Two of the most stressful parts of the process are money and seeing friends get acceptances when they don’t have any yet
So some suggestions
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get the money conversation out first. it’s painful but it has to happen and it’s better to do it now then in March. It’s simple -
They can’t go to a school that they can’t afford. Set boundaries upfront and have the hard conversation now. Only apply to schools where it is affordable with reasonable merit (if offered), reasonable need aid, or reasonable loans (if you’re willing to go down that route). This helps two ways - they will be less focused throughout the process on the classic but unaffordable schools and ignore the places they can actually attend and at decision times they won’t be sad about those schools. -
Have them apply in August/Sept to at least one rolling admission college that they would consider attending. It helps in several ways. It forces them to finish the basic application early and get into the groove when everyone else is demotivated. It makes them get the teacher and counselor recommendations moving early. Hopefully, it will also mean one acceptance is in hand in the second half of the year before everyone else has anything. that really helps with the confidence since you know you have a place to go.
In addition to this list there are schools that release earlier (in the past UDel).