Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, it is much easier to get in to many schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/your-money/college-admissions-wealth.html

So when you hear people saying things like "My nephew had mediocre grades and low test scores but write this really funny essay and got in to all his schools" I have to ask -- was he full pay?

SO how do they know you are full pay at the time of the application?

THEY DON’T: people just like to claim this to make themselves feel like their kid would definitely have gotten in if, if, if...


Admissions committees have no idea how you plan to pay .

If you file the FAFSA and you list what colleges you want to attend, the schools have access to that information.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/28/colleges-use-fafsa-information-reject-students-and-potentially-lower-financial-aid

When would-be college students apply for financial aid using the FAFSA, they are asked to list the colleges they are thinking about attending. The online version of the form asks applicants to submit up to 10 college names. The U.S. Department of Education then shares all the information on the FAFSA with all of the colleges on the list, as well as state agencies involved in awarding student aid. The form notes that the information could be used by state agencies, but there is no mention that individual colleges will use the information in admissions or financial aid -- and there is no indication that students could be punished by colleges for where they appear on the list.

But the list has turned out to be very valuable to college admissions offices and private enrollment management consultants: They have discovered that the order in which students list institutions corresponds to students’ preferred college.

Now, some colleges use this “FAFSA position” when considering students’ applications for admission, which may affect decisions about admission or placement on the wait list, said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

So the institution is disinclined to use up a precious admissions slot for a student who is unlikely to enroll.

“The student has no idea that this information is being used in this context,” Hawkins said. The federal government "doesn’t indicate it. Institutions certainly aren’t telling students they are using it. Certainly, this is a concern from this association’s standpoint.”

update -- I think that information I posted is old and may no longer be the case -- which is good!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, it is much easier to get in to many schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/your-money/college-admissions-wealth.html

So when you hear people saying things like "My nephew had mediocre grades and low test scores but write this really funny essay and got in to all his schools" I have to ask -- was he full pay?

SO how do they know you are full pay at the time of the application?

THEY DON’T: people just like to claim this to make themselves feel like their kid would definitely have gotten in if, if, if...


Admissions committees have no idea how you plan to pay .

If you file the FAFSA and you list what colleges you want to attend, the schools have access to that information.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/28/colleges-use-fafsa-information-reject-students-and-potentially-lower-financial-aid

When would-be college students apply for financial aid using the FAFSA, they are asked to list the colleges they are thinking about attending. The online version of the form asks applicants to submit up to 10 college names. The U.S. Department of Education then shares all the information on the FAFSA with all of the colleges on the list, as well as state agencies involved in awarding student aid. The form notes that the information could be used by state agencies, but there is no mention that individual colleges will use the information in admissions or financial aid -- and there is no indication that students could be punished by colleges for where they appear on the list.

But the list has turned out to be very valuable to college admissions offices and private enrollment management consultants: They have discovered that the order in which students list institutions corresponds to students’ preferred college.

Now, some colleges use this “FAFSA position” when considering students’ applications for admission, which may affect decisions about admission or placement on the wait list, said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

So the institution is disinclined to use up a precious admissions slot for a student who is unlikely to enroll.

“The student has no idea that this information is being used in this context,” Hawkins said. The federal government "doesn’t indicate it. Institutions certainly aren’t telling students they are using it. Certainly, this is a concern from this association’s standpoint.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, it is much easier to get in to many schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/your-money/college-admissions-wealth.html

So when you hear people saying things like "My nephew had mediocre grades and low test scores but write this really funny essay and got in to all his schools" I have to ask -- was he full pay?

SO how do they know you are full pay at the time of the application?

THEY DON’T: people just like to claim this to make themselves feel like their kid would definitely have gotten in if, if, if...


Admissions committees have no idea how you plan to pay .

When would-be college students apply for financial aid using the FAFSA, they are asked to list the colleges they are thinking about attending. The online version of the form asks applicants to submit up to 10 college names. The U.S. Department of Education then shares all the information on the FAFSA with all of the colleges on the list, as well as state agencies involved in awarding student aid. The form notes that the information could be used by state agencies, but there is no mention that individual colleges will use the information in admissions or financial aid -- and there is no indication that students could be punished by colleges for where they appear on the list.

But the list has turned out to be very valuable to college admissions offices and private enrollment management consultants: They have discovered that the order in which students list institutions corresponds to students’ preferred college.

Now, some colleges use this “FAFSA position” when considering students’ applications for admission, which may affect decisions about admission or placement on the wait list, said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

So the institution is disinclined to use up a precious admissions slot for a student who is unlikely to enroll.

“The student has no idea that this information is being used in this context,” Hawkins said. The federal government "doesn’t indicate it. Institutions certainly aren’t telling students they are using it. Certainly, this is a concern from this association’s standpoint.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, it is much easier to get in to many schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/your-money/college-admissions-wealth.html

So when you hear people saying things like "My nephew had mediocre grades and low test scores but write this really funny essay and got in to all his schools" I have to ask -- was he full pay?

SO how do they know you are full pay at the time of the application?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, it is much easier to get in to many schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/your-money/college-admissions-wealth.html

So when you hear people saying things like "My nephew had mediocre grades and low test scores but write this really funny essay and got in to all his schools" I have to ask -- was he full pay?

SO how do they know you are full pay at the time of the application?

THEY DON’T: people just like to claim this to make themselves feel like their kid would definitely have gotten in if, if, if...


Admissions committees have no idea how you plan to pay .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, it is much easier to get in to many schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/your-money/college-admissions-wealth.html

So when you hear people saying things like "My nephew had mediocre grades and low test scores but write this really funny essay and got in to all his schools" I have to ask -- was he full pay?

SO how do they know you are full pay at the time of the application?

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't help that we live in the national epicenter of helicopter parenting and psychotic levels of pressure to "succeed", defined solely as getting into a top college no matter what the cost to your mental, emotional and physical health. I grew up on the other side of the country and went to college in the west as well. None of my childhood and university friends' kids are as wound up and generally miserable as the kids in the DC metro region seem to be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, it is much easier to get in to many schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/your-money/college-admissions-wealth.html

So when you hear people saying things like "My nephew had mediocre grades and low test scores but write this really funny essay and got in to all his schools" I have to ask -- was he full pay?

SO how do they know you are full pay at the time of the application?

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, it is much easier to get in to many schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/your-money/college-admissions-wealth.html

So when you hear people saying things like "My nephew had mediocre grades and low test scores but write this really funny essay and got in to all his schools" I have to ask -- was he full pay?

Anonymous wrote:"Those even sound interesting. Kids need to find what makes them unique and what story they can tell most genuinely. Nothing is more boring or trite or overdone than the above essay topics, or what sports taught me, or that time I worked hard and won the spelling bee or robotics comp. it’s sad because the kids and parents, as OP and her kid are, spend ALL of high school focuses on sports, academics and volunteering and that is LEAST what colleges want to see them write about in their essay. But when they don’t DO anything else or have any identity outside of that they have nothing else to write."

Anonymous wrote:"Those even sound interesting. Kids need to find what makes them unique and what story they can tell most genuinely. Nothing is more boring or trite or overdone than the above essay topics, or what sports taught me, or that time I worked hard and won the spelling bee or robotics comp. it’s sad because the kids and parents, as OP and her kid are, spend ALL of high school focuses on sports, academics and volunteering and that is LEAST what colleges want to see them write about in their essay. But when they don’t DO anything else or have any identity outside of that they have nothing else to write."

This is OP. Where did I say my kid focuses on sports, academics and volunteering?