We experienced the opposite. My DD applied to 9 schools and felt herself getting burned out by the ninth one. Dozens of supplementals, honor college essays, scholarship essays, etc to write. All on top of a busy schedule and heavy course load at school. Her essays towards the end weren't necessarily worse than her earlier ones, but it wasn't like she was suddenly so much better or much more inspired to write them. She was tired out by the process and was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of money necessary for the whole process (sending test scores, CSS, application fees, etc.) and was frankly more than ready to be done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How much money did that cost?

A drop in the bucket compared to the complete picture. Very short sighted when parents whine about this.

No, it's not short sighted it's being over the top and not able to use common sense to slice your list down to at least the top 8. No need to go crazy.

If you are applying to the most highly selective schools those with admissions around 12% and below, you do indeed need to send out more applications that if you are applying to schools in the 50% and higher admissions range. Comparing number applications between the most selective schools and schools with higher admissions stats is like comparing apples to oranges--and I say this as a parent who has kids in both categories.

Anonymous wrote:Odd. My DC applied to 12 schools and his applications were pretty uniform because he worked on all of them before submitting anything. When he polished one, he carried that polishing over to others.

And this is the smart way to do this. I'm kind of shocked that OP boasts about the marked improvement in applications just over a few days. What was the point of "wasting" the first applications? Just so you can check it off as done? You still paid the fee, if the improvement is as significant as you say, her chances of getting accepted to the first schools is very low. Why not wait to submit until you're done with all of them a few days later? Then all the applications can be polished and your kid has the best chances of getting in.

Not a humble brag - a full blown proud mama brag.

I had severe health problems the last two years of my daughter's high school. As a result, my amazing daughter finished her 3 college applications in two days before EA deadline in October and submitted it without any help from anyone - not even for proof-reading! The plan was that she would also apply to 5 others later so that she could hedge her bets. The early admission applications were supposed to be a trial run for applying to college.

I am sure her essays were cringe-worthy and not polished. I am also certain that they probably did not suck all that much since she was in a very prestigious magnet public school.

She got accepted with full merit scholarships in all. She then picked her 1st choice college and proceeded to have an absolutely chilled and relaxed time for the rest of the year. Attended all the parties during thanksgiving, Christmas, new years etc...and never applied to any of the other 5 colleges. Her reasoning was that she would rather spend the application fee to buy a really nice pair of boots on sale as well as do other shopping.

I was spared all angst that parents go through when their kids are applying to college. And because I did not help her to apply (read - did not write her essays or edited it!) she is actually able to churn out quality papers at college on her own.

My friend paid 25 K to a person to write essays for his child. I wonder what is the point? The student still has to perform in college, right?

I don't get the joke

Anonymous wrote:My dd has done 7 applications (2 more shortly) and other than paying the application fee, I had nothing to do with them. Never even read them... it's her thing.

+1 = if you want to go to college get yourself in.

My dd has done 7 applications (2 more shortly) and other than paying the application fee, I had nothing to do with them. Never even read them... it's her thing.

Anonymous wrote:

How much money did that cost?

A drop in the bucket compared to the complete picture. Very short sighted when parents whine about this.

No, it's not short sighted it's being over the top and not able to use common sense to slice your list down to at least the top 8. No need to go crazy.

Anonymous wrote:Odd. My DC applied to 12 schools and his applications were pretty uniform because he worked on all of them before submitting anything. When he polished one, he carried that polishing over to others.

In a perfect world, yes. Not how my kids have ever been, unfortunately.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, there are some crankypants parents on these boards.

I got the joke, OP, even if some didn't. Good luck to your daughter.

And thanks for the info about applications improving with practice. I will use it when my oldest applies in a couple of years.

Problem is, with highly selective schools, the application with the best odds of success is the first one -- i.e. whichever one DC applies to (SC)EA/ED. So by Nov 1st, it really helps for an applicant to (a) know what his or her first choice is and whether s/he is able to commit without knowing other results and (b) have a highly polished application ready. Basically, it doesn't make sense to save the best for last in this system. Unless your DC is willing/able to get all the apps finished by Nov 1 and then just mail them out when/if necessary.

Best of luck to OP and her DC. It's a huge effort and it's great to see your DC get through it and to see her work get consistently better with experience (rather than get increasingly uninspired with each successive app). Bodes well for her future wherever she ends up!

Anonymous wrote:Odd. My DC applied to 12 schools and his applications were pretty uniform because he worked on all of them before submitting anything. When he polished one, he carried that polishing over to others.

+1

Odd. My DC applied to 12 schools and his applications were pretty uniform because he worked on all of them before submitting anything. When he polished one, he carried that polishing over to others.

How much money did that cost?

A drop in the bucket compared to the complete picture. Very short sighted when parents whine about this.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, there are some crankypants parents on these boards.

I got the joke, OP, even if some didn't. Good luck to your daughter.

And thanks for the info about applications improving with practice. I will use it when my oldest applies in a couple of years.

+1 Practice makes perfect. As an adult, I have seen it in my own work - I cringe when I look at some of my older work and then compare it to what I'm doing now. And, yes, good luck to OP's daughter! It sounds like she understands about hard work and has learned a good life lesson!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it just me or does the OP make no sense?

Plus 1

+2.