<p>MoltoBene, I don’t think the increase in apps has to do much with schools using the Common App, or the flood of postcards, letters and brochures that began to arrive last Spring. Nor even the sometimes puzzling VIP invitations to apply (My daughter’s best friend with similar B - B+ stats and SATs just got one last week from Brandeis of all places.)</p>
<p>What motivated my daughter’s 13 applications was the increased uncertainty of acceptance. It seems like each school’s web site boasts each year how much more selective the last class got than the one of year before. There were/are a number of schools whose reported statistics would have made them matches a year or two ago, but I don’t know about this year. Hence, more apps to spread a wider net.</p>
<p>She applied to more schools, but not more high reach or reach schools because it was easy. She applied to more “match” schools because we are uncertain. And most of the schools my D applied to anyway didn’t use the CA.</p>
<p>Even if the Common App makes it “easier” to apply, the $45-65 fee is enough of a deterrent to applying to schools you aren’t likely to get into. Probably the reason why Tulane gets so many apps is their fee waiver.</p>
<p>It’s all BS- simply a way for colleges to boost the number of applicants only to reject them and make the school look more selective. </p>
<p>My son’s GC recommends applying to between 6-9 schools which really should be enough to have a good balance of reach, match and safety for most kids.</p>
<p>One area where the Common App has made it easier for my S1…he’s applied to 3 engineering schools early action. Looking at his stats, he should get in to any of them. But, given the uncertaintly of college admissions, he’s selected 3 additional schools he will apply to regular decision if need be, which are not his first choices, but are schools he could probably be happy at, primarily because they take the Common App and their Supplements don’t have any additional essays. In his heart of hearts, though, he’s counting on getting into one of his top 3 choices.</p>
<p>@mhc48 re:why Purchase for my son: for one, it’s as far away from home as he can get and still stay on the same continent; next up, it’s close to New York City, which he loves; third, it is an academic match and their OOS tuition is about the same as UC tuition, which would be instate for us, so it’s affordable; they have an arts management major that he finds intriguing; and from the looks of various websites and youtube videos it has just the right mix of neo-hippie indie kids and others like him in a way that his conservative preppie private high school does not! Granted, he has not visited campus yet, but he certainly seems to be harboring a fantasy about it. Of course he has applied to other schools, seven so far, and will be applying to UC Santa Cruz in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>DH just called. He went to boychild’s XC meet and then drove him back to school so he could meet with his GC and hit the send button on his apps to Hartwick, UNH and Binghamton. Nice feeling knowing at least 3 are finished.</p>
<p>So, S2 has visited several schools he likes - Elon, Susquehanna, James Madison and Towson - and we are planning to visit Muhlenberg and College of Charleston in the spring. Do we stop there? Or do some second visits? With S1 - we visited each school once - and then he went to several accepted student days before making his final selection. Because we started the process so much earlier with S2 - we have time to visit a few campuses a 2nd time - but I’m on the fence. </p>
<p>On one hand, I would like to attend an open house at some of the schools and have S2 learn more about the possible majors, maybe meet some Hillel members, and so forth. But, what if we do that and one of those random negative things happen which are really meaningless, but it sours him on that school? Maybe I should leave well enough alone? Since we never did any of the junior open house or senior open house programs with S1 - what do you think? Worthwhile or not?</p>
<p>I actually mentioned to someone that we were thinking of attending a junior open house at Elon in April - and she advised against it - saying it was all “marketing hype”. Ok - I get that - but wouldn’t there be any value to it? Since all we have done so far are the 2-3 hour info session and student led tour - wouldn’t going back again for a longer day be helpful? Just wondering what others have done or plan to do.</p>
<p>RVM- I can only speak from my experience with my D. Doesn’t mean it is the right answer for you! We visited one school early in her junior year that she really liked. That visit consisted of a tour and meeting with an adcom. We went this fall ( one year later) to an open house event. This consisted of tour,student panel discussion, lunch with a student. D could have attended a class ( she balked at that). There was also a meeting for parents about financial aid. It was very helpful to have such different visits. It confirmed her desire to keep it high on her list. We plan on revisiting the other top schools also.</p>
<p>again can only speak from experience; we did second visits only to the schools that D2 had any intention of applying ED to; left it up to her what she wanted to do when we got there:</p>
<p>one school she did an overnight and class visit; met with the admissions rep (who had changed since our first visit)</p>
<p>other school she did an interview, spent the day with someone she knew (chose not to do an overnight)…</p>
<p>I would not have done 2nd visits unless there was a possibility of an ED app; if a student is applying EA/RD the second visit could happen after acceptance; in fact, we’ve never seen a number of her EA schools that do not track demonstrated interest…if she is accepted, we will visit if it comes down to it…</p>
<p>of course, this all depends on the school in question…most of the schools on my daughter’s list complete any interviews locally (so it would not be necessary to re-visit before acceptance)…</p>
<p>re: open houses: it’s not that they are “all marketing hype” necessarily; it’s more that it’s a herd…you don’t really get a good feel for the school’s culture and personality when there are hundreds (or thousands) of prospies milling around; you only get the feel for the prospies…</p>
<p>I feel like I am rambling tonight; sorry if it’s annoying…</p>
<p>Our experience with S1 was probably a little unusual because his applications spanned a good part of the country and aside from those in our home state most were quite far from home and each other. S1 also decided not to apply to many of the schools we visited, the visits knocked them off the list and also increased the clarity of what he was looking for. So with this skewed vision I would say unless the list is unmanagably long there is plenty of time to get to know the schools after acceptanced. First, I would say it is probably good not to get too attached to a school until you know they want you and also once the acceptance is in hand somehow it seemed my S paid attention with a much greater intensity than when we were just touring. He ended up going to a school that he didn’t visit at all before his acceptance and he is completely happy with it. To me the preap visits are important narrow down the big list to those schools that get the aps. The accepted student visits are where he really looked for all he wanted and weighted things to make the hard choices. Incidentally our visits were this limited even though we started college visits the summer prior to Junior year. It is w/ S2 that we are getting a late start.</p>
<p>I wanted to mention a school that just came into our radar through a letter they sent to my son. Although he is not interested in attending schools in the 2000 and under range, some of you may find it a great fit. In the letter, Washington & Lee (Lexington, VA) mentions that they have a special scholarship for Jewish students. The Max and Sylvia Weinstein Scholarship was established to recognize entering freshmen with exemplary academic and extracurricular records. Full tuition award renewable for 4 years provided the recipient maintains a 3.3. GPA. The scholarship app is included in their Common App supplement.</p>
<p>My husband also found this article tonight which describes the Jewish Studies program at Tulane. I’m not pushing Tulane necessarily, but if you read the article it mentions a grant that was used to enhance Tulane’s program (in which my daughter double majored), but it also mentions several schools that have been discussed on this thread as future recipients of the grant, which equals good classes for future students at those colleges.</p>
<p>Like, Rodney, we only did second visits to school we were considering for ED. It is helpful to go back and get more of an in-depth experience. If you child has a friend or aquaintance at the school, it can be very helpful to share a meal, see their dorm or possibly stay overnight. We always avoided the big open house events. </p>
<p>As I’ve mentioned before, both of my daughters had good experiences at college summer programs. It’s a great chance to test out a school, and the whole college experience.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, I compeletely agree with Momjr and Rodney, we didn’t consider ED. Since a student commits to the school with the ED application I think that visiting more than once would be a really good idea to be sure the fit is right.</p>
<p>another example of a small LAC trying to attract more Jewish students. D has applied to Juniata, but Jewish life is not at all important to her and she knows the jewish population here is small. I have spoken to members of Hillel who have been frank about the small size of their organization (although they do seem to have plenty of activities planned.)</p>
<p>Moltobene - thanks for posting the JTA article - interesting that Towson was one of the schools mentioned.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your thoughts on 2nd visits. Seems like maybe we should avoid the junior open house at a large school like James Madison - maybe wait and do a smaller one like SU in the fall. On one hand - it’s not really school specific - I just want him to attend something where he can learn more about what is involved in majoring in business and/or psychology - so it’s not so much where we visit - I just want him to get a more in-depth feel for what these majors are about.</p>
<p>But on the other hand - I like the suggestions about doing a 2nd visit at a possible ED school - we did not do this with S1 - but then - he didn’t get in there anyway! Not sure yet how we feel about ED for S2 - it’s a possibility - but I think it’s too early to really discuss seriously.</p>
<p>In other news - he is signed up to take the ACT again in February - and he will start some paid tutoring in December - very curious to see how all that goes - and I guess his results will have a lot of bearing on whether or not he applies ED.</p>
<p>Putting the hs code in will not matter one iota to colleges. The only reason to put the hs code in is if your hs uses Naviance and you want to see the test scores on the scattergrams. If your hs does not use Naviance - it’s really up to you - do you want the GC to have the info? If the GC is someone helpful that you intend to meet with and speak to about the college process - than send the scores to the hs. If you find your GC less than helpful - no real reason to include them in the loop.</p>
<p>Another reason not to use the HS code…at least for our school, all standardized test scores are shown on the back of the transcript even you choose not send them to colleges from the testing agency. You have the option of not showing any scores on the back, but from what I’ve been told, colleges look at that as if you have something to hide, since the majority of transcripts from our school show the scores. Not sure how other high schools do it, though.</p>
<p>umich - could not agree with you more. Our hs does not put test scores on transcripts - so we don’t have that issue - but if yours does - you should fight it. Your test scores belong to you - not to your hs. You get to choose which scores you send to which colleges. High schools should absolutely not be putting test scores on transcripts.</p>
<p>Our high school does not put test scores on transcripts. I agree with Rockvillemom that if your school does, you should try to fight it. Now that the SAT offers score choice, kids should have the option to “hide” a score. I know that most colleges say that they will only use the best scores, but do you really want them to see scores that aren’t very good?</p>