Reviews of colleges in or near big cities for great (but not outstanding student)?
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Anonymous
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My DS is a good student (A- unweighted at a decent but not "top tier" private school outside DMV), strong standard ECs (varsity sport/club leadership, community service), strong SAT (1510).
Major: Undecided social sciences Has anyone had a DC attend or have experiences at these colleges that you'd be willing to share? University of Denver UW Seattle McGill UC Davis or UC Santa Cruz Santa Clara U Wisconsin Madison Finally, would these reaches (USC, BU, tufts, NYU, UCSB, Michigan) be too high of a reach for this profile student? He's interested in applying but I'm afraid they're too reachy. |
Anonymous
BU and NYU - very good ED candidate. |
Anonymous
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doesn't your kid's school have a guidance department? how the hell are we supposed to know what the school's reaches are? we know nothing about the school -- not even where in the country it is.
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Anonymous
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UC Davis is a great school in a beautiful location.
Although students rave about McGill, lots of classes have several hundred students. Lots of alcohol consumption. |
Anonymous
A friend's DS graduated from UW last year. Loved it. C/S major, has a great job. My godson attends Santa Clara, pre-med. His GPA at a magnet public tanked during COVID, 1500+ SAT, has recovered in college, back on track. Had a few friends with kids that attended U of Denver but they didn't have the stats of your child and I'm guessing your son can matriculate at a higher ranked school. |
Anonymous
DS is a junior so college counselling starts after the new year and I wanted to do some research prior to that meeting next month. |
Anonymous
| McGill was a popular destination for kids from my school (NYC) with decent numbers (esp good SAT scores) but weak or no extracurriculars because that doesn’t matter for their admissions process. |
Anonymous
| Read this before you add UC Santa Cruz to the list: https://darrellowens.substack.com/p/santa-cruz-is-a-housing-nightmare |
Anonymous
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Drexel and St Joe’s in Philly
Macalester and St Olaf in the Twin Cities VCU in Richmond |
Anonymous
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Michigan is a maybe. 1500+ SAT is good.
There is a home for kids who are not Ivy shoo-ins. ED is new this year. Make sure the price is not a barrier. If so, don't bother with ED or EA. Do not apply as an Econ major. It's too popular. Pick another social science. If applying EA, apply as early as possible. Show interest by attending webinars, trying to meet an AO at a college fair or at school, and signing up for any junk mail. |
Anonymous
PP. Agree with trying for Wisconsin. Also look at Indiana, MSU, Ohio State, Pitt, and PSU if Michigan and Wisconsin are of interest. Honors College/being more of a top student at slightly easier to get in flagships can be quite rewarding. |
Anonymous
| His reaches are not too high IMO. |
Anonymous
| I dont think the reaches are too high. First, you should check your high school placement history. Be strategic with intended major (try to choose something not oversubscribed that works with your EC and coursework). If kid has a top favorite and finances work, choose a reach for ed. But when deciding on the ed school, make sure it's a school that has a history of taking kids from your school. Make sure it's a school that provides an ed advantage. You kid sounds terrific! My kid had similar stats (high a- average unweighted and 34 act with super strong EC from a private school was accepted ed to a t20 school. |
Anonymous
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U Denver could be a safety. My DS with lower stats got in EA with merit. We did not visit or demonstrate any interest.
We were underwhelmed with most UC schools besides Cal and UCLA, and the process of applying to UC schools OOS was eye opening. Consider Fordham (target) and University of Oregon (safety) |
Anonymous
| +1 add Fordham |