<p>to Momofthreeboys: I appreciate your thoughts, also. Yes, one size does not fit all.</p>
<p>My D and I have perused a book on writing app essays. The end of the book includes comments from people on admission committees at various universities in the US. The author and many of the people commenting advise students to avoid having an adult “correct” or “improve” their essays. The author said that AC’s can spot that right away. </p>
<p>So you go with what you think is best. I would not interfere with what she wanted to write about except to point her to some sound advice…or ask her questions to get her thinking about it. I wouldn’t let my D submit something I thought would not help her, either.</p>
<p>My S refused to even let us look at his essays or anything having to do with his aps. I believe (but have never been able to verify) that he MAY have had some HS faculty member review some portion of his essays, but will never know at this point & respected his choices in the matter.</p>
<p>My friend’s S was discouraged by his HS from applying to schools that were considered selective to very selective because he was coming from a so-so public HS & his test scores weren’t that strong (don’t really know what his grades were like, but he wasn’t the HS validictorian). His folks urged him to apply to as many schools as his heart desired, especially the more selective ones. Fortunately, he listened to his folks & ended up at USoCal, tho his HS told him he’d never get admitted. Not only was he admitted, it was one of the best merit + FAid packages he was offered & he loved his years attending there.
I agree that as long as our kids are sure to apply to at least two or more schools they are pretty sure about getting admitted to & able to afford, there is a great deal to be said for allowing them to pursue the best fits for themselves regardless of whether that makes them in the top few % of the entering class or the bottom % of the entering class. Several of the schools your child is considering are rolling admissions schools–if your child applies to one or two of these schools that she loves & would attend, that will relieve pressure & allow her to devote more time & energy to other activities, including more aps at more schools & enjoying her senior year.</p>
<p>re: mention of guidance counselors telling kids not to apply to school X
“because you’d never get in” - I"ve heard of this more and more lately and it makes me nuts. </p>
<p>I know personally of a kid who was told by her GC in FL that there was no sense in applying to Ivies because she couldn’t afford them. Luckily she didn’t listen and applied anyway - was accepted to Princeton, Dartmouth, and Cornell and could compare Fin. Aid packages. </p>
<p>Maybe they just want kids to apply where the GC is SURE the kids will be accepted because they feel all acceptances will make them look better than rejections from more selective schools. It’s just good that kids have various sources of info to turn to & some of them are well-informed.</p>
<p>Don’t forget,GC want to talk about their rate of acceptances, and they don’t want kids from their school to have a lot of rejections so they don’t always encourage the kids to take a chance…</p>
<p>Some GCs also only want kids to be accepted at “prestige schools” & don’t focus on the student & family needs of having schools likely to award substantial merit aid for the student. It’s important to know what matters for the student & family & be sure you get the info & apps that are right for your situation.
One of our vals applied to schools that do NOT award any merit aid, only need-based aid. She got in just about everywhere, but because the only school that gave her merit aid was state flagship U with a full-ride, that’s where she’s going. She & her family are MAD that they didn’t understand & assumed she’d get enough merit aid with her fabulous grades & scores (including being on the 1st place team nationally for a contest).</p>