alternates to Georgetown and Yale

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we're a full pay family who is looking for alternatives to my kids dream schools of Harvard, Yale, Georgetown.

boy, high stats, national awards, humanities major.

I guess we'd have a hard time turning down Harvard, etc. But I'd like to skip over the rest of the T20 schools. I'm not sure Georgetown is worth it, but I guess for the SFS. But places like Tufts, BC at 90k makes no sense to me.

Can someone think of some schools with merit aid that might work. In NYS. Binghamton doesn't make his eyes light up, which I get. Doesn't want a SLAC

omg, you are new to the world of college admissions aren't you? Your white privilege is showing. Your kid will be LUCKY to get into a T100. Every single applicant is as, you described "boy, high stats, national awards, humanities major". well, that was my kid but with a 36 ACT, valedictorian, eagle scout, etc. SCEA Princeton deferred/waitlisted; all ivies, waitlisted; public EA: purdue, Ga Tech and UVA all for aerospace engineering.

Honey, you got to drop your expectations, omg "I guess we'd have a hard time turning down Harvard". My DS, legacy, and all that above was waitlisted, i.e., soft rejection, because unlike colleagues I know from Harvard, we could not pay the seven digit fee to get in.

If you are URM or first generation you might have a chance. Otherwise start reading because you are in for a shock

I hate this, “my kid didn’t get in bcs he’s not minority” bullshit.

The PP didn't say that.

In my view, the PP is saying that there are a huge piles of qualified students and chances of getting into these kinds of schools are tiny. There are some factors that can help a student stand out in that pike of outstanding students.....and URM and first gen are two of them. There was no winging that their child didn't get in because of URM, first gen. Their kid didn't get in because the pile is huge and the number of spots is small.

IMO, PP is a racist. She even assumes everyone is white. Which is nuts. A kid with national awards is LUCKY to get into a top 100? Cmon. She's the one with the son who SCEA to Princeton as an Eagle Scout valedictorian, not OP.

(Also, PSA: SCEA is a scam. It gives you no leg up at Princeton and knocks out your EA options. All private schools wisely move kids away from that)

Ok - I hear you. Neither of us knows what they meant...LOL. But I'm just saying that it is also not fair for others to assume any mention of URM/first gen as being racist or "excuses". Colleges are 100% making an effort to take that huge pile of qualified students and create student body with racial and economic diversity. Sadly, they also use legacy to let students find their way out of that huge pile....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe take a look through this:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/20/top-fifty-schools-international-relations-foreign-policy/

+1
My DC used this list in searching for IR options. (also applied other places not on this list).

Good list. Could go for merit at American or GW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe take a look through this:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/20/top-fifty-schools-international-relations-foreign-policy/

+1
My DC used this list in searching for IR options. (also applied other places not on this list).

Yeah. That article is 8 years old as well. But, not a lot has changed.

Georgetown, William & Mary, Penn, Hopkins, UVA, Tufts, Princeton, Yale, GW, Dartmouth, Brown, Swarthmore, BC, NYU, Pomona are all ones my kid looked at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we're a full pay family who is looking for alternatives to my kids dream schools of Harvard, Yale, Georgetown.

boy, high stats, national awards, humanities major.

I guess we'd have a hard time turning down Harvard, etc. But I'd like to skip over the rest of the T20 schools. I'm not sure Georgetown is worth it, but I guess for the SFS. But places like Tufts, BC at 90k makes no sense to me.

Can someone think of some schools with merit aid that might work. In NYS. Binghamton doesn't make his eyes light up, which I get. Doesn't want a SLAC

omg, you are new to the world of college admissions aren't you? Your white privilege is showing. Your kid will be LUCKY to get into a T100. Every single applicant is as, you described "boy, high stats, national awards, humanities major". well, that was my kid but with a 36 ACT, valedictorian, eagle scout, etc. SCEA Princeton deferred/waitlisted; all ivies, waitlisted; public EA: purdue, Ga Tech and UVA all for aerospace engineering.

Honey, you got to drop your expectations, omg "I guess we'd have a hard time turning down Harvard". My DS, legacy, and all that above was waitlisted, i.e., soft rejection, because unlike colleagues I know from Harvard, we could not pay the seven digit fee to get in.

If you are URM or first generation you might have a chance. Otherwise start reading because you are in for a shock

I hate this, “my kid didn’t get in bcs he’s not minority” bullshit.

Agree. My white kid with educated parents got into some T10s. Anyone who believes this is not happening is unhinged.

This PP has gotten a lot of push back, but I am going to add that I agree with them that there's a lot of luck to admission at these top institutions, but there are not a lot of kids with perfect scores and GPAs. For the ACT there are only about 2500 perfect 36s out of a pool of 1.39 million test takers. A fraction of 1%.

[Anonymous]

perfect 36 is a lot different than 36 across the board in one sitting. many many kids have 36 superscored.

one AO told us they consider a 36 on ACT = 1560 SAT

[Anonymous]

OP- if you are a VA resident, hands down:

William & Mary or UVA.

Done.

This instead of merit aid at lower ranked schools. The cost savings is huge.

He can go somewhere else for master's if he wishes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:perfect 36 is a lot different than 36 across the board in one sitting. many many kids have 36 superscored.

one AO told us they consider a 36 on ACT = 1560 SAT

Sorry, I worded that wrong. just saying there are many kids who submit a 36 due to superscoring. which is why they're not considered "perfect". we should really have to inform schools how many sittings a kid uses.

[Anonymous]

You’re either full pay or you’re not OP.
So you’ll pay for Ivy, and the T20? But nothing else?
You’re not getting big merit from anyplace until you hit the T50 and even then it might not be a big differential. Ie you won’t pay for BC at 90K but will you pay 75K for NEU?? Or GWU?
If you’re searching for big merit, look at T50–100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we're a full pay family who is looking for alternatives to my kids dream schools of Harvard, Yale, Georgetown.

boy, high stats, national awards, humanities major.

I guess we'd have a hard time turning down Harvard, etc. But I'd like to skip over the rest of the T20 schools. I'm not sure Georgetown is worth it, but I guess for the SFS. But places like Tufts, BC at 90k makes no sense to me.

Can someone think of some schools with merit aid that might work. In NYS. Binghamton doesn't make his eyes light up, which I get. Doesn't want a SLAC

omg, you are new to the world of college admissions aren't you? Your white privilege is showing. Your kid will be LUCKY to get into a T100. Every single applicant is as, you described "boy, high stats, national awards, humanities major". well, that was my kid but with a 36 ACT, valedictorian, eagle scout, etc. SCEA Princeton deferred/waitlisted; all ivies, waitlisted; public EA: purdue, Ga Tech and UVA all for aerospace engineering.

Honey, you got to drop your expectations, omg "I guess we'd have a hard time turning down Harvard". My DS, legacy, and all that above was waitlisted, i.e., soft rejection, because unlike colleagues I know from Harvard, we could not pay the seven digit fee to get in.

If you are URM or first generation you might have a chance. Otherwise start reading because you are in for a shock

I hate this, “my kid didn’t get in bcs he’s not minority” bullshit.

The PP didn't say that.

In my view, the PP is saying that there are a huge piles of qualified students and chances of getting into these kinds of schools are tiny. There are some factors that can help a student stand out in that pike of outstanding students.....and URM and first gen are two of them. There was no winging that their child didn't get in because of URM, first gen. Their kid didn't get in because the pile is huge and the number of spots is small.

IMO, PP is a racist. She even assumes everyone is white. Which is nuts. A kid with national awards is LUCKY to get into a top 100? Cmon. She's the one with the son who SCEA to Princeton as an Eagle Scout valedictorian, not OP.

(Also, PSA: SCEA is a scam. It gives you no leg up at Princeton and knocks out your EA options. All private schools wisely move kids away from that)

Ok - I hear you. Neither of us knows what they meant...LOL. But I'm just saying that it is also not fair for others to assume any mention of URM/first gen as being racist or "excuses". Colleges are 100% making an effort to take that huge pile of qualified students and create student body with racial and economic diversity. Sadly, they also use legacy to let students find their way out of that huge pile....

Obv we don't know if PP is racist. But I suspect what people are reacting to is the general condescending tone. ("Honey...")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we're a full pay family who is looking for alternatives to my kids dream schools of Harvard, Yale, Georgetown.

boy, high stats, national awards, humanities major.

I guess we'd have a hard time turning down Harvard, etc. But I'd like to skip over the rest of the T20 schools. I'm not sure Georgetown is worth it, but I guess for the SFS. But places like Tufts, BC at 90k makes no sense to me.

Can someone think of some schools with merit aid that might work. In NYS. Binghamton doesn't make his eyes light up, which I get. Doesn't want a SLAC

So you are a full pay family, but only willing to pay for Harvard and Yale and nowhere else in the top 20.

So forget about Vanderbilt, Brown, Princeton, MIT (great English Dept), Penn, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth and Notre Dame. Because, like Georgetown, they are totally not worth it.

Nor do you want to send your humanities major son to SLACs that thrive in the humanities - Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, Bowdoin, Carlton, Grinnell.

You have a high stats kid, which is good. With national awards, which is good. And he is a boy who wants to do humanities, which is a major hook.

But, for you, all the schools above are off the list. He can only go where he will get merit.

And you think SUNY-Binghampton would be a good place for your son and are a little upset that he wasn't feeling the love for a commuter school.

OK.

So for merit at non-SLACs, I'd look at Alabama, Ole Miss, Arizona, Iowa, and Arizona. And hopefully he has a good experience, because he will resent you forever for denying him better schools as a wealthy family that could have offered better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we're a full pay family who is looking for alternatives to my kids dream schools of Harvard, Yale, Georgetown.

boy, high stats, national awards, humanities major.

I guess we'd have a hard time turning down Harvard, etc. But I'd like to skip over the rest of the T20 schools. I'm not sure Georgetown is worth it, but I guess for the SFS. But places like Tufts, BC at 90k makes no sense to me.

Can someone think of some schools with merit aid that might work. In NYS. Binghamton doesn't make his eyes light up, which I get. Doesn't want a SLAC

So you are a full pay family, but only willing to pay for Harvard and Yale and nowhere else in the top 20.

So forget about Vanderbilt, Brown, Princeton, MIT (great English Dept), Penn, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth and Notre Dame. Because, like Georgetown, they are totally not worth it.

Nor do you want to send your humanities major son to SLACs that thrive in the humanities - Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, Bowdoin, Carlton, Grinnell.

You have a high stats kid, which is good. With national awards, which is good. And he is a boy who wants to do humanities, which is a major hook.

But, for you, all the schools above are off the list. He can only go where he will get merit.

And you think SUNY-Binghampton would be a good place for your son and are a little upset that he wasn't feeling the love for a commuter school.

OK.

So for merit at non-SLACs, I'd look at Alabama, Ole Miss, Arizona, Iowa, and Arizona. And hopefully he has a good experience, because he will resent you forever for denying him better schools as a wealthy family that could have offered better.

I have two kids who got really good merit (more than 20k a year) at Duke, ND and Vandy (btw the two of them).

So that is incorrect.

It is okay for a student not to want to go to school with 1500 kids and 30% of them are on teams.

And Bing is not a commuter school.

Who are you people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:perfect 36 is a lot different than 36 across the board in one sitting. many many kids have 36 superscored.

one AO told us they consider a 36 on ACT = 1560 SAT

Sorry, I worded that wrong. just saying there are many kids who submit a 36 due to superscoring. which is why they're not considered "perfect". we should really have to inform schools how many sittings a kid uses.

So...this begs the question....what ####SAT do they consider a superscored 1600 SAT score to be? Also 1560? 1580?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:perfect 36 is a lot different than 36 across the board in one sitting. many many kids have 36 superscored.

one AO told us they consider a 36 on ACT = 1560 SAT

Sorry, I worded that wrong. just saying there are many kids who submit a 36 due to superscoring. which is why they're not considered "perfect". we should really have to inform schools how many sittings a kid uses.

So...this begs the question....what ####SAT do they consider a superscored 1600 SAT score to be? Also 1560? 1580?

The SAT/ACT concordance table says 36 ACT = 1570-1600 SAT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:perfect 36 is a lot different than 36 across the board in one sitting. many many kids have 36 superscored.

one AO told us they consider a 36 on ACT = 1560 SAT

Sorry, I worded that wrong. just saying there are many kids who submit a 36 due to superscoring. which is why they're not considered "perfect". we should really have to inform schools how many sittings a kid uses.

So...this begs the question....what ####SAT do they consider a superscored 1600 SAT score to be? Also 1560? 1580?

The SAT/ACT concordance table says 36 ACT = 1570-1600 SAT

Hasn’t been updated since 2018

[Anonymous]

SUNY Binghamton is not a commuter school fyi