s/o Reach/Target/Likely list for junior

[Anonymous]

Another spinoff post for an unhooked junior. We did not do our undergraduate degrees in the US, so this whole process is a bit foreign to us!

We are trying to plan our spring break visits and would like to refine our lists before making travel plans. DS is a junior in DCPS. Unweighted GPA is 4.0, 11 APs and 2 DE classes (both in math) so far with a couple more APs and DEs senior year. Probably in the top 5 of his class.

DS is interested in math or a math adjacent field but also plays a musical instrument at a high level, which makes a minor in music (or a double major) a strong consideration. Strong ECs (mostly math or music related -- competitions [AMO/MOP], tutoring, jazz ensemble, playing at senior living facilities) and 1560 SAT.

I'd love to know if there are other schools that should be on our list based on these schools. We especially need "likely" schools as the list is essentially all reaches and targets. So far DS is not interested in LACs (Oberlin, St. Olaf) but might include them on our list depending on music offerings. We may not be able to visit whatever is feasible.

Reach:
MIT (near impossible but hey, one can dream)
Northwestern
Hopkins
Chicago
UMD
UCLA

Target:
University of Pittsburgh
University of Washington (excellent applied math program)
Indiana (excellent music program)

Likely:
Rochester

[Anonymous]

Carnegie Mellon?

[Anonymous]

Not safeties, but obvious additions would be Michigan, Wisconsin, NYU, Cal, Georgia Tech, UNC, Rutgers, & UVA. For a safety, maybe UFlorida or Tulane?

[Anonymous]

I think your list looks good!

Make sure your kid takes AP exams and gets 5's on as many of them as he can. DCPS is known for insane grade inflation and lack of rigor and colleges go through cycles with how much they can trust them. Last year was a terrible year for JR kids who had 4.0's but no/poor standardized testing to legitimize their GPAs. The dual enrollment and the 1560 will help. Kids get in trouble when they have a 4.0UW from DCPS and a 1400 SAT.

[Anonymous]

Rutgers and possibly Stony Brook would be great for math (not sure about music though). UNC is likely impossible for OOS.

[Anonymous]

Case Western might be a good likely. Strong in math and a decent music program too.

Oberlin, as you mentioned, very strong in music and students can do both music and academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Case Western might be a good likely. Strong in math and a decent music program too.

Oberlin, as you mentioned, very strong in music and students can do both music and academics.

+1 for Case western. He could receive a nice merit scholarship. Demonstrated interest is VERY important!

[Anonymous]

If going to trouble of completing the UC app, why not also add Berkeley and SD? It adds little work to buy those extra lottery tickets.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the suggestions. Case sounds like a great addition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think your list looks good!

Make sure your kid takes AP exams and gets 5's on as many of them as he can. DCPS is known for insane grade inflation and lack of rigor and colleges go through cycles with how much they can trust them. Last year was a terrible year for JR kids who had 4.0's but no/poor standardized testing to legitimize their GPAs. The dual enrollment and the 1560 will help. Kids get in trouble when they have a 4.0UW from DCPS and a 1400 SAT.

OP here. 5s on 5 exams so far. Hopefully he'll keep it up (Lang and APUSH will be a challenge tho' ). JR, Banneker and Walls seem to have done well this year.

[Anonymous]

I would add Brown (good Applied Math ), artsy

[Anonymous]

Indiana and Pitt should be safeties and UMD should be a target

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another spinoff post for an unhooked junior. We did not do our undergraduate degrees in the US, so this whole process is a bit foreign to us!

We are trying to plan our spring break visits and would like to refine our lists before making travel plans. DS is a junior in DCPS. Unweighted GPA is 4.0, 11 APs and 2 DE classes (both in math) so far with a couple more APs and DEs senior year. Probably in the top 5 of his class.

DS is interested in math or a math adjacent field but also plays a musical instrument at a high level, which makes a minor in music (or a double major) a strong consideration. Strong ECs (mostly math or music related -- competitions [AMO/MOP], tutoring, jazz ensemble, playing at senior living facilities) and 1560 SAT.

I'd love to know if there are other schools that should be on our list based on these schools. We especially need "likely" schools as the list is essentially all reaches and targets. So far DS is not interested in LACs (Oberlin, St. Olaf) but might include them on our list depending on music offerings. We may not be able to visit whatever is feasible.

Reach:
MIT (near impossible but hey, one can dream)
Northwestern
Hopkins
Chicago
UMD
UCLA

Target:
University of Pittsburgh
University of Washington (excellent applied math program)
Indiana (excellent music program)

Likely:
Rochester

flip Rochester and Pitt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rutgers and possibly Stony Brook would be great for math (not sure about music though). UNC is likely impossible for OOS.

Similar to these would be Penn State. Stonybrook is particularly good for applied math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If going to trouble of completing the UC app, why not also add Berkeley and SD? It adds little work to buy those extra lottery tickets.

+2 Plus, Cal is better for math than UCLA.