This is really nice. Here in FL, most state schools open the application window in August. It makes senior lives tough as the schools start immediately as well. It helps with college counseling and essay writing, it puts the application process competing with other school and work loads. Getting decisions before the school year makes the senior to concentrate on the school year with less stress.
DS24 is juggling with college essay writing, open houses, AP classes assignments, part-time job and other ECs. The added stress of the unknown outcome of the applications and the constant worry of the right selection of the colleges to apply.
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For all the folks who mentioned FAU here, few questions from a potential applicant. Is FAU and FAU Wikes honors college 2 different applications altogether? Can you apply to both through Common App?
Is Jr year summer term GPA required to be 4.3 for both applications or is there a chance to apply with other strong profile including NMSC Semifinalist?
I am a current senior, and my favorite safety school is Texas A&M(I’m an auto-admit student). Having that option has alleviated so much of the stress from the admissions process. I might end up going there even if I’m accepted into one or more of my reach schools.
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With good reason! TAMU is a fantastic option, and as I am sure you know, you should feel very proud about the work you did to put yourself into this position.
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Do you think it is important to visit your safety schools?
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Absolutely! You want your child to have at least one school they’d be happy to attend and that they can most likely get into. I think it’s hard to know for sure if they’d be happy to attend until they visit. With D24 once we visited one safety she liked, we didn’t feel pressure to visit more.
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Yes. We visited potential safeties first, before reaches and matches. We were also advised to have more than one, since if it comes to it that the safeties are the only acceptances, it is nice to have a choice. D24 does have one safety she didn’t visit, but 2 that she did.
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Do you plan to visit your child’s reach and match schools?
In my opinion, the sure thing for admission needs to be the very first college chosen by every student. Build your list up from there….but get this pinned down first. So…yes…visit those sure things. You know…one of them could become your kid’s number one choice.
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This happened with D22! She loved the first school we visited which happened to be a safety school. No other school could quite compare. She got into several reaches but chose that safety. She’s a very happy and successful sophomore there.
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Yes. In fact we only visited targets and safeties because I wanted my kids to apply to ones they would be really happy about attending. The reaches they picked they already loved on paper and from the virtual info sessions. I decided that in the off chance they were actually admitted we could visit then.
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Similar situation: my D visited a safety school, loved it, and picked it over more selective schools where she was admitted. She’s thriving there.
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It’s much more important than visiting reaches. We learned the hard way with my eldest by focusing too much on reaches and visiting them all first. She attended a reach after getting off waitlist, but also liked her two safeties.
My youngest visited his safeties, liked them a lot, and attended one. He visited a reach after he was accepted and liked it, but not better than the school he attended. It worked out well for him.
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With S24 we kept visiting colleges until we finally found one that my son absolutely loved and it was a safety (for his academic profile) and we could afford it. It definitely took a while, but it was so worth it.
It has made the whole process completely relaxed while we wait for the decisions from his reach schools.
In fact, I think it is the best fit for him and I hope he picks it over his match and reach schools.
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I love this approach! It’s what we are doing with S24. It’s about finding fit. Which is completely different than how competitive it is to get into a school.
I think it is very important to spend time on campus at safeties to really get to see them in action. I don’t want my kid to think it is a consolation prize. I want my kid thinking … why is no one else seeing how amazing this place is!
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We did this too, and as a result my kid really loves the 2 safeties we visited and can see many reasons to attend either. She may submit no additional apps if she doesn’t get into her ED reach.
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Definitely! They have to have a safety they are happy to attend. My son loved his safety when he visited and ended up being there for undergrad and vet school. It was the perfect fit that really helped him thrive. I feel visiting the safety first is a good idea.
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