<p>Is any body else worried sick about your children to getting into the schools that they chose to apply to? I am… worried sick. But dear daughter chose the schools, heeded no advice and now everything is done. All we can do is wait. She aimed, very, very high and I am so afraid she will be very dissapointed. </p>
<p>What to do?</p>
<p>The only thing you can do is sit back and wait. If she aimed only for the more selective colleges, she may want to quickly send out an application to one of her instate public schools. Without a backup plan, she may end up living at home and attending community college for her first year. Hopefully, her gamble to apply only to very selective colleges will pay off but try to get her to set up a backup plan.</p>
<p>Not worried, and definitely not worried sick. This is our second time through the process. We’ve got some acceptable safety schools on tap. We’d be pleased as punch if some of the match and reach schools came thorugh.</p>
<p>Hang in there. There’s not much to do at this point. If she applied to no schools other than her high reaches and doesn’t get into any of them, then you can research schools that have a really late application date. Or you can check the list of colleges that still have space and are looking for more applicants–that list comes out in early May. Or you can start planning starting at community college or taking a gap year.</p>
<p>If she has safety schools on her list (but doesn’t really want to go there), then she’ll have to either do a gap year or go to the non-loved safety school (for at least a year).</p>
<p>It isn’t the end of the world if she will be very disappointed. Adults get disappointed all the time, but we just move on. And as a parent, we can’t protect our kids from every disappointment forever.</p>
<p>Although not a parent, I’m a little worried that I might not be accepted into Yale. I guess I could say I’m “qualified” (for lack of a better term) to go there, but at some point how do you distinguish between a 7 year commitment to leadership at a community service organization to someone else’s national piano contest award or to another’s athletic ability, etc. At some point I think it really comes down to the luck of the draw. That’s why, I have to say I think it’s silly when people ask members of this forum to estimate their chances of getting into a college. Sure you’re capable of getting in, but so are 5,000 -10,000+ other people. Anyways, I wish the best of luck to you and your daughter and I hope she gets into her college of choice. Hope you both do well during the most (likely) grueling 3 months of waiting!</p>
<p>Maybe you can try to add a different perspective to it. This does not at all mean she won’t go to college! It only means that, in the worse case scenario, she will have an unexpected, but potentially interesting and unique year between HS and college. She’ll probably grow from it, even if it hurts at first and is not easy. And this odd year will be educational in its own way.</p>
<p>As another possibility, on May 1st NACAC will post a list of colleges with openings.</p>
<p>Iamconfused-- does she have some reasonable safeties to fall back on?</p>
<p>We are facing student decisions similar to the OP’s I think–
S1 had a lot going for him academically, and admissions was a breeze. One favorite school, got in, and done.
S2 has some really good stuff going for him (sports and EC’s) but his academic record is much more mixed, let’s say. He showed me the list of colleges he’s interested in, and quite a few were completely out of reach. I think for some kids there’s the hope that, if you apply to enough of those reach schools, at least ONE of them is bound to take you-- you’ll to get lucky. It just doesn’t work that way. We have to do a lot more homework this time around.</p>