Safeties - Is private better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with others. It’s gotten tough but not THAT tough. With a 4.0 UW and over 1400 you’ll have plenty of options. I think the idea is just to have a few schools that would be likelies/safeties in case something really wonky happens with one of them.

I hope you are right. I've been seeing a lot of doomsday reports about admissions this year and it has us not feeling too great about next year.

People just need to be realistic and manage expectations.

But what should the expectation be for a kid who challenged themselves with AP classes, excelled in sports, found time for volunteer work and employment in the summer? What is realistic?

Mine was into a school in the 30-50 range early decision. It’s the school he liked. He could probably have gone for a higher reach BUT he wanted to use the ED choice wisely and due various reasons this school checked more of the boxes than others. Had a few other acceptances from EA schools that had already come in as well. I’m the one who wrote it isn’t that bad. It really isn’t, especially for a kid like OP’s with a 4.0 and great scores. Don’t fall in love with any one school, have likelies they are willing to go to, and look at the common data set information - one mistake I’ve seen friends make is just not quite accepting things are different than they were 25 years ago. So, yes, OP’s kid is unlikely to end up at an Ivy but there are lots of other good schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason you state, OP, doesn't seem like a reason to seek privates.

Other state schools:

MSU
ASU
AU
UVM
Alabama
U of SC (South Carolina)
WVU
Rutgers
SUNY Binghamton

Reaches, if desired: Michigan and UNC

Are these the schools for kids taking 10-12 APs in high school and getting a 4/0 UW? I feel like you could take a much lighter courseload and still attend these schools? Am I wrong? Is it worth it to have a challenging senior year or is it smarter to just take APs that are interesting and explore other electives b/c you'll probably end up at the same place anyway? Am I reading it wrong? This is so different that when I did this.

Yes, kids with 10-12 APs are at these schools with kids who did much less. The college application process is unpredictable. There might be more theoretical options for student A vs. student B, but that doesn’t always translate into an acceptance.

[Anonymous]

GMU. DS had a great four years there. Internships every summer and hired by Google before graduation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason you state, OP, doesn't seem like a reason to seek privates.

Other state schools:

MSU
ASU
AU
UVM
Alabama
U of SC (South Carolina)
WVU
Rutgers
SUNY Binghamton

Reaches, if desired: Michigan and UNC

Are these the schools for kids taking 10-12 APs in high school and getting a 4/0 UW? I feel like you could take a much lighter courseload and still attend these schools? Am I wrong? Is it worth it to have a challenging senior year or is it smarter to just take APs that are interesting and explore other electives b/c you'll probably end up at the same place anyway? Am I reading it wrong? This is so different that when I did this.

Yes, kids with 10-12 APs are at these schools with kids who did much less. The college application process is unpredictable. There might be more theoretical options for student A vs. student B, but that doesn’t always translate into an acceptance.

How do you tell your kid to take that extra AP if the results are the same if they took a fun class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason you state, OP, doesn't seem like a reason to seek privates.

Other state schools:

MSU
ASU
AU
UVM
Alabama
U of SC (South Carolina)
WVU
Rutgers
SUNY Binghamton

Reaches, if desired: Michigan and UNC

Are these the schools for kids taking 10-12 APs in high school and getting a 4/0 UW? I feel like you could take a much lighter courseload and still attend these schools? Am I wrong? Is it worth it to have a challenging senior year or is it smarter to just take APs that are interesting and explore other electives b/c you'll probably end up at the same place anyway? Am I reading it wrong? This is so different that when I did this.

Yes, kids with 10-12 APs are at these schools with kids who did much less. The college application process is unpredictable. There might be more theoretical options for student A vs. student B, but that doesn’t always translate into an acceptance.

How do you tell your kid to take that extra AP if the results are the same if they took a fun class?

Some kids, like mine, think the APs classes ARE fun. It might be a coincidence that they did well in college admissions, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason you state, OP, doesn't seem like a reason to seek privates.

Other state schools:

MSU
ASU
AU
UVM
Alabama
U of SC (South Carolina)
WVU
Rutgers
SUNY Binghamton

Reaches, if desired: Michigan and UNC

Are these the schools for kids taking 10-12 APs in high school and getting a 4/0 UW? I feel like you could take a much lighter courseload and still attend these schools? Am I wrong? Is it worth it to have a challenging senior year or is it smarter to just take APs that are interesting and explore other electives b/c you'll probably end up at the same place anyway? Am I reading it wrong? This is so different that when I did this.

Yes, kids with 10-12 APs are at these schools with kids who did much less. The college application process is unpredictable. There might be more theoretical options for student A vs. student B, but that doesn’t always translate into an acceptance.

How do you tell your kid to take that extra AP if the results are the same if they took a fun class?

Understanding that the outcome isn’t predictable, that’s for your kid to decide.

[Anonymous]

UDenver

[Anonymous]

Big public schools with rolling admissions and high acceptance rates like Alabama and Indiana are good safeties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason you state, OP, doesn't seem like a reason to seek privates.

Other state schools:

MSU
ASU
AU
UVM
Alabama
U of SC (South Carolina)
WVU
Rutgers
SUNY Binghamton

Reaches, if desired: Michigan and UNC

Are these the schools for kids taking 10-12 APs in high school and getting a 4/0 UW? I feel like you could take a much lighter courseload and still attend these schools? Am I wrong? Is it worth it to have a challenging senior year or is it smarter to just take APs that are interesting and explore other electives b/c you'll probably end up at the same place anyway? Am I reading it wrong? This is so different that when I did this.

Yes, kids with 10-12 APs are at these schools with kids who did much less. The college application process is unpredictable. There might be more theoretical options for student A vs. student B, but that doesn’t always translate into an acceptance.

How do you tell your kid to take that extra AP if the results are the same if they took a fun class?

Some kids, like mine, think the APs classes ARE fun. It might be a coincidence that they did well in college admissions, though.

I think a lot of kids like some of their AP classes, but are also taking some to look good. APUSH, I'm looking at you. :p

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Given that a lot of OOS flagships are becoming much harder admits, is it better to look at private schools that don't have in-state admissions requirements? We are in VA and my kid will be one of many who are vying for UVA. My kid doesn't want a small school, so I'm having a hard time finding schools that will still be safeties. UVA, VT & JMU are on their list. Right now, my kid is undecided and I think would benefit from a school where you don't have to lock in your major before even starting college. What would have been a safety before for a 4.0 UW, 1400/1500 SAT with good ECs aren't really safeties anymore. I am struggling to come up with safeties that make sense.

JMU is 100% a safety for your kid. Some nerd will come in here and say, "Not from NoVa!" but they're patently wrong. JMU still accepts nearly 80% of its applicants and its freshman classes are still largely comprised of students who were not even in the top quarter of their high school class. Really, it's a safety school's safety school.

There are also tons of solid OOS flagships that are still safeties for your kid: Alabama, Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas, Michigan State, Minnesota, just to name a few.

All the schools practice yield protection, so if you are too strong a candidate, JMU will reject you because they don’t want to be your backup.

This makes it sound like the strong candidate kids just can't win. The schools that require their stats are lotteries and the ones where their stats are high reject them for yield. Is that what you are saying?

NP... that's what they're saying, yes. Doesn't make it true... might be a kernel of truth to it, but the yield protection thing is way overblown. As others have stated (and have seen it in recent experience with my nieces/nephews who are a bit older than my grade school kids) it is common to get into one or more of your target and/or reaches, but also often have a better financial aid package offered by one or more of your safeties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GMU. DS had a great four years there. Internships every summer and hired by Google before graduation

Major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason you state, OP, doesn't seem like a reason to seek privates.

Other state schools:

MSU
ASU
AU
UVM
Alabama
U of SC (South Carolina)
WVU
Rutgers
SUNY Binghamton

Reaches, if desired: Michigan and UNC

Are these the schools for kids taking 10-12 APs in high school and getting a 4/0 UW? I feel like you could take a much lighter courseload and still attend these schools? Am I wrong? Is it worth it to have a challenging senior year or is it smarter to just take APs that are interesting and explore other electives b/c you'll probably end up at the same place anyway? Am I reading it wrong? This is so different that when I did this.

Shitty list for a superb candidate. Better off going to a smaller school. Or reading the writing on the wall for ED2 and throwing in a card there:
Vanderbilt; Claremont McKenna; Emory; WashU; Tufts; Colgate; Tulane

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GMU. DS had a great four years there. Internships every summer and hired by Google before graduation

Major?

computer science/ game design

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason you state, OP, doesn't seem like a reason to seek privates.

Other state schools:

MSU
ASU
AU
UVM
Alabama
U of SC (South Carolina)
WVU
Rutgers
SUNY Binghamton

Reaches, if desired: Michigan and UNC

Truthfully, this is why we are at a private high school.

As a full pay family, I wouldn’t pay for any of these schools (maybe full ride at MSU would be considered but we’d pass on the rest)…..and no one from our kid’s school ends up at these kinds of schools esp with 3.8+ GPAs and commensurate scores….

Our college counselors would be fired if this was the outcome for those kids esp if they can pay. As it is, people are pissed that the outcome for a 3.6 kid is UC-Boulder and a 3.75+ kid might end up at Wisconsin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with others. It’s gotten tough but not THAT tough. With a 4.0 UW and over 1400 you’ll have plenty of options. I think the idea is just to have a few schools that would be likelies/safeties in case something really wonky happens with one of them.

I hope you are right. I've been seeing a lot of doomsday reports about admissions this year and it has us not feeling too great about next year.

People just need to be realistic and manage expectations.

But what should the expectation be for a kid who challenged themselves with AP classes, excelled in sports, found time for volunteer work and employment in the summer? What is realistic?

There is so much data out there. Plug it in and you’ll easily get a dozen realistic options for that kid. Many have been named already in this thread.

Here's Kansas:

"University of Kansas has an acceptance rate of 88%. Half the applicants admitted to University of Kansas who submitted test scores have an SAT score between 1090 and 1340 or an ACT score of 21 and 28."

I had an intern from the University of Kansas, and she was not very smart. I met her bf and he wasn't smart either.
Choose your safeties carefully OP

I work with someone from MIT and she’s not that smart. I also work with someone who got their undergraduate and PhD from Kansas and they’re extremely smart. A smart kid who goes to Kansas is going to do fine.