How many colleges did your kid apply to?

[Anonymous]

11- very surprised with all 11 acceptances. Came down to who gave the most money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are probably 10 schools my kid really wants to go to but they are schools that are on everyone’s list.

How many reach, target and safeties did your kid apply to?

The common app seems to make it much easier to apply to colleges. He could just apply to 50 colleges. I think Georgetown may be the only school my kid wants to go to that isn’t in the common app.

I thought Common App restricted people to 20 apps.

[Anonymous]

Two kids. Different years but in COVID. Both applied to three, and COVID was definitely a factor in that. And not the same three.

[Anonymous]

Early decision to 1 school she wanted to attend out of 10 in the country that had her program. Out of those 10 schools, it was the only school that was a perfect fit for her. We knew by January 1 that she was accepted which left lots of time should we have needed to explore other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oldest 12; 4 high reaches, 6 high target/low reaches, 2targets (I was extremely nervous that she had no true safeties). Accepted at 6, waitlisted at 2, rejected at 4.
Second 1 reach. Accepted in ED. Recruited athlete.
Expect youngest will apply to 10 or so unless he can get recruited to play his sport.

Op here. I feel like DS’s safeties are actually not true safety. I think he won’t be happy if he ends up at a true safety, which is why I thought it may be better to apply to a lot of schools that are low reaches/targets.

The challenge with very high-stats kids is that those "low reach/target" schools may actually be more of a reach than the student thinks. If they still have <25% acceptance rate they should be considered reaches regardless of stats. He should spend time working to find a real safety that has some things that he can be excited about. Specific programs in his major, study abroad options, student groups, etc.

One of my DD's safeties has a very high acceptance rate and most people probably haven't heard of it. But it has an experience in her major area that she is really, really excited to participate in.

+1000
ANd to be a safety acceptance rate must be greater than 50%.

All T20-30 schools (and t10-15 SLAC) are reaches for everyone. Your GPA/SAT scores just allow you to purchase the lottery ticket.

+100
Mine made the rookie mistake of building a reach heavy list. Accepted to 5, rejected by 5, waitlisted at 2. High stats great ECs etc. "targets" were actually reaches in this recent cycle bc volume of applications drove down acceptance rates. Schools where his stats were in the top 75% waitlisted/rejected him.
Accepted to a lottery ticket school in RD but was preparing to become excited by solid offers from good but not top top schools. And grateful. Brutal cycle. Our next one is drawing up a much more balanced list.

[Anonymous]

25

[Anonymous]

One

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine applied to 14. Did not have great results w/ early reaches, so really worked on RD apps and on earning more accolades. Had one early safety acceptance going into RD. Applied to 2 more safeties, 2 targets, 1 "hard target," and 5 reaches (T10/Ivies/T5 LAC). High # of reaches because very happy with the safeties. Got into 3 reaches (2 of 3 "dream schools"), both targets, and waitlisted at hard target. Oddly, rejected at one safety.

It was a fretful March, and DD spent most of that time getting more excited about safeties, then surprise! I think what helped was to look for the good in all the choices, and have several "dream" options. In the end, she had so many awesome choices, and had gotten so invested in all the good points of each school, deciding was almost as stressful as waiting.

Congrats! You did it right! calling safeties "dream schools" is a key indicator. Having a lot of choices in April is a great problem, but I get it, it does make it challenging

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oldest 12; 4 high reaches, 6 high target/low reaches, 2targets (I was extremely nervous that she had no true safeties). Accepted at 6, waitlisted at 2, rejected at 4.
Second 1 reach. Accepted in ED. Recruited athlete.
Expect youngest will apply to 10 or so unless he can get recruited to play his sport.

Op here. I feel like DS’s safeties are actually not true safety. I think he won’t be happy if he ends up at a true safety, which is why I thought it may be better to apply to a lot of schools that are low reaches/targets.

The challenge with very high-stats kids is that those "low reach/target" schools may actually be more of a reach than the student thinks. If they still have <25% acceptance rate they should be considered reaches regardless of stats. He should spend time working to find a real safety that has some things that he can be excited about. Specific programs in his major, study abroad options, student groups, etc.

One of my DD's safeties has a very high acceptance rate and most people probably haven't heard of it. But it has an experience in her major area that she is really, really excited to participate in.

+1000
ANd to be a safety acceptance rate must be greater than 50%.

All T20-30 schools (and t10-15 SLAC) are reaches for everyone. Your GPA/SAT scores just allow you to purchase the lottery ticket.

+100
Mine made the rookie mistake of building a reach heavy list. Accepted to 5, rejected by 5, waitlisted at 2. High stats great ECs etc. "targets" were actually reaches in this recent cycle bc volume of applications drove down acceptance rates. Schools where his stats were in the top 75% waitlisted/rejected him.
Accepted to a lottery ticket school in RD but was preparing to become excited by solid offers from good but not top top schools. And grateful. Brutal cycle. Our next one is drawing up a much more balanced list.

Glad your next one will have a more balanced list. glad your kid got into a "lottery ticket" during RD, but it would have been really brutal if that hadn't come in.

[Anonymous]

Applied 17, accepted 5. WL at most others. 4.52 gpa (on 4.0 scale) 1560 SAT, 11 AP classes, top 1% of class in well regarded FCPS school. If you plan to apply to elites without a hook, I would not count them as part of the 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oldest 12; 4 high reaches, 6 high target/low reaches, 2targets (I was extremely nervous that she had no true safeties). Accepted at 6, waitlisted at 2, rejected at 4.
Second 1 reach. Accepted in ED. Recruited athlete.
Expect youngest will apply to 10 or so unless he can get recruited to play his sport.

Op here. I feel like DS’s safeties are actually not true safety. I think he won’t be happy if he ends up at a true safety, which is why I thought it may be better to apply to a lot of schools that are low reaches/targets.

The challenge with very high-stats kids is that those "low reach/target" schools may actually be more of a reach than the student thinks. If they still have <25% acceptance rate they should be considered reaches regardless of stats. He should spend time working to find a real safety that has some things that he can be excited about. Specific programs in his major, study abroad options, student groups, etc.

One of my DD's safeties has a very high acceptance rate and most people probably haven't heard of it. But it has an experience in her major area that she is really, really excited to participate in.

+1000
ANd to be a safety acceptance rate must be greater than 50%.

All T20-30 schools (and t10-15 SLAC) are reaches for everyone. Your GPA/SAT scores just allow you to purchase the lottery ticket.

+100
Mine made the rookie mistake of building a reach heavy list. Accepted to 5, rejected by 5, waitlisted at 2. High stats great ECs etc. "targets" were actually reaches in this recent cycle bc volume of applications drove down acceptance rates. Schools where his stats were in the top 75% waitlisted/rejected him.
Accepted to a lottery ticket school in RD but was preparing to become excited by solid offers from good but not top top schools. And grateful. Brutal cycle. Our next one is drawing up a much more balanced list.

Glad your next one will have a more balanced list. glad your kid got into a "lottery ticket" during RD, but it would have been really brutal if that hadn't come in.

You are right! I've since learned a lot from this Board and just from the process. In my son's case this cycle, he was really leaning in to the schools that accepted him. It was a great life lesson about gratitude, not being status conscious, and learning that there are many many schools out there that can provide a wonderful education.