Lessons learned so far: 2024-2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our second kid is graduating next month. Our experience with both kids has taught us that everything is a lot easier when the kids are relatively average (way below average for DCUM) and they target schools with a 70%-90% admission rate.

+1

My 1240/3.5UW/no AP kid only applied to schools ranked 70-120+. They got into every single school, many of them with excellent merit (privates). Why? Because they didn't really have any reaches. Heck most were not targets even...most had acceptance rates over 65% and my kid was at/above 50% for everything. The one ranked 130+ where my kid was at/above the 85% gave my kid 75% of tuition for all 4 years. My kid chose between two very similar schools ranked around 80 that gave them ~35-40% of tuition.
I helped manage the process myself. My kid wasn't stressed, my kid was happy. They didn't belong at a T50 school, they would have struggled and been miserable. Instead they are 3 years out, doing very well at the job they started with a great company 2 weeks after graduation. They graduated college with a 3.5+ gpa and had a job starting right after graduation. That's the goal. They are "flown" and living 2K from home.

Genius.

[Anonymous]

Watch "Race to Nowhere" with your kid early on in high school and "Edge of Success" if they go to a particularly competitive HS with a reputation for a lot of stress/pressure/college obsession.

Make sure you have a mental health plan for your kid during the 4 yrs of high school - not just a college entry plan.

Emphasize to your kid that HOW they go to college matters more than WHERE they go.

[Anonymous]

1. don't apply to more than 10 schools. good apps take a lot of time. copy and pasting big portions of essays from school to school isn't great when the questions are really different.

2. apply to colleges that know and like your HS. look at where kids have gone in recent years. that's your universe.

3. but zig where others zag. if everyone is applying to x school, apply to y school. schools get very hot, very quickly.

so find the 5 year emissions list from your HS and apply to 10 schools from that list, making sure that you pick a few that are not getting all the best applicants from your HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. don't apply to more than 10 schools. good apps take a lot of time. copy and pasting big portions of essays from school to school isn't great when the questions are really different.

2. apply to colleges that know and like your HS. look at where kids have gone in recent years. that's your universe.

3. but zig where others zag. if everyone is applying to x school, apply to y school. schools get very hot, very quickly.

so find the 5 year emissions list from your HS and apply to 10 schools from that list, making sure that you pick a few that are not getting all the best applicants from your HS

1. this would have been horrible advice for my kid. got into 5 reach schools, a few of which prob would have been dropped by your rules. I'd say start essays REALLY early. Like June/July. The finished product for the supplementals look very different from early drafts (e.g., much better/stronger).

2. agree with 2. If your HS hasn't send someone to that college in last 3-4 years, might be really uphill battle.

3. Yes, find schools where 25% of the class isn't applying.

My kid applied to 20 schools. Got into 15. Probably applied to too many safeties and targets, but agree with your last point in theory. However, 3 of kids reaches were the colleges where a LOT of people in class applied. Kid just had a very tailored application and likely stronger understanding of the school showed in the school-specific essays.

[Anonymous]

Applying to 20 schools is insane.

[Anonymous]

Be very careful about age advice you get here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. don't apply to more than 10 schools. good apps take a lot of time. copy and pasting big portions of essays from school to school isn't great when the questions are really different.

2. apply to colleges that know and like your HS. look at where kids have gone in recent years. that's your universe.

3. but zig where others zag. if everyone is applying to x school, apply to y school. schools get very hot, very quickly.

so find the 5 year emissions list from your HS and apply to 10 schools from that list, making sure that you pick a few that are not getting all the best applicants from your HS

1. this would have been horrible advice for my kid. got into 5 reach schools, a few of which prob would have been dropped by your rules. I'd say start essays REALLY early. Like June/July. The finished product for the supplementals look very different from early drafts (e.g., much better/stronger).

2. agree with 2. If your HS hasn't send someone to that college in last 3-4 years, might be really uphill battle.

3. Yes, find schools where 25% of the class isn't applying.

My kid applied to 20 schools. Got into 15. Probably applied to too many safeties and targets, but agree with your last point in theory. However, 3 of kids reaches were the colleges where a LOT of people in class applied. Kid just had a very tailored application and likely stronger understanding of the school showed in the school-specific essays.

applying to 20 is dumb. you just don't need that many safeties or targets or reaches. you need one safety. your favorite one. a safety is a SAFETY ie you know you're getting in. why would you need more than 1? a few targets and a few reaches. the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. don't apply to more than 10 schools. good apps take a lot of time. copy and pasting big portions of essays from school to school isn't great when the questions are really different.

2. apply to colleges that know and like your HS. look at where kids have gone in recent years. that's your universe.

3. but zig where others zag. if everyone is applying to x school, apply to y school. schools get very hot, very quickly.

so find the 5 year emissions list from your HS and apply to 10 schools from that list, making sure that you pick a few that are not getting all the best applicants from your HS

1. this would have been horrible advice for my kid. got into 5 reach schools, a few of which prob would have been dropped by your rules. I'd say start essays REALLY early. Like June/July. The finished product for the supplementals look very different from early drafts (e.g., much better/stronger).

2. agree with 2. If your HS hasn't send someone to that college in last 3-4 years, might be really uphill battle.

3. Yes, find schools where 25% of the class isn't applying.

My kid applied to 20 schools. Got into 15. Probably applied to too many safeties and targets, but agree with your last point in theory. However, 3 of kids reaches were the colleges where a LOT of people in class applied. Kid just had a very tailored application and likely stronger understanding of the school showed in the school-specific essays.

sups dont come out til august 1. you can spend a lot of time working on sups that might change, I guess

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. don't apply to more than 10 schools. good apps take a lot of time. copy and pasting big portions of essays from school to school isn't great when the questions are really different.

2. apply to colleges that know and like your HS. look at where kids have gone in recent years. that's your universe.

3. but zig where others zag. if everyone is applying to x school, apply to y school. schools get very hot, very quickly.

so find the 5 year emissions list from your HS and apply to 10 schools from that list, making sure that you pick a few that are not getting all the best applicants from your HS

1. this would have been horrible advice for my kid. got into 5 reach schools, a few of which prob would have been dropped by your rules. I'd say start essays REALLY early. Like June/July. The finished product for the supplementals look very different from early drafts (e.g., much better/stronger).

2. agree with 2. If your HS hasn't send someone to that college in last 3-4 years, might be really uphill battle.

3. Yes, find schools where 25% of the class isn't applying.

My kid applied to 20 schools. Got into 15. Probably applied to too many safeties and targets, but agree with your last point in theory. However, 3 of kids reaches were the colleges where a LOT of people in class applied. Kid just had a very tailored application and likely stronger understanding of the school showed in the school-specific essays.

applying to 20 is dumb. you just don't need that many safeties or targets or reaches. you need one safety. your favorite one. a safety is a SAFETY ie you know you're getting in. why would you need more than 1? a few targets and a few reaches. the end.

You do you. Is it "dumb"? Really???

My kid had 10 reaches, plus schools like U-Miami and Wake, which I guess puts it at 12.
1. Too many safeties, I agree....but in this environment, you never know: (vermont, elon, pitt, instate flagship (not in DMV), cu-boulder). Got $$ from all except the in-state flagship.
2. The targets were schools like Case, Wisconsin, Lehigh, Wake, U-Miami, Davidson (more like a reach)?
3. And then the rest were reaches (SLACs, OOS flagships, T20 private).....
A very strategically picked list of schools. Ended up with a LOT of options from the reach category.

Also, the RD reach applications were 100% stronger from doing so many early EA apps. Just a little tip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. don't apply to more than 10 schools. good apps take a lot of time. copy and pasting big portions of essays from school to school isn't great when the questions are really different.

2. apply to colleges that know and like your HS. look at where kids have gone in recent years. that's your universe.

3. but zig where others zag. if everyone is applying to x school, apply to y school. schools get very hot, very quickly.

so find the 5 year emissions list from your HS and apply to 10 schools from that list, making sure that you pick a few that are not getting all the best applicants from your HS

1. this would have been horrible advice for my kid. got into 5 reach schools, a few of which prob would have been dropped by your rules. I'd say start essays REALLY early. Like June/July. The finished product for the supplementals look very different from early drafts (e.g., much better/stronger).

2. agree with 2. If your HS hasn't send someone to that college in last 3-4 years, might be really uphill battle.

3. Yes, find schools where 25% of the class isn't applying.

My kid applied to 20 schools. Got into 15. Probably applied to too many safeties and targets, but agree with your last point in theory. However, 3 of kids reaches were the colleges where a LOT of people in class applied. Kid just had a very tailored application and likely stronger understanding of the school showed in the school-specific essays.

applying to 20 is dumb. you just don't need that many safeties or targets or reaches. you need one safety. your favorite one. a safety is a SAFETY ie you know you're getting in. why would you need more than 1? a few targets and a few reaches. the end.

There're growing contrarian views in the IEC world on applying to more reaches (fewer safety and targets) for high stats or compelling and competitive kids. Because of the sheer numbers, holistic review, and other factors, it's likely a good idea to at least apply to 15, with 1-2 safeties, 2-4 targets, and the rest reaches for truly objectively strong applicants.

Read up on this - things have changed.

[Anonymous]

Applying to 20 schools is not wrong, but it requires a lot of research and strong, self-reflective writing and editing, and that takes time. It is important to prioritize the essay writing by due date and kid's preference. You may not get to all of them. So better to complete those schools your kid likes more. Also agree with pp about starting early. My kid had first draft of common app essay by end of June. Took a break and came back to it later in summer. Did activity list and started supp essays early August. Kid focused on 1 school at a time. If you are organized, u may see that some schools use same exact question (I think umichigan and cornell community essay was same- so bulk of essay was same but carefully customized by school. We had a plan for 20, but kid got ED acceptance, so in the end only applied to 11 schools by Nov 1 (1 ED and 10 EA). Was 80% ready to go on the other 9 RD apps if ED didn't work out. Fall of senior year is tough. Lighten the kid's EC schedule and course load if you can. Also, agree with pp about tailoring the application to each school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. don't apply to more than 10 schools. good apps take a lot of time. copy and pasting big portions of essays from school to school isn't great when the questions are really different.

2. apply to colleges that know and like your HS. look at where kids have gone in recent years. that's your universe.

3. but zig where others zag. if everyone is applying to x school, apply to y school. schools get very hot, very quickly.

so find the 5 year emissions list from your HS and apply to 10 schools from that list, making sure that you pick a few that are not getting all the best applicants from your HS

1. this would have been horrible advice for my kid. got into 5 reach schools, a few of which prob would have been dropped by your rules. I'd say start essays REALLY early. Like June/July. The finished product for the supplementals look very different from early drafts (e.g., much better/stronger).

2. agree with 2. If your HS hasn't send someone to that college in last 3-4 years, might be really uphill battle.

3. Yes, find schools where 25% of the class isn't applying.

My kid applied to 20 schools. Got into 15. Probably applied to too many safeties and targets, but agree with your last point in theory. However, 3 of kids reaches were the colleges where a LOT of people in class applied. Kid just had a very tailored application and likely stronger understanding of the school showed in the school-specific essays.

Applying to 20 schools is insane. Getting into 5 reach schools isn't as great as it sounds. Decision making can be very stressful and even paralyzing when there are too many similar choices. Your kid probably could have taken 2-3 reaches off their list and still had a choice between 2 or 3 reaches which would have been more than enough to make a great decision. It's a huge commitment to applying to 20 schools, and there is no prize for getting into 15 schools when you can only attend 1. If the list is 20, I'm sure with some thought and even if you only prioritized location, they could have easily identified 5 schools at least not to apply to and still had a great result. There's just no upside to getting into that many schools. Think of all the time your student wasted researching and writing apps and tailoring essays for 20 schools! That's time (days/weeks/months) in their life they will never get back! Just to get the same result.

Our kid's time and our money (application fee) matters too. People don't need to apply to 20 schools to get into a target or reach. Just think more carefully about the reaches/targets to include. Your school's naviance is very helpful to weed out that super unlikely reach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. don't apply to more than 10 schools. good apps take a lot of time. copy and pasting big portions of essays from school to school isn't great when the questions are really different.

2. apply to colleges that know and like your HS. look at where kids have gone in recent years. that's your universe.

3. but zig where others zag. if everyone is applying to x school, apply to y school. schools get very hot, very quickly.

so find the 5 year emissions list from your HS and apply to 10 schools from that list, making sure that you pick a few that are not getting all the best applicants from your HS

1. this would have been horrible advice for my kid. got into 5 reach schools, a few of which prob would have been dropped by your rules. I'd say start essays REALLY early. Like June/July. The finished product for the supplementals look very different from early drafts (e.g., much better/stronger).

2. agree with 2. If your HS hasn't send someone to that college in last 3-4 years, might be really uphill battle.

3. Yes, find schools where 25% of the class isn't applying.

My kid applied to 20 schools. Got into 15. Probably applied to too many safeties and targets, but agree with your last point in theory. However, 3 of kids reaches were the colleges where a LOT of people in class applied. Kid just had a very tailored application and likely stronger understanding of the school showed in the school-specific essays.

applying to 20 is dumb. you just don't need that many safeties or targets or reaches. you need one safety. your favorite one. a safety is a SAFETY ie you know you're getting in. why would you need more than 1? a few targets and a few reaches. the end.

There're growing contrarian views in the IEC world on applying to more reaches (fewer safety and targets) for high stats or compelling and competitive kids. Because of the sheer numbers, holistic review, and other factors, it's likely a good idea to at least apply to 15, with 1-2 safeties, 2-4 targets, and the rest reaches for truly objectively strong applicants.

Read up on this - things have changed.

eh, the best outcomes still coming out of privates that limit apps to 12 or sometimes even 8/9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. don't apply to more than 10 schools. good apps take a lot of time. copy and pasting big portions of essays from school to school isn't great when the questions are really different.

2. apply to colleges that know and like your HS. look at where kids have gone in recent years. that's your universe.

3. but zig where others zag. if everyone is applying to x school, apply to y school. schools get very hot, very quickly.

so find the 5 year emissions list from your HS and apply to 10 schools from that list, making sure that you pick a few that are not getting all the best applicants from your HS

1. this would have been horrible advice for my kid. got into 5 reach schools, a few of which prob would have been dropped by your rules. I'd say start essays REALLY early. Like June/July. The finished product for the supplementals look very different from early drafts (e.g., much better/stronger).

2. agree with 2. If your HS hasn't send someone to that college in last 3-4 years, might be really uphill battle.

3. Yes, find schools where 25% of the class isn't applying.

My kid applied to 20 schools. Got into 15. Probably applied to too many safeties and targets, but agree with your last point in theory. However, 3 of kids reaches were the colleges where a LOT of people in class applied. Kid just had a very tailored application and likely stronger understanding of the school showed in the school-specific essays.

applying to 20 is dumb. you just don't need that many safeties or targets or reaches. you need one safety. your favorite one. a safety is a SAFETY ie you know you're getting in. why would you need more than 1? a few targets and a few reaches. the end.

There're growing contrarian views in the IEC world on applying to more reaches (fewer safety and targets) for high stats or compelling and competitive kids. Because of the sheer numbers, holistic review, and other factors, it's likely a good idea to at least apply to 15, with 1-2 safeties, 2-4 targets, and the rest reaches for truly objectively strong applicants.

Read up on this - things have changed.

my kid did a safety they liked (1), a few targets (3) and 5 reaches (T10 schools). 9 total. I dont think that's contrarian, I think it's what kids have been doing forever. nowadays, lots of kids applying to a million safeties and targets. I dont get it.

[Anonymous]

I'd rather have my kid "waste" time researching and writing extra school essays than watching more nonsense on Netflix. Given the unpredictability of holistic college admissions, many schools that were previously safe/target are now reach schools. My kid actually got into a super unlikely reach. I'm so glad I didn't discourage my kid from going for it, even though school counselor (and we as parents) were a bit skeptical. Unexpected great outcomes can happen! I know kids deferred from their safe and target schools and admitted to their reach. When that happens, it doesn't make sense to limit safe/targets to 1-2, bc you have no idea what will happen... That is why putting more hooks in the water isn't a bad strategy...