<p>I’m intrigued as to how people can read the minds of kids who keep applications active at other schools once they already have and early acceptance. UVA is a wonderful school and better in some respects than Georgetown, not to mention cheaper. How is that the poster knows with certainty the thinking of the applicant?</p>
<p>It’s ironic because the applicant body is reflecting in a sense the colleges. A few are the most sought after, although there are a multitude of worthy ones. Why the resentment toward top applicants who are viable at many highly selective schools? Isn’t the fact that HYPSCM and the like “trophy hunt” in choosing their admitted class just as reprehensible when probably at least 50% of their applicants would be just fine?</p>
<p>No resentment. My kid got into Yale EA. He immediately withdrew applications at a bunch of schools – Ivies among them – he KNEW he would not choose over Yale. As I have explained in prior posts, we believed that was the right thing to do.</p>
<p>Most RD apps are due after EA results are known. Most of them cost $50-75 to submit. I would think that very few kids/parents would pay the app fee just to “see where else the kid gets in” when they have an acceptance to their #1 choice in hand, and no financial issues. There probably are a few that do that, but I am pretty sure they are the minority.</p>
<p>Right now, the total number of SCEA acceptees in any year is about 1,300. So we’re not talking about a whole lot of people under any circumstances. And, yes, the number who keep more than a couple other applications alive without significant financial reasons is minimal. I’ve seen a few. They’re here. I don’t think they’re a major clog on the system, although if I were a classmate I would resent them, too.</p>
<p>Look, one of the personality characteristics that can put people into the position of having an SCEA acceptance is the drive to grab every opportunity to excell. They don’t reach a goal and say “good enough”, they say “higher! faster!” (That’s not the only personality that gets such acceptances, but it’s sure one of them.) The leopard doesn’t change his spots just because Stanford says yes. Like the scorpion in the fable, they can’t help it, it’s their nature.</p>
<p>Lots of kids like that DON’T have their SCEA applications accepted, too, and we don’t rag on them nearly so much for keeping 14, 15, or more applications open at schools they will never attend. There are a lot more of those than of the lucky ones.</p>