Our list will not be finalized until we tour U Alabama, U Central Florida, and U of Oklahoma in the next 2 weeks.
Hi @dcolosi 
My girl’s list of possibilities has 8 schools, but I don’t know how many will receive applications in the end. Three are definites, 2 are strong possibilities, 2 are good possibilities, and 1 is barely hanging on by a thread. That last one suffers from a less-than-ideal campus situation, so she wants to revisit. Oh, and she has to apply to our state flagship “just in case” even though it doesn’t fit one of her academic interests.
We’re pretty confident of her acceptance to all the schools but not so confident about the $$. She needs the big merit money which comes through automatic stat-based scholarships (yay) or competitive scholarships (gulp).
She’s done 4 visits so far, not counting the older sibling tagalong visits. She will revisit 3 schools within driving distance to sit in on classes. We’ll fly to revisit one school. We will fly to visit the definite she hasn’t yet seen. I am very thankful for inexpensive Southwest fares!
I don’t know about the others schools. D has a more flexibile schedule than most high schoolers because she is homeschooled, though she does take language classes at the state flagship a mile from home. We could travel more during the U’s January winter session if needed.
Did anyone get an email from the Princeton Review “Fast track to med school”?
It goes on to talk about the beauty of Antigua. And it was addressed to me not my D! Maybe I need to rethink my career choice - mid life crisis anyone ;D
@Mommertons I always crave a donut after reading your posts! Maybe I should stick with only reading on my phone :lol:
I’m interested in reading your reactions to Oklahoma!
@dcolosi Indiana and Ohio State are lower down on my dd’s list, only because other schools have slightly stronger Arabic programs (though theirs are better than 95% of the country!) We haven’t visited yet as we live in the mid-Atlantic.
We are finding this is true. Her super safety, which is auto-admit for her stats, has an optional essay with prompts to address hardships, family obligations, difficulties overcome and a why I want to go here. D felt she could not really address any of those topics properly and will not submit an essay.
The honors program at the state flagship had a prompt last year to write a poem describing a color to a blind person. She got excited about that one.
@dcolosi S17’s list is now at 8 but a few of those are in the same state system and require the same app, and just checking off another campus on the app (& more money.). We are in CA and the top UC’s are particularly competitive so even the top students apply to a few UC’s to hedge their bets. Our GC’s recommend a student apply to about 6-8. (S17 isn’t a top student, but is in the running for some of the UC’s.)
At 8 I feel S17’s list is a bit short. (D12’s was 13 schools.) The H.S. my kids attend the top students regularly do 12-20 applications. Colleges are so hit & miss these days. Trying to talk him into 1-2 more that don’t require much additional work. Not new apps… Since ALL of his schools are large state schools, he has 5 different applications for those 8 schools.
The List! A total of 8
Two admissions/affordability safeties - one in-state and one WUE school
Five additional schools where she has a reasonable chance of admission/merit money
One uber reach, which may fall off the list to be replaced by a more reasonable match.
QOTD: What kind of reaction do you get from family and friends when you tell them where your kid will be applying? I don’t volunteer this information because I am getting tired of talking about it. Have you been on the receiving end of bewilderment/disappointment from well-meaning but uninformed siblings or parents upon learning that your kid will not be applying to and getting huge scholarships from Princeton, Harvard or Yale?
@dcolosi, We have visited about 8 schools with S. He also visited about 10 schools with D15 when she was looking. The visits with D15 focused his search away from small LACs, which was D15s focus. S’s list has gone from 7 to 3 over the summer. One school is on the CA, so he has to do an essay for that one. The other two have their own app and no essay, except for the honors college admission. He is firmly in the running for NMSF, and if he makes the cut he will only apply to the 3, two of which (ASU and OkU) give very generous benefits to NMFs. It may expanand if he misses the cutoff for NMSF because he will add schools that are on the western university exchange (WUE), which offer tuition discounts to neighboring states. S likes larger schools and will major in CS and maybe math.
Our list is at 13 but will shrink. My S would really like to go OOS, preferably rather far OOS, and will need merit $ to do so, so at the moment it’s a wide net. Of that list at the moment only 3 fall into the “definitely apply” category but only 1 meets his OOS requirements. Hoping to narrow it down tonight actually, location is a huge factor for him and spent some time mapping out all of the schools that are on the list in relation to other places as the vast majority we will be unable to visit until after acceptance for cost reasons.
We have visited 5, 2 remain on the list and are 2 of the 3 mentioned as definitely apply and are the only instate schools on the list. He would prefer a small private university or LAC in the 5,000 ish range but there just isn’t much of that out there that seems to fit, so the list ranges from small LAC, mid size universities and a few large universities.
@eandesmom Everytime you post I nod my head in agreement. I feel like our list/processes/kids are so much alike. The more I think about it the more I think the list is going to be narrow by the essays she wants to write (both in topic and number)
We’re in the same situation as @curiositycat333. Number of applications - 4
UC application - probably five schools.
Cal State application (no LOR or essays) - probably 2-3 schools.
Common App - maybe 1-2 schools depending on the number of essays, fees involved and whether '17 gets burnt out
Other - one school that has their own application process.
Welcome @dcolosi. I’m afraid S isn’t far enough along to answer your question about number of apps, but it probably won’t be that long, although we may adding a couple of no-essay, no-fee reaches a la @STEM2017. We’ve visited 7 or 8 schools of varying sizes/focus, about half of which are still on the potential list. NMSF announcement will also narrow our focus one way or another.
QOTD We’ve already set the stage with D14 heading out of state for an undecided major, so close friends and family have kind of gotten over it. However, well-intentioned acquaintances with younger children are a bit gob-smacked that a student could possibly have a better financial/academic fit out of state and spend a lot of time trying to convince me S just needs to go to Iowa State if he wants to be an engineering major. (No one mentions the Ivies here. :)) )
I also have kind of gotten tired of discussing it and try to keep it to very general information, but many have kids in middle school or early high school and I almost feel honor-bound to broaden perspectives a bit as they start to think about college.
QOTD My experience is much more like @IABooks than @mamaedefamilia How could anything possibly be better/more affordable than one of the state schools??!! And why would you bother with all that extra stress/work??!!
The problem with adding no fee/no essay reaches is that if they superscore we may still have to send multiple ACT scores - which can add up. We will decide on those depending on how many on the current list she completes before getting burned out (which I totally anticipate happening)
@MichiganGeorgia we must be the same age:)
@Gator88NE thats for the advice. My IL’s live an hour away, so I think we will just tour ourselves and then return next year if D likes it.
@mamaedefamilia QOTD: Reaction from family & friends Really depends on who I’m talking with. Friends who are going through or just went through the struggles can be supportive. But anyone of my parents generation (who don’t understand how much college application have changed) and who think S17 is their special grandchild are just frustrating. Or those parents whom I’ve known for years but only see once in a while.
The issue is S17 is a underperforming gifted kid. (Meaning grades don’t show his giftedness.) He showed great promise when he was in early elementary. But his H.S. grades haven’t been up to par. On the other hand he is a one & done SAT kid getting 1520/1600 with little studying. (Where his giftedness shows through.) Not surprisingly I don’t advertise his grades on FB or even discuss it much with relatives.
Some of the parents I’ve known since he was a little kid expect greatness from him. And I’m getting a lot of comments along the line of well how about (name your favorite top elite school here) university. It has a great program. SIGH… I just don’t want to have to explain. Or why not X/Y/Z, he would be legacy. Thanks but no, legacy isn’t going to help if you aren’t already in the mix. Or who just make off the wall suggestions.
SIGH, I know I just have to do a “thanks for the suggestion” and move on but it’s frustrating when it happens over & over and make me reluctant to talk about it.
College List- 3…I would like at least one more, but D is done. My husband and I were talking about it last night and I hope she doesn’t regret applying to more schools.
QOTD- I can’t stand what people think of my DD’s choices. Why would she go south, why Bama and then it is the “well maybe her grades aren’t what they say they are”! D is a strong student with decent scores. She isn’t one of those kids that needs the attention, so she doesn’t share her accomplishments like others. She is a smart girl and knows she wants to come out of undergrad with a decent education, no debt and money in the bank!
Greetings, @dcolosi! My D17 has a list of 5, plus a couple UCs (she is a LAC girl through and through, but living in California, it feels silly not to apply). She has two reaches, one of which will be ED. If that doesn’t work out it’s one of her matches - Skidmore - that she’ll definitely go to. I don’t really understand why people apply to 20 schools, it seems like a LOT of work if there’s safeties and matches already in the mix…unless it’s to negotiate financial aid.
With the increase in accepting kids off ED so colleges can influence their ratings via yield protection, I wonder if more and more kids are having to reject an ED that accepted them due to the financial aid issue. Does anyone know?
Our list is somewhat tiered. 3 schools that she’s visited and liked which she will definitely apply to. 1 of which she loves and will very likely get in to. There’s another school as a safety if she isn’t accepted EA to the school she loves. There are a couple of easy-to-apply to common app schools that she hasn’t visited, which are in the match to reach range. And then there are a bunch of out-of-reach schools she says she wants to apply to…
Given how long it’s taking her to write a single common app essay, I can’t imagine she’s going to feel like writing supplemental essays for these reach schools…
@JenJenJenJen My kids cannot apply ED bc we cannot afford to. I assume we are not alone.
We’re right there with you @Mom2aphysicsgeek. I will add that two of S’s schools have rolling admission, so if things don’t work as planned, he will have time to apply to some of the schools that came off his list but he likes. He absolutely does not want to go to our state flagship.