Planning on 25. Whatever you wanna say about it.

How? 20 common app + 5 uc?

Curious about UC schools. Their radical stance on the SAT (they won't even look at it if you send it) makes the UC application feel more like a crap shoot than any of the others. DD decided not t apply UC as a result. Genuine curiosity, what are you counting on in your application - GPA, extra curricular, demographic group, other?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. Parent of a junior. I'm assuming those who are applying to 15+ schools are applying to many that have a common application. Cannot imagine writing supplemental essays for 15 schools?

This!

[Anonymous]

My daughter was complaining about using the common app to apply for 8 schools. My husband and I each applied to 6 schools in the early 90s using a typewriter! These kids have it easy!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This was probably the biggest surprise for me -- naively, I thought Common App meant just one essay. So far, DD has applied to 6 schools, one ED, 5 EA/rolling. She has written:

1 personal statement (650 words)
1 long supplemental essay (650 words) that she adapted for another supplemental essay (500 words)
7 short supplemental essays (150-250 words)
1 honors college essay (250 words, used for 2 different schools' honors programs)

Depending on how ED goes, she has one more honors college essay (another 500 words) to write for this group of apps. And then if things don't go well with this round, she's looking at several more essays for the next round. It is a LOT. People will say that you can adapt essays for multiple schools, but she did not find that to be true for the most part, as you can see above. Some of the prompts are more general, like the Common App personal statement, but the supplemental essays tended to be pretty specific to each school.

Have your child start working on essays over the summer. DD had her personal statement and most of the long supplemental essay done by the time school started and that helped ease the stress so much.

Same here. 8 applications into the process and DC has not been able to reuse any essay beyond just a high level idea/theme.

[Anonymous]

He started with a list of 11 and decided to eliminate one. Then he got into a couple of places rolling admissions that he would be happy to attend so he dropped another 2 off his list. So he is done, thank goodness.

And yes the essays beyond the common app essay were a lot of work for him on top of regular schoolwork and XC in the Fall. He was really sick of talking about himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. Parent of a junior. I'm assuming those who are applying to 15+ schools are applying to many that have a common application. Cannot imagine writing supplemental essays for 15 schools?

This!

It is not as hard as you think. There are common themes. After 5 schools it becomes repetitive.

[Anonymous]

13-15

3 done -- 1 SCEA, 1 state EA, 1 Oxbridge

1 in process (would have applied EA, since it is a state school, but the subject school has its own process)

1 in process for EA2 today

8-10 in RD

Getting a little freaked out by all the earlier apps, but the 8-10 are all ED schools, and we just couldn't do that financially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. My DS has applied to 8 so far -- 1 ED, 6 EA, 1 RD w/an 11/15 deadline. He'll add 5 UC campuses by 11/30. Depending on the outcome of this early round, he's ready to ​max out his Common App with another 13 schools to make for a total of 26. (One of the ones already submitted had to be done via the Coalition App.) His list is entirely composed of what should be targets and safeties - no reaches.

Strange strategy if you are not making it up. If you bother to apply to 26 why not include a few reaches?

DP: They are probably looking for merit aid offers.

[Anonymous]

10. All EA or rolling.

Heads up to parents of junior - plan on doing ED next year. Do NOT wait until RD.

[Anonymous]

12 schools but only 4 of them are T50s

[Anonymous]

18 in total - 4 EA, 1 REA, 13 RD (2 with priority deadlines in December). All but 2 of the schools have additional supplements, with most having anywhere from 2-4. Not sure how DC is gonna do it but he is insistent upon applying to all 18 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was complaining about using the common app to apply for 8 schools. My husband and I each applied to 6 schools in the early 90s using a typewriter! These kids have it easy!!!!!

Disagree. I applied to college in those days, and I find the new process harder. The Common App helps with some degree in not having to retype basic info, but the additional questions asked by every college (some that basically recreate the app, not to mention supplemental essays) and requests for additional documentation, all presented in slightly different formats, make it more complicated and easier to mess up. We just realized that DC missed EA at one school because his transcript wasn’t presented in exactly the right way for that school (even though it’s been fine for every other). Add in the Coalition App, and things like the SRAR, it’s very time consuming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was complaining about using the common app to apply for 8 schools. My husband and I each applied to 6 schools in the early 90s using a typewriter! These kids have it easy!!!!!

Disagree. I applied to college in those days, and I find the new process harder. The Common App helps with some degree in not having to retype basic info, but the additional questions asked by every college (some that basically recreate the app, not to mention supplemental essays) and requests for additional documentation, all presented in slightly different formats, make it more complicated and easier to mess up. We just realized that DC missed EA at one school because his transcript wasn’t presented in exactly the right way for that school (even though it’s been fine for every other). Add in the Coalition App, and things like the SRAR, it’s very time consuming.

Agreed. And why did I have to enter my VA residency every time? That type of stuff should keep pulling over.

The old paper app said exactly what you needed on it, no need to click other links to find out you need to SRAR (why, I don't understand this step), or Oh, there's another supplemental question, etc. Yes, I know we didn't have the internet, but the Common App is not as intuitive as it makes itself out to be.

[Anonymous]

4

1 ED
3 EA (one already accepted)

an ED2 is waiting in the wings.