Huge 2009 class

Tripledad- I remember reading for years on this board to choose a college that fits, with or without baseball. That is how my son decided which colleges to apply to. We live in CA with many good state schools that he would have been happy to attend, even without baseball. The class of '08 was the largest ever with '09 being slightly smaller.

We did the typical applications to a few matches or safety schools and some reach schools. I targeted getting apps in early only because I knew how busy senior year would be. You can apply to most colleges by Oct/Nov. under their early admissions. This is not binding if you are accepted and decide not to attend.

Even though son had a verbal offer from a college he loved he missed the early signing period. Being the methodical person I am I still wanted him to apply to other schools "just in case". Many schools have a common application that is very easy to fill out and some do not have a fee to apply to.

Personally I felt it was better to spend some $ on college apps and have lots of choices when spring rolled around. As it turned out he was accepted at lots of great schools but did sign his NLI in April with the school that committed to him in the fall. Some would say he wasted his time and our money applying but I felt like all bases were covered.

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I suppose we should go ahead and apply to the school he wants to attend

Yes, do that!

It does cost money to apply in most cases,....and while you do risk losing that application money should your son get recruited ( & accepts ) to play ball at a different school,...it always benefits to have the academic foundation part in place.

** On a personal note:
Knowing that my son was accepted and had college academic options gave me piece of mind while we swung on one leg, hanging upside down from the rafters, with all of the baseball recruiting stuff.

I am wondering how schools could cut off the application process now without students attending first half of their senior year? Are you sure it's not for early admissions?
If this is the case,I definetly suggest that if your son has desire to attend a specific school or two (without baseball), check out the admissions qualifications and definetly apply to one or two. Some players also apply to JUCO as well early in the process.

what came as a surprise to us what that admissions offices expect that students will apply to 8 to 10 colleges. some students will apply to 10 to 14 or more. you have to cast a wide net sometimes to find a good fit.

when making the list ( of 8 to 10 schools) include safeties, match schools, and reach schools.

getting the admissions applications and scholarship applications in by the end of november can be helpful. some schools have early action, others may have rolling admissions, and some may have regular decision, etc. he can always start immediately with the rolling admission and early action schools and then later, apply to the regular decision schools (track all these deadlines in a spreadsheet). review the common application website. somewhere there i think it might even give all the various deadline dates for schools that use the common app.

tripledad - your son still continues the regular recruiting process as he's been doing and still keeps moving forward with that......contacting coaches, completing questionnaires, emails, phone calls, etc.

jmho, but maybe a good idea for him to be checking with the coaches that have been in touch with him to see if he is still on their recruiting list or if they have dropped him. better to know now than later.

as others have wisely said......your son having lots of options when spring comes around is a good thing. sometimes students don't make a final decision until the end of April......by the first of May.

Back when son was in HS, parents I knew who would think nothing of spending lots of money on baseball freaked when they had to shell out money for their kids to apply to schools.
Sorry, but I don't get that.

it never hurts to ask if the app fee will be waived.

check the colleges' websites to see if they have free online apps.

it was also a surprise to us that some of the deadlines for admission were so early.........and some of the scholarships deadlines were early too.

be careful its not an early admisssion because you can only do that at one school.

There is EA and ED- Early admissions is NON-BINDING as compared to Early Decision which is binding. You may only apply to one school ED and you are legally bound to attend if you are accepted. One of the problems applying ED is that you may be accepted and months later get your financial aid package which may not cover all your anticipated expenses.

Some people feel you get an edge in admissions by applying early. Hard to say though. Just make sure to research carefully.

I am not aware of any schools of the many we have researched that have moved up their application deadlines, and certainly none that would have already passed for 2009 graduates. The earliest ED dates I have seen are still November 15, and typical regular decision dates are not until around the end of the calendar year. Could you give examples of some schools you are referring to?

CaBB is right........

best to check the admissions policies for each school and understand the differences between early decision (ED) and early action (EA), regular decision, etc.

in a situation like tripledad presents......ED would not be a good option for them as it would lock his son into attending the one ED school. ED is said to be binding.

there are schools that do allow non-binding early admissions (EA).

reviewing the final financial aid packages in the spring is another reason why students don't make their decision on where to attend until later in April or by first of May. you'll want to have an idea of when to expect the arrival of the financial aid package..........another date to add to the spreadsheet.

We received a letter from the H.S. stressing to get your apps. sent in Aug & Sep. because of the large class size. It was kind of a shock to us because we did not plan to apply until November.

We were told the schools did not officially move up the deadline, however the colleges have informed the
counslers office that waiting could have a negative impact.

Anyway, we will go ahead and apply to be safe and let the baseball thing play out. Thanks for the heads up on ED vs EA

It seems really strange to me that your HS guidnance office would be recommending to apply as early as August/September. I spend many, many hours reading material and looking at online websites such as collegeconfidential.com about the college search and admissions, and have seen no mention anywhere of colleges recommending applying that early. On the contrary, most colleges have been careful to counsel students that appling as early as the November 15 deadline for early decision should only be for those students who have carefully researched and thought out their college decision.

For the regular decision process you could probably send your app in early, but unless a school has rolling admissions, they will not consider it complete and review it until they get the grades from the first half of your senior year. I really question why your school would give the advice they did. And as far as the Class of 2009, yes, it is a big class, but only incrementally larger than the previous year which was also large. I would actually check directly with the colleges you are interested in and ask them when they recommend that you apply.

from school


Summer

Reduce the number of choices to three to six.

Fill out rough drafts of each college application on copies of last year's form.

Begin composing essays.

Start completing application forms, deciding whether to apply for Early
Decision, Early Action or Regular Decision.

Mail applications prior to or shortly after the beginning of the new school year[B]Summer[/B]


school has already started

A friend of mine was at a campus visit(Purdue) last week and she said they kept stressing early application.

Thats what were hearing in corn country.

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Class of 2009, yes, it is a big class, but only incrementally larger than the previous year which was also large.

Maybe colleges learned something from last year ?

Yes, we will check with the schools and ask

quote:

Originally posted by TripleDad:
Due to the size of the 2009 class

I had heard the class sizes were on the decline. My daughter graduated in the '06 class and during her recruiting we were told her class and the '07 classes were the peak. Apparently they're still riding the wave? Or maybe it's a marketing tactic by the colleges or a residual affect from the peak years in '06 and '07?

jmho, but with concerns about the economy, there may be more applications to the state universities. even a year ago, this might not have been the case, but NOW with the concerns about high gas prices and other escalating costs (food, utilities) ..... families are looking to cut costs, save $$$'s on tuition, and save $$$'s on travel costs.

in the midwest .......it's not surprising that the state universities would be anticipating higher numbers of applications.......these schools draw many applicants from in-state and nearby states. i just think you'll be seeing more and more students opting to be closer to home due to the high cost of gas and travel, etc.

g.c. at our local h.s. strongly encouraged the students to have the admissions applications and scholarship applications in by the end of november.

Thinking about the deadlines more, I seem to remember last year hearing some grumbling from parents whose kids sent in their apps by the deadline but because of the hugh amount of apps were not even considered for admission because they had already accepted their limit. I was very skeptical because these were Ca state U's but did hear it from several different families.

So I guess it would'nt hurt to get them early rather than on time.

Good luck - glad it's behind us!!

Keep in mind too that high schools are sending more and more kids through the "college prep" route, and encouraging kids who would have never thought to go to college to give it a try. What I am seeing is more and more kids going to the JC around here, or at least staying home and going to the local state school. In turn, those JC transfers are applying and taking spaces first before hs students.

For instance, this past year Cal Poly SLO kiniesiology dept, had 4 spots for students this past year and 2 were taken by transfers. (These numbers may not be exactly right but they are ridiculously close).

The take-home lesson is make sure you are academically fit first so you have options!

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Keep in mind too that high schools are sending more and more kids through the "college prep" route, and encouraging kids who would have never thought to go to college to give it a try. What I am seeing is more and more kids going to the JC around here, or at least staying home and going to the local state school. In turn, those JC transfers are applying and taking spaces first before hs students.

I know that my son's high school (with a graduating class of about 800) required, as a test grade in English class, for all seniors to apply to at least one college. The school was able to announce a 100% acceptance rate at the graduation ceremony, presumably because some of the weaker students were "accepted" by the local jr. college that does not have any specific admissions requirements (other than a high school diploma). Most likely, this requirement will spur on some students who otherwise wouldn't have decided to go to college.

My daughters school last year talked about this but not from a college reason, but from a High School Guidance dept issue in processing required information, and recommendation letters. Also I know some schools have eliminated early admission but have not heard of schools going earlier. Would seem to be counter productive.