Yeah, but the thing that really turned me off on St Mary’s was the presentations during the tour. They couldn’t have been more pretentious if they fell into a pretentiousness pit.
It was all ‘And now XXX will perform a piece in the baroque style that she has written just for this occasion’ and ‘St Mary’s specializes in educating the soul…’
That can be a real turn off to someone on the fence. Just tell me what you do and let me move on.
1: Texas A&M University.
I applied to four, and was accepted at all of them:
Bucknell - My top choice, until I visited it. Nice campus, but I was put off by the people I met there.
Drexel - Good school, but way too close to home. Going there would’ve meant living there (in a bad neighborhood), or living at home and commuting there, which didn’t appeal. Plus, even with the aid package they offered, it was a little too expensive.
University of Delaware - My fallback school.
Virginia Tech - This is where I went. It was my second or third choice, until I visited. I loved the campus, the people, and the location (in the middle of nowhere). Had a great time and made some close friends there, so no regrets at all.
Five: turned down at Oberlin and Swarthmore (Oberlin was my first choice; I knew I was aiming too high with Swarthmore), accepted at Trinity (CT) and U-Va (safety school), wait-listed at Haverford.
And Fretful’s comment holds for me too.
Applied and was accepted early decision to Hampshire College, despite the “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” speech from mom. 
Junior year I received an (unsolicited- rude bas***ds) offer for a full scholarship to MIT, so I suppose I technically had a backup but I’d turned it down pretty much immediately.
Hmm. I applied to six colleges. I was accepted at three, wait-listed at my second choice and rejected at two. I ended up at my first choice (which I’d chosen in 8th grade!)
I applied to 6 and got accepted at 3 of them. The one I REALLY wanted to go to turned me down. But I got in at my second choice. I start there in September.
This isn’t really going to help, since I was in the Canadian system (specifically Ontario)
The way it works here:
There is/was (up until this year) a difference between colleges and universities - only actual universities could grant degrees, colleges could only grant diplomas.
There is a central application processor. For $75 (in 1995) you could apply to 3 universities ($50 for each after that) and for $100 you could apply to 5 colleges.
My results - I did both. My marks weren’t great, and Mom convinced me to apply to colleges as well. For colleges, I applied to Humber (accepted), Loyalist (accepted), Centennial, Seneca, and Fanshawe. I checked out Humber because they had a super reputation, but I didn’t have to make up my mind until the university results came back.
For university, I applied to Waterloo, Western Ontario, and Windsor. I got accepted at Waterloo, and that was my first choice out of all eight, so that solved all my problems. (Waterloo was dad’s alma mater).
Me too.
I applied to seven schools. I was rejected from my first and second choices (Rice and Northwestern). I was wait listed at my third (Wesleyan) I attended my… um, maybe “tied-for-fourth” school: William & Mary. I came close to attending Grinnell College, which offered a very comparable aid package, but I decided against it for being too small. I was also accepted into my safety school: U of Wisconsin, and 3 SUNY campuses: Binghamton, Geneseo and Albany (counts as 1 application).
As for my marks I had a 91% average* and went to one of the most famous and difficult public high schools in the nation, got 1360 on my SAT, edited a magazine, worked outside of school, and was assistant Technical director for student-run plays.
*My high school gave number grades, not letters.
I applied to three schools. Was accepted at all three, received scholarships from two, went to the one that didn’t give me any money. Of course, I’d wanted to go there since I was born, so it was a non-decision.
I was offered a (partial) athletic scholarship to the school I wanted to attend during the summer after my junior year in HS, so technically I didn’t submit any.
I went there and graduated.
Fairychatmom, how are your daughter’s grades and extracurriculars? Is she a strong candidate? If so, then she’s probably fine only applying to two schools; if not, she might want to apply to more. Is there a top ten percent law in Florida? In Texas, you’re automatically accepted to a public university if you’re in the top ten percent of your high school class. There are many problems with this law, but that’s another thread.
I applied to 5 colleges, and was accepted at all. Four of them offered me money, but three of those four I couldn’t afford even with the scholarships. I went to the one where I got a full ride (University of Texas), even though it wasn’t my first choice (too close to home), but I loved it.
Now, I’m applying to 11 graduate schools. This may be overzealousness on my part, but I’m terrified I won’t get in somewhere. The word on the street is that since the economy is down, everyone wants to go to grad school and there is a glut of applications, hence really stiff competition.
I applied to 13 schools last year, but 5 of them used the same application so I suppose they don’t count. That was the UC set of schools, of which I tried Davis, Irvine, LA, San Diego and Berkeley.
Notable acceptions - Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Penn. UCSD offered me a full engineering scholarship, but I decided on going to Stanford. Odd thing - I’d actually dreamt of going to Stanford since my freshman year but had given up hope of getting in. I was so resigned on going to UCSD that when I got my Stanford acception I was more confused than pleased.
Notable rejections - Harvard, MIT
If I could do it over again, I think I would have applied to even more schools. I saw a lot of my friends shy away from applying to prestigious colleges for which they had legitimate chances of being admitted. Those who did get into top tier schools, like Yale, MIT, or Columbia, were always rejected by other schools in that tier. It’s such a crapshoot, so applying to more schools will offer you a better shot of getting into one you’d like.
This presupposes that your daughter hasn’t found a school or type of school of which she is particularly enamored. My high school was filled with directionless overachievers whose only goals were to get into the most prestigious college they could. I should know, I was one of them.
Stanford '07! I’m looking forward to starting college. Any other Cardinal out there?
October, last I heard, my kid was #5 in her class. She’s taken tons of honors and AP classes, and this year, she’s got 4 dual enrollment classes. She’s been on swim team for 4 years (probably captain this year), she tutors at the elementary school, she worked with kids living at the county battered women’s shelter, she was on Sophomore Board and she’s in NHS. She’s going to get the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship as long as her grades don’t tank this year.
I’d bet the mortgage that she’ll get into her #2 choice with no problem - it’s an up-and-coming university that isn’t very big. Her #1 choice, Univ of Central Fl, has become popular enough that they can afford to be really picky - something like one of four applicants wind up attending. I’m pretty confident she’ll be accepted there also.
Both of these schools have rolling enrollments, so we’ll know within a few weeks whether she’s been accepted - that’ll leave lots of time to send out other apps if necessary.
Hey! My brothers (the twins) are going into their 3rd year at UCF. I don’t know if there’s anyway they can help but if you can think of something I’ll give them a call.
I applied to six schools: Haverford (reach), Bryn Mawr (reach), Spelman (solid/reach), Hood (solid), Goucher (safety), Howard (safety). I was accepted at all six and decided to go to Haverford, my top choice. To my dismay, I found I hated it there (although a worsening of my clinical depression might have had something to do with that) and transferred to Howard.
I applied to Harvard (ha ha), Cornell (figured I had a good shot, but probably wouldn’t get in), Georgetown (figured I probably would get in), and Kenyon (my “safety” school – not really a safety at all, but there was a scholarship opportunity which required applying earlier than normal, so by the time I was finalizing my other apps I’d already been accepted by Kenyon). I only got in to Cornell and Kenyon and went to Cornell.
For law school I only applied to Georgetown (wasn’t sure I wanted to go) and didn’t get in. The next year I was still unsure so only applied to places in D.C. (where I lived); Georgetown, George Washington, and American. I got in to Georgetown and American; my GW application was submitted late and they returned it – the check too! 
–Cliffy
Angel Heart - my first time around, Goucher was my first choice and that’s where I went for a year. This was in '72-'73 when it was still a women’s college. I never did fit in there socially, and I think I was just tired of going to school at that point. It was not a good year for me.
I applied early to Haverford College, and was accepted, so I’ll be there as a freshamn very soon.