DD is only applying to safeties

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to get DD to apply to more than just the "safety schools" where she exceeds the 75% threshold.

We are VA residents, and she has a 3.75(U)/4.15(W) with 1400 SAT's.

Her colleges are
Va Tech (non engineering)
JMU
Penn State
U Del


Her interest is Crop/Environmental Science.

She did not like UVA.

There are other colleges around with Ag schools. I suggest she look in the Midwest, where there are lots of crops.

If she doesn’t like UVA, then she shouldn’t apply there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me be clear. I am good with any of the schools. I went to a state school (Va Tech).

I am concerned that she is limiting her options. When I mention Cornell, for example, she says she would never get in.

I am concerned that she is too afraid of rejection to apply to a more selective school.

She might be right about Cornell. That said, if you can afford Cornell (although the ag part might be different), I’d drop JMU. If this is your impass, I recommend an exploratory tour of Madison and another big ten school or so. It sounds like she is overwhelmed and you are t offering her more info than she can find in a Peterson’s guide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me be clear. I am good with any of the schools. I went to a state school (Va Tech).

I am concerned that she is limiting her options. When I mention Cornell, for example, she says she would never get in.

I am concerned that she is too afraid of rejection to apply to a more selective school.

She might be right about Cornell. That said, if you can afford Cornell (although the ag part might be different), I’d drop JMU. If this is your impass, I recommend an exploratory tour of Madison and another big ten school or so. It sounds like she is overwhelmed and you are t offering her more info than she can find in a Peterson’s guide.

Have you talked with her about what you can afford and run net price calculators for some of those reaches? I can see my DD not wanting to apply to a school she sees as expensive because she's really frugal and would worry about us spending to much. But, for lower incomes, those highly-selective schools can actually be less expensive options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to learn is that your kid is a grown up now. I am learning it and it is liberating. You can't keep stifling your grow kids with your wants and desires. Don't be like my FIL who is still sending idiotic group texts about which colleges are the best, how you must finish college, what's ranking of the college your kid choose.... It only makes him look insane(he does it to show how unhappy he is that his oldest grandkids dropped out of college, and that one granddaughter is off to 500ish ranked college in the U.S.). So, learn to support your adult kid and choices, you can always tell her you won't pay for this "lame" college, and then shut up when you never see her for more than 2 minutes.

+ a million

I too wonder why some people just can't stop acting like their kids are 3 years old. My kids have turned into wonderful young adults, who still make mistakes and do dumb things. I supposed they say I do dumb things sometimes too, and might continue to do more dumb things as I get older. We have to let go, they will always be our kids, but they are not kids anymore. Respect their choices please, things turn out ok one way or another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to get DD to apply to more than just the "safety schools" where she exceeds the 75% threshold.

We are VA residents, and she has a 3.75(U)/4.15(W) with 1400 SAT's.

Her colleges are
Va Tech (non engineering)
JMU
Penn State
U Del


Her interest is Crop/Environmental Science.

She did not like UVA.

There are other colleges around with Ag schools. I suggest she look in the Midwest, where there are lots of crops.

If she doesn’t like UVA, then she shouldn’t apply there.

University of Illinois has amazing Ag programs. It's a great place to be for that major.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Using these thoughts, I talked to DD more. She had given more thought that I figured.

Cornell -- she is confident that she would not get in, but more importantly, the winter bleakness of Ithaca might get to her (she has suffered from depression).

For the mid-west schools, aside from the darkness (UMinn), she does not want to go to school in any state that has passed restrictive abortion laws and/or is not LGBT friendly.

She will look at Illinois and CalPoly SLO. OSU is just too big.

[Anonymous]

Your kid sounds great. And thoughtful.

[Anonymous]

Wisconsin is good too. UIUC is expensive for OOS.

[Anonymous]

+1 for Wisconsin-Madison for AG.

And if your daughter is coming from NOVA her picks are primarily matches/targets for her scores, not safeties. It seems more like she hasn't selected a "reach" school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 for Wisconsin-Madison for AG.

And if your daughter is coming from NOVA her picks are primarily matches/targets for her scores, not safeties. It seems more like she hasn't selected a "reach" school.

Not according to Naviance. Looking at her desired major at tech, the average SAT is 1230, and wgpa is 3.92, so she is significantly above both. For engineering, it would not be a safety.

[Anonymous]

I would add Cornell as a safety

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for Wisconsin-Madison for AG.

And if your daughter is coming from NOVA her picks are primarily matches/targets for her scores, not safeties. It seems more like she hasn't selected a "reach" school.

Not according to Naviance. Looking at her desired major at tech, the average SAT is 1230, and wgpa is 3.92, so she is significantly above both. For engineering, it would not be a safety.

I wouldn't say 4.1 is significantly above 3.92. It sounds like match territory. Safety IMO is when you're above the 75th (in your Naviance not overall) and the school admits 50%+. I say this as someone who just went through my kids' application season with slightly higher scores than your daughter. Those are really "inbetween" scores in this area. Her list looks appropriate to me--she's likely to get in lots of places and be around plenty of similarly prepared students but also likely to be strong enough to access opportunities. Cornell seems like a throwaway application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Using these thoughts, I talked to DD more. She had given more thought that I figured.

Cornell -- she is confident that she would not get in, but more importantly, the winter bleakness of Ithaca might get to her (she has suffered from depression).

For the mid-west schools, aside from the darkness (UMinn), she does not want to go to school in any state that has passed restrictive abortion laws and/or is not LGBT friendly.

She will look at Illinois and CalPoly SLO. OSU is just too big.

If you can afford Davis, it is awesome, especially if your DD likes the outdoors. I went to grad school there and loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for Wisconsin-Madison for AG.

And if your daughter is coming from NOVA her picks are primarily matches/targets for her scores, not safeties. It seems more like she hasn't selected a "reach" school.

Not according to Naviance. Looking at her desired major at tech, the average SAT is 1230, and wgpa is 3.92, so she is significantly above both. For engineering, it would not be a safety.

I wouldn't say 4.1 is significantly above 3.92. It sounds like match territory. Safety IMO is when you're above the 75th (in your Naviance not overall) and the school admits 50%+. I say this as someone who just went through my kids' application season with slightly higher scores than your daughter. Those are really "inbetween" scores in this area. Her list looks appropriate to me--she's likely to get in lots of places and be around plenty of similarly prepared students but also likely to be strong enough to access opportunities. Cornell seems like a throwaway application.

Everyone with my DD's stats is admitted to Va Tech according to Naviance (from her school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Using these thoughts, I talked to DD more. She had given more thought that I figured.

Cornell -- she is confident that she would not get in, but more importantly, the winter bleakness of Ithaca might get to her (she has suffered from depression).

For the mid-west schools, aside from the darkness (UMinn), she does not want to go to school in any state that has passed restrictive abortion laws and/or is not LGBT friendly.

She will look at Illinois and CalPoly SLO. OSU is just too big.

If you can afford Davis, it is awesome, especially if your DD likes the outdoors. I went to grad school there and loved it.

To be honest, I would probably transfer to my group HQ in California, and then get In-state for the last couple of years