I think D26 will end up with 5-6. She has a specific major which some schools don’t have. Plus has really specific geographic requirements which she’s said are not negotiable. D24 applied to 8 but had classmates that applied to 20 and one kid applied to just 1 school.
4 Likes
As long as there is least one safety school (very likely admission, financial safety, happy to attend the school), the right number for us is however many schools D26 wants to apply to… 
My guess is she’ll end up applying to about 10 schools, maybe more, because the UCs are unpredictable.
1 Like
Something to consider is that one can apply to nine UC campuses with one application. The UC application is very different than the Common App. It probably isn’t worth the time and effort to craft a well written UC application for just one campus.
On the same note, one can apply to 23 CSU campuses on the same application. The CSU application doesn’t have essays.
Each campus that you send your application incurs an additional application fee so that is something to take into account.
Are you talking about 10 applications? Not 7 UCs, 2 CSUs and one other, right?
I’m counting the UCs and CSUs as separate schools. For state schools, right now she thinks she will apply to UCB, UCD, UCM, and CPSLO. I hope she’ll add a few more UCs, but right now she doesn’t think she would consider attending any others.
Sounds like my kids, but they didn’t include UCR or UCM. By the time they completed the application I think they got nervous so added more schools. For CSUs, they didn’t want SDSU but I had them add it just in case. Each added a couple of private schools, but they didn’t put the same effort into those applications as they did the UC app.
1 Like
Both my kids are bullish on UCM. They think it’s a rising star and will be perceived as stronger by the time they have graduated and are out in the work world. D also likes the selection of majors available at UCM and the likelihood that it would be easy to change majors between science and engineering. However, her first choice is still UCD.
Edited to add: D used to have more UCs on her list, but she cut out some of them after she found out it was possible to TAG to UCD. CC->UC is a very popular backup option for kids in our area!
4 Likes
You know UCD holds a special place in my heart. My second child went to USC and it just isn’t the same.
1 Like
We aren’t even to the stage yet where S26 has any favorites nor does he really know what major to pursue (although I am pretty sure it will be either something in the business or poli sci/history realm). As with his sister, D22, money will be the most decisive factor, since our funds are limited. Since his grades aren’t as good as hers, he will be limited in the choices he will have.
He has agreed to a college tour road trip over Easter break. He has a soccer tournament in Memphis at the tail end of his break, so we will road trip there and stop at schools on the way. They are all state schools in LA and MS though, because the LACs on the way are either out (Millsapps and Rhodes, because they are fenced, which he hates) and I know Rhodes won’t hit budget. Or they are too religious for my liking. Hopefully he will be able to voice likes and dislikes after that trip.
Most of his friends will go to close by state schools, so the whole concept of a college tour road trip is pretty foreign down here.
6 Likes
Fenced? Do you mean literally – like the campuses are fenced in?
We’re on the other side of the country, and D26 insists she doesn’t want to venture that far – so this discussion of UCs is completely foreign to me, lol. I don’t even know all the acronyms. 
And funny, but her SAT score is probably the strongest part of her application, so applying to test blind schools would be a shame!
1 Like
My D26 has a list of 3.
By all accounts - according to each of their respective CDS - 2 are likely and 1 is a reach.
Though she’s been to other schools, only 3 would be places she’s willing to attend (for now).
2 Likes
Yes! The both colleges have fences around the entirety of the campus. We were in Jackson a few months ago, so I thought, let’s check out Millsapps as an example of a SLAC. We drove up and it was an immediate reaction of, “it’s fenced, I could never attend a school that is fenced in”. In all fairness, Millsapps does border some iffy areas and it is very small. Rhodes is beautiful (and bigger), I toured it twice with D22, but also completely fenced.
1 Like
My oldest applied to 4 schools. Many of his high school classmates were one and done to our state flagship. In retrospect, he also could have been one and done. He was accepted at a rolling admissions school before he submitted any other applications. He said he liked that school and wanted to attend it. We thought he might change his mind so encouraged him to apply to a few more schools. He is happily attending his safety.
We told S26 that we would pay for up to six applications. He may apply to as many additional schools as he wants, providing he pays the application fees. My prediction is four to eight applications, with at least one of the applications being to a no application fee school.
4 Likes
Oh that’s interesting – it’s funny what kids will react to. My D26 would prefer a school where she could easily walk to a little downtown of shops and restaurants, but of the top three on her list, only one is really like that. Another is in a big city, so I guess it counts, too, although different vibe. The third is in kind of a remote suburb. But they all resonated for different reasons.
1 Like
D19 got into her top choice ED so only applied to that and 2 others EA, but had another 5 targets on her list and a couple of safeties if those didn’t work out.
Our list for C26 is harder given program + geography and so far they are really only interested in one target school. (I would like to think it’s highly likely but I’m so weirded out about how admissions are going that I’m nervous about it.) We have two proper safeties on the list (the Arizonas), another two that are probably safe targets if that makes sense, and a couple of reaches. One of those reaches I know will be a denial because of how they admit and it’s impacted (SLO) but C26 wants to tick the box… all except the top choice and SLO are ones I have urged them to add.
I guess CC is another safety in CA. That would probably be Cuesta to SLO if they end up doing that. (It’s not a TAG though)
2 Likes
I don’t know what SLO or TAG are. 
TAG = transfer admission guarantee. Usually through a community college.
SLO = San Luis Obispo. Refers to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
3 Likes
S26 is doing the UC and CSU application, thanks to this group he added Chapman and Occidental to his list of USC and Pepperdine. If you count UC and CSU as two applications he will only do 5-6 total. Out of curiosity I looked and our norcal HS hasn’t sent a student to Occidental in the past 3 years but has sent students to Lewis and Clark college every year.
We had a long chat about his choices and cost of college. He has about 120k in his 529 which is 120k more than I had when I went to school. That could cover a full UC education or just 1 1/2 year of private school. I could probably swing to pay the rest of his bill but that’s money that he won’t get later on. Also if he decides to go to grad school he’ll have to figure out the cost on his own vs if he did two years of CC then transferred to a UC he’d have money left over.
We also had the following conversation.
Me: “Hey you are doing far better in your classes this semester than last what happened ?”
S26: “Yeah it turns out you have to study for the tests. "
Me:” What do you mean we talked about how important this year was and how you had to study. "
S26: “Yeah yeah, see there’s study and then there’s study study you know you gotta lock in.”
Me: quietly “That’s good buddy glad you got it”
Walk out the room and bang head against the wall.
12 Likes
To add to Sbinaz’s comments - the TAGs are a guaranteed admission to certain UCs from particular CCs if particular courses/grades on transcript. Not all UCs have them, but you can apply to other UCs than what you have TAG’d to. Because C26 wants to do architecture, options are limited to a handful of CCs that offer courses acceptable to UCs (none TAG) and some other public and private colleges that offer architecture degrees. Cuesta is in San Luis Obispo and has a pretty good success rate at transferring architecture and engineering students into Cal Poly SLO.
2 Likes
Better now than junior year of college? 
I find that I facepalm on the daily about one thing or another – and then really root for quicker frontal lobe growth, lol.
6 Likes