Current/Future Applicants and Parents: Making a College Application List

alamemom
Sun, 14 Apr 2013 18:22:29 +0000

I see many posts about “dream colleges” or how an applicant feels that they have worked so hard that they “deserve” a particular college experience. I thought it would be useful, especially for parents of future college applicants, to discuss what makes a GOOD college application list that will result in GOOD options, and how to negotiate that list with your student.

As a parent of a recent USC grad and a CURRENT college-bound senior, this is a subject we have covered in our family twice, with one more round coming up for our youngest in a few years.

This is how LameFamily approached the college application process:

For their college lists we did not tell our kids where to apply, instead we outlined requirements for their list. If the requirements for the list were followed, we made the commitment that they would be attending ONE of the colleges on the list.

1) The most important requirement: They HAD to agree to attend ANY college to which they applied. ANY. If it was not a college they would attend, it did not belong on the list. No “Dream College” talk allowed. GOING to college was the dream, not any one college.

2) We would pay for up to 9 applications. No more. Of those, only two could be reaches. If they wanted to apply to more schools or reaches, they could do so on their own dime.

3) They HAD to include TWO financial + academic safeties. These are defined as schools where admission is assured or nearly assured and we could pay out of pocket or scholarships were guaranteed with their stats/qualifications.

4) They HAD to include at least TWO in-state public colleges – these could be the same as the safeties or different – their choice.

5) We stated, in CLEAR numbers, the maximum amount we would contribute and the maximum we would allow them in loans. We made it clear that any school that came in above those numbers would be “off the table.”



Given those parameters, our oldest settled on seven schools for her list and our current senior settled on two for his (this guy is NOT wishy-washy!). Neither chose to apply to a “reach,” though our oldest included 4 schools (academic matches or safeties) where scholarships were possible, but not assured. As the info came in, they waited for us to review the dollars and cents and let them know if that school was on the table. For our oldest, 6 of the 7 worked and for our current student, both of his choices* worked.

*Please note, my current senior did not apply to USC. I am very aware of the financial aid process at USC and it was “taken off the table” before an application was submitted. He was not in a position to receive a scholarship, and at our income level, we were not willing to contribute the amount we knew USC would calculate.

How have others helped their students create college application lists?