Class of 2021: Applied to 6, got into 6.
Class of 2024: Applied to 9, got into 8.

If you're a high stat kid and aiming for a T20 or Ivy, you will need to apply to more. The lesson from the Class of 2025 is that there are more high stat kids than room at many of these colleges.

Mine applied to 13 including 1 ED.
Accepted to 6 (all safeties and 1 target), Waitlisted at 3 (all target), Rejected at 4 (all ivys/reach)

His stats were above the threshhold for all 13 and he had pretty good (not great) ECs, as well as a long term job, and a research internship.

The landscape of college admissions now is more like a lottery - sometimes you just can't predict the outcome.

Anonymous wrote:2022 D: 7 (accepted 5, waitlisted 2)
2025 D: 10 (accepted 4, waitlisted 4, rejected 2)
2025 S: 8 (accepted 5, waitlisted 1, rejected 2)

The 2025 kids are twins? Applied to many of same schools?

DC is chasing merit and won’t be doing ED, so planning for 8-10.

2025: Admitted ED. If ED hadn't worked out, she had 6 other schools in the mix (combo of reach/target/safety).

MCPS kid1 in 2024 - applied to one school. It has a reputation as a "trade school" with a 90%+ acceptance rate. Loves it.

MCPS kid2 in 2025. applied to one school. Kid is focused on a niche field and this is "the" school.

It's convenient that they both know what they want to do and, to be honest, weren't great students.
I feel like we missed the drama and numbers and tutoring and private counselors of the typical MCPS family.

Our plan was to apply to 7. But we'd only actually applied to four when the ED school accepted DS.

Oldest - 4
Middle - 2

Non-DMV state. NM Commended student. Applied to 5. Could have been 4. Had one 100% safety that was acceptable. And one high-cost reach (waitlisted). Didn't expect to get need-based aid. Not expecting to merit shop (clear order of preferences on which school to attend). The 5th school gave the most merit but was not cheapest and it was a school I asked my kid to apply to. Should have skipped it because kid would not have picked it.

Anonymous wrote:Curious how many colleges kids are applying to ? Our private college counselor is saying 10- this seems low to me.

This might help you:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1265618.page

2023: 20 (including 12 reaches, after ED1 deferral). At ivy.

2025: 22 (including 14 reaches, after ED1 deferral). Enrolled at T10.

2024: too many. We heard too many horror stories. Such a waste of $$. Accepted to 16 out of 17, including 2 Ivies, T10 and multiple T20s. Did not ED or SCEA/REA anywhere.

2026. Will ED one private; EA one public by Nov 1st.

Then- around 12/10-12/15 we will know ED status and then fire off more if needed. General essays will be ready.

Anonymous wrote:First kid, one ED and done.

Second kid will probably do three or four, has the stats for the first choice which does not offer ED, will do a few others to be safe.

More than that seems strange to me. Are people not doing the research and narrowing down the picks before applying?

Having the stats for a school is not the same as getting in. I also did one ED back in the day and was done. For some students that still works, and it's great that your first kid was one of those. But I think you're doing your second kid a disservice to assume that they'll get the results they want by applying to three or four schools.

DS is planning to apply to 7 this year. Two are reaches. The rest are targets and safeties.

Anonymous wrote:Our public school counselors say 20, but it’s a true middle-class school so a lot of kids are negotiating financial aid offers.

Omg