Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW i do think a bunch of the reason schools limit to 10 has to do with capacity of college office and registrar to handle all the forms and transcripts.

The question to ask is whether the school has raised its limit in last 5 years as the number of apps each kid submits nationally rises. If they have not raised, then why not.

At our “elite” private school, 120-140 kids per class. 4 college counselors. 1 registrar. Everyone always seems overwhelmed.

This is a school with $100m endowment and charging almost $50k. Meaning they can afford it. Yet they underpay the 4 CCO people which forces them to take side gigs at school including overnight trip chaperones and grade deans.

And of course the office shuts down dec 15-Jan 5. So your are out of luck on final essay help.

So 10 also helps them. Let’s be frank.

So why not raise to 15 and hire two to three more bodies in CCO

Can’t entirely ignore what’s happening around us. Realize this implies an arms race but the reality is other kids are applying 12-15

Kids need more shots on goal these days.

You realize publics have 500+ students and no college counselors and yet they manage.

Yes entirely. That’s actually sort of my point. No question private school kids are coddled and advantaged in many ways

But the college office at our Big 3 has been constantly “busy” since junior year. Fall appointments for essay review were 4-6 weeks out. Registrar ignored emails.

Plenty of public schools with no budget can handle sending 1000-5000 transcripts

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is an arms race on applications and it is hurting everyone. Did you see the WaPo article fawning over the girl with 50 acceptances? It's a disgrace. People pushing applications to so many schools push others onto deferrals and waitlists -- and just fuels the fire to apply to more schools to hedge the risk. The kids should have to disclose to the admissions offices how many schools will be getting their application.

That headline has been misconstrued though. She applied through the Common Black College App, which automatically makes the application visible to 65 HBCUs (so students can get offers from any of the schools that participate—many are smaller schools so this benefits them by expanding the applicant pool and promoting lesser known HBCUs).

Exactly! Did PP even read the "disgraceful" young Black woman's story? Besides the fact that she's ridiculously accomplished, she nailed the application process by breaking into manageable chunks. 50 wasn't her goal. It was the outcome.

She set aside a few hours a month to research a handful of schools at a time and to identify funding and college access tools. Any teen can use the same process she did.

1) 👏🏾set👏🏾 a👏🏾budget.

2) do 👏🏾 your 👏🏾 research 👏🏾

If anyone thinks she got her Duke full ride BECAUSE she's an URM can catch these hands.

It's 2023, but Black girls in America have to be 50 times as good as a white male legacy to get the same level of "consideration."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is an arms race on applications and it is hurting everyone. Did you see the WaPo article fawning over the girl with 50 acceptances? It's a disgrace. People pushing applications to so many schools push others onto deferrals and waitlists -- and just fuels the fire to apply to more schools to hedge the risk. The kids should have to disclose to the admissions offices how many schools will be getting their application.

That headline has been misconstrued though. She applied through the Common Black College App, which automatically makes the application visible to 65 HBCUs (so students can get offers from any of the schools that participate—many are smaller schools so this benefits them by expanding the applicant pool and promoting lesser known HBCUs).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW i do think a bunch of the reason schools limit to 10 has to do with capacity of college office and registrar to handle all the forms and transcripts.

The question to ask is whether the school has raised its limit in last 5 years as the number of apps each kid submits nationally rises. If they have not raised, then why not.

At our “elite” private school, 120-140 kids per class. 4 college counselors. 1 registrar. Everyone always seems overwhelmed.

This is a school with $100m endowment and charging almost $50k. Meaning they can afford it. Yet they underpay the 4 CCO people which forces them to take side gigs at school including overnight trip chaperones and grade deans.

And of course the office shuts down dec 15-Jan 5. So your are out of luck on final essay help.

So 10 also helps them. Let’s be frank.

So why not raise to 15 and hire two to three more bodies in CCO

Can’t entirely ignore what’s happening around us. Realize this implies an arms race but the reality is other kids are applying 12-15

Kids need more shots on goal these days.

You realize publics have 500+ students and no college counselors and yet they manage.

Yes entirely. That’s actually sort of my point. No question private school kids are coddled and advantaged in many ways

But the college office at our Big 3 has been constantly “busy” since junior year. Fall appointments for essay review were 4-6 weeks out. Registrar ignored emails.

Plenty of public schools with no budget can handle sending 1000-5000 transcripts

Anonymous wrote:There is an arms race on applications and it is hurting everyone. Did you see the WaPo article fawning over the girl with 50 acceptances? It's a disgrace. People pushing applications to so many schools push others onto deferrals and waitlists -- and just fuels the fire to apply to more schools to hedge the risk. The kids should have to disclose to the admissions offices how many schools will be getting their application.

Anonymous wrote:We are currently at a private school outside of the area. For years the school has had a 10 application limit that was strictly enforced. The goal is to have to kids put work into developing a really solid school target list (and minimize competition with each other too I am sure). For the past 2 years parents have been hearing stories about kids who got rejected from all 10 and that leading to a mad scramble to get a few more applications in to get acceptances.

The school is now asking for feedback from parents about the application limit.

I have a sophomore and a middle schooler, so I’ve just started watching this board. And I admit I’m worried. My sophomore DD is also starting to get worried, mostly through the stress on her older friends. I am trying to focus on there being a good fit school for everyone. We also talk about how top 50 school admission is more of a lottery than anything.

What is a reasonable application limit in this world?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the UKs?

The United Kingdom schools that use their own common app thing. It’s called UCAS or something.

These are getting much more popular in DMV I notice.

They look at GPA and test score and AP tests. They tell you the formula. And if you hit it as a US kid, you are a very likely in. And they are rolling.

No peformative dance on club President crap or non profits I “founded”

The UK schools care zero about clubs

Our school will have 2-3 going I think based on what my kid tells me.

Perhaps they are safeties for kids who zeroed out Ivies. But they seem pretty awesome to me.

Anonymous wrote:What are the UKs?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW i do think a bunch of the reason schools limit to 10 has to do with capacity of college office and registrar to handle all the forms and transcripts.

The question to ask is whether the school has raised its limit in last 5 years as the number of apps each kid submits nationally rises. If they have not raised, then why not.

At our “elite” private school, 120-140 kids per class. 4 college counselors. 1 registrar. Everyone always seems overwhelmed.

This is a school with $100m endowment and charging almost $50k. Meaning they can afford it. Yet they underpay the 4 CCO people which forces them to take side gigs at school including overnight trip chaperones and grade deans.

And of course the office shuts down dec 15-Jan 5. So your are out of luck on final essay help.

So 10 also helps them. Let’s be frank.

So why not raise to 15 and hire two to three more bodies in CCO

Can’t entirely ignore what’s happening around us. Realize this implies an arms race but the reality is other kids are applying 12-15

Kids need more shots on goal these days.

You realize publics have 500+ students and no college counselors and yet they manage.

Anonymous wrote:BTW i do think a bunch of the reason schools limit to 10 has to do with capacity of college office and registrar to handle all the forms and transcripts.

The question to ask is whether the school has raised its limit in last 5 years as the number of apps each kid submits nationally rises. If they have not raised, then why not.

At our “elite” private school, 120-140 kids per class. 4 college counselors. 1 registrar. Everyone always seems overwhelmed.

This is a school with $100m endowment and charging almost $50k. Meaning they can afford it. Yet they underpay the 4 CCO people which forces them to take side gigs at school including overnight trip chaperones and grade deans.

And of course the office shuts down dec 15-Jan 5. So your are out of luck on final essay help.

So 10 also helps them. Let’s be frank.

So why not raise to 15 and hire two to three more bodies in CCO

Can’t entirely ignore what’s happening around us. Realize this implies an arms race but the reality is other kids are applying 12-15

Kids need more shots on goal these days.

Anonymous wrote:GDS limits to 10. They count UCs as one and UKs as one.

So kids in theory can have more than 10.

They occasionally make exceptions for more than 10 I’ve heard.

Their logic has been that it helps the middle 50th of the class since the top 25th aren’t applying to the same dozen schools.

I really like the idea of making state school apps unlimited and limiting private university if a school wants to have a cap.

Some kids apply to Pitt in august on their own. Pitt doesn’t need official transcript or LOR. So it’s entirely possible to apply using the Pitt app (not the Common App).

Else 12-15 is a good number.

Know a number of GDS kids this year who only got into their 3-4 safeties and have so far been shut out or WL’d at all targets and reaches (pending these last few).