s/0 How many college applications? Poll inside

[Moira in MA]

I figured out how to set up a poll.

 

Feel free to comment here or in the other thread

~Moira

[Kareni]

Recopying my post here:

 

My daughter applied to ten colleges. She applied widely because we are fairly low income so financial aid offers would play a big role. Of the ten colleges she applied to, one was an Ivy League school. She was denied admission there; however, this school has a generous aid policy such that had she been accepted, it might well have offered the best aid. She applied to two highly selective liberal arts colleges (one offered admission, one put her on the wait list). Five other applications went to liberal arts colleges or small universities of varying selectivity. The final application went to our state university's honor college.

 

The financial aid offers of the eight accepting schools varied tremendously (up to about $14,000 dollars difference in the combination of out of pocket and loan payments for the academic year). Several of the private liberal arts colleges would have cost significantly less than our state university.

 

She did not visit all of the colleges to which she applied (some she visited during spring break of senior year while waiting for news of acceptances; two others she visited when she was being considered for scholarships). Since only a few colleges in our state have her major of interest, she applied to colleges nation wide. She wrote a letter of inquiry and sent it to about thirty colleges during her junior year; it was addressed to the chair of the department she was interested in. The replies she received and research online helped her determine the colleges she ultimately applied to.

 

Admittedly, it was a lot of work for her (and for her ... ahem ... guidance counselor) to apply to ten colleges. However, I think it was a wise plan as she was able to make a considered decision as to where to attend.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Leanna Tomlinson]

My dd applied to only one college. She knew she wanted to go there. Big sister is there and she's very familiar with the campus, the nursing program, etc. She has been taking online classes from that school for credit during her senior year. Dd also had strong ACT/SAT scores so we were fairly sure she would get accepted and receive merit $. If she hadn't gotten early acceptance in Nov., we would have applied to other schools.

 

Leanna