2019: What Did Your Kids Consider Safety Schools? Did They Get In?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ rising senior. 4.02 WGPA/ 1520 SAT (740/780), 800 Math 2, Physics and Literature SAT 2. Middle of the pack for TJ. Will apply to Pitt rolling admission at the beginning of the school year as the school. We can afford it and they will almost certainly get in (my definition of a true safety). And if they are rejected, we will know in time to recalibrate. Wooster and St. Olaf as likely. Matches include CWRU (arts and sciences, not engineering), Kenton, Oberlin, Macalaster, WM.

Not likely to do reaches. Does not want UVA, and we can’t afford private w/o merit aid.

May want to try Grinnell. They have a large endowment that they may want to piss away on merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One applicant’s reach or match is another’s safety.

OP list your kid’s stats, kind of high school (public or private) and rough class rank (top 25% etc) and it will be easier to for people with similar profiles to chime in.

My kid is at TJ, with an ACT score of 35 and a wGPA of 4.29 heading into senior year of 4.29 (3.87 unweighted). Interested in smaller, liberal arts colleges (his current interest is computer science, but he also loves history and political philosphy). He'll apply to some of the super selective SLACS (think Williams, Swarthmore), but he is a little unsure on good likely/safety options.

Do kids at TJ not take many AP classes? The difference between the weighted and unweighted GPA seems to indicate mainly honors classes.

Some certainly do. My kid (the rising senior mentioned above) has taken 4 AP classes (and 5 AP tests). He also has 6 HS credits from middle school, so the effect of those AP-weighted grades is somewhat diluted. He'll take 3 more AP classes next year, and 2 post-AP CS classes.

[Anonymous]

If he's gotten fives on five APs with those other scores and GPA, he might want to have a look at University of Cambridge for CS. The cost savings compared to US institutions is substantial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Safety" is really old terminology OP. It is now called a "Likely"

Shut up.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I actually laughed out loud. Thanks for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Safety" is really old terminology OP. It is now called a "Likely"

Shut up.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I actually laughed out loud. Thanks for that.[/quote

You can live in the past if you want grandma, but you'll be hurting your kids if you don't know the current state of affairs.

[Anonymous]

So a parent is "hurting" their child if they refer to a school as a safety instead of a likely? So much WTF I don't even know where to begin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One applicant’s reach or match is another’s safety.

OP list your kid’s stats, kind of high school (public or private) and rough class rank (top 25% etc) and it will be easier to for people with similar profiles to chime in.

My kid is at TJ, with an ACT score of 35 and a wGPA of 4.29 heading into senior year of 4.29 (3.87 unweighted). Interested in smaller, liberal arts colleges (his current interest is computer science, but he also loves history and political philosphy). He'll apply to some of the super selective SLACS (think Williams, Swarthmore), but he is a little unsure on good likely/safety options.

Do kids at TJ not take many AP classes? The difference between the weighted and unweighted GPA seems to indicate mainly honors classes.

Nope. Lots of classes taught AP or higher and not given AP weight, because TJ teaches their own way and/or doesn’t want to teach to the AP: World History, Intro CS, Physics I, Geosystems. All required, all not offered as AP. All more rigorous than my base school kids AP versions. Plus, TJ kids can’t take AP English Language 11th grade, seniors labs get honors not AP weighting. And many senior lab pre-recs (electronics, prototyping, engineering design, advanced marine bio, etc) are also not getting AP weighting. Average TJ kid has 6-7 APs— they almost all take APUSH, AP English Lang or Lit, AP Gov, and AP Calc. Plus AP CS (2nd year CS) and/or AP foreign language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ rising senior. 4.02 WGPA/ 1520 SAT (740/780), 800 Math 2, Physics and Literature SAT 2. Middle of the pack for TJ. Will apply to Pitt rolling admission at the beginning of the school year as the school. We can afford it and they will almost certainly get in (my definition of a true safety). And if they are rejected, we will know in time to recalibrate. Wooster and St. Olaf as likely. Matches include CWRU (arts and sciences, not engineering), Kenton, Oberlin, Macalaster, WM.

Not likely to do reaches. Does not want UVA, and we can’t afford private w/o merit aid.

Kid should at least apply to UVA then. This is nuts.

Why? This particular kid really likes WM, and UVA is not a good match for a number of reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ rising senior. 4.02 WGPA/ 1520 SAT (740/780), 800 Math 2, Physics and Literature SAT 2. Middle of the pack for TJ. Will apply to Pitt rolling admission at the beginning of the school year as the school. We can afford it and they will almost certainly get in (my definition of a true safety). And if they are rejected, we will know in time to recalibrate. Wooster and St. Olaf as likely. Matches include CWRU (arts and sciences, not engineering), Kenton, Oberlin, Macalaster, WM.

Not likely to do reaches. Does not want UVA, and we can’t afford private w/o merit aid.

Kid should at least apply to UVA then. This is nuts.

Why? This particular kid really likes WM, and UVA is not a good match for a number of reasons.

He should apply to both. I realize it's a TJ GPA, but a 4.02 weighted GPA is very low for both William & Mary and UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ rising senior. 4.02 WGPA/ 1520 SAT (740/780), 800 Math 2, Physics and Literature SAT 2. Middle of the pack for TJ. Will apply to Pitt rolling admission at the beginning of the school year as the school. We can afford it and they will almost certainly get in (my definition of a true safety). And if they are rejected, we will know in time to recalibrate. Wooster and St. Olaf as likely. Matches include CWRU (arts and sciences, not engineering), Kenton, Oberlin, Macalaster, WM.

Not likely to do reaches. Does not want UVA, and we can’t afford private w/o merit aid.

Kid should at least apply to UVA then. This is nuts.

Why? This particular kid really likes WM, and UVA is not a good match for a number of reasons.

He should apply to both. I realize it's a TJ GPA, but a 4.02 weighted GPA is very low for both William & Mary and UVA.

My kids guidance counselor has looked at the 2019 admit stat and feels like he has a good shot. Naviance says average TJ admit for class of 2018 to WM was 4.16/1519. 144 admitted/169 applicants (more than 85%). Being a male applicant helps. Specific things in this kid’s application also give him a boost. WM really loves TJ kids. WM also places more emphasis on test scores. Vs. UVA which puts more on GPA. Of my kid doesn’t get into WM, they won’t get into UVA. And it will be especially bad this year, with UVA introducing ED— which my kid would definitely not use.

But mostly— there are specific reasons why UVA is a bad choice for my kid. UVA is good, perfect, wonderful, hangs the moon, etc., etc. that doesn’t make it a good choice for every kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Safety" is really old terminology OP. It is now called a "Likely"

Shut up.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I actually laughed out loud. Thanks for that.[/quote

You can live in the past if you want grandma, but you'll be hurting your kids if you don't know the current state of affairs.

how is calling "safety" vs "likely" hurt my kid?

[Anonymous]

I think parents who care about using "likely" instead of "safety" and think that sh*t actually matters are likely to be hurting their kids far more than someone who uses whatever phrase they damn please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ rising senior. 4.02 WGPA/ 1520 SAT (740/780), 800 Math 2, Physics and Literature SAT 2. Middle of the pack for TJ. Will apply to Pitt rolling admission at the beginning of the school year as the school. We can afford it and they will almost certainly get in (my definition of a true safety). And if they are rejected, we will know in time to recalibrate. Wooster and St. Olaf as likely. Matches include CWRU (arts and sciences, not engineering), Kenton, Oberlin, Macalaster, WM.

Not likely to do reaches. Does not want UVA, and we can’t afford private w/o merit aid.

Kid should at least apply to UVA then. This is nuts.

Kid obviously has a preference for LAC-like. WM is fine. No need for UVA. Of course, I'm trying to get my TJ kid to take SLACs seriously.

[Anonymous]

Can someone answer the question posed by the OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UMCP, UMBC, St.Mary's, Pitt, Miami, and Northeastern.

Yes, got in all of the safeties.

Only one answered op