Girlie AGDee's College Search Thread

[Still BLUTANG]

i have a few interns from American. GREAT kids all around.

Congrats to your daughter, it sounds like you've done an amazing job raising a well-rounded young woman. Wishing her the best wherever she decides to go!

[barbino]

Like Dubai Sis, I applied to one university and when I was accepted at my first choice, went there. Actually, U CONN was my first choice, but they had already closed their transfer quota (late March) so I never even applied there after spending my freshman year at a community college.

I'd love to see your daughter go to college in the Chicago area, whether its at Northwestern or De Paul. I like the fact that De Paul gave her enough financial aid to make going there a consideration. Good luck- I'm reading this thread avidly.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by AGDee

The waitlist to Wellesley has her pretty convinced that Northwestern, Brown and Columbia will be definite rejections. She's hoping and praying for Barnard. The American acceptance coming in last night helped a lot though. She's very into politics and it's a very politically oriented school and the internship possibilities there are great.

Is she accepting the waitlist spot at Wellesley?

For those who say that hypoallergenic's list is long--it's really not these days. I applied to four (and one was UF which I had NO desire to attend) but I interview applicants and applying to four is basically unheard of in that crowd. I'd say 10-12 is about standard when super-selective schools are involved.

[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.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

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

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Still, I don't think anyone advised 10 schools when I was a high school student. I remember most people applying to 4 or 5, and something like 7 would be considered a lot. This is one of those game theory things, though, where if everyone is applying to 5, you can apply to 5, but if everyone is applying to 10, your chances at each school are less certain, so you have to apply to 10 as well.

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Still, I don't think anyone advised 10 schools when I was a high school student. I remember most people applying to 4 or 5, and something like 7 would be considered a lot. This is one of those game theory things, though, where if everyone is applying to 5, you can apply to 5, but if everyone is applying to 10, your chances at each school are less certain, so you have to apply to 10 as well.

Goodness! I remember my high school counselor kept pushing all of us to apply to junior college, even the students with the grades, means and motivation to go to a top-tier four-year university right away. I don't know what his deal was, but I later saw him in a Bowflex infomercial ::shudder::

I applied to 3 schools, all of them University of California schools, and therefore when I say "applied to 3 schools" I mean that I filled out one application and checked 3 campus boxes on the form.

[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.

[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.