I think a WL is validating but also you have to move on and fall in love something you have in hand.
But between us… WL will move. I predict crazy musical chairs like last year.
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Yes we’ve said to focus on the yeses and just keep the WL on the back burner. I do think there will be a lot of movement this year honestly.
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The amazing school counselor we know said if you aren’t rejected from at least 1 school, you didn’t apply to the right schools. Made us all feel better.
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I’m curious, why do you think there will be a lot of waitlist movement? I certainly hope you are right!
Thank you for sharing! This was super helpful!
I think a lot of the financial uncertainty with job markets combined with higher number of apps at same schools will mean that those kids can only pick one school. Also the research cuts may put some higher priced schools in jeopardy
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I do disagree with your counselor’s claim, but I also really strongly agree with the deeper message.
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I think I missed it—what is the deeper message? Sorry, not awake today!
(This is a counselor who is focused on fit—not prestige-so I somehow thought her comment was kind and genuine, but perhaps I missed something.)
UC Berkeley and USC (Trojans)
D25 - Denied. As for Berkeley, she didn’t care. Many visits to campus and hates/sadden by all the homelessness and crime around campus. Vowed she would never attend for YEARS.
USC - She noted the insane cost (~$100k/year) and said only the Ivies, Stanford, MIT was worth that much.
Major - English
3.9 unweighted
4.1 weighted
ECs - Sports and clubs. Average
Accepted- UC Davis
Waitlisted - UCLA (#1 choice, working on LOCI statement big time), UCSB
Denied - UC Berkeley, USC
Waiting: Stanford
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Well, glad it made you feel better. As a mother to a kid who felt pretty lucky to go 5 for 5 on a very targeted list, that could make me feel pretty crappy, if I chose to think that sentiment was worth listening to.
Just, ouch.
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Oh, just that it’s good to stretch your horizons, if you’re looking at selective colleges. It’s good to pitch your top end high (as long as it’s only your top end and not the bulk of the list, of course).
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5 for 5 here too. With a well curated list.
Congrats!
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Did you not hear from USC yesterday? I thought all results were out?
Either way, UCD is a great school. I know I already said this once before but I can’t remember if it was to you 
. My daughter just graduated from there and loved it!
Best of luck on the remaining decisions
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I agree! I think my kid had a really good balance of safety/target/reaches. His reaches only made up 25% of his list. I think he could have dropped a couple of his safeties in hindsight - he had about 30% safeties and 45% targets, but we were going in unsure of how things would go. It worked out well for him. He has 5 schools that he is now considering.
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Congrats to you, too! 
I think every family on here has a unique and valid view on why to apply for the number each one does. And that’s terrific! We don’t all have the same expectations or needs.
I think we all want to be supportive. I’m not going to yuck someone else’s yum, just like I don’t want to have my yum yucked.
I’m impressed with the amount of thought that people here put into their lists, and I am happy to celebrate the wins and commiserate about the losses.
It’s a good crew here, and I’m happy I found y’all😉
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Deleted.
agree, mine was 13/14 and I have, occasionally, wondered if they could have/should have applied to more reaches, but you know what? they did have a couple reaches (for them) given their GPA and lack of scores, and they got in!
My kid had little knowledge of, or interest in prestige and they didn’t feel the need to do lots of work for a small chance to go to a marginally (maybe?) “better” school …they liked all the schools they applied to (was a fair number as they actually had some diverging interests at application time). I do like the concept of kids taking risks, and shooting their shot, a lot though. I just wasn’t about to force that in this case.
Admittedly I was entirely opposite myself - and went basically for top 15 schools only way back when! 
It worked for me, and that was cool too.
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Thank you so much for posting your prompt, very helpful for me.
I wanted to share a prompt that helped me for comparing aspects of competition versus collaboration at schools.
“Which colleges have a collaborative or competitive environment? Make a chart using collaborative evidence and competitive evidence for the following schools: College Name A , College Name B, University Name C (I used a list of 6 schools).”
It even added a summary at the end which was great! Thanks again!
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Thank you! I just asked her and she said she didn’t get in. I edited my update above.
Yes, everyone loves Davis.
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