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[quote=Anonymous]Here's our experience to add. DC is top stat kid in a MCPS magnet, lots of activities, varsity sport, broad academic interests, no hooks. UMD-CP was safety (lower stat sibling was accepted ...) At some point the interested list was 25+. I made it clear that DC would not be allowed to apply to schools as a gamble. We had previously been on college visits for sibling, so DC was familiar with in-state schools. A summer trip to visit 6 schools in the NE was well worth the time. A couple moved up the list, a couple dropped off the list.

DC had a variety of schools with different programs that they were interested in, and didn't want to commit to anything ED, so they applied to 4 schools EA. December/January results were accepted UMD-CP and one other top 25 school, deferred to regular decision for the other two schools. The top school acceptance was very helpful, because it now became the school/program to compare remaining schools against. 4 schools dropped off the list, and DC applied to 4 remaining top 25 schools RD. March decisions were accepted to 3 of the RD schools, rejected from 1. The two deferments turned into 1 rejection and 1 wait list.

Current decision status for the 5 schools DC was accepted into: 
- one is no because DC didn't get a specific merit scholarship that was the interest
- one is likely no because although school and campus were top of list, accepted program isn't the limited one that was hoped for and other programs are better fit
- one is maybe, the program is still very interesting but the campus setting was lowest on the list
- the first top school acceptance is a likely yes. The specific program is a good fit and offers the opportunity for better connections in the field of interest. Interestingly to me - other schools are rated higher, but this school has had more time to target DC with more information about the program in Jan & Feb.
- also interesting to me is that UMD-CP is still on the list. DC would walk in with enough credits to graduate in 2-2 1/2 years. This is tempting to DC to save 529 money and put towards grad school.

[b]Lessons:[/b]

1. Establish your best in-state safe school and use that as a baseline for applications. Equivalent or worse out-of-state public schools should be dropped from the list unless you are interested in paying $100,000k+ more just to cheer for a different football team.

2. Add out-of-state public schools if they have a specialty program that is an excellent fit or if they have a strong merit scholarship program.

3. Apply early action to the public schools that are either your in-state best choices or out-of-state good fits for program/merit. This shouldn't be more than 4-6. If you have more than that, you aren't distinguishing between programs.

4. If you don't have a strong in-state school that is also a safety, apply to a good school that offers rolling action early on. It really relieves the stress on students to have been accepted to a school that they would enjoy going to, even if it isn't their current top hope.

5. Determine if there is a private school that really is your best fit, and apply ED if they have it. Otherwise, apply RD.

6. Base your regular decision applications on the results of the early action/ED ones. If DC is accepted to school X, ask the direct question if you got into Y, would you choose it over X? Sometimes kids want to apply because their friends are, or because it is prestigious, or because they "just want to see if they get in." Make sure that all regular decision applications have a reason/ranking to them, because it makes it easier for students to manage results when they get them.

7. For all applications, start them early, "finish" them early and let them sit for a week - then go back over them. I think my DC rewrote almost all essays multiple times (as in, starting from scratch with a different theme). I don't know the details, because I wasn't allowed to see anything - I just got reported status.

8. Do the easiest application first (likely your in-state good fit) and submit it early in order to get one done and make sure you covered all the details like references, transcripts, etc. Sometimes kids get stuck about submitting anything and wait until the last minute.

9. Establish as a family any restrictions on final college choice. Is there a financial limit? Is there a geographical limit? Be realistic upfront so that there aren't upsetting conversations at the end.

10. Have confidence in your student that they will end up at a school that will be a fantastic place for them.

Good luck![/quote]

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