S/O: how many colleges did your kid(s) apply to?

[niccig]

Good point. I am familiar with SDSU housing but so much has changed in 25 years especially since they now have a mandatory 2 year housing requirement for everyone outside of a somewhat small radius from campus (parts of the City of San Diego in the northern most parts are considered out of area). I will definitely look into putting that deposit down.

I definitely like the CSU tuition (as a year is actually cheaper by about $1800 than her high school or right about the same) but the housing is insane though and she is almost guaranteed a triple even if you request a double (in a dorm that used to be a double and look to be the same as they were when I lived in a similar dorm in 1998; at least the honors college dorms no longer look like they were relics from the Cold War like it was then…..it was down right scary looking).


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Yes housing is 3x tuition costs! DS could commute, but we wanted him to have the independence of living away from home. His CSU has apartments as well as dorms. DS got into the apartment building where everyone is studying a major in the same department. One complaint about the CSU schools are they are commuter schools and it’s difficult to meet people in your major the first 2 years because you are doing more gen Ed classes. Living in his apartment building, DS has met other freshman and older students. He’s only had 1 class in his major this year. He’s met more people in the apartment building


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[AnnieW625]

Yes housing is 3x tuition costs! DS could commute, but we wanted him to have the independence of living away from home. …..

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I commuted for 2/1/2 years and I met some people but I met more people when I lived on campus. I have always wanted that opportunity for my kids. Dh lived at home for his entire college career so he has no idea what it is like to live on campus. I told Dd1 that unless she was really interested in X program at the local UC I didn’t think it was smart to apply because it would be not much more for her to move away from home vs. living in a dorm 3 or so miles from home. The tuition and dorm costs are the same whether you are local or not.

With traffic and what not in your area I totally get that living on campus makes the most sense. I would argue the same for those northern San Diego city residents who have to live on campus at SDSU. It is less of a headache to live on campus than commute.


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[Mom to Brandon and 2 cats]

Good point. I am familiar with SDSU housing but so much has changed in 25 years especially since they now have a mandatory 2 year housing requirement for everyone outside of a somewhat small radius from campus (parts of the City of San Diego in the northern most parts are considered out of area). I will definitely look into putting that deposit down.

I definitely like the CSU tuition (as a year is actually cheaper by about $1800 than her high school or right about the same) but the housing is insane though and she is almost guaranteed a triple even if you request a double (in a dorm that used to be a double and look to be the same as they were when I lived in a similar dorm in 1998; at least the honors college dorms no longer look like they were relics from the Cold War like it was then…..it was down right scary looking).


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Annie, I have a kid (1st year) at SDSU. Reach out if you have any questions.

[essnce629]

In the end, DS1 applied to 9 schools. His independent school at the time suggested applying to 10-12 schools. He had 13 on his final list, but after getting into 5 EA, he decided to drop the final 4 regular decision schools as he preferred going to the EA schools over the regular decision ones and was burned out from doing apps. He didn't really have any reach schools on his list as we were exclusively seeking out merit aid and some of the schools were applied to with the idea that we'd use their merit aid package in our appeal to his first choice school at a later date. Looking back, I don't think 9 schools was too many, but there was one school we definitely could have dropped as he really wouldn't have chosen to attend. It was in the PNW, he would have chosen the 5 other PNW schools over it. He never wanted to go to school in CA, but still applied to 3 CA schools as they would have been financial matches if the PNW schools ended up being too expensive. From the beginning he knew what his top 4 choices were, but it wasn't until we were able to finally visit spring break of senior year due to the pandemic, that those schools were ranked 1-4. Once we visited it was pretty clear what his top choice was, we just needed the price lower with an appeal. If our appeal hadn't been successful, he would have attended his 2nd choice school happily.

[wencit]

DS1 is in the process of applying to 20 colleges, but 12 of them are UC/CSU schools, so only 1 application per UC/CSU. Many of the privates/OOS flagships he's applying to are extremely competitive, and if you live in California, you know what a crapshoot the UCs are, so he wanted to cast a very, very wide net.

[anonomom]

In the end, it'll be 14 or 15. It sounds crazy high, but about half of the schools are audition-based BFA programs, which means that there's no such thing as a safety. (They didn't pass the prescreen at a school that would have been an automatic admit if academics were the only consideration). So they have to cast a rather wide net if they want to have a chance at getting into a BFA school.

It would have been higher, but DC dropped one or two extreme (academic) reach schools from their list that were "let's just see if I can get in" choices. They finally realized it wasn't worth the extra work and money for the chance at admission to schools that didn't matter to them in the first place.

[doberbrat]

dd is applying to 20(!) schools. She wants a BFA & BA double major so realistically many of those are backups. There are only a few schools where she can have the double majors she wants.

[Kindra178]

11. Mostly because admissions are crazy and he wanted to apply to large and small, even though he knew he wanted large.


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[Green_Tea]

DS applied to 12 and has heard from many of them - several acceptances and one deferral so far. My DDs applied to around 10 each but many more reaches than DS. I wasn’t sure what to expect for DS as he is a a totally different kid than his type A sisters but I’m thrilled that he has many options to consider!

[Green_Tea]

To answer your question, Annie - my girls had clear front runner schools even though they cast wide nets. Oldest DD wanted to pursue nursing and picked BC for their amazing program and opportunities in Boston but decided that neither the school nor nursing was a good fit for her and is now majoring in Econ at our state flagship. Middle DD applied to film programs and chose BU. She loves the school but has chosen to major in business after three semesters in the film program.

My best advice is to pick a school that your child really loves regardless of what they think they will major in. It’s completely normal for an 18 year old to change their mind about their major and being at a school with lots of options allows for exploration.