Casting a Wide Net...
Casting a wide net is for Commercial Fisherman, not College Applicants!
As we enter the college application season, note that most of my students will have their top priority colleges applied to by mid-September. This is the application-acceptance strategy that works. There's a big benefit to submitting early applications.
My strategy is to prepare and submit the student's top 5-6 priority applications first, then focus on those colleges for direct follow-up and follow-through.
Follow-up means to maintain routine communications with the college admission counselors until the desired outcomes are secured.
Follow-through means to pay close attention to the applicant-portals until the colleges have everything they need to make a decision.
Contrary to popular practice, I do not believe in the "casting a wide net" strategy. Typically, that serves to hurt the likelihood of acceptance into your top 5-6 priority colleges. Why? Because submitting random applications for the purpose of "casting a wide net" just in case one hits distracts the student's attention away from their follow-up and follow-through.
Casting a wide net is for Commercial Fishermen, not College Applicants!
However, I am a firm believer in supplementing the initial round of applications with a few applications of colleges that specifically fit into the mix...BINGO!
Contrary to popular practice, I do not believe in the "casting a wide net" strategy. Typically, that serves to hurt the likelihood of acceptance into your top 5-6 priority colleges. Why? Because submitting random applications for the purpose of "casting a wide net" just in case one hits distracts the student's attention away from their follow-up and follow-through.
Casting a wide net is for Commercial Fishermen, not College Applicants!
However, I am a firm believer in supplementing the initial round of applications with a few applications of colleges that specifically fit into the mix...BINGO!