<p>There are students who are accepted to every school. If you think you have the qualifications for Harvard or Yale or Amherst or Williams - and that’s what you want - give it a try. Someone does get in. It could be you - you won’t know unless you try. </p>
<p>On the other hand, don’t assume that you will get in anywhere. Have lots of good choices that you will be happy with.</p>
<p>Some schools have earlier deadlines for those who want to apply for merit scholarships. During the summer before the senior year, check to make sure if any of your schools fall into this category.</p>
<p>Just one example…the University of Rochester required that your application and all supporting materials be received by December 1 for regular decision to be eligible for merit aid.</p>
<p>UCLA and UCBerkeley are not safeties for ANYONE, nor MATCHES FOR ANYONE.</p>
<p>any school whose admissions rate is less than 30 percent is not a MATCH for anyone.</p>
<p>When filling in Common App info, do not indicate schools where you plan to send it until you are ready to send it (one school at a time). </p>
<p>As you are accumulating data, you don’t want to accidentally hit ‘send’ when you really mean to ‘save.’ If there’s nowhere listed, no harm, no foul.</p>
<p>To expand on Thumper1, one of S’s schools had “soft” deadlines (when they’d really like to have the app) and “hard” deadlines (when they had to have them.) I don’t know if you get brownie points for early submission, but it can’t hurt.</p>
<p>The most important schools on your list are your likelies (AKA safeties), and you need at least TWO. They need to places you would happily–not begrudgingly–attend if they were your only options. I echo the sentiment that your likelies cannot be “highly selective” schools no matter what your stats look like. You always want to have two good options come April. One is not enough.</p>
<p>1) As early as possible plan out your calendar for PSAT, SAT, SATII and AP tests so you can spread some of it out over Junior year… or even sophmore year… we never gave a thought to Biology SATII until it was too late to consider registering…and if your kid is strong in
Biology it is a shame to miss knocking that one off early in the cycle… if you suspect your child might excel at SAT’s, then take them as a sophmore to jumpstart the school’s interest in your kid…and also instill outside motivation in your child… my oldest got lots of mail that elevated his own list…both in caliber of school and geographic diversity, providing some fun fodder for conversation with his parents!!</p>
<p>2) If math is a strength, look at the 4 yr curriculum…take a summer class or on-line class to accelerate if you are aiming high and want to get to harder courses…</p>
<p>3) Start your filing system early…while the purpose of said “file” is for college information, it is a great vehicle for doing some life skills transfer on getting organized. Helping a kid manage the onslaught of information that comes in, sometimes unsolicited, is a real gift we can give them…whether they choose to implement is their choice…but, it is a huge stress reliever to not be in panic about where something is when one needs it. For example:</p>
<p>Manilla folder for each school you choose to keep information on…</p>
<p>Print out the maps to get to the schools and put them in the folder for your visit…</p>
<p>Make a note of days and times of on campus tours so you can plan a road trip of more than 1 school at a time…make note if you register online for the tour…</p>
<p>Put the key dates for that school’s requirements on the inside of the manilla folder…application, financial aid, scholarship etc…</p>
<p>Create folders for scholarships you are pursuing…</p>
<p>Document when you send things to that school on the inside of the manilla folder…</p>
<p>Print out your application and put it in the manilla folder…helpful after it is sent to remember which essay/s you submitted…</p>
<p>Record the password the school sends you upon receipt of your application…so you can log on to receive your decision on the fateful day… </p>
<p>Have folders for “generic” essays…</p>
<p>Folders for your financial aid information you must send…</p>
<p>Have folders for the awards and recognition articles (sports, writing contests etc) so that it is easy to find this stuff once you begin to assemble your application…</p>
<p>Recycle those schools’ folders that you “eliminate” for folders on things like HS graduation schedules, awards, letters, cards, gift certificates, info on extra long twin sheets etc…</p>
<p>Begin a set of folders on your final decision school for information on your post office box, your health coverage, your roomate preference forms, the computer options your new school offers…etc etc…</p>
<p>4) Thank your teachers and significant influencers with notes and visits after college starts…circle back with your experiences so they can help the next generation benefit from your knowledge.</p>
<p>maineparent~good advice with the list ^^. </p>
<p>One poster said you need to check with ED school rules about applying EA anywhere. Conversely, there are EA schools (Georgetown in particular comes to mind) who do not want you to apply to an ED school that is obviously binding if you are applying EA to their school. They can be very offended by that–they think that you are considering them a safety!</p>
<p>Ask your GC or principal to let you see the school’s description and profile which is sent to every college. This is critical if your kid is applying to colleges that are off the radar at your HS (since the admissions folks will be unfamiliar with your town and HS) and super-critical if your kid has unusual circumstances. If the GC says no then call the Superintendents office; it will be a one or two page document on file and is public information.</p>
<p>You need to verify that the demographic statistics are current and not based on census information from 30 years ago. Things like % of kids on free or reduced lunch program may be meaningless to you but is one way that Adcom’s and other folks evaluate the relative wealth of your community. At highly competitive schools, 700 verbal SAT may not clear the bar if your kid lives in Scarsdale or Highland Park; if your community is quite diverse economically and your kid grew up in a low income environment, that score is off the charts.</p>
<p>Similarly, check the HS portion of the profile for accuracy. If they claim your school offers AP Physics but the last physics teacher died four years ago and was never replaced, you need to nag the principal to update the profile-- otherwise, you can’t blame an engineering school for rejecting your kid for not taking advantage of advanced science classes. This happens all the time.</p>
<p>There are probably thousands of kids who are unaware that their schools profiles describe fictional classes and obsolete demographics which are great PR when used by local real estate agents and the Chamber of Commerce, but are working aggressively against your kid in college admissions if they’re not accurate and updated yearly.</p>
<p>Be aware of the gender gap.</p>
<p>More girls than ever are applying to college. Not a bad thing in it of itself, but be aware the many small colleges look for a balanced class of men and women, putting many high achieving female applicants at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Our lesson learned - apply to a variety of colleges and be open to campuses that might be larger than your dream school.</p>
<p>Music parents – Always go to the school’s music department website in addition to the admissions website. Many schools that don’t make a big deal about auditioning, or even say – through admissions – that they don’t do live auditions, in fact, do them! Telephone the music department and ask. If the person who answers the phone seems confused, telephone or email a professor in your child’s instrument. This isn’t just for kids who are planning to be music majors; it’s a way to let the music department what a great asset your student would be to the choir/orchestra/jazz band; a way to validate the meaning of your student’s local & state awards for the folks in admissions who may not have a clue about how to assess your child’s level of performance; a way to show interest and (I hate to say it) passion; and in the case of schools that don’t interview, it’s can be a great way for your student to connect with a professor and talk about the school, express enthusiasm, etc., which will then be reported back to admissions.</p>
<p>Do not assume your teachers send in recommendations in a timely manner. We had an excellent teacher turn hers in two weeks past the deadline–maybe she called ahead to get permission…we don’t know. What are you gonna do…call up teachers before New Years and ask what is up while they are on vacation? It is unfair to teachers to expect them to write wonderful letters over winter break vacation. Counteract the fact that teachers are human, overworked and may know next to nothing about your S or D or about your personal college list or anything about the culture of many colleges.<br>
A. Make a preliminary face to face visit to each reference in early fall to ask for the privilege of reference IF the teacher feels they could recommend you. (screen out any ambivalent teachers this way.)<br>
B.Then do the legwork for them…address and stamp envelopes, hand over a brief statement of Why next to each college. Give the teacher a brief summary of your passions and ECs…not the encyclopedic version.<br>
C. Drop by after you make a visit in the fall to any college and express your reactions briefly. (My S’s teachers became much more invested in him from October to December than they had been before! Your senior may be more charming and communicative than he was at age 16.) He worked to “not be a stranger” and to give them decent deadline notices. Also his list changed inconveniently when he dropped the goal of doing ED application. References are doing you a favor…treat them with appreciation.</p>
<p>This means your S or D must draw up a list and type up a couple unique, cogent reasons they feel each school would “work out well” for them if admitted. Unless you expect your teacher to xerox the same blah letter five times, provide him or her with direct thoughts about each school and the student as matches, preferably from an actual student visit or student research effort as inspiration point. </p>
<p>D. Order simple initial or name embossed notecards in summer before senior year. By December the notes should be gone. Thank every adult that shows interest in your college search or helps you with a project or EC immediately. My son’s references got the thank yous before the letters were mailed to the colleges because he goes to a huge public school where the GCs have ridiculous caseloads.<br>
E. Learn to write cogent, focused emails to adcoms when called for…such as arranging an overnight or visiting a class to observe. Keep it short. Send emails to college profs who speak to you and thank them briefly.
F. If you have a talent sought by a college, prepare a brief CD or portfolio according to each college preferences. Be realistic. Ask what level of mastery is expected if a professor is going to take a look or a listen. Get that done early.
G. Some colleges have faulty and imperfect systems for alum interviews or trained student evaluative interviews. Ask for an interview early if you hope to get one with busy alums. Bring a short version of your stats and ECs to the meeting in case they wish to refer to it when writing a letter about you later.
H. Some colleges have fairly awkward requirements for overnight visits in the dorms with busy students. If you want to arrange this, you have to do it Their Way and students are not available on exam weeks, near holidays, early in the fall or close to winter break. The window to overnight hosts can be rather small…only on weeknights for many schools, no weekends. Plan ahead…it is impossible to do it all.
I. Your fall grades matter a lot…don’t allow college search to distract from senior courses.</p>