HS Class 2016 - College Admissions Process

[Anonymous]

On safeties: We're from Virginia and everyone knows which schools are Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. Apply to one school that's a tier below the one your child matches, apply early if it's rolling admissions.

Our oldest had an accept at VCU before Christmas. Our daughter had an accept at Mary Baldwin and Mary Washington before Christmas, with financial aid.
They both still did lots of applications for lots of other schools, but by Christmas, they did at least know that they would be going to college, no matter what happened in April. We needed that for our sanity -- kids and parents. (But the safety needs to be a school they would actually attend and be happy at, not "Oh my God, if I don't get into Harvard, at least I can go to VCU.")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

A few of the private schools are big on the minimalist approach, but not every guidance counselor has the connections to colleges and/or the time to work closely with each student to use this approach effectively. But most kids around here applly to about a dozen: 3 safeties or so , 5-6 targets, and 2-3 reaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1. DC applied to 3, got into all, and was done by Christmas. How, you ask? Early Decision. I highly recommend it, at least for kids who have a solid first choice and decent chance of getting into their first choice (ED to the top schools is still risky and many offer EA not ED). ED increases the chances of acceptance at most schools, too.