@menloparkmom He is a junior.
So he has lots of time to do research and decide if/ where HE wants to apply early.
Exactly though he wants to narrow down his targeted colleges for ED and EA so if he isn’t sure then he can visit last two choices.
Honestly, the internet is a wonderful place. You can get a really, REALLY good sense of a college just by visiting their website.
We don’t know why he wants these particular schools. We don’t know what he’s looking for. It feels like you want us to do all the legwork for him and that’s not our job.
Why doesn’t he make a CC account and tell us what he’s looking for? Or why he likes X college or Y university. Otherwise, we’re just throwing out tidbits.
"Why doesn’t he make a CC account and tell us what he’s looking for? Or why he likes X college or Y university. Otherwise, we’re just throwing out tidbits. "
^^ great idea!!
no reason for the parents to try and interpret what the kid wants to say or ask.
Well…HE needs to do his due diligence if he plans to apply ED. The ED school should be his top choice bar none. If he can’t figure it all out, he can just apply RD to these schools.
Is there some reason he NEEDS to apply ED?
No. He may not but you never know.
He browsed CC but not interested in an account, he thinks this forum can make people who are doing great go in deppression comparing themselves to posters who are perfect valedictorian/Olympian/YoYoMa/Oscar winning actor/Nobel scientist/Dalai Lama.
My kids refused to apply anywhere ED or SCEA. They did apply regular EA anywhere that had it. RPI also had an early notification that they invited some students to do (they told you if you were in within 3 weeks of getting first quarter grades senior year.) so my older son did that too. If they’d applied to rolling admission schools I’d have urged them to apply early to those as well.
“if he isn’t sure then he can visit last two choices.” Not sure what this means. At least two choices?
And, visiting a short list is in no way “window shopping all over the country.”
Here’s the thing, WH: once you identify some “possible” targets, someone has to vet them directly, not go on others’ opinions. And then, when info has been collected and processed, one can ask more pointed questions.
Your son and you need to go to the college web sites, check the detail they provide about myriad aspects of these scholos, from academic opportunities to those outside classes, research, etc. This includes admissions and what they look for (not just the stats ranges. Stanford and Princeton publish the number of admits in various stats ranges. There is no “shoo in” thing about being a top stats kid in your one hs.) Plus your own FA estimate via the NPCs. It’s part of being informed.
And these are colleges that expect an informed decision that matches what they value and they look for evidence of that in the app and supps.
What, beyond stats and desire might match your kid to these schools? And vice versa. High school posters seem to be the ones who usually ask about pros and cons, (or what’s special about X and Y,) because they don’t know. Imo, that’s futile.