<p>It was easier on me the 2nd time around only because I had a better understanding of the process. However, D1 was much more focused and competitive than S2. So although I learned how it all worked, about rolling admissions, etc, just getting S2 to complete the applications/essays was more challenging. More nagging. </p>
<p>Overall, though, I think that because I knew what to expect, I handled all the stress better. D1 has much more trouble making a decision in general, so that added to the difficulty of the first one.</p>
<p>With kid #2, I’d say he was just as stressed out as his older sister had been, but at least the parental units were much more relaxed!</p>
<p>Kid 2 was much more relaxed. He wanted only instate, and almost all his schools were public universities so automatic admittances and with decent scholarship offers. The major stress was that he prefered the private collage his sister attended- and we were thrilled when he applied and got in RD (we didn’t want to risk ED, because wanted to examine the financial offers.) He is thrilled and happy there, and the FA was great. :)</p>
<p>Second trip down the road is MUCH easier. I know the rhythm now. When SAT’s and SAT ii have to be done. When teacher recs and transcripts need to be ordered – all those sorts of things went swimmingly this time around. </p>
<p>DS2 is . . . a sweet rare bird. He seems to think I’m an expert in this and we might as well do things when I say to get them done. Wow. Hugely different from DS1 who is a prickly independent. He’s not available for cloning but I do want you to know that such an attitude does exist!</p>
<p>The biggest difference is that we know what is a matching school this time. So, it is much less stressful knowing DS will at least getting into some T20 schools. In the first round, we don’t have any idea if DD could get into her dream school.</p>
<p>^^Some T20 schools can be matches for some students. Not safeties, but matches. Here’s one semi-fluid rubric for deciding if a school is a match. </p>
<p>Look at data showing colleges’ SAT or ACT range for the middle 50% of freshmen, as well as the percentage of freshman ranking in the top 10% of their high school classes. A match school can be one where your grades and scores place you in the middle range of the freshman class and where the admission rate is close to 50% (or higher). Or it might be one where your grades and scores exceed the midrange of freshmen, but where the admissions rate is around 35%. The higher your scores are compared to the average freshman, the lower the admissions rate can be and still have the school be a match.</p>
<p>But no matter how high your stats, all colleges with admissions rates below 25% should be considered reaches.</p>
<p>There are other methods for dividing schools into reach/match/safety categories, some more conservative and some less conservative than the one I describe. But to say that every T20 is a reach for every student paints with too broad a brush, IMO.</p>
<p>I don’t have the list in front of me, but I’d be surprised to find that there were t20 colleges that had admissions rates much above 25%. Are there?</p>
<p>A few: Northwestern, Emory, U of C, Vanderbilt, Emory, JHU. On the LAC side, there are more, including several schools with admissions rates in the 40% range.</p>
<p>DadII knows son’s test scores, grades and EC’s, and can compare to his daughter’s admissions results, which were only a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>If stats are similar or better, and S has attended same HS as d and taken similar courses, it is likely S will have simliar results…except at the tippy-top schools with 15% or less admissions rates — where “constructing a class” can create widely varying results for kids who appear to be quite similar. </p>
<p>However, those of us on CC for a while know andi son’s story…so…“likely” does not equal “sure thing.”</p>
<p>Right. We are going through the for the first (and only) time. Son was deferred at a likely/match ( as rated by his GC) to everyone’s surprise and his # 1 reach. One of his friends got into his reach but not his likely. As EA acceptances are coming in to the school, there are definitely a lot that follow the safety, match and reach predictions but there have been some surprises, also. Nothing is a sure thing unless it is a solid safety.</p>
<p>I’ve had both son’s GC and his private counselor say that every year there are surprises that no one could have predicted, which is why they encourage reaches and insist on a couple of safeties.</p>
<p>WJB’s admittance figures must be a few years out of date. Among the few I checked, JHU’s admittance rate has been under 25% for a couple of years, and Vanderbilt’s is approaching 20%. Northwestern’s was 26% for the last year I could find, but that’s not enough of a difference to dismiss it from the “reach” category.</p>
<p>Two different kind of stresses for two different kinds of kids. DS was a NMF. The stress for me was going through the app process for the first time and worrying that he wouldn’t get into his dream school or I couldn’t afford it if he did. </p>
<p>DD will probably get a NM commendation, but not make SF/F. The worst of it was that her math and reading scores were better than DS’s, but the writing score killed her chances for SF. She is sooooooo competative with her brother that there were many, many tears over her PSAT score. Fortunately, she met another 2nd child who just missed the SF score. They were able to sympathize with each other. DD realized she was not alone in missing her self-imposed mark. Interestingly, her HS GPA is higher than DS’s was and her EC’s more outstanding. Still, there are no recruitment materials coming in the mail box. Is this due to her missing the MNF train or due to less budget for schools to send recruiting material?</p>
<p>I still have the same worries over her getting into her dream school and me being able to pay for it.</p>
<p>Re post 51: Not much above 25%, but for a kid with tippy top grades and scores and tough curriculum, these schools can be called matches. Some semantics are involved, and a match, of course, is not a guarantee. What alarms me is not the high-achieving kid who thinks JHU is a match, but the same kid gunning for HYP who thinks Penn is a match and JHU a safety!</p>
<p>Second time around is shaping up as more organized but not necessarily easier. S2 started earlier in preparing a list, (he is a junior), so maybe the stress is just being spread out over a longer period of time. Statistically he is stronger than his brother was, but S1 had a clear-cut idea of exactly what he wanted, which made the school list and the application process somewhat simpler.</p>
<p>With S2’s higher stats and (slightly) less clear cut interests, the school list is much more competitive and as a result more stressful.</p>
<p>So far, it’s been the same game, just played in different ballparks.</p>
<p>My son is a NMSF (they don’t find out if they make finalist until after acceptances come in - for the most part). He has been swamped with recruitment material. There are a few schools that practically guarantee a NMSF an acceptance (we got a letter from Alabama offering a full ride and son hasn’t even applied there) but, for the most part, it’s a nice notch on your belt but won’t get you accepted if you are a SF but don’t have the stats otherwise and you won’t get rejected if you have the stats but aren’t a NMSF. It might get you some merit money, if you are accepted at a school that participates in the NM program but that’s it. It probably carries a lot more ‘weight’ at a lower ranked school than a higher ranked school. The top schools have a lot of people applying who are NMSF. </p>
<p>The reason the school send so much recruitment material to NMSFs is that it’s one of the few ways they have of identifying kids who might be high achievers.</p>
<p>Absolutely shocked to see that the above schools have gotten so competitive in the past few years. I did a quick and dirty look through collegeboard website and all schools had admission rates of 25-27% with Emory’s listed at 30%. Unless your stats put you within the top sliver of applicants, these schools would seem to be reaches for all.</p>
<p>A lot depends on how you define match - a match is not a sure bet. When looking at our school’s Naviance data - I considered schools matches if about 3/4 of the kids in the area around my kid had been accepted. A couple of schools (like the U of Chicago - which I realize has gotten more selective only recently) looked more matchy than I expected.</p>