Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In May NACAC publishes a list of colleges that still have openings. Most colleges accept most students. I'd only push to add another safety now if she doesn't love that safety. If the more selective ones don't work out, it's nice to still have options to choose between.

Good to know! I didn't realize there would still be options come May.

DP: There might not be many options she wants on that list though. Much better to find another safety or two now. Is she applying ED or early action anywhere? She could line up a safety that she can opt to submit the application to after hearing back from ED/EA.

EA to a few places. Which means, I suppose, that she'll have the wakeup call in December early enough to pick a few more safeties, yes? That's a relief.

Just make sure that your high school will send the transcripts in time if you add schools in December. Also check the notification dates of the EA schools. Some aren’t until February.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In May NACAC publishes a list of colleges that still have openings. Most colleges accept most students. I'd only push to add another safety now if she doesn't love that safety. If the more selective ones don't work out, it's nice to still have options to choose between.

Good to know! I didn't realize there would still be options come May.

DP: There might not be many options she wants on that list though. Much better to find another safety or two now. Is she applying ED or early action anywhere? She could line up a safety that she can opt to submit the application to after hearing back from ED/EA.

EA to a few places. Which means, I suppose, that she'll have the wakeup call in December early enough to pick a few more safeties, yes? That's a relief.

EA often doesn’t come out until January or later, and many kids are deferred last few cycles.

Anonymous wrote:She takes a year off and tries again. I don't think that college is the panacea that it once was. There are alternative paths out there and lots of ways to still have a wonderful life without it.

Sure there are. That said, if your kid is college-going material OP, who wants to stay home home for "a year off" while all their friends go off to college? No thanks. Find another safety.

I think applying to 2 safeties is a minimum. I know two students have this happen last year. Both scrambled to find last minute placements and it all worked out but it was stressful.

Yes you need a safety - one which the student will be happy (at least somewhat), is nearly certain to accept and you know you can afford.

Also best to pick one that has rolling admissions so you know you are in before all the other, more competitive decisions come in.

Based on your first post you do not have one of those, and you need one. Please note if she is a straight A student the odds she will attend this safety are low - about the same as she will be admitted to a reach - but both are part of any good app strategy for a competitive student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She does community college and applies again for the sophomore year.

She's a straight-A student. We're not looking for Ivy League, but I'd be pissed if it came to this, to put it mildly.

I didn’t get into UC Berkeley initially so went to community college and transferred. It’s honestly not a big deal and I saved a ton of money. She will be ok “if it came to this”.

An xlnt plan . . .in California. It's a much more popular and sensible route there. My relatives all did it. It is not as accepted a route here in DCUM land. The California system developed differently. Almost all of my public classmates went to the community college, Cal States (not available anywhere else - as in a 3 tier system) and a few in the UC system. Very few had family resources to go SLAC/private.

Community college would be awesome unless she already know what she wants to do for living. The happiest and most successful people didn't even go to college.
CC is like extension of high school. Gives kids a few years to mature.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In May NACAC publishes a list of colleges that still have openings. Most colleges accept most students. I'd only push to add another safety now if she doesn't love that safety. If the more selective ones don't work out, it's nice to still have options to choose between.

Good to know! I didn't realize there would still be options come May.

There are many, many options. When I've looked at it in the past the list includes state flagships that are less well known, regional public Us, LACs, etc. In Virginia, UMW is usually on the list. In MD, I've seen SMCM listed.

FWIW, my DD goes to one of the LACs that is often listed and she loves it, has everything she was looking for. It just isn't widely known although they do well in job outcomes for her specific program.

One caveat is that if you wait until May schools that might have given a generous merit aid may have no more aid to give or you may get last pick in housing. So, it is better to apply earlier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In May NACAC publishes a list of colleges that still have openings. Most colleges accept most students. I'd only push to add another safety now if she doesn't love that safety. If the more selective ones don't work out, it's nice to still have options to choose between.

Good to know! I didn't realize there would still be options come May.

DP: There might not be many options she wants on that list though. Much better to find another safety or two now. Is she applying ED or early action anywhere? She could line up a safety that she can opt to submit the application to after hearing back from ED/EA.

EA to a few places. Which means, I suppose, that she'll have the wakeup call in December early enough to pick a few more safeties, yes? That's a relief.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She does community college and applies again for the sophomore year.

She's a straight-A student. We're not looking for Ivy League, but I'd be pissed if it came to this, to put it mildly.

What kind of school is she targeting? There are multiple top 75 National Universities with at least 75%+ acceptance rates...and some with 90%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She does community college and applies again for the sophomore year.

She's a straight-A student. We're not looking for Ivy League, but I'd be pissed if it came to this, to put it mildly.

Yes, definitely apply to some others. You know which ones she is applying to, so that means you know, or can easily research, which ones are similar but have higher admissions rates. Pick those out, and then just sit down with her next to the computer some Saturday afternoon and just do it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In May NACAC publishes a list of colleges that still have openings. Most colleges accept most students. I'd only push to add another safety now if she doesn't love that safety. If the more selective ones don't work out, it's nice to still have options to choose between.

Good to know! I didn't realize there would still be options come May.

DP: There might not be many options she wants on that list though. Much better to find another safety or two now. Is she applying ED or early action anywhere? She could line up a safety that she can opt to submit the application to after hearing back from ED/EA.

She needs more than one safety school, just pick one more now. You won’t be interested in the schools on the May list if she is a straight A student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She does community college and applies again for the sophomore year.

She's a straight-A student. We're not looking for Ivy League, but I'd be pissed if it came to this, to put it mildly.

If you’d be pissed, then you should — or should have — encouraged her to apply to a larger number or a wider range of schools, or both.

Anonymous wrote:Do you have access to a college counselor? She needs to hear it from someone besides you. They're so stressed and unable to hear us.
We saw a few kids only get their safeties last year, so a goal for me and DS was to have a couple safeties that he legitimately liked and could really see himself at.

Good idea, thank you. I'll shoot her an email.