Lessons Learned- College Admissions- If you had to do it all again.....

[Anonymous]

My child received merit aid from Pitt, Indiana, UGA, USC (Trojans NOT Gamecocks), and Richmond.

[Anonymous]

I would encourage my kid to apply ED to a "high match" but not a reach school. The ED numbers for reaches are skewed by athletic recruits and at the end of it all, the bump she got (if any) from ED at her reach was minimal. Meanwhile, the ED deferrals of the other kids at her matches made for a competitive regular decision round and ultimately resulted in rejections from her matches when Naviance showed her to be well within the range. In hindsight, I would have suggested an ED to her top match school.

[Anonymous]

When you realize that acceptance rates are not a measure of educational quality or outcomes, it makes the process a lot easier.

[Anonymous]

I found the Jeff Seligo book eye-opening. Some of it I already knew, but it never occurred to me how much a kid’s chosen major could factor into the admissions decision.

I’m glad my senior DC didn’t want to major in STEM! 😁

[Anonymous]

Recalibrate expectations.

Instead of going whole hog for Michigan or UCLA, adjust to schools like South Carolina and GA.

For SLACs, ignore the top ones, and start looking into those ranked 30-50.

If you don't need FA, go ED to the private schools like Tulane, Northeastern and others who play the USNWR yield game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a high stats kid how many matches/reaches would you suggest including if they’re applying to 10 schools total? (And by matches/reaches I mean BU/Colgate type schools, not ivies.)

For a true high stats kid I would 1) ensure first choice is done ED and 2) apply to more than 10, with the extras in the "high match/match" category.

Is 4.0 uw (with 9-11) APs total and 1540 SAT true high stats? School limits applications to 10.

It is, but there are 30,000-50,000 kids with the same stats applying to the same schools. and that doesn't factor donors, athletes, URM, first Gen, legacies etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a high stats kid how many matches/reaches would you suggest including if they’re applying to 10 schools total? (And by matches/reaches I mean BU/Colgate type schools, not ivies.)

50-50
Based on how kids from your school have performed in those schools. Use Naviance. Also, talk to your counselor.

Ugh sorry. For high stat kids - the match and reach are the same.

I was using match/reach as one category and safeties as another.

Naviance will even show Harvard as a Match for a High Stat kid. It is not. Nope. High stat kids are usually working with only two categories of schools in Naviance, but don't get fooled. The matches are actually reaches.

+1

Wish someone had told us this very, very very important piece of information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a high stats kid how many matches/reaches would you suggest including if they’re applying to 10 schools total? (And by matches/reaches I mean BU/Colgate type schools, not ivies.)

For a true high stats kid I would 1) ensure first choice is done ED and 2) apply to more than 10, with the extras in the "high match/match" category.

Is 4.0 uw (with 9-11) APs total and 1540 SAT true high stats? School limits applications to 10.

It is, but there are 30,000-50,000 kids with the same stats applying to the same schools. and that doesn't factor donors, athletes, URM, first Gen, legacies etc.

Yup. All the high stats kids look alike, frankly - that is why it is a lottery. There is no magic answer, but some parents think they can "find" it somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t fill out FA at schools you don’t want your DC to attend. EA some reach schools.

savage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was my 3rd going through, and I’m vocal as to how brutal it was for us. My take-always - if they know what they want to study, do the legwork up front. Compare programs. You may be surprised by which schools you eliminate, or in our case, added and ultimately got accepted to.

Make sure your child understands the “most rigorous” box on the application and which schools (reaches) this matters to.

Visit schools early, just to get an understanding of how big a public flagship is vs SLAC. It’s expensive and time-consuming to get accepted to a mix of schools and then have to answer what you like/dislike when that could have been done early.

Which brings me to the final - set expectations that they may not know til April or later. My first too were accepted ED and know by Thanksgiving. Tons of time to celebrate, sweatshirts for everyone for Christmas, time to find roommates, and visit. And if waitlisted - ugh! Some schools allow for dorm selections once admitted, and if there isn’t enough housing, then there is so much anxiety because all the ED and EA kids get priority. We are eliminating one for this very reason.

Sorry, can you explain what this means?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Start the Common App in 9th grade...keep using it to add all the EC stats. You get into the habit of logging your accomplishment as well as have a fair sense where your application is weak.

Chart your courses for the entire HS journey beginning of 9th grade

Advanced Math actually starts from ES years. Don't wait for the school to enrich and accelerate. You can do it on your own by using Khan Academy.

College visits from 10th grade. Virtual is absolutely fine. Interview them.

You can do this?? I didn't even know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fewer safeties.
More UK institutions.
Don't bother applying to UNC when no one from your school has gotten in in 15 years
Read each school's newspaper regularly and make sure language professors and study away aren't being cut (William & Mary and Dartmouth are two examples).
Check up on the overall financial health of schools.
Do all supplemental essays, even the identity essay.

Ugh, UNC. My kid had a complete breakdown after getting deferred from UVA and denied from UNC. I tried to tell her about the in-state ratios (we're from neither NC nor VA) but she wasn't hearing any of it. It sucked to see that. She ended up getting into UVA but I wish she never applied to UNC (great, beautiful school though).

Probably healthy for your daughter to have that disappointment at age 17/18. Life can have many disappointments like that and it’s nice if she can learn to cope while under your roof.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a high stats kid how many matches/reaches would you suggest including if they’re applying to 10 schools total? (And by matches/reaches I mean BU/Colgate type schools, not ivies.)

50-50
Based on how kids from your school have performed in those schools. Use Naviance. Also, talk to your counselor.

Ugh sorry. For high stat kids - the match and reach are the same.

I was using match/reach as one category and safeties as another.

Naviance will even show Harvard as a Match for a High Stat kid. It is not. Nope. High stat kids are usually working with only two categories of schools in Naviance, but don't get fooled. The matches are actually reaches.

+1

Wish someone had told us this very, very very important piece of information.

I mean, couldn't you figure this out by looking at the acceptance rate? I sort of feel like a student that aspires to a top school should have this level of critical thinking skills.

There are thousands of smart kids with strong GPAs and test scores that are the captain of their debate team or 3-letter varsity sports or whatever. These kids are populating every school not just in the USA but around the world. And some of them are publishing books or winning national science prizes or going to the Olympics or finding ways to electrify their rural villages with solar power or whatever on top of all that. The mistake is to not understand the level of competition that is out there and to overestimate your own child's achievements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, unless you have close to perfect SATs/ACTs, avoid the big state schools entirely.

Why is that?

Because many/most practice yield protection.

That doesn’t make any sense it’s the top students that should avoid as the yield protection will trigger a potential denial versus the kid in their sweet spot which isn’t going to be an outlier on either end

[Anonymous]

Stop the “dream school” madness