Does DS need a safeties

[Anonymous]

He thinks his list is too long already.

Bay Area public school:

Intended Major: Biochem/Chem

GPA: 3.73 UW, 4.2W -

No class rank

Freshman: 3.41 UW 3.75W (5 B's 1 C) -> Sophomore: 4.0 UW 4.33W (all A's) -> Junior: 3.92 UW 4.59W (1 B+ in meaningless class)


SAT: 1580 // 780/800

APs: Micro 5, Macro 4, Stats 5, Bio 4, Chem 5, BC 5 and planning on taking APES, Physics 1, Lit;



ECs:

Tennis Varsity Captain (our team is current league champion)

ChemE internship (1 year)

Tutoring organization head officer(3 years)

DECA Chapter Officer and placed as a world finalist twice, 2nd at states once (3 years)

Founder of Biology/Chem Club at my school with large presence on campus (2 years)

Private tennis coach (4 years)

Shadowed physician (2 months)

Commercial laboratory assistant (1 year)



Tufts

Emory (ED1)

WashU

Rice

Northwestern

Vanderbilt

UNC Chapel Hill (EA)

University of Michigan (EA)

Cornell University

Stanford University

UCLA

UC Berkeley

​

[Anonymous]

Everyone needs safeties.

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

Yes, he does. He's got a great list of accomplishments and he might get accepted to all of those schools-- but he might get rejected from all of them, too. What about adding a few more UC (or Cal State) campuses?

[Anonymous]

Of course he needs safeties.

[Anonymous]

Definitely. His record is impressive but not at all unusual and there is definitely a chance he will be largely shut out.

[Anonymous]

He needs to add 2 safeties. None of those schools are guaranteed and some really take demonstrated interest into account. He should add a rolling safety for early peace of mind and consider ED to his first choice.

[Anonymous]

He can always wait and see what the ED schools say first before applying to safeties.

[Anonymous]

Even without knowing his stats, I would suggest safeties. One should always have multiple levels of safeties when playing the game of college admissions.

[Anonymous]

I’d just add two more UCs. They don’t look at ninth grade grades (or test scores though). You probably don’t need to but just in case. He’ll probably be done at ED1, though pre-med type profile is very competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he does. He's got a great list of accomplishments and he might get accepted to all of those schools-- but he might get rejected from all of them, too. What about adding a few more UC (or Cal State) campuses?

THIS.

[Anonymous]

In addition to safeties, he could use some targets too. The list is entirely reaches, which means getting shut out is quite possible.

Do not overestimate the value of a great test score at reaches, especially while they have test optional policies. Have him choose a few targets -- basically, schools beyond the top 40-ish, more like 40s-80s. (The big caveat is that some schools in this range might not admit if they think he is unlikely to attend, i.e. they yield-protect, so supplemental essays should be handled with care.)

And of course some affordable safeties. Will he be needing financial aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he does. He's got a great list of accomplishments and he might get accepted to all of those schools-- but he might get rejected from all of them, too. What about adding a few more UC (or Cal State) campuses?

THIS.

+1

Add targets, too OP.

[Anonymous]

What about adding UCSD and UCSB? Would these be considered safeties with his profile according to the scattergrams?

[Anonymous]

He definitely needs safeties (which you know). If he says his list is too long, then he dies not understand that the list must have sub-categories of lists, and his Sunkist of safeties is empty. He can eliminate some of his higher ranked schools.

Perhaps Franklin and Marshall? Pitt? Wooster? (Sorry, I don’t know many West Coast schools)