I know! It’s so tough. Practically speaking, ED2 wouldn’t have changed the wait (just increased chances at that school) so once ED was a “no” I knew we’d be waiting. I’ll just be relieved when the final application is in because then I know it is 100% out of our hands.
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My D applied at 16. Seems ridiculous doesn’t it.
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Same with mine, and apparently many of his friends. A lot were in Club Deferral, and decided not to abandon the possibility of that college. But I think others were in such a state of flux in their thinking they were not comfortable with a strategic ED 2 anyway.
So definitely a tale of two cities–the kids who were athletic recruits or got into their early favorite (and I think it was apparent that worked best when they were not reaching very far, if at all) are living it up, and then the rest of the kids are mostly scrambling, adding colleges to the list, rethinking a lot of assumptions, and so on.
And I remain sure it will work out just fine for most of these kids, but I also think the wait is going to be tough for some of them.
15 for our S24. I remember when I thought it might be as few as like 6-8 (even holding aside getting into his early school). I get what happened and I am fine supporting him, but it still feels like too many.
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S24 had a full-ride scholar interview last week, it was still at 450 semi’s and 4 others from his school. One of his classmates that interviewed got into Stanford early and was asking my son if he applied to UChicago, so he’s clearly still working his options.
If my son had gotten into his SCEA, he would have declined invite and been thrilled to make a massive cut on his regular decision applications. It’s interesting seeing how others navigate this crazy process. I don’t blame anyone for keeping options open especially merit ones, just interesting to see how everyone navigates.
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That’s because selective school admissions in America are all about what the school wants (institutional priorities). It’s not about what’s best for each applicant.
Hence, our complicated system (multiple admission plans, no transparency, admission preferences for certain applicant types, yield protection, uncertainty about merit policies, etc).
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I agree.
THIS! My daughter is in highschool still and if you send her a normal text she hardly ever sends a response unless its truly needed. What I love about Snapchat is not only can you see that they saw it but also it shows their little head watching you as you type it. So you know that they are watching and waiting for your message and active on their phone. So none of the “oh, I didnt see that” or anything like that.
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My son is in this boat. He deliberately decided at the beginning of this year that he didn’t want to apply ED anywhere. Fit is extremely important to him, and so he was hoping to have the option to evaluate a few schools come April.
This is why he felt comfortable applying REA to Stanford — bc it wasn’t binding. He loved the school but didn’t really let himself believe that he would be admitted. So when he got in, he was shocked and absolutely over the moon, but hadn’t really made sure it was a perfect fit.
This is why he’s keeping a few apps in (only ones he would seriously consider) — including a fabulous scholarship opportunity that he’s still in the running for.
I think there is a 95%+ chance he’ll end up at Stanford, but I absolutely don’t fault him for wanting to be in a position to hopefully evaluate a few options to see what school fits best. He’s not trying to collect acceptances…he just wants to make the best decision.
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Yeah, I had that 6-8 fantasy at one time too . . . Wishful thinking, I guess. S24’s friends are mostly in the same boat - the only kids who are done are a couple of legacies at Cornell, athletes and kids that ED’s to somewhat less competitive schools (BC, NEU, BU, Villanova etc).
Nor do I, everyone is free to do what they think is best. My kid just desperately wanted to dwindle that list and have less schools to manage. Good luck! Fabulous position to be in, there’s no losing.
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We are at 22. CC has no idea other than confirming competitive on paper at all. Its awful and ridiculous. Most friends are on the same boat, one has 35 apps in!
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Neither do I! If a kid/family knows they are done with a non-binding early admission, great. But if they still want to pursue merit, or continue to consider a reasonably small selection of other colleges, that’s of course fine.
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DD mentioned that a few friends are upset with a few other friends who were accepted to say Harvard REA, etc, but didn’t pull their EA/RD apps, which may/may not impact those friends waiting.
This friend is getting almost a full financial ride from Harvard (our HS only get ~1 Harvard acceptance every other year), so there really isn’t another more affordable option, but yet …
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And of course this is how even very selective colleges can end up with pretty low yields out of RD. All these great kids applying to all these great colleges out of caution.
By the way, I probably mentioned this before, but part of what happened with my S24 is he has not really decided if he wants to go to a SLAC or medium-sized university. His two early acceptances are neither of those, and he was deferred at his third early application. Out of his remaining 12, six are LACs, and six are universities (not intentionally that even, it just worked out that way).
So conceivably it could have been as few as 9 total if he had decided on format, although I suspect then there would be a couple more anyway. But probably not 15.
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I’m not the type to think someone has to have Harvard #1 (or on their list at all), even if they can get admitted.
But I do agree there is something a little funny about a situation where you choose a college as your REA/SCEA (not just a regular EA), and get admitted with a great aid offer, and yet keep going. I do understand people can change their minds, or have a short list of contenders, but otherwise it does not quite add up.
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Exactly (22) where my D23 ended up. Not where we had hoped to be (my S21 “only” did 10) but probably would do it almost just the same way again if we had to do it this year.
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I would have 100% done same for that school, he went for it too but didn’t advance!
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I totally understand why and how you can get to 22, but it still seems like A LOT!
Do you have some sort of internal ranking/slotting system … what if your kiddo gets in to 15 or 20?! I do think it would make an interesting reality show–a kid doing whirlwind tours to evaluate offers. Much more uplifting than another show about kids getting crushed in the process.
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D24 got this very same email. She really likes American but does not want to ED anywhere.
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Someone on CC mentioned they have 60 in. That seems off the charts. How would you even keep track?
My D ended up with 9. I wanted a few more but she pushed back to work on honors essays. Hopefully we end up with a good choice.
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