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[quote=Anonymous]New poster. No negativity here, OP.

OP, I notice you said DD is doing the planning and came up with the list. While it's great for the HS student to take the initiative and drive the process, the student also is not really open-eyed yet about college admissions and the weird, arcane thing it's become. She may well indeed get into these schools or may get into none of them even with fantastic stats and unusual ECs and wonderful recommendations.

Please go with her to her school counselor - does her HS have a "college and career" specialist counselor? I've posted this before--our public HS had a counselor who was the point person for questions, application and essay help, help in creating a list, etc. I would have her take that list to a counselor. Or do as some on DCUM do and hire a private counselor if you want. But she and you need to get the stars out of your eyes a bit, and be open to schools she hasnt even heard of yet, in parts of the country she hadn't considered yet, etc.

And is her list right now based on what she has researched online and in books like Fiske Guide etc. or has she visited any of these schools yet, talked to faculty at colleges (many are surprisingly open to taking time to chat to an interested HS student if the student sends a thoughtful request to visit a department while in campus), talked to students at those colleges, etc.? She should do all that but it won't necessarily be at every college on the list you give because there are others out there she will find as she keeps researching.

DD starts next week at a college that was not even on our radar but happened to be between two others we were planning to visit, do we stopped in and DD was so impressed and excited by it that she ended up applying there ED. Not saying you have to visit every school of interest; some visits can wait until after you get accepted. But I'm just noting that schools on an initial list shouldn't lock her into a mind-set that The List is complete as it stands. Get some outside eyes on it--not DCUM, not friends, but a counselor or consultant.

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