How many colleges is your senior applying to?

[whitestavern]

Drumroll please...

 

The exciting university that requires all these additional hoops to jump through is....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UCONN!       Freesia was very close!

 

As a CT resident (UConn's in my backyard) I find that kind of funny since the state has absolutely no requirements for homeschoolers whatsoever.

 

[freesia]

Looks like the requirements cited go even beyond what UMass requires (which I think is pretty absurd).

 

My most recent grad had 6 subject test scores, was a National Merit Scholarship winner, a National AP Scholar, and had a whole lot of college course work (including calculus, statistics and college chemistry); but he would have either not quite met the 27 college credit requirement or just barely have done 27.  

 

UMass is requiring more from homeschoolers than Notre Dame, Georgetown, Stanford, and a host of other schools required.  

 

Not to mention the highly selective schools that are part of the 5 college consortium.  It's nuts.

[Liza Q]

My son only wants to apply to one, our local CUNY...that is extremely unfriendly to homeschoolers. I am having him apply to an extra 2 CUNYs, not that I think they will be any friendlier, but it's all on one app. He doesn't want to go away so that really narrows his options. There is a local LAC (where my oldest went) that might be ok financially with merit but it only has one of the majors he is considering so he doesn't want to bother. NYU would have everything he needs and is a reach...but I know we couldn't afford it as their merit aid is very skimpy and we won't borrow.

 

All that to say that he is probably right and we should just apply to the one - well, three in the same system.

 

He expects to transfer so we may have a longer list in a few years!

[Hilltopmom]

Looks like 4 SUNYs & maybe 2 privates. But EA to the two SUNYs that are his top choices.

 

All use the common app, thankfully! No extra essays.

[OnMyOwn]

My ds is only applying to three, BUT they are not highly selective colleges and we know we can afford to put him through any of them. I suspect my dd may apply to many more. But, wow, 11 seems like a lot. I don't look forward to that.

[GailV]

May I ask the rationale for doing this? My ds only applied to schools that he thought he would be interested in attending.

 

On a similar note to previous poster's dd, my dd wants to audition for Well Known Performing Arts School not because she likes the program, but because it would be cool to say she got to the 2nd round of auditions ... especially when people she knows DIDN'T make it to the 2nd round.  (Plus, she likes auditioning for things.)  

 

Which is sort of odd, because she's usually very aware of not taking up someone else's spot that they could actually use.  So many of these schools seem to have waitlists these days that this isn't always an issue in college admissions anymore.

[RanchGirl]

My son, a hs senior this year, has applied to one college, single choice early action.  We have 2 backups but he has a good chance at this school, he loves it there, and the finances are not an issue.  So if all goes well, he'll be one and done.  Fingers crossed!

[Kareni]

Since we are fairly low income, financial aid considerations were a large part of my daughter's college list making process.

I initially generated a list of colleges which met 100% of need, then we generated a list of colleges with good Latin/Classics programs. In 10th grade, my daughter contacted the Classics departments of the colleges (about 30) which were on both lists to ask about requirements and/or suggestions for homeschoolers. The answers she received to her inquiries plus additional research helped her make her final list of colleges. One additional college was added to her list after she attended a Classics conference there and liked the campus (note: that college ended up offering, by far, the worst financial aid).

In all, my daughter applied to ten colleges/universities -- one, the local state university's honor college, was an absolute financial and academic safety. The others ranged from low to high selectivity in terms of acceptance with the strength of their Classics programs varying from good to excellent. The outcome was that she was accepted at eight of the colleges, wait-listed at a ninth (highly selective) and denied at the one Ivy League college to which she applied.

Since financial concerns were so strong, the eight acceptances gave her a range of financial offers to consider. And, yes, they did vary widely.

Regards,
Kareni

[Grantmom]

DS is still assembling his list, too.  It is hard!  I feel clueless and worry that we are going to miss something.  DS has five on the definite list right now, but another 15 still on the Maybe list.  They are all great schools that I think he could get a lot out of, so it's hard to narrow it down.  Also, not knowing what you might get financially complicates the generation of the list.  I feel like we need to explore some more financial safeties, but I don't know where to start with that.

 

 

[lewelma]

7. Four elites and 3 selective. His backup is ANU (Australian National where he has guaranteed entrance - top in Australasia, but there is a six month delay due to southern hemisphere so he'll only apply if declined by the lot in the USA). Crossing fingers.

Edited September 5, 2017 by lewelma

[dirty ethel rackham]

Dd so far has 10 on her list.  She had added a few that were no-fee/no extra work, but she looked more closely at the schools and decided that she didn't want to go there and ended up deleting them.  She may add a few or subtract a few.  She is not sure what she wants and we need the merit aid to make it doable.  None of the schools she is applying to are academic reaches, but most are not shoo-ins as far as finances are concerned. 

 

My oldest applied to 4 (after visiting 8 schools), was accepted to those 4 with top merit aid.  We chose the one that had the best options as far as undergrad research opportunities was concerned.  My next one applied to 6 (a few sight unseen, but they had some of K's unusual interests.)  Accepted to all 6.  It came down to the specific program and what we believed to be their acceptance of diversity as well as mental health support.  We made the wrong choice.  I can't say that K would not have gone off the rails at the other school, but we would have had a closer eye on them and been able to better monitor meds. 

[Nan in Mass]

Oldest - one because there was no where else he would go.

Middle - same one, because he had had his heart set on it since he was 11yo

Youngest - one because no where else was even close to a good fit, but that one turned him down his ea application so, even though they said he most likely would get in eventually, I made him spend xmas vacation applying to six more - state flagship, two out of state, two selective private engineering schools, and one private engineering school which we were quite sure would offer a scholarship. The upshot - he got flu from the stress and was accepted everywhere. Several offered their honours program. Only his brothers' school did not offer some sort of scholarship. Even UMass Amherst, despite the ungraded undated transcript from me. I think they all ignored mine and just looked at his cc transcript, all except his first choice, which had a fairly extensive supplement and who requested the yearly progress reports I had done for our town's school department (Massachusetts). The miserable extraneous applications turned out to be useful in the end for financial aid, but I was really kicking myself for not letting him do one-and-done when his first college a cepted him, as they had said they probably would, and when he got sick, especially when I had grave doubts about his ability actually to graduate from any of the other programs, except possibly at his brothers' school, which is even more hands-on. The whole process was horrible.

 

Nan

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

Not to mention the highly selective schools that are part of the 5 college consortium.  It's nuts.

 

 

Yup-my college kid was accepted to one of the other 5 colleges-wouldn't have made all the nutty requirements at UMass I'm sure.  There are a handful of schools that just can't deal with homeschoolers.  Yet plenty of highly selective schools with high numbers of applications seem to have no problem.  Go figure...

 

I wouldn't worry about how many schools a kid applies to, unless of course application fees become burdensome or time spent on applications needs to be spent on maintaining senior grades.

 

My oldest applied to somewhere in the teens (maybe 15?) and the current high schooler will probably end up between 5 and 10.  It depends on goals, academic interests, financial aid opportunities and so on.  

 

One school we lived near when my oldest applied put a cap of 6 schools for their seniors.  At the 7th school they would refuse to send any information-transcript, teacher recommendations, counselor letter, etc.

 

I think the most important factor when choosing how many applications to send (beyond budgetary concerns) is to be realistic about admissions chances and keep a good balance between reach schools, likely schools, and safety schools.

[DawnM]

May I ask the rationale for doing this? My ds only applied to schools that he thought he would be interested in attending.

 

I can't answer for the other poster, but we are encouraging him to apply to a couple of schools we can't afford, with the hopes of some scholarship monies if he can get them.

[Hoggirl]

I can't answer for the other poster, but we are encouraging him to apply to a couple of schools we can't afford, with the hopes of some scholarship monies if he can get them.

That is reasonable to me. If your student knows it's off the table unless scholarship money comes through and can be okay with that. That makes sense.

 

I'm just sensing that in *some* situations, *some* folks seem to want bragging rights. I don't understand that mindset at all, but perhaps I am reading too much into what is being said in other posts.

[JanetC]

I can't answer for the other poster, but we are encouraging him to apply to a couple of schools we can't afford, with the hopes of some scholarship monies if he can get them.

If you've done the research and know that the school offers merit and that your grades and test scores are in line for consideration, that's fine. What's awful is when a kid applies out of state to Berkeley or something where there is no chance for money at all.

[Grantmom]

I guess from everything I've read so far, there just isn't a 100% accurate way to know for sure what the student might get in terms of financial aid.  It seems to vary so much.  I have read people who said their package was exactly what they expected based on the NPC, and others who have said it was much lower or higher than they expected.  I know different people have different opinions on the topic, but I don't think it is an unreasonable prospect to apply to places that might be out of reach financially based on the ticket price and see what happens, if the student really thinks the school would be a good fit.  I always think it is good to have options.  I do agree though that it's a great idea to be sure that you have some academic AND financial safeties (or at least one) where the student feels they would be happy.  It can be hard to find though.

 

 

[8filltheheart]

I guess from everything I've read so far, there just isn't a 100% accurate way to know for sure what the student might get in terms of financial aid. It seems to vary so much. I have read people who said their package was exactly what they expected based on the NPC, and others who have said it was much lower or higher than they expected. I know different people have different opinions on the topic, but I don't think it is an unreasonable prospect to apply to places that might be out of reach financially based on the ticket price and see what happens, if the student really thinks the school would be a good fit. I always think it is good to have options. I do agree though that it's a great idea to be sure that you have some academic AND financial safeties (or at least one) where the student feels they would be happy. It can be hard to find though.

In terms of the bolded, I would suggest that it really depends on how thorough the NPC is and how up to date it is. If the NPC is kicking out info for the 2013 school yrand asks 5 questions, I wouldn't trust it at all. But, the IPED data can reveal quite a bit in that scenario. If the NPC asks a lot of questions about assets, savings, etc, then I would expect it to be fairly accurate and would make a judgment call based on that info.

 

Fwiw, certain financial scenarios do not work well in NPC (non-custodial parents, rental properties, business owners, etc)

 

In a simple 2 parent family with just paychecks and simple assets, I would not waste my time on applications where thorough NPC questions were asked and the results were unaffordable unless possible merit is a factor.

[Matryoshka]

My bet is UMass, b/c Mass is the only place I can think of where the town has to approve your program. They are also famously anti-homeschooler.

 

Nope. They are a huge PITA, but not that bad (or maybe they're worse, depending on how you look at it...). They want a GED OR some umbrella school type paperwork/diploma (yes, in spite of the fact that we do indeed get approval from the town and umbrella schools *do not exist* in our state), OR in a recent nod to sanity, 27 DE credits will also be considered okay.

 

No amount of explanatory lesson plans or course outlines or even town approval letters will move them. They appear to have no concept of state homeschooling law, and absolutely no desire to find out.

 

Dd just transferred there. Even with a full year of full time college with a 4.0, and 70+ credits transferring in (including DE and AP), they still tried to ask for a GED. I had to point out the 27 credit thing to the transfer office. Apparently until I pointed this out, they hadn't thought to align the transfer requirements for homeschoolers to align with freshman policy. Yeesh.

Edited September 8, 2017 by Matryoshka

[DawnM]

If you've done the research and know that the school offers merit and that your grades and test scores are in line for consideration, that's fine. What's awful is when a kid applies out of state to Berkeley or something where there is no chance for money at all.

 

Yeah, and honestly, our decision is changing anyway.  We are in conversations now.

 

But for my oldest (transfer student) we are applying for merit aid but his is pretty much based on his portfolio and not academic merit.

[JanetC]

Portfolio or audition type merit is the hardest to predict.

 

Otherwise, I use the "money matters" tab on collegedata.com to see the percentage of students without financial need who got merit aid as a reasonable proxy for how good you need to be. For example, if 28% of those students received merit, you should guesstimate your own grades and test scores to be in the top 28% of the applicant pool.

[Grantmom]

In terms of the bolded, I would suggest that it really depends on how thorough the NPC is and how up to date it is. If the NPC is kicking out info for the 2013 school yrand asks 5 questions, I wouldn't trust it at all. But, the IPED data can reveal quite a bit in that scenario. If the NPC asks a lot of questions about assets, savings, etc, then I would expect it to be fairly accurate and would make a judgment call based on that info.

 

Fwiw, certain financial scenarios do not work well in NPC (non-custodial parents, rental properties, business owners, etc)

 

In a simple 2 parent family with just paychecks and simple assets, I would not waste my time on applications where thorough NPC questions were asked and the results were unaffordable unless possible merit is a factor.

 

I definitely see your point and understand why some people would decide to just not apply to a school where that was the case.  However, I just meant that you really don't know what you might get in the end, if you might get additional merit aid for example, or a certain scholarship.  So, if you really liked the school and thought it was a really great fit in every other way, I think it is also a reasonable option to still apply and see what happens.

[8filltheheart]

I definitely see your point and understand why some people would decide to just not apply to a school where that was the case.  However, I just meant that you really don't know what you might get in the end, if you might get additional merit aid for example, or a certain scholarship.  So, if you really liked the school and thought it was a really great fit in every other way, I think it is also a reasonable option to still apply and see what happens.

 

It may or may not be a reasonable option to still apply.  Some schools offer $0 in merit aid.  If the NPC is thorough and indicates the costs are too high, nothing will make that school more affordable.

 

The IPED info is worth sifting through to decide whether or not it might be worth applying or not.  It might be.  But, you can make an educated guess vs. just applying to see.  

[Heather in WI]

Oldest ds is applying to 12 -- a mix of competitive (not tippy-top) and safeties. It will all come down to $$ for our family, so we've encouraged him not to fall in love with only one in case it doesn't work out. We found the book "8 First Choices" very helpful.

[Hoggirl]

Oldest ds is applying to 12 -- a mix of competitive (not tippy-top) and safeties. It will all come down to $$ for our family, so we've encouraged him not to fall in love with only one in case it doesn't work out. We found the book "8 First Choices" very helpful.

I liked that book as well! However, you still can't prevent them from having that "dream school." No matter how mature, level-headed, and pragmatic, it can be hard not to have a favorite.

[J-rap]

I'm probably not a good one to ask, since we did almost everything through the back door, sometimes last minute. 

 

My ds applied at one, and my next two dd's applied just at one.  My ds's was very specific;  no other school in the country would have offered this precisely, so he was aiming just for this and would make new plans if he didn't get in.

 

My next dd did it the same way.  She was going to a very specific school overseas.

 

DD #3 applied at just one, but was already quite certain she'd get in.  

 

DD #5 applied at 5 or 6.

[Heather in WI]

I liked that book as well! However, you still can't prevent them from having that "dream school." No matter how mature, level-headed, and pragmatic, it can be hard not to have a favorite.

Yes, he does have a clear favorite dream school. It's one of the hardest of his to get into though, so I want him to be happy if he doesn't get in. ðŸ˜

 

He did give me a giggle last week when he met with a rival (of dream school) admissions counselor. He came out of the meeting saying, "They really made some good points about why they're perfect for me and about X- school's flaws." I said, "That means he was doing his job!" 😂😂😂

[DawnM]

Oldest ds is applying to 12 -- a mix of competitive (not tippy-top) and safeties. It will all come down to $$ for our family, so we've encouraged him not to fall in love with only one in case it doesn't work out. We found the book "8 First Choices" very helpfu

 

 

$$ for us too for 2nd child, esp. since we are moving.  We have told him that it isn't a "forever no" possibility, it just won't be possible until he has residency.