Help us identify "safeties" for junior DC's list

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe Elon is more selective than UMW. I base this off of the handful of kids we know at both schools.

Elon is considerably tougher for students in NoVa to get into than UMW. I know UMW has some big boosters on DCUM, and it may be a great school for some students, but it's not a hot commodity for local HS kids. It's viewed as a sleepy, Southern school and the M/F ratio turns off many potential applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe Elon is more selective than UMW. I base this off of the handful of kids we know at both schools.

Depends on what you mean by "more selective." Elon gets many more applications than UMW. Last year, UMW got 4500 apps for 944 spots; Elon got more than twice as many (9949) for 1474 spots. So Elon is "more selective" in that it is harder to get in. OTOH, their SAT stats aren't that much higher.

Other things I note from data below: Elon seems somewhat less interested in admitting lower-income students (low share receiving Pell Grants, and the net price they charge poor families is shockingly high) and the student body is less diverse. UMW, by comparison, enrolls a larger share of low-income students and non-white students.

From the schools' 2013-2014 Common data sets.

Total undergrads
Elon-5599
UMW-4383

Male/female (freshman class)
Elon-40/60
UMW-33/67

%white, non-Hispanic
Elon-81%
UMW-65%

%receiving Pell grant
Elon-10%
UMW-16%

% from out of state
Elon-78%
UMW-11%

% of men who join frats
Elon-23%
UMW-0%

% of women who join sororities
Elon-38%
UMW-0%

% who live off campus or commute
Elon-38%
UMW-39%

4-year graduation rate
Elon-77%
UMW--66%

Share of freshmen returning for sophomore year
Elon-90%
UMW-80%

Admission rate, male
Elon-64%
UMW-78%

Admission rate, female
Elon-49%
UMW-82%

% of admitted who enrolled
Elon-27%
UMW-26%

Middle 50% SAT-CR
Elon-540-630
UMW-510-620

Middle 50% SAT-M
Elon-540-610
UMW-500-590

total cost of attendance
Elon-$45,414 (2014-2015)
UMW-$22,900 (IS); $36,500 (OOS) (2013-2014)

% of students receiving financial aid:
Elon-35%
UMW-37%

% of need met
Elon-61.7%
UMW-48%

% of students receiving non-need-based merit aid
Elon-20%
UMW-8%

average amount of merit aid award
Elon-$6,158
UMW-$3,186

average net price for students from families earning <$30,000 (in 2011-2012)
Elon-$19,047
UMW-$10,957

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe Elon is more selective than UMW. I base this off of the handful of kids we know at both schools.

Elon is considerably tougher for students in NoVa to get into than UMW. I know UMW has some big boosters on DCUM, and it may be a great school for some students, but it's not a hot commodity for local HS kids. It's viewed as a sleepy, Southern school and the M/F ratio turns off many potential applicants.

??? I don't know anyone who views it as "Southern," though I agree the M/F ratio is a turn-off for some.

When the students I know talk about "southern" schools, they talk about Richmond, W&L, Hollins, UVA.

[Anonymous]

Check out Tufts as a possible safety if Harvard or MIT are stretches and your student is set on Boston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out Tufts as a possible safety if Harvard or MIT are stretches and your student is set on Boston.

Now there's a non sequitur. OP is looking at W&M and Wake Forest. Not sure how you translate that to Harvard, MIT and Boston! And Tufts is like the anti Wake.

[Anonymous]

Funny, the WF graduate I know is brilliant and fluent in French and the Tufts graduate I know was a party girl lobbyist type. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

If your student is in range for W&M and Wake, schools like W&L and Davidson are NOT safeties. They would be a reach. Both are considerably more selective.

A good safety list would be:

Furman
Elon
Randolph-Macon
Sewanee (though farther afield than you desire)
Lehigh
Dickinson
Washington College (in Chestertown, MD)

[Anonymous]

Hey, I like that I keep getting suggestions! Very helpful. The spring break trip is going to include Davidson, Emory, Furman, Wake and Elon, so a mix of reach, match and safety. I hope we can visit some of the PA schools and some of the more distant schools if he is willing over the summer. Thanks again for all of the positive feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Options a little farther are Tulane and Sewanee.

Sewanee (University of the South) is so beautiful. A gorgeous campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC (junior) likes and is in range for Wake Forest and William and Mary. We want to plan some spring visits to schools that would be similar to these schools in terms of size (or smaller ok) and competitiveness, and we also need to identify some "safeties" for a student in this range. Would Elon be a good choice? DC prefers not to go beyond about a 6 hour radius from DC but has not ruled it out. Thanks for any suggestions!

George Mason is an excellent choice.

[Anonymous]

Furman. College of Charleston. Rhodes College.

[Anonymous]

As a Virginian, you already know W&M is a much better financial deal than Washington & Lee. We're on the tour now (UVA, VTech, VMI, JMU (no) and tomorrow Wash & Lee. Vtech, too,has a Greek scene but we never even saw it because DS is interested is aerospace engineering. You can avoid that nonsense if you want and shouldn't write off a campus just because they have frats and sororities. I was in one in my SLAC. Wouldn't do it again, but it wasn't a big part of the life of the SLAC. Wash. & Lee is no. 2 university (it has a law school) by Forbes. No. 1 for VA. Really hard to get into so worth a look. Interestingly, a NY Jewish friend recently toured and loved it for its intellectual firepower and Hillel Center. But Wash & Lee will cost you a LOT more than W&M and UVA as you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washington & Lee?

Mary Washington?

Washington & Lee University is not a "safety school" for anyone. Accept only 19% of applicants (and that is self-selected because tuition and fees is $44,507+++ so Virginians go VA if they can). Gorgeous campus. No. 1 in south on Forbes. endowment of $1 1/4 billion dollars. Five most positive majors: Business majors, econ, political science, accounting and business, biology. ACT composite 29/32. SAT reading 650-740. Sat math 650-740.

[Anonymous]

VA Tech golf's course is rated no. 9 on golfweek's "Best campus courses". /designed by Pete Dye.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe Elon is more selective than UMW. I base this off of the handful of kids we know at both schools.

Elon is considerably tougher for students in NoVa to get into than UMW. I know UMW has some big boosters on DCUM, and it may be a great school for some students, but it's not a hot commodity for local HS kids. It's viewed as a sleepy, Southern school and the M/F ratio turns off many potential applicants.

^ acceptance rate of 76%. Yeah, I'd call that a "safety." If it's not a safety for you, then maybe you should be thinking of Radford or a junior college.