Can anyone please help understand what is the right fit for DS
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Anonymous
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We are trying to understand what schools are the right fit, regardless of ranking.
DS is high stats (4.0 UW with as rigorous course load as anyone can be at his highly competitive HS, 1590 SAT first attempt), good EC's with leadership positions this year. 1. Interested in multiple subjects sciences, economics and linguistics. 2. Want to go to a school that is large, anything above 10,000 total students would be good 3. No real preference for rural/urban, visited both and likes different aspects of each 4. Full pay and any school is affordable All the big schools seem to have all the majors, courses, clubs and career services available that he needs. Say we are looking at UMD, U Pitt, UVA, Harvard and Yale, just as an example. All of them meet all the criteria and so do a ton of others. I know there is no chance of getting into Harvard or Yale and I am asking this to understand the thought process. What other criteria can use to say UMD, Harvard, Yale, U Pitt or UVA are not a good fit. Is Harvard not a good fit for anyone on the off chance that they get admitted? |
Anonymous
| Cornell and CMU come to mind. CMU may be too small for him, then Cornell it is. |
Anonymous
Harvard and Yale don’t have 10000 students, unless you don’t care about the undergrad vs grad distinction. However, none of the grad students interact with undergrads…but they are a warm body. |
Anonymous
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Our kid is not dissimilar so we spent a lot of time thinking about geography, PhD pathways, accessibility to get home, urban vs rural, reputation on whether students enjoy their time there, whether students are highly competitive with each other, etc.
The great thing about having a very high stats kids with interests that aren’t terribly niche is almost every school fits the bill, so you can immediately move on to other things your child wants out of their experience. |
Anonymous
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Does he care about
School spirit/game day vibes Pre professional clubs and access to them Greek / non Greek percentage Study abroad programs and access to a specific country / school / opportunity ‘Unique’ experiences - spring break abroad, global internships, etc Club sports? Campus culture - midnight Thursday and the kids are where? at the library, at a frat, in the city? |
Anonymous
Cornell was my first thought too. |
Anonymous
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I feel as though the difference between the undergrad experience at Harvard and at UMD is going to be huge.
What about Northwestern, Cornell, BU, GWU as larger private options? UNC, Michigan, Wisconsin, as larger public options. |
Anonymous
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OP, it seems like you are trying to actually narrow your list or at least looking for help in sorting through options by determining which might be bad/good/better fits. And “fit” should absolutely be a thing students should strive to figure out when applying.
But there are 4000 schools in the US. Many of them will be a good fit for any given kid. You don’t have to figure out whether UVA or UMD is the better fit (as an example) based on your list of criteria. Develop a solid list of 8-10 schools that your kid likes, with a couple of reaches like Yale and Harvard if those appeal (but yes - they are smaller than your target; you should consider undergrad enrollment, not total). Then, seriously, compare the “vibes” during visits to help choose between school he gets into. |
Anonymous
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So, I do think that schools tend to have a "personality" or culture. I know one kid who almost transferred out of Harvard but ended up sticking it out after hating the first two years socially. Generally, mid size privates and larger are large enough that anyone should be able to find their fit, as long as they have the academic chops.
Your kid does not have any limiting factors. So, I'd think about geography. Is this kid a senior? Have you visited places and what did he think of vibe? Perhaps vibe can be your limiting feature when making the list. The list should be broad and probably long. Include a variety of types of schools so that, if he decides he has certain preferences by spring, there are multiple options with those preferences. |
Anonymous
| As others have suggested, look into Big Red for your stated criteria. CAS there would be most suitable for your son. |
Anonymous
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Berkeley
Michigan UCLA |
Anonymous
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Are you thinking of math or science as a major?
Is he a senior? If so, ED (deadline is Nov 1!!) at: Cornell Northwestern Brown University ED2: Carnegie Mellon WashU Rice Give us more information on what "specific sciences"? |
Anonymous
| The size requirement and the multiple interests are going to be tricky to reconcile. The biggest schools tend to have separate “schools” that would make it hard to double major in economics and linguistics whereas this would be easier to do at say Brown or Princeton. And a boy with those stats would have a decent shot ED at Brown. |
Anonymous
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Don't apply early to Yale or Harvard!!! You'd be wasting your shot!
Try Northwestern or Brown ED, even Cornell. Have you visited any of them? All VERY different feel. |
Anonymous
I think the vast majority of universities, including giant ones, will put econ and linguistics both in the Letters and Sciences or Arts and Sciences department. If he was saying Computer Science and Econ, or Business and Linguistics it would be different. |