Baelor

I've read about it here and there. It has come up at my own school. But I definitely want to know more about it before it becomes an issue.

Context: My school is a private day school that sends many grads to top schools. It is well-known, but we are not a "feeder" per se. That being said, many students do get into Ivies/top universities/top LACs.

Problem: There are clear "favorite schools." Stanford, for example. Because we are in the West, it is understandable why this is a particularly attractive option. Other selective LACs (Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, etc.) are also popular schools, as are Ivies. The problem is with applications. There's also an undertone of "taking up someone else's spot," applying to too many schools that are very popular, etc. For example, one person applied to a highly selective early, got in, then applied (and was accepted to) several other very selective schools. There was a bit of a grumbling about that student, because he was taking up spots others could have had, etc. That institution accepted no one RD, although the candidates who applied RD were in some cases better-qualified (apparently the school did inform ours that they weren't going to accept anyone RD). It was a mess...

So, what to do about this? Ignoring it seems to be the perfect solution in lala-land, but that's probably not going to be possible because of the schools comparatively small size. Has anyone dealt with this before? I've heard mentions in books and magazines about students not applying to some stretches because their friends were applying and wanted to go to it more, or incidents that sounded a lot like that. How do you avoid negative feelings? Does this come up often in schools where there are a lot of applicants who are looking at selective institutions?

For the record, I am interested in applying to Stanford early. However, it is not my top choice and I don't want any problems if a miracle happens and I get in. I am in the top 10%, which makes it kind of difficult... I plan not to share anything with anyone (other than my CC, of course), but I don't want any problems.

First-hand experiences? Second-hand ones? Advice?

carolyn

When you apply to college, you are compared not just to the other applicants from your school, but also the other applicants from your state or region, and all the other applicants in the nation.

No one truly "takes" another person's spot. Admissions people make decisions based on a host of institutional needs and strategies, as well as the individual applications of students. Those decisions can change multiple times before admissions letters are put in the mail, as the overall acceptance pool begins to take shape. No one can control or predict with any accuracy how it will all play out for any individual student, or even any individual high school.

As a counselor, I've seen multiple students get into a "top" school from the same high school one year, and no one get in the next. I've seen students who told me a school was low on their list suddenly decide that it was their "dream school" once someone else got in and they didn't. I've had students decide not to apply to schools where I knew they had a decent shot because a friend told them they had no chance. I've also seen kids drive themselves crazy trying to out-guess what everyone else at their high school is doing in order to gain some imagined "advantage."

The bottomline: do your best with YOUR applications. Apply to the schools that YOU would most like to attend. Worry about YOUR chances. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing or how what they are doing is affecting you or what their chances are of upstaging you in the great admissions game. In fact, don't discuss where you are applying with too many people - that type of talk only adds to the stress and confusion, and doesn't really help anyone.

Good luck!

Nesquik

Don't worry about a kid getting admitted to a lot of schools. At the end of the day, he can only go to one. So essentially he (and others like him) are lowering the yield at the other schools, meaning that those other schools will admit more students. So in the end it balances out.

Bescraze

I don't think thats your problem. The only thing for me at least was not applying to do many top top schools, because that would put my guidance guy in bad place, because he can't advocate you at 3 so many schools, when other kids also want them. Your list seemed good though. Just out of curious are you applying scea to Stanford, because Harvard or Princeton are your tops? If so than I doubt anyone would care if Stanford is your third choice, but if your top choice has ed and Stanford is way down then why not apply there? I am saying this not for your classmates, but just in case its better for you

Cervantes

At some schools they impose limits after a kid gets in early action on how many other schools a kid can apply to. Yours doesn't seem to be the case. I suggest that you keep your head down and don't go parading you got in otherwise you're sure to meet some resistance. Even though it is your right to be happy with your admission and to apply to as many schools as possible even after being admitted early action, being considerate of other's feelings is important too, especially during the application season. I faced something very similar last year, I went to a highly competitive high school, got accepted SCEA to Stanford, and still applied to some Ivies and MIT. I will admit, a few kids did say that I should be "happy with Stanford", and "don't take away my spot, you're in college already". I replied to them by saying, I've never visited Stanford (which was true) and I'm holding out for FA (which was a bit of a white lie ) While you probably can't use the first reason you can most certainly use the second or any other reasons you can think of. Hopefully though, Stanford will become your first choice so it's not an issue...haha just had to put a plug in there for Stanford. But seriously don't worry.

Bescraze

Cervantes if you don't mind me asking. Did you end up at Stanford, because it became your first choice or because you didn't get in anywhere else you would want to go? I am just curious, since I assume since you got in scea you probably had a lot of options.

highopes

Don't parade your acceptances, like Cervantes said.

Also, remember that you're making a decision that could affect the rest of your life. Don't be swayed by the negative opinions of a group of kids who you'll probably never see again after senior year.

Cervantes

It's quite alright to ask me! The admissions process is over and so are the hard feelings. Well, just to set the record straight, I only applied to 3 more schools-Princeton, MIT, and Cornell. Those were the only 3 top schools on my list I thought I might attend over Stanford if admitted. I cut Harvard and Penn off the list because they weren't strong in the major of my choice (engineering) and didn't seem to have the right vibe. Fast forward to late March, much to my chagrin MIT and Princeton rejected me, but Cornell admitted me as a scholar. I was still very happy with my choices, I knew how competitive these schools were to get into and I knew I'd love to attend any. The choice between Cornell and Stanford was very hard (a lot of CC kids wouldn't believe it but w/e) until the last week of April when I visited Stanford. So, I guess I did have another place I wanted to go to but I didn't exactly have many choices. Also, all those four schools were roughly equally my "top choice" but if I could do it all over again I would have stopped after being admitted early to Stanford. Frankly, Stanford is awesome!

Baelor

Thanks for all the great advice, and it came so quickly and eloquently!

For the record, there are no quotas at my school. And I plan not to share ANYTHING about early (no one will know I'm applying), where I get in, etc. Just where I go. I don't want any problems, and I don't want others' expectations of me to be overrating my abilities and my chances.

Anyway:

"Your list seemed good though. Just out of curious are you applying scea to Stanford, because Harvard or Princeton are your tops? If so than I doubt anyone would care if Stanford is your third choice, but if your top choice has ed and Stanford is way down then why not apply there?"

Yes, and that's part of the problem... Stanford is my third choice in that if I got into Harvard or Princeton (again, miracles may happen), I would choose those. But there are kids who are nuts over Stanford. I would love to have the chance to go there, but it's not my top choice at the moment. That's why I don't know whether it would be selfish for me to apply early.

I know that colleges don't have quotas, but they also don't take 40 kids from one school either. On the other hand, if I got into Stanford early, I would probably drop all but H and P from my list.

Bescraze

Yea were in the same boat, except it would by H and Y for me.