When D19 was drawing up college lists, I thought Niche was dreadful. I stopped looking at it back then and haven’t looked at it since!
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yes! I keep thinking that D26’s list is too short. Although I do think I might have found 1 more to add yesterday.
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D26 has an n of 1. One ED2 backup and state flagship EA. I’m just gonna trust that she’ll be fine.
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D26 keeps getting emails from a university in the midwest that will never be on ‘the list’ because it doesn’t have the major she wants. AND it snows there too much. The school doesn’t have any majors that she’s remotely interested in. Feel kind of bad for the admissions rep though. 
She has a 30-min 1-on-1 meeting w/college counselor scheduled for 9/8 to talk about college app stuff specific to D26.
Counselor thinks it’s great that D26 is accompanying D24 & I on the AZ-to-TX drive to deposit D24 back at college.
This is fantastic! A big step, indeed.
I have three theatre kids (only one of whom sings), but I’m always so proud to see them put themselves out there. No idea where they get it – you couldn’t pay me enough to get up on stage, lol, and my husband is worse than I am. 
(He does have a first cousin who is an actor and relatively well known, so maybe it comes from him, lol.)
Can you tell us what show? (And if not, DM me, I’m so curious, lol!)
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Maybe over cautious but I’ll DM!
I’m hoping this will also give them courage to do a solo or duet in the choir concerts too, something they’ve also resisted till now.
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I’ve never really looked at Niche but YES. Even though D26 has mostly target/safeties on her list, what if they don’t like her? What if she doesn’t get in anywhere she wants to go? And then I get mad, because she is a freaking delight. They’d be stupid not to see it.
HAHAHAHA.
Yes, this process is crazy-making. 
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This is exactly how I feel about C26 and their list! D26 will be just fine!
Latest: C26 is disappointed that arch curriculums tend to have only one unit each of math and physics. Maybe they would be able to do more as electives, not sure. But underscores that they are better off going to general colleges than art-focused ones because if they do switch it’s probably going to be into something STEM.
This 100% sums up my emotions right now! 
D26 applied to two schools last night and I suddenly had pretty much the same thoughts run through my head.
6 schools on her list- all very likely admits!! But I can not stop with the what-if thoughts. 
~
She has started her senior year this week. Skipped senior sunrise (said it was way to early for any sane teenager )
She thinks all of her classes are going to be enjoyable.
The only exception is her Calc 2 class.
She loves math and is exceptional at it- but she has reached the level that everyone in the room is also great at math (most don’t take this level if they aren’t) and it is a new dynamic for her. Going from being the top performer to just one of the group.
It is a good experience and glad she gets to go through it now rather than experiencing this while off on her own!!
Luckily the teacher is awesome, so I think she will get over this quickly (hopefully)
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From a class of 25 parent on the way to drop off and reading anything online so I don’t get sad…. I’ll say I was so panicked this time last year during application time that I made S25 apply to two schools Just In Case because I was so worried about the What Ifs. He humored me and applied to them (they required next to no additional work) and at the end of the day, it was totally unnecessary, but made us all feel a little better.
Point being, you are not alone.
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I feel this way about my daughter too — she is a delight!
I guess I worry because mine has done some interesting but very different things with her high school time so I worry that it will garner a very strong reaction from an AO— either love or hate - and what if I made a mistake on her list and there are more haters?!!
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I have spent some time reading student reviews on Niche about the schools my D is considering. You can usually find themes running through the reviews (e.g., food, dorms, culture, etc.). And I think the “chancings” may be a bit more accurate than, for example, CollegeVine. Just another tool in the toolbox!
My D’s list has changed quite a bit over the past month as we delete some schools and add others. We still need to cut 2-3 schools from the list (she has 11 currently). Complicating the process, she has fallen in love with one of her reach schools after we visited it this past week. And we are considering applying to a different school ED because it could be a great fit for her and the NPC was awesome (but only if she loves it when we visit in September).
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This is awesome! That takes a lot of courage especially in a school production.
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She is coming in as an athletic (swimming) hook to her #1?
Did the coach indicate they’d use pull to ensure admission?
Yes, athletic recruit with admissions support.
I’m just skittish with schools with sub 5% admit rate, given that we know of a few kids who were verbally committed in prior cycles who did not get in…
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You should be wary.
Granted this is from > 25yrs ago so keep it in mind.
My little brother was a swim recruit out of Illinois. He had three schools in his top 1-2-3 ranking with the top two more or less equal (Duke and another highly selective small private school (similarly low acceptance rates as what you have listed)) School X may have been his top choice and Michigan was his third. The coach at Michigan was straightforward and said, I’m not going to say you can’t swim here but you’ll have to get in on your own and come as a walk on. He was fine with that approach and had the grades/test scores he got into Michigan on his own.
Duke and School X coaches both indicated there would be no scholarship money for him, but that they would use their one of their options to bring him in if he was interested. I’m pretty sure he told School X they were his first choice.
Performs very well during regular season. Gets the Flu day before sectional qualifying, qualifies in his events with very good times as expected but sick as a dog for the next week. States comes around, he performs well despite looking like absolute crap out of the water. Sets personal best times but does not finish in Top 3 in any of his events.
He updates Duke and School X, and advises them he was -very- sick.
School X decision comes out and he was declined - he contacts coach and a rather delayed response (you did not perform to the level we needed)… Duke coach was fine with it “That happens, we can obviously see what went on over the past 4 years” and he was accepted. He went to Duke.
So -never- count your chickens and always have options.
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Oh, this will be a long fall … I am currently going back and forth between nagging S26 to do anything college related and just letting him drive the process, which means, do nothing until close to the deadline 
He signed up for the Sept. 6 ACT, because he wanted to improve his score, but he is not studying (he tried the learning by osmosis and wishful thinking thing last time and it didn’t work 
). School and extracurriculars have fully kicked in, so time is in low supply.
If I let him drive it, the most likely outcome will be that he will be too late for his preferred schools (EA and cohort program deadlines) and will end up at his safety, where a bunch of his friends will attend and where he says he would be happy also. My check book would also be happy with that outcome 
So I guess I should just sit back and relax.
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Re: the list- we are starting to pare it down based on whether the school has an actual film program (doesn’t have to be a BFA) and whether they are in or close to a large city. This has essentially eliminated about 1/2 of the 17 schools but it has added one or two more that we hadn’t considered previously.
D26 doesn’t look at any college info websites; she gets all of her scoop from TikTok. 
I will say some of the videos we see are alarming, but she keeps reminding me that you could see those things at any college (bad food, the stray bug, a mouse).
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Just dropped S24 off at the airport to fly back to school. D26 is so happy to have the bathroom back to herself 
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For sure. Thank goodness her fall taper meet is AFTER the ED1 deadline, and her summer performance has been good, as she did manage to drop time in her recruited events. Her test scores are at the 50%ile of admitted students per their common data set and she has a 4.0 UW GPA with decent rigor. She believes her letters are solid. Essays and ECs are “good enough” in her estimation. I was informed that my only job is to support her and not get in her head.
But, she does have swim ED2 contingency plan, and will have a RD one too. Fingers crossed it doesn’t come to that.
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