Tell me about your "average" Big-3 student's college admissions

[Anonymous]

Please tell me about your Big-3 non-high stats kid's college application experiences.
DD is a sophomore at a Big-3. Her grades are mostly Bs, a few As, one C. She plays one sport and is decent, but not outstanding. She enjoys creative writing, and writes for the student newspaper. She is very kind and has fortunately not suffered from much friendship drama. I would be surprised if she scored above 1350 on the SATs. What kinds of colleges do students like DD end up at from Big-3s? I don't want to push her too hard because she seems happy and content, which is so important. On the other hand, I wonder if she'll have more options if we enrolled her in SAT tutoring, pushed the sports a bit more, etc. We are full pay, but not wealthy enough to be noticeable donors.
Thank you in advance. She is our oldest and our first foray into the college admissions process. I am a bit alarmed by the posts I am reading about how competitive college admissions have become.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me about your Big-3 non-high stats kid's college application experiences.
DD is a sophomore at a Big-3. Her grades are mostly Bs, a few As, one C. She plays one sport and is decent, but not outstanding. She enjoys creative writing, and writes for the student newspaper. She is very kind and has fortunately not suffered from much friendship drama. I would be surprised if she scored above 1350 on the SATs. What kinds of colleges do students like DD end up at from Big-3s? I don't want to push her too hard because she seems happy and content, which is so important. On the other hand, I wonder if she'll have more options if we enrolled her in SAT tutoring, pushed the sports a bit more, etc. We are full pay, but not wealthy enough to be noticeable donors.
Thank you in advance. She is our oldest and our first foray into the college admissions process. I am a bit alarmed by the posts I am reading about how competitive college admissions have become.

Does your school have Naviance? You could look at the scattergrams and it will give you an idea what schools similar students got into.

[Anonymous]

The college counseling office can answer this.

Naviance data is often kept hidden at the most intense private schools because the sample sizes are small and parents are smart and intense enough to identify candidates from the prior graduating classes and tie them to specific stats.

FWIW, our kid turned down Big 3 and went to a friendlier alternative. Most of our kid's friends who went to Big 3 ended up at NESCAC or similar liberal arts colleges (Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wesleyan, etc.), Big State Us (Michigan, Wisconsin, UVa, Maryland, UCLA, etc.), or Ivy-ish universities that weren't actually Ivy (U Chicago, Georgetown, Wash U, etc.). Our kid did too.

[Anonymous]

Colgate

[Anonymous]

Just finished the process with DC at big 3. I would focus on SAT prep and bringing up GPA. Don’t worry about the sport because unless it’s played at a high level and you can be recruited, it just doesn’t matter. DC had similar grades and was able to get into several NESCAC schools and other SLACS but not the very top. More like the next tier down. DC had several ECs and some awards on a national level and higher SAT scores from tutoring. And received merit at a few SLACS too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished the process with DC at big 3. I would focus on SAT prep and bringing up GPA. Don’t worry about the sport because unless it’s played at a high level and you can be recruited, it just doesn’t matter. DC had similar grades and was able to get into several NESCAC schools and other SLACS but not the very top. More like the next tier down. DC had several ECs and some awards on a national level and higher SAT scores from tutoring. And received merit at a few SLACS too.

How does that possibly fit with the narrative that private school isn't a huge advantage in the admissions process? NESACs (even the ones that are a "tier down") aren't accessible at all to public school kids with similar stats.

[Anonymous]

Similar profile to DD who ended up at Rochester.

[Anonymous]

The "middle of the pack" kids at my son's Big3 are now at schools like NYU, Tufts, Wake Forest, Boston College, Colgate, Tulane, Bates, Wisconsin, Texas and Richmond. Pushing more sports won't have an impact unless that would make her a recruitable athlete. Some SAT prep is probably a good idea--no need to start early and it doesn't have to be super-intensive, but getting that test score up does help. ED and full pay can also be very helpful at schools below the Ivy tier.

[Anonymous]

Do SAT prep now. It really paid off for us. Son recruited to HYP + was told what score range he would need. He did Princeton Review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do SAT prep now. It really paid off for us. Son recruited to HYP + was told what score range he would need. He did Princeton Review.

You mean daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do SAT prep now. It really paid off for us. Son recruited to HYP + was told what score range he would need. He did Princeton Review.

You mean daughter.

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do SAT prep now. It really paid off for us. Son recruited to HYP + was told what score range he would need. He did Princeton Review.

You mean daughter.

Huh?

You post these same trite comments constantly. You are very recognizable as a poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finished the process with DC at big 3. I would focus on SAT prep and bringing up GPA. Don’t worry about the sport because unless it’s played at a high level and you can be recruited, it just doesn’t matter. DC had similar grades and was able to get into several NESCAC schools and other SLACS but not the very top. More like the next tier down. DC had several ECs and some awards on a national level and higher SAT scores from tutoring. And received merit at a few SLACS too.

How does that possibly fit with the narrative that private school isn't a huge advantage in the admissions process? NESACs (even the ones that are a "tier down") aren't accessible at all to public school kids with similar stats.

Public school kids with these stats actually do get into similar colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "middle of the pack" kids at my son's Big3 are now at schools like NYU, Tufts, Wake Forest, Boston College, Colgate, Tulane, Bates, Wisconsin, Texas and Richmond. Pushing more sports won't have an impact unless that would make her a recruitable athlete. Some SAT prep is probably a good idea--no need to start early and it doesn't have to be super-intensive, but getting that test score up does help. ED and full pay can also be very helpful at schools below the Ivy tier.

Not sure when your son graduated from high school, but in the 2022 post covid reality, middle of the back isn't touching NYU or Tufts. These are single digit admit rates now. Tulane, only if ED,a dn BC and Wisconsin are at best, somewhere between a target and a reach, particularly BC.

[Anonymous]

Conn college, trinity, the all women’s colleges other than Wellesley, Dickinson, Denison, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Sewanee, Rhodes, Wooster. There are so many good options. Don’t push your DD too much - let her be happy. That is far far more important.