Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 08:36     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why? Bragging rights? Didn’t she pick the best suited school? Can you not afford it? HYP will get you about as much as you could get at a top school - they can afford it.

Let her be done. The best feeling in the world for me was when I found out I was in on Dec. 15th of my senior year. Take the W and enjoy senior year.


I would like to make clear that this is her personal choice. We're still waiting on the aid offer, and the school told us that it may be a bit before they get it to us since she applied late. She's very financially conscious, and in the likely event the offer is released after RD is due, she's said that she'd like to keep her options open.


This doesn’t seem at all believable. These aren’t rolling admissions schools, and all aid is released to applicants at the same time. Harvard doesn’t care if you get your application in on August 1 or October 31.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 08:30     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:I think it's fine to apply to any school she would truly consider over the one she was already admitted to.


I agree with this, but it feels strange that a kid that was in at HYP would choose MIT, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Duke over that HYP. Those schools are just too different for that argument to make sense. If there are seriously 10+ schools she wants over HYP I’m not sure why she would have even applied to one of them REA.

At that point it starts to look like applying just to prove she can get in.

It is ultimately her choice if she wants to accept the social consequences of potentially making it harder for her friends to get into their dream school. Especially when it looks like she is trying to scoop up high powered acceptances for her own entertainment.

If the goal is really financial and her stats are that high she should go down a tier and look for a full ride.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 07:57     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:DD received admission to a HYP REA, and is still thinking about sending off applications to the rest of HYPSM, a few more Ivies, and a few T20s (Duke, Caltech, namely). There was a thread here a few days ago complaining about kids who had been accepted early still trying their shot in RD.

With about a week to go for RD, I had a candid discussion with her about whether or not she wants to apply to these schools, since some of her friends are angry with her for continuing to apply.

I personally see nothing wrong with it. You can't "steal" something that nobody has any ownership of, and nobody is entitled to an outcome that hasn’t been decided yet. Admissions aren’t a zero-sum moral exercise; they’re a process with many independent decisions, yield modeling, waitlists, and thousands of variables no applicant controls. Applying RD doesn’t take a seat away from someone else. It simply preserves her right to make an informed choice later, after seeing financial aid, program fit, and personal priorities side by side. Asking an eighteen-year-old to pre-emptively limit her options to soothe others’ anxiety feels misplaced; kindness matters, but so does allowing students to advocate for themselves. If she ultimately chooses the early school, the system reallocates offers accordingly. Until then, she’s doing what the process allows, and what any prudent applicant would do.

She will only apply to schools that she would have interest in attending over her REA acceptance. There's also the added benefit of being able to negotiate aid. Her older sibling also attended a HYPSM and we greatly benefited financially from being able to compare aid offers. We are of course over the moon for her, but don't want her to be alienated by her friends.

Any thoughts?


This is wrong.

She can do what she likes. She didn’t get in ED so she isn’t obliged to pull her other applications or not apply RD.

But she should understand the implications. Don’t pretend there are none.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 07:32     Subject: Re:What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Nothing is wrong with it.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 07:02     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DD received admission to a HYP REA, and is still thinking about sending off applications to the rest of HYPSM, a few more Ivies, and a few T20s (Duke, Caltech, namely). There was a thread here a few days ago complaining about kids who had been accepted early still trying their shot in RD.

With about a week to go for RD, I had a candid discussion with her about whether or not she wants to apply to these schools, since some of her friends are angry with her for continuing to apply.

I personally see nothing wrong with it. You can't "steal" something that nobody has any ownership of, and nobody is entitled to an outcome that hasn’t been decided yet. Admissions aren’t a zero-sum moral exercise; they’re a process with many independent decisions, yield modeling, waitlists, and thousands of variables no applicant controls. Applying RD doesn’t take a seat away from someone else. It simply preserves her right to make an informed choice later, after seeing financial aid, program fit, and personal priorities side by side. Asking an eighteen-year-old to pre-emptively limit her options to soothe others’ anxiety feels misplaced; kindness matters, but so does allowing students to advocate for themselves. If she ultimately chooses the early school, the system reallocates offers accordingly. Until then, she’s doing what the process allows, and what any prudent applicant would do.

She will only apply to schools that she would have interest in attending over her REA acceptance. There's also the added benefit of being able to negotiate aid. Her older sibling also attended a HYPSM and we greatly benefited financially from being able to compare aid offers. We are of course over the moon for her, but don't want her to be alienated by her friends.

Any thoughts?


Fiction


+ 1 It's a zero sum game, there are only a small number of spots, if she really needs a better aid offer that is one thing but if it is trophy hunting (which it sounds like it is) that is selfish


You missed the poster’s point in saying “fiction.” OP wrote a made up story. Is not happening
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 02:29     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DD received admission to a HYP REA, and is still thinking about sending off applications to the rest of HYPSM, a few more Ivies, and a few T20s (Duke, Caltech, namely). There was a thread here a few days ago complaining about kids who had been accepted early still trying their shot in RD.

With about a week to go for RD, I had a candid discussion with her about whether or not she wants to apply to these schools, since some of her friends are angry with her for continuing to apply.

I personally see nothing wrong with it. You can't "steal" something that nobody has any ownership of, and nobody is entitled to an outcome that hasn’t been decided yet. Admissions aren’t a zero-sum moral exercise; they’re a process with many independent decisions, yield modeling, waitlists, and thousands of variables no applicant controls. Applying RD doesn’t take a seat away from someone else. It simply preserves her right to make an informed choice later, after seeing financial aid, program fit, and personal priorities side by side. Asking an eighteen-year-old to pre-emptively limit her options to soothe others’ anxiety feels misplaced; kindness matters, but so does allowing students to advocate for themselves. If she ultimately chooses the early school, the system reallocates offers accordingly. Until then, she’s doing what the process allows, and what any prudent applicant would do.

She will only apply to schools that she would have interest in attending over her REA acceptance. There's also the added benefit of being able to negotiate aid. Her older sibling also attended a HYPSM and we greatly benefited financially from being able to compare aid offers. We are of course over the moon for her, but don't want her to be alienated by her friends.

Any thoughts?


Fiction


+ 1 It's a zero sum game, there are only a small number of spots, if she really needs a better aid offer that is one thing but if it is trophy hunting (which it sounds like it is) that is selfish
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 02:21     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:DD received admission to a HYP REA, and is still thinking about sending off applications to the rest of HYPSM, a few more Ivies, and a few T20s (Duke, Caltech, namely). There was a thread here a few days ago complaining about kids who had been accepted early still trying their shot in RD.

With about a week to go for RD, I had a candid discussion with her about whether or not she wants to apply to these schools, since some of her friends are angry with her for continuing to apply.

I personally see nothing wrong with it. You can't "steal" something that nobody has any ownership of, and nobody is entitled to an outcome that hasn’t been decided yet. Admissions aren’t a zero-sum moral exercise; they’re a process with many independent decisions, yield modeling, waitlists, and thousands of variables no applicant controls. Applying RD doesn’t take a seat away from someone else. It simply preserves her right to make an informed choice later, after seeing financial aid, program fit, and personal priorities side by side. Asking an eighteen-year-old to pre-emptively limit her options to soothe others’ anxiety feels misplaced; kindness matters, but so does allowing students to advocate for themselves. If she ultimately chooses the early school, the system reallocates offers accordingly. Until then, she’s doing what the process allows, and what any prudent applicant would do.

She will only apply to schools that she would have interest in attending over her REA acceptance. There's also the added benefit of being able to negotiate aid. Her older sibling also attended a HYPSM and we greatly benefited financially from being able to compare aid offers. We are of course over the moon for her, but don't want her to be alienated by her friends.

Any thoughts?


Fiction
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 02:01     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
She is not likely to get substantially different aid from the set of schools listed. Apply to anywhere she might with roughly similar aid actually choose over the current acceptance and find a way to try not to talk too much about it.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 01:00     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:A few thoughts:

1. I can understand applying to more schools for financial reasons.

2. Don’t kid yourself that she is not being compared to her classmates, especially if coming from a (smaller-sized) private school.

3. Trophy-hunting is a silly and immature thing to do. (I am not saying that your DD is doing that but if that’s part of her motivation, I would be concerned.)

4. Sharing too much info with her friends is a recipe for heartache. As another PP said, your DD should be prepared for some hurt feelings and (potentially) broken friendships.
o

All kids are first compared to their classmates, whether public or private.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 00:26     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Let her apply wherever she wants - if your HHI does not fall under the threshold of getting free tuition at HYP, she could benefit by being in the position to negotiate aid. The whole point of REA/SCEA is that it is NOT binding. That said, I would discourage her from talking to her friends about her plans, unless they are all happily committed to early schools. That just seems unnecessary - why do they need to know she is applying to 10 more schools, vs 2? And, since finances are a reason, she could tell them that - esp if there are any kids who, like the parents here, are mad at her for not just taking her acceptance and being satisfied. But the whole idea of taking spots from others is stupid, IMO. Our private school has a policy that if you apply REA/SCEA to those schools, it is considered binding - that ends up benefiting our students, IMO, because the schools are more likely to accept them early because it is essentially an ED. Sounds like your school does not have that policy, so she is doing nothing wrong. Congrats to her and best of luck.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 00:24     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
A few thoughts:

1. I can understand applying to more schools for financial reasons.

2. Don’t kid yourself that she is not being compared to her classmates, especially if coming from a (smaller-sized) private school.

3. Trophy-hunting is a silly and immature thing to do. (I am not saying that your DD is doing that but if that’s part of her motivation, I would be concerned.)

4. Sharing too much info with her friends is a recipe for heartache. As another PP said, your DD should be prepared for some hurt feelings and (potentially) broken friendships.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 00:10     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:Your kid is being selfish by applying to schools she would not choose (lesser Ivies, Duke) over the one she was admitted to. Sorry but that’s the truth!


Agree. My kid was admitted to his REA and is done. He thought about maybe applying to Stanford, but decided that he would prefer east coast. Important to him not to take spots from deserving classmates thar he wouldn’t ultimately accept.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 00:07     Subject: Re:What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Unless you’re looking for some type of financial aid/full ride scholarship from another school because of not being able to afford your HYP education, then it’s pretty selfish to apply to more, it’s hurting other kids chances.
No it isn't. Students from the same school do not compete against each other for X number of spots. That's why admit numbers vary from year to year.


Of course they directly compete with each other. Every AO will tell you this.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 00:06     Subject: What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Your kid is being selfish by applying to schools she would not choose (lesser Ivies, Duke) over the one she was admitted to. Sorry but that’s the truth!
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 00:03     Subject: Re:What is wrong with applying to more schools after getting in HYP REA?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Unless you’re looking for some type of financial aid/full ride scholarship from another school because of not being able to afford your HYP education, then it’s pretty selfish to apply to more, it’s hurting other kids chances.
No it isn't. Students from the same school do not compete against each other for X number of spots. That's why admit numbers vary from year to year.


While there aren’t a fixed number of spots for each high school, kids from a given high school are most definitely compared to each other. So your daughter might be offered admission if she applies. If she doesn’t apply, those colleges won’t see her application and will not compare her classmates to her. That might lead to admissions offers for one or more of her classmates.

My kid was accepted to a couple of HYPSM RD after being rejected REA — no one else from high school was admitted to any T20 that my kid applied to. It was eye-opening to see. In fact Yal had waitlisted two kids from our school in the early round and rejected them RD while simultaneously waiting my kid RD. So a comparison was made!