Finding the right balance of colleges to apply to

[Anonymous]

Let me introduce you to a term in college admissions OP— lottery school. Once you hit the schools stats, they might as well pull kids names out of a hat.

[Anonymous]

New poster. No negativity here, OP.

OP, I notice you said DD is doing the planning and came up with the list. While it's great for the HS student to take the initiative and drive the process, the student also is not really open-eyed yet about college admissions and the weird, arcane thing it's become. She may well indeed get into these schools or may get into none of them even with fantastic stats and unusual ECs and wonderful recommendations.

Please go with her to her school counselor - does her HS have a "college and career" specialist counselor? I've posted this before--our public HS had a counselor who was the point person for questions, application and essay help, help in creating a list, etc. I would have her take that list to a counselor. Or do as some on DCUM do and hire a private counselor if you want. But she and you need to get the stars out of your eyes a bit, and be open to schools she hasnt even heard of yet, in parts of the country she hadn't considered yet, etc.

And is her list right now based on what she has researched online and in books like Fiske Guide etc. or has she visited any of these schools yet, talked to faculty at colleges (many are surprisingly open to taking time to chat to an interested HS student if the student sends a thoughtful request to visit a department while in campus), talked to students at those colleges, etc.? She should do all that but it won't necessarily be at every college on the list you give because there are others out there she will find as she keeps researching.

DD starts next week at a college that was not even on our radar but happened to be between two others we were planning to visit, do we stopped in and DD was so impressed and excited by it that she ended up applying there ED. Not saying you have to visit every school of interest; some visits can wait until after you get accepted. But I'm just noting that schools on an initial list shouldn't lock her into a mind-set that The List is complete as it stands. Get some outside eyes on it--not DCUM, not friends, but a counselor or consultant.

[Anonymous]

^^ PP is giving great advice. My kid is applying for college now and one of his top— if not the top choice is St. Olaf. Which I vaguely knew existed. But a couple of upperclassmen went his sophomore year. And the kids and parents are raving about it. So we visited when we went to see Carleton (reach) and Mac (match). And it really clicked with my kid. I can see him thriving there. It’s a low match/ safety for him, BTW. After they interviewed him, they talked to me and said he would max out their merit award. And their grad school placement is excellent in his area. Plus very active non-major music p, which is super important (yes, Oberlin is high on the list too).

I don’t know where my kid will end up. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a LAC in MN most people have never heard of, that we only visited, because if you fly to MN, you may as well.

Think about what your kid needs in an educational environment, what schools will get your kid where they want to go, what your kid wants in terms of size, urban/rural, etc. and where they click. Lose the USNWR rankings and the desire to put an impressive sounding magnet on your car. Kids at St. John are probably out performing Harvard kids in some areas after graduation.

[Anonymous]

Ah, PP must be the poster on the TJ thread who mentioned a written merit aid offer before even applying. St Olaf is a great school! Maybe those kind of merit aid offers are only at SLACs? My kid isn’t interested in a SLAC even though I think it might suit her.

[Anonymous]

You include Harvard College as Super Safety. This will make your DD work on one more college app but then she will be done. Even if your DD gets rejected by all other schools, Harvard College will come through as Super Safety and it will become the fall back option. Just make sure that your DD is equally excited about going to Harvard College, God forbid it is the only school with an acceptance offer, as she is about the other schools on your list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah, PP must be the poster on the TJ thread who mentioned a written merit aid offer before even applying. St Olaf is a great school! Maybe those kind of merit aid offers are only at SLACs? My kid isn’t interested in a SLAC even though I think it might suit her.

Nope. Saw that, but no formal offer from St. Olaf (would be great though!) More of an if your kid applies, he would qualify for our top merit aid thing. No dollar numbers mentioned, so I went dogging later.

St. Olaf was interesting in several ways. They talked to my kid for a half hour. And then brought us in without us asking (not my interview). And asked what our concerns or questions were. I’ve never seen a college actively reach out to parents. They also had a one on one tour guide for my kid who knew what his academic interests and ECs were and had been matched to him. As in, so, you are interested in biology? I thought you might want to see the labs. And you do a lot of drama. We have a great drama program and I’m a part of it. You do want to keep up with it? Let’s detour backstage and look at the prop room.

Blown away.

And yes, most SLACs under the top 10 offer merit aid to a significant number of high stats kids with no need. Because they recognize a lot of talent there that isn’t going to able to pay 70k a year. So they get it down to 30-40k/ OOS public if they really want your kid and your kid shows interest. National Us seem to offer less aid. OOS publics seem to keep it in state mostly. But IME SLACs that do merit (and the top 10 don’t) are very open about if you get in, there’s a good chance you won’t pay full price, even with no need.

Good luck to your kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You include Harvard College as Super Safety. This will make your DD work on one more college app but then she will be done. Even if your DD gets rejected by all other schools, Harvard College will come through as Super Safety and it will become the fall back option. Just make sure that your DD is equally excited about going to Harvard College, God forbid it is the only school with an acceptance offer, as she is about the other schools on your list.

Your DD should actually apply to the TJ special Harvard-Stanford dual degree program.

[Anonymous]

It's not a good list

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the Op's kid can't be a recruited athlete, they've all committed already

No they haven’t.

Things might have changed, but I knew most serious athletes had picked out schools by the end of junior year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the Op's kid can't be a recruited athlete, they've all committed already

No they haven’t.

Things might have changed, but I knew most serious athletes had picked out schools by the end of junior year

Not to derail. But I was watching women’s gymnastics recently (yes really, don’t judge) and they were saying that some girl was starting her freshman year of HS and had committed to a college. How is that allowed? I don’t have kids in sports. But I thought you had to be a junior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the Op's kid can't be a recruited athlete, they've all committed already

No they haven’t.

Things might have changed, but I knew most serious athletes had picked out schools by the end of junior year

Not to derail. But I was watching women’s gymnastics recently (yes really, don’t judge) and they were saying that some girl was starting her freshman year of HS and had committed to a college. How is that allowed? I don’t have kids in sports. But I thought you had to be a junior.

I know, Pp. I was wondering about recruiting, too. I have a Freshman athlete and NCAA coaches talked to her last year in 8th but said they can’t this year in 9th. I guess if we go that way, i’ll Have to learn the rules. She is in a high injury sport (as is gymnastics). It seems crazy that you could commit freshman year when it’s very possible you could be injured by senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the Op's kid can't be a recruited athlete, they've all committed already

No they haven’t.

Things might have changed, but I knew most serious athletes had picked out schools by the end of junior year

Not to derail. But I was watching women’s gymnastics recently (yes really, don’t judge) and they were saying that some girl was starting her freshman year of HS and had committed to a college. How is that allowed? I don’t have kids in sports. But I thought you had to be a junior.

I know, Pp. I was wondering about recruiting, too. I have a Freshman athlete and NCAA coaches talked to her last year in 8th but said they can’t this year in 9th. I guess if we go that way, i’ll Have to learn the rules. She is in a high injury sport (as is gymnastics). It seems crazy that you could commit freshman year when it’s very possible you could be injured by senior year.

It seems crazy that 13 year olds are being pressured to commit to colleges even in low injury sports. Can we at least pretend college is about getting an education and a 13 year old is in no position to make that type of serious educational committee to 5 years out?