But she has yet to realize that just filing an ED application was not the end of the story: she had to have backup plans at the ready. However, for all 3 of Chantal, Daisy and Valerie, submitting their early applications gives them breathing room to reflect on what they want out of a backup plan. Other potential reaches would include Haverford, Notre Dame, which are both within Tulane's price range. Yet, other non-reaches, private and especially public, are the hard part, and often out of her price range. Remember what guidance said: no more than half the total list should be made up of reaches. Dartmouth, Haverford and Notre Dame are 3. This means I should have 2 more non-reaches, because LSU is my absolute last resort. I don't know how I feel about Trinity or Connecticut; they might have the same weather issues Dartmouth do. And Tulane is definitely not a safety if I choose not to ED2 there. But is it a reach or not? On the one hand, they always seemed to want more kids from rural parishes, on the other hand, they have the same kind of student bodies as Dartmouth, Haverford or Notre Dame. No need to actually submit anything until December 15.

This means more net price calculations, and, from there, more consideration of essay supplements, and maybe contacting debate coaches about openings and potential scholarships if the net price was a little higher than she would have liked, but not too much over. That was on top of coursework, such as AP Calculus BC, AP Physics, AP English and AP World History. She definitely has a lot on her plate, on top of debate and theater. Oh boy: it seems like it's either reach for the stars or go safe, and for a full ride, or nearly so, she reflects on that count.

Yet, she's reminded of the harsh reality of competing on the national debate circuit, on which the VAs mostly compete online. Such as the Duke Invitational. So many on the nat-circuit seem to have good grades, test scores and, while some of these are stretched thin, the ones poised to get the ToC bids are, really, not that different from me. As students anyhow.

During the octo-final at Duke, a Durham Academy player argued, on the neg, that she should lose the round because of how better results at inter-state tournaments won't help her get into college. When cross-examination comes for Daisy:

"You seem to be implying that I am condemned to be attending a non-elite state college just because I attend a Title I school, and you're also implying that, by association, the points I made about the ethics of regulating AI lack validity because of my background" Daisy calls the player out on the fallacy. "That's a personal attack"

"Unlike you, I can apply to college without having to worry about paying for it, and I need to place higher than you here to make the most of it" the opposing player has gone off-topic.

"Before we return to the ethics of AI regulation, I would like to say that achieving a certain result is not about who needs it most"

After this cross-examination phase ends, Daisy calls for prep time, of which she has 4 minutes. She winds up using 3 minutes of it, but, after the round ends, she doesn't feel so hot. And neither does her opponent. Who, somehow, saw fit to rub it in further after the game, by briefly telling her about college lists, achievements and extracurriculars.

I won the game because of the opponent's poor cross-ex answering. The opponent is also in the same range of academic performance as I, but blanketed the Ivies, plus a number of other elite colleges, such as Duke. And NCSU as a safety, UNC-Chapel Hill for a match, alongside a few other colleges. And must also have taken poorly to losing that game. But it's a lot harder for me to win LD games when the opponent debates in good faith, Daisy is reeling in while that player made her reflect on her own extracurricular involvement: debate team, theater, booster club volunteering (as the resident graphist) running the arts column in the student newspaper, and tutoring middle school kids in summer school. Not nearly as loaded as many people on the nat-circuit, at least not if the average nat-circuit debater is anything like the player she just played against.

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But she winds up losing in quarters and therefore get shut out of a Tournament of Champions bid. Yet, as she finishes the homework for the weekend, she spends the whole evening investigating new leads. Like Skidmore, Trinity University and so on. Skidmore appeared intriguing to her since its net price was within range, albeit a bit higher. There seems to be a lot of possible safeties, but she couldn't make up her mind.

"I can't seem to decide where to apply should Dartmouth fall through, and it seems I have another concern with Tulane that never seemed to crop up before: New Orleans is a dangerous city"

"In the end, you can only attend one" her father warns her.

"That's the problem: aiming for the top is fine, but I want to make sure I can go at all. Hence the need to limit reaches to half the application list or less. And, of course, not apply to too many colleges, but so many of the rest are either too expensive, no good academically or both" Daisy retorts with her dad. "An unhappy student is not going to be of any use in college, and with student debt being what it is, if it costs too much, it's not going to be any good for me later in life"

"The cold, hard truth is that college is, from an employability standpoint, a nearly all-or-nothing kind of thing. So I know how important being happy in college, both academically and socially, is to get the most out of tuition money. And, from there, graduate. That's what matters most in this process" Daisy's dad then gives his daughter pause.

I'm forced to acknowledge that I fell prey to the paradox of choice, even in a family making "only" $75k per year. Most other kids have much fewer options; I have several dozen to choose from, even if the first two constraints are that its average SAT and GPA are both higher than LSU's, and the net price does not exceed $19k, that is, the sum of Tulane's worst-case EFC plus the first-year federal borrowing limit, Daisy sighs while looking in agony at her list of potential colleges to apply to, along with its list of supplemental essay prompts (if any), their locations, net prices as well as odds of admission.

"I think I should cool that off for a bit; this is not doing me any good" Daisy realizes before closing the spreadsheet, and then going to bed.

Daisy starts thinking of these other seniors in class with her in her dreams. Oh, if only I could be as serene as the others... Their selection process is much more simplistic than mine, even for those second-stringers on the academic teams. Even then, the non-star college-bound students seemed to be split into 2 "castes": the LSU/Louisiana Tech kids and the McNeese State/UL-Lafayette/UNO kids. Did I make 3 years of effort on the debate floor and in class only to find myself stressed out like crazy at this point of senior year? There are only 5 kids in the whole class with any aims for higher than LSU, and Albert is most likely to fail.

But several weeks later, at a Halloween party hosted by Albert on, well, Halloween, Daisy arrives, wearing a yellow dress, bought used from a past theater season. I really ought to decompress, I have a lot of stress right now, and I put off making my choices of where to apply to, hopefully dancing to goth music would help, and eating candy trick-or-treated beforehand, would help me stress less, her thoughts keep racing while she puts her candy bag aside to dance.

"Daisy, you seem to be very stressed out. However, do you like Mario games?" Albert asks her about her costume.

"Honestly, I'm indifferent, but it was because of the stresses I'm under that I even came here in the first place!" Daisy starts lamenting to him. "It's only now that I have time for myself. Between booster club, theater, debate, coursework..." she sighs. "I may as well enjoy this party while it lasts"

And Daisy, too, starts dancing in front of other partygoers, including an offensive tackle and his girlfriend, Paige. It was then that they realize doing theater for her entire high school career made her a better dancer than she would have otherwise. Yet, at the end of the party, she feels like, the more she put off choosing where else to apply, the more likely she is to regret her decision in April. It can be a life-changing 4 years, but I need to choose wisely. Will probably need more information from students at each of those I can still consider, and probably faculty as well. Including but not limited to their debate coaches, if any. There has to be... some way I can narrow down my list to a more manageable size! From what I saw of Chantal and Valerie, they seem to be on top of things, and it feels like I am not. However, once I made my choice, I'm sure everything will fall into place, because it then becomes a question of essays to write.