Thank you! This is so good to hear. My kid really likes UMass.
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It’s an idea. Study groups are going to be key for this one.
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Building on the only sorta - when we toured Emerson College, they mentioned how they share space with various other colleges in Boston. They have some joint library privileges and maybe share some fields or performance space (don’t remember exactly). But the coffee shops, Boston Common, the college bars - those are shared with the MANY schools in Boston. So although their classes will see the same kids, their social life doesn’t necessarily have to.
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I’m trying to encourage my D25 to finish the last handful of applications. She should hear from at least two colleges by mid-Dec, one of which is her ED1 choice, but it’s a reach. I think she’s got a decent chance, but you just never know. One of the colleges she has left is a high second. She’s finished the application, but is waiting to hear from ED1 in case she decides to try for ED2 with her second choice. I just wonder if it’s worth it. I might try to talk her into going RD with everything if she doesn’t get into her top choice. I think she’s just scared it’s her best chance because so many of her classmates are also applying there. Any words of wisdom I can share that might help convince her?
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If it’s a clear second, then yes. Only colleges looking to tightly manage their yield offer ED2. Your school Naviance/Scoir can offer some insight into this though. At our school, the strongest students routinely get rejected RD at schools that accepted “ok” students in ED.
If there is no clear preference for the school I advocate for seeing where the chips fall, assuming you have a balanced list with several good options. You already did all the work after all! I think it’s a mistake to ED2 to a lower (preference) school simply as a panicked strategy.
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My C25 isn’t doing any of their RD applications until after ED/EA decisions. They’ve already applied to their first and seventh choice schools and 2-6 all don’t have supplemental essays though.
We are getting a bit nervous over here because four of my kids’ EA schools started releasing decisions. A couple started 2-3 weeks ago, but he still hasn’t heard anything. Three of them are safeties, and one is more of a target/hard target. If these safeties don’t pan out, it doesn’t bode well for the rest. They have one safety acceptance they are happy with, but since we need FA, it would be nice to have aid package options.
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There are many days I hate rolling notifications! I am glad our state flagship is all on one day…even if it is late. I think it keeps kids a bit saner in terms of comparison.
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How do you know if a school started releasing EA decisions?
I attended UMASS for Grad school as an adult and it is a big school but small in many ways. You will mostly be in your school/department once you get past the Gen classes so it makes a big school feel small. My eldest daughter attended and was in the honors program and lived in the honors dorm freshman year and then joined a sorority and lived in sorority housing junior year. The school had a ton of ways to meet your people by joining clubs on and off campus, sports and more. It’s a great school and college town with North Hampton near by
I’ve seen several posts in EA threads here and also in parent groups on Facebook.
My kid is getting anxious to start hearing from EA schools. He’s got friends who applied EA to other schools that already released responses and I think he just wants to KNOW. Unfortunately for him, only two of his EA schools will give answers in December. One is end of January and one is end of February (can we really call that EA? It is, but it’s hardly “early”).
I’m personally annoyed with this schedule because his number one choice is late January - I don’t think he’ll get in, but I’d like him to know either way earlier. And the choice * I * want him to like is late February - but by being so much later than the two December schools, I’m almost 100% confident that by the time late February rolls around, he’ll already have decided he loves one of the December schools (assuming he gets in of course). I feel like that February school was already at a disadvantage, and the timing of them releasing their decisions just makes it worse. It’s way too easy for hearts and heads to be set on something else before you hear from them.
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yeah. Most of ours say Mid January, but I’ve read people from last year saying they heard in mid December from those same schools.
I’m REALLY hoping that the one that says late February is just trying to manage expectations and they release earlier.
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Same boat over here. S25 has not started work on his additional apps yet. My current thinking is that if he is deferred, he will just go RD for the rest of his apps and not apply for ED2 at his number two choice. It wasn’t a clear enough favorite the first time around, and nothing has changed in that regard. I do think it would be beneficial for him to do some work on the next round of apps sooner rather than later. If he is deferred, I will expect him to take a hard look at the app he submitted and see if there are edits or things he could have spent a bit more time on for the RD round. Plus essays, since at least one of the RD schools does have additional supplementals - lookin’ at you, mega-reach Yale.
And yes, the waiting is driving us all bonkers, even if we don’t talk about it. He says he checks the portals 2-3 times/day… that’s almost as compulsive as me being on here. But not quite.
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Ah, compulsive college application behaviors! My favorite!
Seriously, I’m a lunatic. I really wonder what I’ll obsess over once the decisions are in. Dorm decor? (Please, dear God, NO!)
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First it will be what school kid picks for us! Then I will move on to my 27 and scheduling visits for them..which will be almost entirely different than 25 
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But this is my only kid!!! Maybe I will start planning his wedding. 
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S25 has a clear second favorite after his ED1 school. It was MY pick for ED1, and a slightly less reachy reach, but I lost that battle. If they are deferred from ED1, everything else will be RD. If rejected, they will likely do ED2 at their second-choice school.
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can you redocorate your house? (even moving around furniture and paint will feel like a project:) That was what I did after my wedding
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