<p>Ok sooo…is it just me, or does anyone else feel the need to apply to atleast 20 schools??? I’ve already been accepted to my safety and one of my top choices, waiting on my other top choice and a reach, but that only makes four. So i guess what I’m trying to ask is…when to stop?? Should i just wait for my other 2 schools to come in or what??</p>
<p>I’m interested in going into early childhood/elementary education, so if you guys recommend any other schools it would be very appreciated…thanks forreading tho!!!</p>
<p>I only received 3000 from my safety school (tuition and fees will probs be 20-25 thou i think) and my other choice wont send out financial aid info until febuary and I’ll have to apply for scholarships within the school in the spring (if i go). All the schools i’ve applied to are pretty expensive, so I’m really not sure if I should apply to lower tier schools and possibly get full tuition, but maybe not like the school…if tht makes sense…</p>
<p>Are there really 20 schools you’d like to go to? It’s good to have options, but it’s better to have discretion in choosing those options. You’d either find yourself deciding between appealing schools or wasting money on those you don’t really like.</p>
<p>Affordability is key if you plan to go into early childhood/elementary ed. You are not going to be well positioned to pay back a lot of loans, and a top college is not required to get a job. You might consider adding a couple more affordable schools. But not up to 20 schools. :)</p>
<p>Lol 20 was just a number I threw out there…I know that paying back the money is probs gonna be more stressful than anything, and I dont want to burden my mom (living in a single parent household,so she’ll be paying for what needs to be made up)…is it too late to apply and be considered for merit aid?? And should i apply tho i havent visited??</p>
<p>Honestly, I applied to 10 schools and people that was a lot. (I was supposed to apply to 14, but I got fed up.) really, it depends on what schools YOU want to apply to.</p>
<p>This is our 3rd one going through the college process and we now put a limit on the number of applications they send out; the magic number in our house is 9 or under. As for visits, after an unbelievable amount of visits with our first one (and an unbelievable amount of applications), we now say wait till you know where you get in, then we’ll pick the ones you tell us you want to visit (unless of course the school likes interviews…but we don’t put those schools on our list anymore bc they are usually expensive and small private schools like the one our first went to haha…which for us personally, we steer away from now…so no i don’t think you need to visit before applying</p>
<p>I think if FA is even a potential issue, you should apply to more schools that you like - to see who gives you the best FA package. You may get a different total amount from each school, regardless of your EFC, and some schools may offer more grant money versus loans.
Did you apply to your state schools?</p>
<p>My son is applying to 14 schools - a few reaches, a bunch of matches, and a couple of safeties. The original list had only 6 schools on it, and I’m the one who pushed to expand it. I want to make sure he has a decent number of choices come spring and we also want to have various FA packages to consider. Those things may be very important to you or they may not be. If they are, you may want to apply to a couple more colleges. </p>
<p>Some of the schools we’ve visited and some we haven’t. I don’t think not having visited yet should necessarily deter you from applying.</p>
<p>I agree with intparent that “Affordability is key if you plan to go into early childhood/elementary ed”.</p>
<p>My safety was my only state school,the one that only gave me 3k. I have a few school in mind (NC State,UNC Charlotte,U. South Carolina, or Wake Forest). I am not crazy about taking out loans so I’ve been looking for schools that have a 5 year-masters degree program. The schools I’ve applied to have that or say that they will have that program in a year or two. </p>
<p>Should i wait to hear back from my already applied schools and risk not being able to apply for others?? I really dont mind filling out other apps (i kinda like it lol) so thts not an issue…
schools</p>
<p>If you like the other schools enough to where you feel as if you’d be comfortable at each and would also be comfortable paying for applications for each, you should apply to as many as you see fit. If you have 20 schools, for instance, that you feel you’d be fine with, then apply and just follow the money. Also, if your application list is top-heavy (let’s say mostly schools with admission rates below 20%), then you’ll naturally need to apply for more.</p>
<p>You should know that early childhood often pays sustenance wages, whereas elementary education in a public school gets you in a teachers union and pays much better. A relative of mine studied early childhood and needed to be a bartender to pay the bills. Eventually, she became a bank teller and it paid a lot better. It’s too bad, because early childhood education is vitally important to kids. Unfortunately, our society doesn’t value it highly and the barrier to entry into the field is very low so wages are awful. </p>
<p>I agree that for early childhood/elementary, cost is probably the most important thing, but placement in a public school is pretty important to. It would be good if you can find out how people do in each program. If you can find a program with exceptional placement, then borrowing the federal loan limit would not be unreasonable. It might be good going back to your old school and asking some of your old teachers or your old principal what they recommend. </p>
<p>I was hoping that with my degree i would have the flexibility to not only work in a public school, but also daycare centers. I really wouldnt like to have my mom pay anything over 15k, which is close to what she pays now for HS.</p>
<p>I applied at four graduate schools (Canadian graduate schools at the MSc level are less selective than the average American physics PhD program) and I feel that was enough. I put off applying for American PhDs until I actually got a MSc or some supervisor-related catastrophe happened while in grad school (loss of research grants, supervisor being fired if my supervisor doesn’t have tenure, etc.) because my mom didn’t want me to spend $400 on the GRE and the TOEFL combined, one sitting apiece. With $400 I would be able to more or less cover the costs of all four Canadian apps.</p>