I can’t tell from the web page. Is the Common Black College Application for any student interested in the 50+ lesser known historically black colleges? Even if the student is not black?
The student doesn’t need to be black, just interested in the colleges.
She topped his 80 and was accepted at 113 colleges:
https://www.boston.com/news/national-news/2018/05/03/north-carolina-student-113-colleges?s_campaign=bcom%3Asocialflow%3Afacebook
These high schools should be ashamed of this instead they boast about it.
While I personally wouldn’t support an excessive amount of apps but more the advertising of it, I put it in perspective. The NOLA school has less than 600 students, and I am willing to bet that enrollment is front-loaded in the earlier grades. A 70% 4 yr graduation supports that assumption. I also compared their IB Diploma program to my D’s school - less rigor. If a senior getting into a ridiculous number of schools in that particular school is encouraging for younger students, I’m going to give the school a pass on the excess. Especially since we’re talking about 12 students having 20+ acceptances.
Researching in detail, visiting, finding the good fit - great goals, but I can’t walk in their shoes. Get the first degree in your family - goal met.
@tomofboston her distasteful shotgun college approach was discussed several pages back-sorry that post is @TomSrOfBoston
@peachActuary73 - The school only has grades 9-12, so a class of about 150 is reasonable. Not seeing how the school can be “frontloaded in the earlier grades” Here is their admission info:
And 12 students with more than 20 acceptances is, IMO, excessive, though apparently the Black Common App makes that easy to accomplish. Don’t see that as encouraging. JMO.
When it’s easy and cheap (or free) to apply to that many, why wouldn’t you? I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do, but from a “casting a wide net” approach to get a decent school you want to attend to give you a free or extremely cheap ride, it’s a solid strategy. Does it feed the ranking beast? Does it mess with yield numbers? Does it serve as yet another example for some kid who is applying to distinctly different school - different apps, separate app fees, different essays, etc. - to spend too much time, money and sanity applying to too many schools? Yes, yes and yes. The young man will no doubt matriculate into a very good school, have a successful college career, and wind up with a degree on the other end with little to no debt. I applaud his drive.
Its free and easy to apply to 53 HBCU’s. And it’s relatively easy (not counting the individual supplemental essays recommended by many colleges) to apply to an additional 20 colleges. But its ridiculous, if one is just throwing it at the wall to see what sticks, to add on10-20-30 more. ANd, as was noted earlier, both of these students chose local colleges. Neither are leaving their hometown. So what was the point? Sure, they probably didn’t know that going into it, but any applicant should do some research into colleges they plan to apply to before they apply, IMO.
@jym626 - What I mean is that I’ll bet the younger grades (9,10) have more students, and they see decline in the older grades. Charter or not, free and reduced lunch areas have to fight to keep up the graduation rate.
I have no intention of trying to change your mind. Like I said, wouldn’t use that method personally, but to me in the big scheme of things, it is such a small excess amidst a win. And, we’re likely overestimating the effort. I read the article, laugh at the PR ploy, and wish the student well, because I know it is just the beginning of a long road, a road probably more difficult than my D’s.
@peachActuary73 Sure they have to keep up their graduation rate (which is currently listed as 77%). And NOLA has certainly had its share of challenges to meet the needs of its citizens. The NC school seems to have a heavy technical/trade orientation, which is fine. It appears (if I read their site correctly) that many do not pursue a post secondary school education. Many of the students in both schools benefitted from the remedial aspect of the education too get them ready for academic and vocational opportunities.
Regardless, the argument that applying to 80, 90, 100+ schools just because they can makes little sense. It matters not how much effort it took. Glorifying it to me shows a woeful ignorance of the college app process. If they want a good model of how to help the underprivileged students get ready for, and attend stronger colleges, they should look at the model established by the KIPP schools.
I hate the poor use of language in these types of article. The girl from North Carolina was accepted to over 100 schools, and OFFERED $4.5 Million in scholarships. She was not AWARDED $4.5 Million in scholarships - in order to accept the ones she was awarded, she had to turn down many others.
I don’t generally condone the approach of applying to that many colleges, but at least in her case, she turned most of them down quickly, and it looks like she started small, and broadened her search as she became more confident. It sounds like the boy didn’t really pay attention to how many applications he was sending - and was encouraged by the school to some degree. BTW, a quick google search for their school profile shows that their student body is in fact “front-loaded,” with declining class sizes starting with around 180 in 9th grade, and 100 in the graduating class. This makes a certain amount of sense if students leave, but are not replaced because it would be difficult to meet graduation requirements.
I would think that one of the main reasons the NOLA school has smaller classes in the upper grades is that the school only opened its doors in the fall of 2009, with the first graduating class in 2013. It would mean that the school is still in a growth mode, likely slowly increasing the classes at the lower grades as the school establishes itself, its staff, etc.
Someone had to download the teacher and GC recs. for all these schools. The girl was admitted to 26 of the HBCU schools. Assuming she was admitted to every other school to which she applied that leaves 20 on the CA and close to 70 other individual applications. A more targeted search (she got a free ride to 3 of the HBCUs) would still have resulted in plenty of options and the GC could have spent the rest of his or her time on more useful pursuits.
I would love for the journalists to following up on these stories in four years.
My son’s school doesn’t send transcripts or LORs to more than 20 colleges. He thought a mix of 10-12 with reach, match and safety was good enough. To be fair, as an auto-admit with free merit ride from our state school, he didn’t need a bigger net.
The escalation continues: I am very proud of the student, but I don’t see any end in sight for the number of applications that will be done in the current system (Another student from my neighborhood high school that I did not attend). If 80+ schools or 110+ schools were too many, where is 213 acceptances (see link below)? Since almost all of the kids in these articles get full rides to there final choice, is this much different from applying to 200 outside scholarships? If the kids are only being exploited, does the end justify the means? My child almost went crazy during application season due to workload so I am in awe/horror of where this is all going.
Another trophy hunter. One of her two finalists was a rolling admission school with an extremely high acceptance rate that gives application decisions “within 5-7 business days” and gives out the majority of their FA before Dec. 1. IOW, instead of concentrating on schools likely to beat this offer she wasted a lot of people’s time and energy applying to a ridiculous number of schools. Someone has to submit all those recommendations, transcripts, and requests for application fee waivers.
I am not impressed.
As an aside, I wonder how many girls he asked to prom.
Another student who applied to a gazillion schools and selected one in practically in her back door. Well, to be fair, in this case, her second choice was in her hometown, but the one she is reportedly planning to attend is 200 mi down the road (Memphis to Nashville). THe other 2 in this thread who applied to an excessive # of schools are attending college in their hometown. Maybe they are commuting. Who knows.
These situations make me think of the “chance me” threads where kids expect admissions to be impressed because they’re members of 16 clubs, 10 of which they founded themselves. Quality over quantity, folks!
I understand that a kid who needs substantial FA needs to cast a wide net, but if a student is applying to 100 or more schools they’re going to be unable to put any real care into each.