HS Class 2016 - College Admissions Process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have gone through this once at a private school, and will soon go through it again at a public.

The private had great college guidance, so I'm following their schedule with DC#2 who is at a public high school.

The private school made sure every student had their common application essay FINISHED before the start of their senior year. Then the student can focus on individual essays for the schools they are applying to.

My advice: show a lot of interest in schools that your child really thinks she wants to attend. My DD got accepted at her highest "reach" school, probably because she pestered the school, visited twice, did an overnight, talked to professors, etc. She didn't end up attending that school, but she got in.

My DD got waitlisted at several "safety" schools that she never visited. I'm pretty sure these schools didn't want to admit a student they thought was unlikely to attend. All of the schools urged her to contact them if she was interested in keeping her name on the waiting list. If she hadn't gotten accepted to other schools, she would have contacted them, and I'm guessing, she'd have been admitted.

I don't think 11 is too many schools, OP. That's the reality these days. With the common app, it's easy to apply to many schools. More than 11 is too many though!

Sadly I have to agree. From the DC area, you may have to do 10 or 11. I know of kids who applied to 10 and didn't get into any of them. It's like going to Las Vegas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have gone through this once at a private school, and will soon go through it again at a public.

The private had great college guidance, so I'm following their schedule with DC#2 who is at a public high school.

The private school made sure every student had their common application essay FINISHED before the start of their senior year. Then the student can focus on individual essays for the schools they are applying to.

My advice: show a lot of interest in schools that your child really thinks she wants to attend. My DD got accepted at her highest "reach" school, probably because she pestered the school, visited twice, did an overnight, talked to professors, etc. She didn't end up attending that school, but she got in.

My DD got waitlisted at several "safety" schools that she never visited. I'm pretty sure these schools didn't want to admit a student they thought was unlikely to attend. All of the schools urged her to contact them if she was interested in keeping her name on the waiting list. If she hadn't gotten accepted to other schools, she would have contacted them, and I'm guessing, she'd have been admitted.

I don't think 11 is too many schools, OP. That's the reality these days. With the common app, it's easy to apply to many schools. More than 11 is too many though!

It can only be that if a student applies to 10 or 11 schools and is NOT accepted at any....then those school had to be out of range or certain at the edge of the range grade/test score wise.



Sadly I have to agree. From the DC area, you may have to do 10 or 11. I know of kids who applied to 10 and didn't get into any of them. It's like going to Las Vegas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have gone through this once at a private school, and will soon go through it again at a public.

The private had great college guidance, so I'm following their schedule with DC#2 who is at a public high school.

The private school made sure every student had their common application essay FINISHED before the start of their senior year. Then the student can focus on individual essays for the schools they are applying to.

My advice: show a lot of interest in schools that your child really thinks she wants to attend. My DD got accepted at her highest "reach" school, probably because she pestered the school, visited twice, did an overnight, talked to professors, etc. She didn't end up attending that school, but she got in.

My DD got waitlisted at several "safety" schools that she never visited. I'm pretty sure these schools didn't want to admit a student they thought was unlikely to attend. All of the schools urged her to contact them if she was interested in keeping her name on the waiting list. If she hadn't gotten accepted to other schools, she would have contacted them, and I'm guessing, she'd have been admitted.

I don't think 11 is too many schools, OP. That's the reality these days. With the common app, it's easy to apply to many schools. More than 11 is too many though!

It can only be that if a student applies to 10 or 11 schools and is NOT accepted at any....then those school had to be out of range or certain at the edge of the range grade/test score wise.



Sadly I have to agree. From the DC area, you may have to do 10 or 11. I know of kids who applied to 10 and didn't get into any of them. It's like going to Las Vegas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11 schools is too many . . .

not today..

We are close to 30, after eliminating some, and plan to eliminate a bunch more. It's that many because it's a combination of D1 & D3 schools that DD is looking at for her sport, schools that have sport as club, and schools local to DC. We're using Naviance and will start cutting the reaches, then again she's in the range...smh...

[Anonymous]

OP here. Another question: I've heard that the students should make contact with the Admissions (Counselor)Office of the schools they are most interested in attending. The websites seem to have all of the information available that we can think of, so what should she ask when she calls?

I did realize that because of her procrastination, the due dates on the calendar should really be about 7-10 days before the "REAL" deadline. I didn't consider that thousands of students may also be trying to submit apps the same time, and could possible crash the server or at 10pm on the evening of the deadline, our internet goes down, and the libraries are already closed. Trying to think ahead of the possible disasters.

What else should we try to anticipate that could go wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Another question: I've heard that the students should make contact with the Admissions (Counselor)Office of the schools they are most interested in attending. The websites seem to have all of the information available that we can think of, so what should she ask when she calls?

I did realize that because of her procrastination, the due dates on the calendar should really be about 7-10 days before the "REAL" deadline. I didn't consider that thousands of students may also be trying to submit apps the same time, and could possible crash the server or at 10pm on the evening of the deadline, our internet goes down, and the libraries are already closed. Trying to think ahead of the possible disasters.

What else should we try to anticipate that could go wrong?

Not necessarily. Find out if school track's students interest. If so and if time permits, visit campus, do interviews, send emails with questions and such... For schools don't track interest, you don't have to do any of that unless you want to and can afford to.

Just make sure to send it in a few days before due date. Sending in 10 days prior probably won't happen. If last min submit, expect server crash, delays, and x100 times more stress. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Another question: I've heard that the students should make contact with the Admissions (Counselor)Office of the schools they are most interested in attending. The websites seem to have all of the information available that we can think of, so what should she ask when she calls?

I did realize that because of her procrastination, the due dates on the calendar should really be about 7-10 days before the "REAL" deadline. I didn't consider that thousands of students may also be trying to submit apps the same time, and could possible crash the server or at 10pm on the evening of the deadline, our internet goes down, and the libraries are already closed. Trying to think ahead of the possible disasters.

What else should we try to anticipate that could go wrong?

My DC did several apps on the ED/EA deadline day and the couple of days before 12/31 - and that was 2 years ago when the common app was having all sorts of issues. While it's best not to wait until midnight, I don't think you have to be prepared to submit apps 10 days before. I'd aim for a day or two before if you want to be safe. But once you get the common app done I'd take a look at the easy applications (those that don't require any or very significant supplemental essays) and start getting those out. Even if it's not on the common app the other apps tend to follow about the same format for the basic info so it's not that hard to spit them out.

Some colleges care about reaching out to the regional admissions counselors, some don't. She should make a point to meet them when they visit her school (it's typically the regional counselors who do those school visits). Hopefully she's already doing those - our (public) school seems to have 5-10 colleges a day visiting already and throughout September and October.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:-1 11 is way too many if you have serious interest in some. You cannot reasonably focus on that many schools.

A friend's son applied to 29.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-1 11 is way too many if you have serious interest in some. You cannot reasonably focus on that many schools.

A friend's son applied to 29.

I think we've officially reached craziness here. Even for DCUM.

We've had 3 kids apply to college. Note: they applied; we did not. So, we had 1 family meeting with the school counselor (which was a total waste of time, BTW -- even in a private school), and they took it from there. We did not make spreadsheets with deadlines, edit essays or proof the CA. True, they are good, self-motivated students, but they range in organizational style from Mr. You-don't-get-extra-points-for-turning-in-the-application-before-the-deadline to Ms. I'm-getting-2-apps-in-before-Labor-Day (+ 1 in the middle type). All had excellent results (earlydecision/action admits) and were/are quite happy with the colleges they attend/ed.

Probably the most important thing parents can do is not to stress their kids out any more than they already are. Create a place where your kid feels comfortable talking about what s/he wants out of college -- not what the ratings say or what will impress their classmates or teachers or your colleagues. I interview for my undergrad school, and believe me, the kids who are self-aware and genuinely excited about the school do much better than the ones who have been prepped and packaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have gone through this once at a private school, and will soon go through it again at a public.

The private had great college guidance, so I'm following their schedule with DC#2 who is at a public high school.

The private school made sure every student had their common application essay FINISHED before the start of their senior year. Then the student can focus on individual essays for the schools they are applying to.

My advice: show a lot of interest in schools that your child really thinks she wants to attend. My DD got accepted at her highest "reach" school, probably because she pestered the school, visited twice, did an overnight, talked to professors, etc. She didn't end up attending that school, but she got in.

My DD got waitlisted at several "safety" schools that she never visited. I'm pretty sure these schools didn't want to admit a student they thought was unlikely to attend. All of the schools urged her to contact them if she was interested in keeping her name on the waiting list. If she hadn't gotten accepted to other schools, she would have contacted them, and I'm guessing, she'd have been admitted.

I don't think 11 is too many schools, OP. That's the reality these days. With the common app, it's easy to apply to many schools. More than 11 is too many though!

Sadly I have to agree. From the DC area, you may have to do 10 or 11. I know of kids who applied to 10 and didn't get into any of them. It's like going to Las Vegas.

This is not true if the student does his homework. DC applied to four and it was more than enough. I would recommend no more than 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Another question: I've heard that the students should make contact with the Admissions (Counselor)Office of the schools they are most interested in attending. The websites seem to have all of the information available that we can think of, so what should she ask when she calls?

I did realize that because of her procrastination, the due dates on the calendar should really be about 7-10 days before the "REAL" deadline. I didn't consider that thousands of students may also be trying to submit apps the same time, and could possible crash the server or at 10pm on the evening of the deadline, our internet goes down, and the libraries are already closed. Trying to think ahead of the possible disasters.

What else should we try to anticipate that could go wrong?

Have the student have the school send their packet as soon as possible- same for College Board and ACT. I would shoot for a month ahead of time or more -once she has decided to apply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have gone through this once at a private school, and will soon go through it again at a public.

The private had great college guidance, so I'm following their schedule with DC#2 who is at a public high school.

The private school made sure every student had their common application essay FINISHED before the start of their senior year. Then the student can focus on individual essays for the schools they are applying to.

My advice: show a lot of interest in schools that your child really thinks she wants to attend. My DD got accepted at her highest "reach" school, probably because she pestered the school, visited twice, did an overnight, talked to professors, etc. She didn't end up attending that school, but she got in.

My DD got waitlisted at several "safety" schools that she never visited. I'm pretty sure these schools didn't want to admit a student they thought was unlikely to attend. All of the schools urged her to contact them if she was interested in keeping her name on the waiting list. If she hadn't gotten accepted to other schools, she would have contacted them, and I'm guessing, she'd have been admitted.

I don't think 11 is too many schools, OP. That's the reality these days. With the common app, it's easy to apply to many schools. More than 11 is too many though!

Sadly I have to agree. From the DC area, you may have to do 10 or 11. I know of kids who applied to 10 and didn't get into any of them. It's like going to Las Vegas.

Did they have a safety, and not get into it?

[Anonymous]

We're in this now. My son is planning to apply to about 8, might pare that back by 1 or 2. The top and middle of the list are great - I am pushing him to focus on the bottom, in case he doesn't get into his reach schools and we can't afford his match schools. It's hard to get him to focus on schools where he really doesn't want to go - but I have told him his list must have at least 1 school that we can afford and that he will definitely get into.

On the bright side - he submitted his first Early Action application last night. It was a surprisingly big moment for him psychologically to have officially become a college applicant.

He has a schedule that basically has him completing one application every weekend between now and the end of November. His private school requires that the students submit their application at least 3 weeks prior to the deadline - when he turns in the application confirmation to the College Counseling Office, that initiates their process of gathering transcript, recommendations, etc. I don't think that 3 weeks is necessarily a hard and fast rule, but we are making him stick to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(I work at a local prominent university).

Doing what? Admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have gone through this once at a private school, and will soon go through it again at a public.

The private had great college guidance, so I'm following their schedule with DC#2 who is at a public high school.

The private school made sure every student had their common application essay FINISHED before the start of their senior year. Then the student can focus on individual essays for the schools they are applying to.

My advice: show a lot of interest in schools that your child really thinks she wants to attend. My DD got accepted at her highest "reach" school, probably because she pestered the school, visited twice, did an overnight, talked to professors, etc. She didn't end up attending that school, but she got in.

My DD got waitlisted at several "safety" schools that she never visited. I'm pretty sure these schools didn't want to admit a student they thought was unlikely to attend. All of the schools urged her to contact them if she was interested in keeping her name on the waiting list. If she hadn't gotten accepted to other schools, she would have contacted them, and I'm guessing, she'd have been admitted.

I don't think 11 is too many schools, OP. That's the reality these days. With the common app, it's easy to apply to many schools. More than 11 is too many though!

This was our experience too. Waitlisted at safety schools where we didn't show enough interest. Great financial aid offer from a school where we visited twice. By the way, there are other ways to show interest other than by visiting (which can get expensive). Didn't find this out til kid 2, but there are ways that the admissions office can see whether your kid actually opened the e-mail they sent, or whether they deleted it without reading it. If there's a local event in the area for a school on your kid's list, your kid should go. Not with you, necessarily. But the kid should go to the coffee, the dinner, whatever. If your child gets a phone call from a school and they leave a message like "just asking if you have any questions," your child should call back. (Come up with some generic questions they can ask in these situations.) If your child gets an e-mail saying, "Just wondering if you have any questions," your child should e-mail back with a question.