Girlie AGDee's College Search Thread

[KSUViolet06]

College admissions counseling type peeps say you should apply to at least 10.

I think the breakdown suggested is like 3 reaches, 3 or 4 match type schools, and 3 safeties.

[southbymidwest]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

College admissions counseling type peeps say you should apply to at least 10.

I think the breakdown suggested is like 3 reaches, 3 or 4 match type schools, and 3 safeties.

Yup. Nowadays, not only are colleges looking at rate of acceptance, they are also looking at yields using some pretty clever algorithms. In other words, they want to show that they are some degree of selective (Oh look, we are tougher to get into than you thought, this makes us a hot and more desired school!) along with yields of those kids who are accepted (Oh look, we have an acceptance rate of 34%, and our yield is 97%-practically everyone we accept ends up coming to school here, yay us, we ARE a hot and desired school, US News will now give us a shout out!). So if the school figures that they might be a safety school for you, and they have a snowball's chance in hell to get you, according to the algorithm, they might not accept you, even if your credentials are quite a bit better than the average (Dude/dudette! You can do better than us! You're just toying with us! Bah!). Throw in KDCat's selection process "take the applications for the qualified kids and throw them down the stairs. The ones that land on the third step from the bottom get accepted" and yeah, no wonder kids are applying 8, 10, 12 places. Our high school counselor recommended seven at an absolute, absolute minimum.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by southbymidwest

Yup. Nowadays, not only are colleges looking at rate of acceptance, they are also looking at yields using some pretty clever algorithms. In other words, they want to show that they are some degree of selective (Oh look, we are tougher to get into than you thought, this makes us a hot and more desired school!) along with yields of those kids who are accepted (Oh look, we have an acceptance rate of 34%, and our yield is 97%-practically everyone we accept ends up coming to school here, yay us, we ARE a hot and desired school, US News will now give us a shout out!). So if the school figures that they might be a safety school for you, and they have a snowball's chance in hell to get you, according to the algorithm, they might not accept you, even if your credentials are quite a bit better than the average (Dude/dudette! You can do better than us! You're just toying with us! Bah!). Throw in KDCat's selection process "take the applications for the qualified kids and throw them down the stairs. The ones that land on the third step from the bottom get accepted" and yeah, no wonder kids are applying 8, 10, 12 places. Our high school counselor recommended seven at an absolute, absolute minimum.

Innnnnteresting....Do most public schools publish their standards, though? I know that Illinois pretty much said "if your rank is this, and your ACT score is this, you will be accepted". So, if Illinois was your safety school, and you had the numbers they said you should, you didn't need 3 safeties.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Innnnnteresting....Do most public schools publish their standards, though? I know that Illinois pretty much said "if your rank is this, and your ACT score is this, you will be accepted". So, if Illinois was your safety school, and you had the numbers they said you should, you didn't need 3 safeties.

Unless you need to be able to compare financial aid packages.

[southbymidwest]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Innnnnteresting....Do most public schools publish their standards, though? I know that Illinois pretty much said "if your rank is this, and your ACT score is this, you will be accepted". So, if Illinois was your safety school, and you had the numbers they said you should, you didn't need 3 safeties.

Not that I am aware of anymore- they will publish 25%-75% ACT/SAT spreads, GPA averages for the current freshman class, etc., but you can never be sure until you get the notification that you are in. In this day and age, especially with the larger, nationally recognized state universities, there are more kids with the right numbers than there are seats for them at the schools. Schools also want a diversified student body, so that also is taken into account. That can mean ethnicity/demographics/sex, but also where the kids reside within/outside the state, and niche interests (i.e.," I have a passion for studying jellyfish, and have done so since I was in 4th grade").

Ahh, found the term I was looking for regarding a university trying to figure out if they are of importance to an applicant-they look for "demonstrated interest" in the form of visits, requests for information, discussions with admissions officers, etc. They track this stuff. Read it in a "Chronicle of Higher Education" article a few years back, was also echoed by daughter's high school counselor.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Unless you need to be able to compare financial aid packages.

Got it. I guess the days of the state school being the cheapest option by default are long gone.

Originally Posted by southbymidwest

Not that I am aware of anymore- they will publish 25%-75% ACT/SAT spreads, GPA averages for the current freshman class, etc., but you can never be sure until you get the notification that you are in. In this day and age, especially with the larger, nationally recognized state universities, there are more kids with the right numbers than there are seats for them at the schools. Schools also want a diversified student body, so that also is taken into account.

Illinois used to just open up more seats, so they never turned away qualified applicants. My freshman year, this meant that there were people living in the study lounges because there were more freshmen than anticipated.

UT guarantees admission to anyone in the top 10% of their graduating class, so I guess those students have a load off.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

10??? Wow, that's like, thousands of dollars in application fees alone.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

10??? Wow, that's like, thousands of dollars in application fees alone.

Not really thousands of dollars, the app fee for (example) Harvard = $75. If all 10 of your schools fall into that range, it's only $750. I'd imagine that depending on the school, it's not even that high. My state school's app fee is only $40. If you're applying to all state type schools, your total app fee costs are like $400-500.

Grad/med/law app fees are a different story lol.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Not really thousands of dollars, the app fee for (example) Harvard = $75. If all 10 of your schools fall into that range, it's only $750. I'd imagine that depending on the school, it's not even that high. My state school's app fee is only $40. If you're applying to all state type schools, your total app fee costs are like $400-500.

Grad/med/law app fees are a different story lol.

Oh, that's what I was thinking of. Obviously, grad school is much fresher in my mind that undergrad.

[ADqtPiMel]

I applied to one reach (Harvard), three matches (Miami of Ohio, UVA and Butler) and two safeties (Dayton and Ball State). I grew up in a low-income area and went to public school, so I don't think 10 is ridiculously high for real go-getter students with a lot of parental and school involvement and resources in the process.

Dee -- I don't know much about American, but I advise our chapter at GWU. Many of the college students in DC graduate with incredibly impressive resumes due to the close proximity to internship opportunities. If she has any interest in eventually working in politics or policy, American could be great for her.

[lovespink88]

Wow, I was a slacker, I guess. I only graduated from HS 6 years ago (hmmm that's suddenly sounding like a long time ago!) and I applied to 3 schools. I was going to apply to 5, but then I got into Illinois so I stopped applying!

My fiance only applied to one!!! He was a shoo-in though, so it didn't surprise me. Like me, he was going to apply to at least 3 more (that I know of), but then he got accepted there first, and that was that!

[Psi U MC Vito]

Also there are ways to get the fees waived, or at least there were when I was first applying to colleges. Applied to 4 schools I believe and I didn't pay any app fee.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

Also there are ways to get the fees waived, or at least there were when I was first applying to colleges. Applied to 4 schools I believe and I didn't pay any app fee.

This is also true. Most schools allow you to apply for a fee waiver, I think you have to meet certain income guidelines.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

Also there are ways to get the fees waived, or at least there were when I was first applying to colleges. Applied to 4 schools I believe and I didn't pay any app fee.

I also had fee waivers and applied to more than ten schools.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Not really thousands of dollars, the app fee for (example) Harvard = $75. If all 10 of your schools fall into that range, it's only $750. I'd imagine that depending on the school, it's not even that high. My state school's app fee is only $40. If you're applying to all state type schools, your total app fee costs are like $400-500.

Grad/med/law app fees are a different story lol.

That's just the application fee though. There is a fee for every school you send SAT scores to, and ACT score fees, and CSS Profile fees. I easily spent well over $1000. The only free app she did was for Wellesley.

Financial aid packages for DePaul and American came in today. I don't know if we can swing American. They seem to think I can spend 1/3 of my income out of pocket and, well, I can't. And that was after enough in loans that she'd be about $80K in debt when she graduates. DePaul's was a little bit better.