What colleges to aim for?

[Anonymous]

Our child with over a 4.0 and similar SAT's was rejected from MacAlester, Emory, and Oberlin. Your child will not get into those schools.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would be wary of the self-professed experts stating where your child will or will not gain college admission based solely on their child's stats. The admissions team may see or read something in your child's app that makes him stand out from other similar candidates.

That said, there are some pretty good recommendations in this thread. Though some might appear to be reaches (we're not talking HYP), you have to be in it to win it.

Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

My DD got into schools that we thought were reaches, BUT she had major community service and fundraising. Even after we let them know she would not be attending certain schools they started calling the house offering her more money.
I don't believe that would have happened without her extracurricular activities.
We are now sweating out my DS who has the same AND much better grades because his major is so much more selective.
You really have to see for yourself

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child with over a 4.0 and similar SAT's was rejected from MacAlester, Emory, and Oberlin. Your child will not get into those schools.

And my 3.3. kid ('tho w/higher SATS -- above 2300) is at an Ivy. There are so many factors involved that you can't lay bets. At this point, OP and her DS are looking at schools and starting to put together a list, so it makes sense to cast the net broadly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child with over a 4.0 and similar SAT's was rejected from MacAlester, Emory, and Oberlin. Your child will not get into those schools.

And my 3.3. kid ('tho w/higher SATS -- above 2300) is at an Ivy. There are so many factors involved that you can't lay bets. At this point, OP and her DS are looking at schools and starting to put together a list, so it makes sense to cast the net broadly.

Your DC had no hooks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child with over a 4.0 and similar SAT's was rejected from MacAlester, Emory, and Oberlin. Your child will not get into those schools.

And my child with a 3.4 and slightly lower scores got into two of these schools. I think we've established that this isn't a scientific process. OP, know thy kid, keep the rose colored glasses in a drawer, and enjoy these last two years with your son -- and you'll both be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child with over a 4.0 and similar SAT's was rejected from MacAlester, Emory, and Oberlin. Your child will not get into those schools.

Ugh. I hate posts like this. Stop saying things so definitively. My child was accepted at both Macalester and Oberlin with similar SATs and a GPA in the 3.6ish range. So really, you don't know. Do I think those schools are matches for OP's kid? No. But I also think she should ignore posters who think they can so definitely say they her kid will not get into a particular school (save for maybe HYPSM).

[Anonymous]

Our child with over a 4.0 and similar SAT's was rejected from MacAlester, Emory, and Oberlin. Your child will not get into those schools.

Is the over a 4.0 weighted or unweighted? How would you have an unweighted 4.0 unless your school gives A+s, which might be a sign of grade inflation. How rigorous were their courses--did they take all the most challenging courses with a lot of APs? Did they blow off their essays?

There are so many factors that go into this. While I agree that Emory, Tufts, Mcalester, etc. would be reaches, they are not such high reaches that they are ridiculous to apply to.

I also know plenty of B+ students who end up at Oberlin and A students who don't. Sometimes it has to do with how rigorous their coursework was, or whether or not they have a great essay.

[Anonymous]

Lawrence University (WI)
University of Minnesota

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:William & Mary, Macalester, Tulane, Occidental
Also look at the larger public universities - Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine

UVA, Kenyon, and any of the liberal arts schools that aren't top 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child with over a 4.0 and similar SAT's was rejected from MacAlester, Emory, and Oberlin. Your child will not get into those schools.

And my 3.3. kid ('tho w/higher SATS -- above 2300) is at an Ivy. There are so many factors involved that you can't lay bets. At this point, OP and her DS are looking at schools and starting to put together a list, so it makes sense to cast the net broadly.

Your DC had no hooks?

+1 to the question about hooks. Or, perhaps, DC had a compelling explanation for how a kid smart enough to get 2300 on the SATs had a 3.3 GPA.

At DC's Ivy, 2100 is in the bottom quarter of acceptances and 1800 is practically unheard of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are giving too much credit to private school aspect. A B student will be viewed as a B student no matter what. 2100 SAT kids are dime a dozen in MCPS.

3.3 is B+, not B.

And yes, admissions officers know it is harder to get a B+ average at sidwell than an average public high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child with over a 4.0 and similar SAT's was rejected from MacAlester, Emory, and Oberlin. Your child will not get into those schools.

Ugh. I hate posts like this. Stop saying things so definitively. My child was accepted at both Macalester and Oberlin with similar SATs and a GPA in the 3.6ish range. So really, you don't know. Do I think those schools are matches for OP's kid? No. But I also think she should ignore posters who think they can so definitely say they her kid will not get into a particular school (save for maybe HYPSM).

Yes, but she should also, as was said pages ago, make sure her son has some true safeties on his list--colleges where admission is extremely likely, that the family can afford, and that the kid likes. That means in addition to the Macalesters and the Oberlins, he needs some, say, Mary Washingtons and Gouchers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are giving too much credit to private school aspect. A B student will be viewed as a B student no matter what. 2100 SAT kids are dime a dozen in MCPS.

3.3 is B+, not B.

And yes, admissions officers know it is harder to get a B+ average at sidwell than an average public high school.

OP didn't indicate her son is at Sidwell. He could easily be at one of those privates that people call "publics you pay for." We just don't know. So please take your bizarre public-bashing agenda elsewhere. TIA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child with over a 4.0 and similar SAT's was rejected from MacAlester, Emory, and Oberlin. Your child will not get into those schools.

Ugh. I hate posts like this. Stop saying things so definitively. My child was accepted at both Macalester and Oberlin with similar SATs and a GPA in the 3.6ish range. So really, you don't know. Do I think those schools are matches for OP's kid? No. But I also think she should ignore posters who think they can so definitely say they her kid will not get into a particular school (save for maybe HYPSM).

Yes, but she should also, as was said pages ago, make sure her son has some true safeties on his list--colleges where admission is extremely likely, that the family can afford, and that the kid likes. That means in addition to the Macalesters and the Oberlins, he needs some, say, Mary Washingtons and Gouchers.

PP is right, every kid should apply to a range of reaches, targets and safeties.

The point is, you need to think in terms of probabilities not yes/no, black/white acceptance. The chances a kid with a 3.3 will get into an Ivy might be about 2%, which is higher than zero, but still very low (I'm making this up, but from what I've seen, it's something like reality). The chances a 3.3 might get into Macalester, Emory or Oberlin might be more like 20% (again, making up numbers, but hopefully you get the idea). So there will always be somebody like PP with a story to tell about some kid who got into Yale with miserable GPA or SATs or whatever, and sometimes the poster says it nicely, and other times they get all snotty and use words like "ugh" and "hate." Also, often you don't know the full story, particularly wrt hooks.