Anonymous wrote:Can high schools refuse to send transcripts? Why not apply to 10 through the common app and then the rest on your own?

Yes, a school can refuse to send transcripts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s no reason a kid should be applying to all the ivies. Dartmouth and Penn, both? No.

Limiting apps pushes kids to take a closer look.

That's for the student and their parents to decide, not the school.

Sure, but having the school send out more than 8-10 files on your kid for schools with low single digit admit rates is selfish and stupid.

Anonymous wrote:If you are thoughtful about your list and not shotgunning a bunch of reach school there's really no need to apply to more than 8-10 schools.

This.

One ED/SCEA reach
three or four state type EA's (s like Michigan, Wisconsin and say Colorado, Pitt or Indiana)
- ideally at least one of these you hear back before the SCEA/ED so you can decide if RDs are more reachy type schools or target type schools)
4-5 RD schools based on returns of any EA's you hear from before xmas.

If you’re applying to more than 10 schools, you have too many reach schools on the list and need to pair it down.

You can’t effectively pay attention to 15 different applications. You start to get diminishing returns in the quality of the application at a certain point, also it’s not realistic some of the schools you really wont attend.

DC went to a private that did not limit apps. But having gone through the process I see no need to apply to more than 10 schools if the child is clear on what they are looking for in a school. DC had 10 schools ranging from T15 - T70 (reaches targets safeties) all with the major and the environment that they were looking for. It worked out perfectly.

The ten apps required something like 12 different supplemental essays (some could be repurposed from one school to another). Applying to more schools would require more essays. Who really wants to write 2x or 3x that number of essays?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the rationale for limiting to 8-10? A cost saving move by the school to limit time spent sending records? Or a desire to make kids think more strategically about their options? Or an equity issue, not everyone can afford to apply to 20 schools? Or something else?

#2
Elite schools often admit only 2 kids per school (if they have a small class size and are aiming for geographic diversity. If you are a private school with 100 students all well qualified for T20 schools, that means that ~40 kids should be admitted. If kids make no differentiation among those schools and just apply to all of them, it’s probable that some kids will get multiple offers and others none, where they would have gotten an offer if the applications from that school were limited.

This. if you don't limit the apps then you run the risk of your top kids grabbing all the top 30 spots.

They do this to protect the kids ranked under the top 20%

Exactly

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s no reason a kid should be applying to all the ivies. Dartmouth and Penn, both? No.

Limiting apps pushes kids to take a closer look.

That's for the student and their parents to decide, not the school.

But you chose the private school so you have to play by their rules.

this happens at the elite private high school level, and is important at the elite private high school level. (reminder once again that there are no true elite privates in the DC area)

the top 10 kids at Collegiate or Trinity or Exeter or Brearley can get into every ivy league school. This is a fact. Then add in another 10 kids at each of these schools who are on every top school's D list. They can also get into every ivy league school. The problem is if they were to apply to all these schools and get in, they can only enroll at one school each. 20 kids getting 200 acceptance letter btw them at the very best colleges .. but they turn down180 of them.

This leaves the rest of the class at Trinity and Collegiate etc in a tight spot. All those spots were taken -- and 90% discarded -- by their classmates.

In addition to limiting apps at our private hs, our college counselors will also have a discussion with a student if they get admitted to Princeton (etc) SCEA and decide to throw our a few more applications in RD round. They will say, listen, you're a double legacy at Princeton and your dad is talking about a new building. You've been wearing a Princeton sweatshirt since 4th grade. We had this discussion when you decided to make Princeton your early pick. And now you want to see about Harvard? Okay, but just know you might very well get into Harvard, and in doing so you might very well be taking that seat away from a classmate, and then you might very well decide to go to Princeton anyway. So this move could cause harm. What do you want to do?

And most will not move forward with Harvard. This is a scenario that is talked about during the very first college presentation that is given to parents by the school. It's presented positively, "The student is almost always shocked -- they wouldn't dream of hurting a peer's chances! - so they stick with their EA choice". It's made very clear there is no hoarding allowed.

And this is how 40% of Brearley (etc) end up at Ivies + Stanford + MIT

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s no reason a kid should be applying to all the ivies. Dartmouth and Penn, both? No.

Limiting apps pushes kids to take a closer look.

That's for the student and their parents to decide, not the school.

this is a school looking out for the entire student body. you're looking at your darling with zero concern for the herd. that's the difference.

Anonymous wrote:My son’s private school limits them to 10 schools. I loved it. It made him focus on schools instead of picking a bunch just because he could. He got into all of the schools.

You are healthy.

Others cannot cope with the possibility that perhaps ONE MORE application might have been their ticket to the Ivy bumper sticker.

I feel bad for their kids.

Pick three reach (or 4), three target (or 4) and three safety.

Put in the time (don’t pay someone else to do your job) to helping them figure where they might excel, and be happy.

Model balance and mental health, instead of constant striving and status-seeking.

Anonymous wrote:What is the rationale for limiting to 8-10? A cost saving move by the school to limit time spent sending records? Or a desire to make kids think more strategically about their options? Or an equity issue, not everyone can afford to apply to 20 schools? Or something else?

It's about increasing the kids' odds. Because these schools no how to game the system so that students are more likely to be admitted.

If you want to benefit from the expertise that places like this have in getting their kids placed, you need to play by their rules.

Anonymous wrote:There’s no reason a kid should be applying to all the ivies. Dartmouth and Penn, both? No.

Limiting apps pushes kids to take a closer look.

That's for the student and their parents to decide, not the school.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they won't send more than 10 recommendations ... but if the student applies anyway to 10+, HS can't stop that.

Self-report the grades. Make an essay out-of the HS being uncooperative.

They submit one recommendation into the common app. You can send that on to any number of schools within the common app. It's not like it's more work for the schools. This is just a power trip and reputation management..

There’s no reason a kid should be applying to all the ivies. Dartmouth and Penn, both? No.

Limiting apps pushes kids to take a closer look.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the rationale for limiting to 8-10? A cost saving move by the school to limit time spent sending records? Or a desire to make kids think more strategically about their options? Or an equity issue, not everyone can afford to apply to 20 schools? Or something else?

#2
Elite schools often admit only 2 kids per school (if they have a small class size and are aiming for geographic diversity. If you are a private school with 100 students all well qualified for T20 schools, that means that ~40 kids should be admitted. If kids make no differentiation among those schools and just apply to all of them, it’s probable that some kids will get multiple offers and others none, where they would have gotten an offer if the applications from that school were limited.

This. if you don't limit the apps then you run the risk of your top kids grabbing all the top 30 spots.

They do this to protect the kids ranked under the top 20%