Likelies/safeties for math-oriented majors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your child will do well on the SAT/ACT - since you said are also strong in humanities. So the higher ranked schools that are very numbers based and where legacy plays little to no role, -MIT, CMU, Hopkins etc. will be more in reach than Ivies (unless your DC is a legacy, than a high SAT and strong GPA will be enough to get them in.)

Fingers crossed DC will do well on the SAT/ACT! DC actually is a legacy at two HYPS, but admissions is still such a crapshoot that I want DC to focus more on safeties/likelies than reaches.

Then the schools mentioned here need to be checked for yield protection (looking at you CWRU, U Michigan) because they will see the full package plus legacy and will WL your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your child will do well on the SAT/ACT - since you said are also strong in humanities. So the higher ranked schools that are very numbers based and where legacy plays little to no role, -MIT, CMU, Hopkins etc. will be more in reach than Ivies (unless your DC is a legacy, than a high SAT and strong GPA will be enough to get them in.)

Fingers crossed DC will do well on the SAT/ACT! DC actually is a legacy at two HYPS, but admissions is still such a crapshoot that I want DC to focus more on safeties/likelies than reaches.

Then the schools mentioned here need to be checked for yield protection (looking at you CWRU, U Michigan) because they will see the full package plus legacy and will WL your child.

Yikes, but DC may not even apply to our schools! Are parents required to list their alma maters in the parent information section? That’s the only way colleges would know, right?

[Anonymous]

My dc also took AP Calculus BC in 9th grade. He was very interested in math competitions and progressed up the AMC/AIME/USAMO ladder, achieving USAMO in junior year. MIT loves students who qualify for USAMO. Dc's GPA was not high enough for MIT, but he ended up at Carnegie Mellon, which was a perfect fit. He did well at the Putnam competitions (the CMU Putnam coach is also the coach for the US team that goes to the IMO), and now has a job he loves. I don't know if your child is the math competition type, but this was a path that worked well for my dc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your child will do well on the SAT/ACT - since you said are also strong in humanities. So the higher ranked schools that are very numbers based and where legacy plays little to no role, -MIT, CMU, Hopkins etc. will be more in reach than Ivies (unless your DC is a legacy, than a high SAT and strong GPA will be enough to get them in.)

Fingers crossed DC will do well on the SAT/ACT! DC actually is a legacy at two HYPS, but admissions is still such a crapshoot that I want DC to focus more on safeties/likelies than reaches.

Then the schools mentioned here need to be checked for yield protection (looking at you CWRU, U Michigan) because they will see the full package plus legacy and will WL your child.

Yikes, but DC may not even apply to our schools! Are parents required to list their alma maters in the parent information section? That’s the only way colleges would know, right?

Parent education and employer and title are all required as part of the “holistic” review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dc also took AP Calculus BC in 9th grade. He was very interested in math competitions and progressed up the AMC/AIME/USAMO ladder, achieving USAMO in junior year. MIT loves students who qualify for USAMO. Dc's GPA was not high enough for MIT, but he ended up at Carnegie Mellon, which was a perfect fit. He did well at the Putnam competitions (the CMU Putnam coach is also the coach for the US team that goes to the IMO), and now has a job he loves. I don't know if your child is the math competition type, but this was a path that worked well for my dc.

Thank you for sharing your son’s experience! What were his safeties/likelies? MIT and CMU are amazing schools, but very much reaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your child will do well on the SAT/ACT - since you said are also strong in humanities. So the higher ranked schools that are very numbers based and where legacy plays little to no role, -MIT, CMU, Hopkins etc. will be more in reach than Ivies (unless your DC is a legacy, than a high SAT and strong GPA will be enough to get them in.)

Fingers crossed DC will do well on the SAT/ACT! DC actually is a legacy at two HYPS, but admissions is still such a crapshoot that I want DC to focus more on safeties/likelies than reaches.

Then the schools mentioned here need to be checked for yield protection (looking at you CWRU, U Michigan) because they will see the full package plus legacy and will WL your child.

Yikes, but DC may not even apply to our schools! Are parents required to list their alma maters in the parent information section? That’s the only way colleges would know, right?

Parent education and employer and title are all required as part of the “holistic” review

The pp is correct. The level of degree earned and school from which it was earned is required on the common application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your child will do well on the SAT/ACT - since you said are also strong in humanities. So the higher ranked schools that are very numbers based and where legacy plays little to no role, -MIT, CMU, Hopkins etc. will be more in reach than Ivies (unless your DC is a legacy, than a high SAT and strong GPA will be enough to get them in.)

Fingers crossed DC will do well on the SAT/ACT! DC actually is a legacy at two HYPS, but admissions is still such a crapshoot that I want DC to focus more on safeties/likelies than reaches.

Then the schools mentioned here need to be checked for yield protection (looking at you CWRU, U Michigan) because they will see the full package plus legacy and will WL your child.

Yikes, but DC may not even apply to our schools! Are parents required to list their alma maters in the parent information section? That’s the only way colleges would know, right?

Parent education and employer and title are all required as part of the “holistic” review

I see, thank you for pointing this out to me. Do you have any suggestions for how to gauge whether a safety/likely practices yield protection? I doubt any college would officially say that it does, so I would need to rely on other sources.

[Anonymous]

For safeties, definitely consider UMBC.
They have incredible success at getting their students into STEM PhD programs
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/how-umbc-got-minority-students-stick-stem/602635/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is my kid. Now at University of Chicago (ED). Loves math. We ruled out most liberal arts colleges because they didn't have enough curriculum (most would run out in two years). We did look at Haverford and Swarthmore - both with links to UPenn (and talked to current students on that path). It looked possible. I believe there are maybe two more that have this level of math available - Harvey Mudd is another (and really hard to get into). Since we are in state for UMD, we had that as a safety - many of my child's friends are there and doing great. He got into University of Minnesota and Wisconsin. He like Maryland, and we discussed shooting lower for FA, but ran the net price for schools and gave him the choice to go to schools where we thought were better than UMD and us as parents thought we would pay for. He wanted to be in an urban location and a "top" school. Ended up with a plan for other reach schools if Chicago didn't work out, and safeties otherwise. He was in math/science magnet, high scores, lots of APs, 4.0 gpa (unweighted). No other extraordinary qualifications.

I worked for the Math Department at Chicago and am familiar with their undergraduate and graduate programs. Grad Program is always in top 5, Undergrad Program is likely THE top in undergraduate math education. Special reading courses in Math are easily available. Professors will agree to do special topics reading courses for very small groups of students. Back when I was there as an undergrad, college size was smaller, and I've seen students get 1 on 1 reading courses with research mathematicians. Drawback (if you consider it one) no vocational degrees for undergrads. No engineering except molecular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your child will do well on the SAT/ACT - since you said are also strong in humanities. So the higher ranked schools that are very numbers based and where legacy plays little to no role, -MIT, CMU, Hopkins etc. will be more in reach than Ivies (unless your DC is a legacy, than a high SAT and strong GPA will be enough to get them in.)

Fingers crossed DC will do well on the SAT/ACT! DC actually is a legacy at two HYPS, but admissions is still such a crapshoot that I want DC to focus more on safeties/likelies than reaches.

Then the schools mentioned here need to be checked for yield protection (looking at you CWRU, U Michigan) because they will see the full package plus legacy and will WL your child.

If your child can get over a 1500/34 and keep an UW 3.5 GPA, and you are full-pay, they will absolutely get into your alma-maters. Whicheverone they prefer, have them apply ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your child will do well on the SAT/ACT - since you said are also strong in humanities. So the higher ranked schools that are very numbers based and where legacy plays little to no role, -MIT, CMU, Hopkins etc. will be more in reach than Ivies (unless your DC is a legacy, than a high SAT and strong GPA will be enough to get them in.)

Fingers crossed DC will do well on the SAT/ACT! DC actually is a legacy at two HYPS, but admissions is still such a crapshoot that I want DC to focus more on safeties/likelies than reaches.

Then the schools mentioned here need to be checked for yield protection (looking at you CWRU, U Michigan) because they will see the full package plus legacy and will WL your child.

If your child can get over a 1500/34 and keep an UW 3.5 GPA, and you are full-pay, they will absolutely get into your alma-maters. Whicheverone they prefer, have them apply ED.

Of course I would love for this to be true, but just don’t think it’s realistic. DC (and we as parents) must manage expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your child will do well on the SAT/ACT - since you said are also strong in humanities. So the higher ranked schools that are very numbers based and where legacy plays little to no role, -MIT, CMU, Hopkins etc. will be more in reach than Ivies (unless your DC is a legacy, than a high SAT and strong GPA will be enough to get them in.)

Fingers crossed DC will do well on the SAT/ACT! DC actually is a legacy at two HYPS, but admissions is still such a crapshoot that I want DC to focus more on safeties/likelies than reaches.

Then the schools mentioned here need to be checked for yield protection (looking at you CWRU, U Michigan) because they will see the full package plus legacy and will WL your child.

If your child can get over a 1500/34 and keep an UW 3.5 GPA, and you are full-pay, they will absolutely get into your alma-maters. Whicheverone they prefer, have them apply ED.

That would have been accurate 20 years ago. Now it’s a crap shoot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your child will do well on the SAT/ACT - since you said are also strong in humanities. So the higher ranked schools that are very numbers based and where legacy plays little to no role, -MIT, CMU, Hopkins etc. will be more in reach than Ivies (unless your DC is a legacy, than a high SAT and strong GPA will be enough to get them in.)

Fingers crossed DC will do well on the SAT/ACT! DC actually is a legacy at two HYPS, but admissions is still such a crapshoot that I want DC to focus more on safeties/likelies than reaches.

Then the schools mentioned here need to be checked for yield protection (looking at you CWRU, U Michigan) because they will see the full package plus legacy and will WL your child.

If your child can get over a 1500/34 and keep an UW 3.5 GPA, and you are full-pay, they will absolutely get into your alma-maters. Whicheverone they prefer, have them apply ED.

That would have been accurate 20 years ago. Now it’s a crap shoot.

Maybe it's not a given but the OP's kid wil have very decent odds. He is taking 3 years of math above calculus. That in itself is a major hook. He doesn't have to develop his own mathematical theorem for it to be significant for admissions.
It separates him from the legion of kids who will have just completed calculus in high school.

If he gets straight As AND his parents are legacy his shot at an IVY is high.

My friend's son was in the EXACT position. Took either pre-calc or calc as a freshman. Did 2-3 more years of high level math (beyond calculus) in high school. Legacy at Harvard (one parent). Accepted as a math major. Currently a junior.

[Anonymous]

PURDUE!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PURDUE!

Do you know if Purdue yield protects? After a PP mentioned yield protection, I’m now specifically looking for schools that do *not* practice it.