Q:  My daughter has a 3.70 GPA and has not been accepted to any of the colleges of her choice.  She is on a waitlist but this does not make us feel safe.  Should she be applying to more colleges, even at this late date?

A:  This is not an unheard-of situation. When I was an admissions officer, a student phoned us in a panic -- we had waitlisted her, but she had either been denied or waitlisted by every college to which she had applied.  She basically had nowhere to go. She had not opted to apply to any "safety schools" because, with her high grades, she assumed she didn't have to.  Unfortunately, she had underestimated the competitiveness of the admissions process. 

I told her that her absolutely first stop should be her college counselor's office, to find out which colleges were still accepting applications.  I told her that where she begam her college education was much less important than where she completed it.

And that's the same advice I will give to you and your daughter.  Do not panic!<!--more-->

While I cannot speak to the specifics of your daughter's situation because all I know is her GPA (and not the types of courses she took, her test scores, activities, essays, or recommendations), I can say that the door to college acceptance is not yet closed!

Your daughter's first stop should be her counselor's office, where she should ask about schools that have "rolling" deadlines.  These are the ones most likely to be taking applications.  This is true of both private and public colleges.  In the New York metro area alone, there are numerous schools with rolling deadlines.  She and her counselor should come up with a list of five or six, and then phone their offices to make sure that they are still accepting applications.  

She ought to apply to two or three schools, because she cannot count on a waitlist place to come through.  In the worst case scenario, she will begin her college studies at a place she did not anticipate applying to, but if she does well in her freshman year, she will be in a good place from which to apply next year as a transfer student.  Please let me know how this works out!