Did you watch that you tube video on the other thread? A kid with 1590 was rejected at Northeastern and USC! |
I just shot my shot right here. |
I'm the PP and hope OP reads these particular posts. This place is toxic at times but smart pragmatic parenting and allowing your kids to think for themselves goes a long way in this process. Rankings are part of the deal and stroke a lot of egos but at the end of the day it is what makes my kid happy that counts. Go to school, hit the books and thrive...all will be well. |
Cast a wide net. However, it’s extremely difficult to apply to more than 10 because of essays and supplemental essays. If a student plans to do more than 10, s/he needs to plan ahead. If applying to 10 is considered an additional AP class, 20 might be considered an extra 1 1/2 AP class. That on top of the crazy junior year curriculum and extracurriculars.
In the alternative, give plenty of time. Start picking out colleges early, find essay questions, and start writing. |
I agree with these posts. I spent a lot of time researching schools when ds was in 9th grade. We used that research to identify a bunch of schools in 10th grade - Ivy, top 20, slac, big research univ, lower tier but good campus culture, urban, small town. We visited a few over Spring break and a few in the summer. After that ds took over because he had a better sense of what he wanted. He did not want a pressure cooker and honestly he was a little turned off by some of the higher ranked schools. He naturally gravitated towards more laid back, small or mid sized, mid tier schools (think W and M or Brandeis). He applied to seven schools in the 20-60 range and got into all of them and got merit aid at several. He ended up at UMD honors. Not his first choice but one he made on his own because he didn’t want to spend all our college savings on undergrad. The one thing I did that I feel was important was emphasizing the variety of schools he could potentially be happy at. I think it is important to do this as early as possible. He could just as easily have emerged from all the college visits insisting on only applying to top tier colleges of course. If that had happened I would have insisted on him applying to at least 4 safeties. The problem with high stats kids is that every school seems to be a match but the odds are so small without a hook. If the acceptance rate is 6%, you have to remember that this includes the legacies, donors, athletes and other applicants with hooks. If you take those out the remaining applicants are competing for maybe half the spots and the acceptance rate is probably much lower than 6%. As a parent your main job is to help them to identify likely schools that they will be happy to attend. Don’t wait until the summer after 11th grade to have the conversation. |
Your comment should be required reading for all parents going through this craziness. Thank you! Yes! |
USC is a top 20 school and nothing to count on regardless of your stats and Northeastern is in the top 50. I do think that kid should have had a strong shot at NE but they may be yield protecting. The first thing parents need to do is forget any perceptions they had of schools when they applied 30 years ago. You need to cast a wide net and not just fixate on high rankings. And apply to and show interest to multiple schools that seem very likely admits. High stats kids can get rejected when colleges think you won't come. Even VT, which DCUM likes to dis as a safety for everyone with it's 70% admit rate, waitlisted a ton of kids this year with great stats. |
THIS. |
Turned down Princeton and Penn for Notre Dame? That's an even better story. Thanks! |