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Streeeetch Schools
FlaParent
105 replies21 threads Junior Member
DD has a great list of 8 schools. She has a great safety, 4 good match/ high match and three stretch schools. After completing all of these applications, she wanted to add on two schools where she is just in the bottom of the 50th percentile.
She has worked so hard during school that I said that adding 2 more is not a problem. I don’t care about the small amount of application fee but I’m concerned about the high % chance of rejection. She says that she understands that these are real long shots but now she is likely to get rejected by more than 1/2 the schools that she is applying to.
She is our oldest so this is uncharted territory. Any words of advice for a nervous dad?
12 replies She has worked so hard during school that I said that adding 2 more is not a problem. I don’t care about the small amount of application fee but I’m concerned about the high % chance of rejection. She says that she understands that these are real long shots but now she is likely to get rejected by more than 1/2 the schools that she is applying to.
She is our oldest so this is uncharted territory. Any words of advice for a nervous dad?
Replies to: Streeeetch Schools
If it doesn’t happen she may have some tears and “I worked so hard for nothing” moments. The tears dry and the reality of the new school kicks in. They’re much more resilient than we think.
She might just want the pride of saying she applied to x and y among her friend group or to not have any “what if” regrets. It also tells her you believe in her which is worth saying out loud.
I would also get very real with the math involved with her. As an example. Harvard admits only 300 or so students per gender with no preference category like legacy or athletics. There are roughly 38000 high schools in America. So 72000 vals and sals. Doesn’t mean they are all the same. It also doesn’t mean they only take vals and sals. It’s just to make a point that you may be competing with 30k equal superstars for one of 300 seats. 29700 get rejected in the end. Roughly.
It’s the same across many up and down the top 50 forbes ranking type schools and lacs. (This ranking combines small and large schools)
So how reachy are the stretches? I'd be inclined to make sure her first apps are on target, review those, before adding purely speculative colleges.
I would allow her to apply to two more reach schools, but I agree that she also needs at least one more safety.
Best of luck to the whole family!
D1 was accepted, shocking her GC. D2 was not.
As someone said above, we saw $ for the two streeeetch applications as a sign of our support. The costs for the schools were not significantly different.
My older son had the sort of stats and activities that made a reach heavy list inevitable. He got into his two safeties and two of the reaches and was rejected from three reaches and waitlisted at the fourth. He didn't seem to be at all bothered by only getting into half the colleges he applied to. In fact I think I was sadder about a couple of them than he was!