@allenski before you decide to have a student apply to only elite schools, please read this thread. Read all of it…from post 1 to the end. It’s an old thread, but the message is there. This student was a tippy top student, NMF, class val, excellent ECs and LOR, and essays. No one expected him to be rejected everywhere he applied, but that’s what happened. The last half of his senior year was just awful as rejection after rejection came in. And he was a very strong student. Period.
He took a gap year that was very productive and applied for admission the following fall. He DID land on his feet very well, but let’s just say…if he had not applied to all highly competitive colleges the first time, his senior year would have been a much happier one.
You don’t want to be the 2025 version of this story.