The panic is paying for it since my husband is retired and I’m not far behind. (-:
As I said, lists have to be built effectively - including budget.
Schools come in all prices - but you have to accept tradeoffs.
If you build your list properly, you’ll have no issues….well maybe paying, but you’ll have none achieve the budget you state up front!!
There was an article in the retirement posted earlier today about working at 75…ie not retiring…maybe you should go check it out 
It’ll be ok…seriously.
They are sophomores - we are planning ahead. It is my kids driving this bus right now identifying schools.
That has zero to do with the type of application your kids submit. Zero.
And just understand that need based financial aid and merit aid possibilities might change between now and when your kids apply.
When the time comes, do a chance me. I imagine you’ll get good guidance both admission wise and financially speaking.
Not all like to hear what people say but better to know up front.
The budget and who will accept me part is a lot easier than people make it out to be because often they are inflexible. They demand a name they either can’t get into or they can’t afford or both - and that doesn’t need to be.
Of course it doesn’t. It was in response to starting to starting the process early which is smart. I don’t think there is a need to be negative.
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On the parents’ side, early financial planning is smart.
From the student’s perspective, there can be downsides to starting the process early. Sometimes, premature emphasis on college admission gets in the way of a student fully enjoying high school and exploring their interests. We often see stressed out high school students posting here who might benefit from more focus on the high school experience itself.
Of course, we don’t know your student and family… this is just to say that it’s not necessarily always smart to start the process early with a student.
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No that response was to someone saying everything was the kid’s job. Obviously has nothing to do with which app.
Correct - you don’t know the situation. My two are motivated and researching themselves now, thus I need to keep up to support their plans. Definitely not impacting their HS fun.
I’m not being negative. But really…so much can change in two years.
Even which colleges do away with their own applications could change.
Absolutely, start your research and look at a variety of schools.
Just keep in mind…changes might take place.
This is great. I just read on the visits page - Richmond was my kids #1 til we got there. It dropped off. Another posted about NYU - we knew it had no campus but -we didn’t really know what that meant. Classes in high rises etc. that student likely should avoid BU and GW. Not exact matches but close enough. So you learn from visits.
We had that twice with my daughter -names she loved on paper and similarly once with my son - the perfect school - hated it.
It’s great to support your kids. But now is a great time to get out and explore, even nearby vs dig deep into research. Schools that are urban with streets cutting through campus, suburban, rural. Large, mid, small. Religious or big sports if an interest etc.
Many kids think they know what they want til they see it and realize it’s not. So a lot of the pre work may end up for naught - which is ok. There’s plenty of time. Walk campuses. See the neighborhoods. People watch. And if I don’t like it - it’s too big or small or is in the middle of nowhere is as good as I love it - it helps you find a better set of schools to focus on.
I really think it’s the best way to even prepare to build a list vs research online or however they are doing it.
We would, on road trips in 10th grade, maybe visit a school or two so not make it dominant b4 going wild in 11th.
What happens is - kids are giddy up front. My son burned out after 8 or 9. My daughter 15. All the info sessions are the same - yes, we have a cheese club and a qidditch club. And yes we send kids abroad.
I’m sure your kids are great but so are many others so you want to set a not over the top pace.
Many kids with the best of intention fall apart.
But nothing can replace school visits. The name really doesn’t matter.
Hope they enjoy their process.
I agree on getting out but we aren’t going to waste time and money on places we know they won’t go.
I didn’t see anyone post this above, but when colleges join common app, they agree to not preference any other application in their admission process. So, giving earlier notification to applicants who used the college’s own app, or having a higher admit rate via the colleges own app and the like would not be allowed.
For OP, I would encourage her to only use sources that are legit and fact based, avoiding things like those large, open facebook pages of parents with kids applying to college and the like. Reddit can have some good info, but it can be difficult to follow threads. And on any site, even CC, it helps to separate fact from opinion. It’s great to hear different opinions on certain things, but may not be helpful if that poster doesn’t know what they are posting about.
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If you aren’t already doing so, this would be a good time to use college Net Price Calculators. Every time the kids come up with a new college of interest, first find out if it’s likely to be affordable with need-based aid, and if not, look into whether the school offers merit scholarships, before they start falling in love with the school. Be clear with them on the bottom line budget.
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Exactly - schools that aren’t affordable don’t belong on a list. And when a parent says, I’ll borrow hundreds of thousand for that name, then you’re saying - I’m ok going bankrupt of having my student go through life strangled with debt. Fortunately, the feds put a limit on Parent Plus loans at $65K total with the BBB.
I wish OP luck. I would visit schools - even locally - just to get a sense of school types - but OP doesn’t want to and seems to have determined that they’ll let their kids run the process.
Hopefully it works out.
We actually eliminated schools after a tour when I learned - some don’t give merit aid. I didn’t know - so because I am full pay and set a $50K budget, the night after the Georgetown tour, we took a bunch of school’s off my daughter’s initial list. Was no point in considering them.
It’s things like this that you learn as you go through the process - but we all learn differently and OP seeme comfortable and confident with their current path.