Where do low A- students from highly selective, rigorous, elite high schools get in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This describes my child to a T (more As than Bs, but has a glaring C+ in APUSH from junior year.) No ADHD; just early onset senioritis. Counselors (school counselor and private counselor) advised him to cast a wide net because they believe that C+ may automatically take him out of the running at some schools. White male unhooked business major. Amazing ECs and a 1540 SAT.

So, his list (while we await results):

ED1: Villanova - denied

EA: Kelley/IU (accepted as direct admit); Providence (accepted); Fordham (accepted); Richmond (waiting to hear)

Regular Decision (we understand many are reaches):
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Wake
Holy Cross
W&M
BC
BU

Nova denied is crazy

We were all surprised that he was not deferred. It stung a bit because a legacy kid from our school with much lower stats did get in ED. Oh well! Onward.

Sorry that sucks.

Look, it's always a risk when there is a peer who is legacy in the applicant pool. Even when schools may be trying to deemphasize legacy, that legacy may be one that they are not going to ignore.

Thanks. It sucks, but it is what it is. It's literally the worst thing that has ever happened to him in his life, and I say that light-heartedly. Everything is going to work out just fine for this kid.

I am curious to see how the EA decisions shake out later this month. There are usually 12-15 EA applicants from our high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This describes my child to a T (more As than Bs, but has a glaring C+ in APUSH from junior year.) No ADHD; just early onset senioritis. Counselors (school counselor and private counselor) advised him to cast a wide net because they believe that C+ may automatically take him out of the running at some schools. White male unhooked business major. Amazing ECs and a 1540 SAT.

So, his list (while we await results):

ED1: Villanova - denied

EA: Kelley/IU (accepted as direct admit); Providence (accepted); Fordham (accepted); Richmond (waiting to hear)

Regular Decision (we understand many are reaches):
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Wake
Holy Cross
W&M
BC
BU

Your kid got denied Villanova with a 1500?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This describes my child to a T (more As than Bs, but has a glaring C+ in APUSH from junior year.) No ADHD; just early onset senioritis. Counselors (school counselor and private counselor) advised him to cast a wide net because they believe that C+ may automatically take him out of the running at some schools. White male unhooked business major. Amazing ECs and a 1540 SAT.

So, his list (while we await results):

ED1: Villanova - denied

EA: Kelley/IU (accepted as direct admit); Providence (accepted); Fordham (accepted); Richmond (waiting to hear)

Regular Decision (we understand many are reaches):
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Wake
Holy Cross
W&M
BC
BU

Your kid got denied Villanova with a 1500?

WITH A FREAKING 1540 AND FULL PAY. NOT THAT IT EVER BOTHERED ME. They are dead to me now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ED Chicago or Cornell or Tulane, BC, Wake, UVA, Wisc, Colby, Bowdoin, Richmond, Sewanee

Oof not Bowdoin unless interested in competing in her sport. Too tough an admit these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Profile:

-Female
-White
-Won't qualify for need-based aid
-Not a first gen student
-Not interested in the schools to which she is a legacy
-Highly selective and rigorous high school with big-name recognition (a large %age of kids go on to Ives and TTs)
-Low A- average (pretty much a 90 on the dot), a mix of As and Bs (due to ADHD), nothing ever lower than a B-
-All honors courses
-D3 equivalent athlete (but not interested in too many D3 schools due to size)
-Leadership: Team captain, club president, peer leader
-Great extra-curriculars all with long-term commitment
-Volunteering
-1500 SAT (will take it again and try for higher)
-Very personable, mature, and well-liked by both peers and adults
-Humble and empathetic

She's used to a competitive environment, a tough workload, being surrounded by extremely bright peers, and the clout that's attached to attending a prestigious (nerd) school. Due to her grades, I fear the schools on her preliminary list are all reach schools, even though Naviance shows many of them as a match (I'm not convinced because many of the schools show NA for GPA). And her GC thinks it's too early to discuss. But we need to make plans to see schools this spring, and I don't want to waste time and money seeing the wrong schools.

Based on her profile and type of HS, what elite colleges are worth even trying for?

My DD was eerily the same in every element that you described -- was accepted ED to Cornell. Granted this was 4 years ago. Good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This describes my child to a T (more As than Bs, but has a glaring C+ in APUSH from junior year.) No ADHD; just early onset senioritis. Counselors (school counselor and private counselor) advised him to cast a wide net because they believe that C+ may automatically take him out of the running at some schools. White male unhooked business major. Amazing ECs and a 1540 SAT.

So, his list (while we await results):

ED1: Villanova - denied

EA: Kelley/IU (accepted as direct admit); Providence (accepted); Fordham (accepted); Richmond (waiting to hear)

Regular Decision (we understand many are reaches):
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Wake
Holy Cross
W&M
BC
BU

Your kid got denied Villanova with a 1500?

WITH A FREAKING 1540 AND FULL PAY. NOT THAT IT EVER BOTHERED ME. They are dead to me now.

He has an arrest you don't know about.

[Anonymous]

So what? He was never CONVICTED of any of that stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VA Tech
U of Richmond
BU and BC
Wake Forest
Tulane
Denison
Mount Holyoke
Lafayette and Lehigh
Union
Ohio State
Pitt
UNH

Good list, one thing I would caution though is with regards to BU. If your daughter has any incling of potentially pursing further studies (be it JD, MBA, PhD) after undergrad, I would advice her to steer clear of BU. Unless things have changed in the last 5-10 years, BU was known as a GPA deflator (granted this is more anectodal, I don't have hard facts handy), meaning it is harder to get high grades at BU than at comparable institutions. Don't get me wrong it's a great school, but it lite tally being difficult to get high or good GPA here would make me worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This describes my child to a T (more As than Bs, but has a glaring C+ in APUSH from junior year.) No ADHD; just early onset senioritis. Counselors (school counselor and private counselor) advised him to cast a wide net because they believe that C+ may automatically take him out of the running at some schools. White male unhooked business major. Amazing ECs and a 1540 SAT.

So, his list (while we await results):

ED1: Villanova - denied

EA: Kelley/IU (accepted as direct admit); Providence (accepted); Fordham (accepted); Richmond (waiting to hear)

Regular Decision (we understand many are reaches):
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Wake
Holy Cross
W&M
BC
BU

Your kid got denied Villanova with a 1500?

WITH A FREAKING 1540 AND FULL PAY. NOT THAT IT EVER BOTHERED ME. They are dead to me now.

We just toured Villanova and they said this years current freshmen’s mid 50% GPA was 4.2-4.5 and mid 50% SAT was 1450-1520. It’s rough out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This describes my child to a T (more As than Bs, but has a glaring C+ in APUSH from junior year.) No ADHD; just early onset senioritis. Counselors (school counselor and private counselor) advised him to cast a wide net because they believe that C+ may automatically take him out of the running at some schools. White male unhooked business major. Amazing ECs and a 1540 SAT.

So, his list (while we await results):

ED1: Villanova - denied

EA: Kelley/IU (accepted as direct admit); Providence (accepted); Fordham (accepted); Richmond (waiting to hear)

Regular Decision (we understand many are reaches):
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Wake
Holy Cross
W&M
BC
BU

Your kid got denied Villanova with a 1500?

WITH A FREAKING 1540 AND FULL PAY. NOT THAT IT EVER BOTHERED ME. They are dead to me now.

Meanwhile Nikki Haley’s dorky son just graduated from there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reaches might be Vassar and swathmore.

Swat isn’t gonna take this girl unless she gets recruited

[Anonymous]

What about some of the women's college, like Smith or Bryn Mawr, that have close collaborations with nearby co-ed schools? They could be a bit easier admits, but still lots of rigor.

[Anonymous]

UMiami, UDenver, Minnesota

[Anonymous]

I'd look at WashU, Emory and Tulane for ED - or other places that take lots of their class ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Profile:

-Female
-White
-Won't qualify for need-based aid
-Not a first gen student
-Not interested in the schools to which she is a legacy
-Highly selective and rigorous high school with big-name recognition (a large %age of kids go on to Ives and TTs)
-Low A- average (pretty much a 90 on the dot), a mix of As and Bs (due to ADHD), nothing ever lower than a B-
-All honors courses
-D3 equivalent athlete (but not interested in too many D3 schools due to size)
-Leadership: Team captain, club president, peer leader
-Great extra-curriculars all with long-term commitment
-Volunteering
-1500 SAT (will take it again and try for higher)
-Very personable, mature, and well-liked by both peers and adults
-Humble and empathetic

She's used to a competitive environment, a tough workload, being surrounded by extremely bright peers, and the clout that's attached to attending a prestigious (nerd) school. Due to her grades, I fear the schools on her preliminary list are all reach schools, even though Naviance shows many of them as a match (I'm not convinced because many of the schools show NA for GPA). And her GC thinks it's too early to discuss. But we need to make plans to see schools this spring, and I don't want to waste time and money seeing the wrong schools.

Based on her profile and type of HS, what elite colleges are worth even trying for?

My DD was eerily the same in every element that you described -- was accepted ED to Cornell. Granted this was 4 years ago. Good luck

HS '20 or '21?