Safety schools for a high stats kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would be a safety for a high stats kid from DC (4.0 unweighted, 35 ACT)?

Reach for a top 15 national university (NU) or top 5 SLAC; aim/target 15-50 NU or 5-15 SLAC; safety 50-100 NU or 16-30 SLAC.

I disagree with this.

"High stats" like the OP references is dime a dozen. Reach is more like top 30 national university or top 10-15 SLC; match is 31-75 national university, Safety 75+

Just like everything has shifted over the last 30 years, it shifted again over the lat 2 years. All bets are off with COVID records, grade inflation and test optional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would be a safety for a high stats kid from DC (4.0 unweighted, 35 ACT)?

Reach for a top 15 national university (NU) or top 5 SLAC; aim/target 15-50 NU or 5-15 SLAC; safety 50-100 NU or 16-30 SLAC.

I disagree with this.

"High stats" like the OP references is dime a dozen. Reach is more like top 30 national university or top 10-15 SLC; match is 31-75 national university, Safety 75+

Just like everything has shifted over the last 30 years, it shifted again over the lat 2 years. All bets are off with COVID records, grade inflation and test optional.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would be a safety for a high stats kid from DC (4.0 unweighted, 35 ACT)?

Reach for a top 15 national university (NU) or top 5 SLAC; aim/target 15-50 NU or 5-15 SLAC; safety 50-100 NU or 16-30 SLAC.

So Cornell would be a target?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would be a safety for a high stats kid from DC (4.0 unweighted, 35 ACT)?

Reach for a top 15 national university (NU) or top 5 SLAC; aim/target 15-50 NU or 5-15 SLAC; safety 50-100 NU or 16-30 SLAC.

So Cornell would be a target?

Cornell had a 10.9% acceptance rate last year. Any school with an acceptance rate that low is a “lottery” no matter what your stats and should be treated as a “reach.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would be a safety for a high stats kid from DC (4.0 unweighted, 35 ACT)?

Reach for a top 15 national university (NU) or top 5 SLAC; aim/target 15-50 NU or 5-15 SLAC; safety 50-100 NU or 16-30 SLAC.

I disagree with this.

"High stats" like the OP references is dime a dozen. Reach is more like top 30 national university or top 10-15 SLC; match is 31-75 national university, Safety 75+

Just like everything has shifted over the last 30 years, it shifted again over the lat 2 years. All bets are off with COVID records, grade inflation and test optional.

Agreed.

--Parent of "high stats" '21 grad who applied to SLACs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would be a safety for a high stats kid from DC (4.0 unweighted, 35 ACT)?

Reach for a top 15 national university (NU) or top 5 SLAC; aim/target 15-50 NU or 5-15 SLAC; safety 50-100 NU or 16-30 SLAC.

I disagree with this.

"High stats" like the OP references is dime a dozen. Reach is more like top 30 national university or top 10-15 SLC; match is 31-75 national university, Safety 75+

Just like everything has shifted over the last 30 years, it shifted again over the lat 2 years. All bets are off with COVID records, grade inflation and test optional.

Agreed.

--Parent of "high stats" '21 grad who applied to SLACs

Yes, to get above a 30% acceptance rate, you are looking in the mid 30s NU and low 40s LAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get the idea of a safety, but if you compromise too much is a safety worth attending? It strike me that if you’re reaching for Cornell and end up at George Mason you’ve either messed up your application or were terribly unrealistic. In that scenario, I’d find something else to do for a year and reapply.

No, you go to George Mason, try to do well, and transfer. Just because colleges are ranked by a magazine does not meant that there are no brilliant students at lower ranked schools, and it certainly does not mean those school will be a cake walk for anyone.

GMU has gotten much more difficult to get into in just the last six years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA if s/he is truly outstanding.

UVA isn’t a safety for anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would be a safety for a high stats kid from DC (4.0 unweighted, 35 ACT)?

Reach for a top 15 national university (NU) or top 5 SLAC; aim/target 15-50 NU or 5-15 SLAC; safety 50-100 NU or 16-30 SLAC.

So Cornell would be a target?

Cornell had a 10.9% acceptance rate last year. Any school with an acceptance rate that low is a “lottery” no matter what your stats and should be treated as a “reach.”

Good point. Also be aware that 10~% rate is a blended rate that may obscure actual selectivity in acceptances. At Cornell, you apply to a specific college/school (there are 8 choices) and each has separate admissions and admit rates. For example, the College of Arts and Science, the largest, is 7~%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would be a safety for a high stats kid from DC (4.0 unweighted, 35 ACT)?

Reach for a top 15 national university (NU) or top 5 SLAC; aim/target 15-50 NU or 5-15 SLAC; safety 50-100 NU or 16-30 SLAC.

I disagree with this.

"High stats" like the OP references is dime a dozen. Reach is more like top 30 national university or top 10-15 SLC; match is 31-75 national university, Safety 75+

Just like everything has shifted over the last 30 years, it shifted again over the lat 2 years. All bets are off with COVID records, grade inflation and test optional.

Agreed.

--Parent of "high stats" '21 grad who applied to SLACs

Yes, to get above a 30% acceptance rate, you are looking in the mid 30s NU and low 40s LAC.

PP seems to think Bates (#25 among liberal arts colleges) is a safety with an acceptance rate of 14%. Or Harvey Mudd (#28) at 18% and Pitzer (#35) at 17%. Clearly quite the reliable expert.

[Anonymous]

Syracuse?

[Anonymous]

Community college is your 100% safety. Why bother with 75+ colleges if you can get better and cheaper education at Nova + UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lehigh

Sorry, not any more. Lehigh is still fairly difficult to get into. It's a match for many, but not a safety even for top kids.

Untrue. I’m the pp and an alum. Lehigh is growing its student population, so from 2020 to about 2027, they will accept @ 150 more students each year. (My numbers may not be precise as I am going from memory). Last year they had a 50% acceptance rate, which is remarkable, given that the acceptance rate was @ 21% not long ago.

Lehigh uses demonstrated interest to a ridiculous degree. So if you are serious, you must visit, try for an interview, attend webinars, write a super focused essay, etc.

It is a rigorous school, particularly in the Engineering and Business colleges. They will want to see evidence that the student has taken the most rigorous courses available.

Lehigh is tougher to get into if you are from NY, NJ, PA, or CT than from the DMV or elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lehigh

Sorry, not any more. Lehigh is still fairly difficult to get into. It's a match for many, but not a safety even for top kids.

Untrue. I’m the pp and an alum. Lehigh is growing its student population, so from 2020 to about 2027, they will accept @ 150 more students each year. (My numbers may not be precise as I am going from memory). Last year they had a 50% acceptance rate, which is remarkable, given that the acceptance rate was @ 21% not long ago.

Lehigh uses demonstrated interest to a ridiculous degree. So if you are serious, you must visit, try for an interview, attend webinars, write a super focused essay, etc.

It is a rigorous school, particularly in the Engineering and Business colleges. They will want to see evidence that the student has taken the most rigorous courses available.

Lehigh is tougher to get into if you are from NY, NJ, PA, or CT than from the DMV or elsewhere.

Visit? Interview? Super focused essay? Sounds like too much work for a safety

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lehigh

Sorry, not any more. Lehigh is still fairly difficult to get into. It's a match for many, but not a safety even for top kids.

Untrue. I’m the pp and an alum. Lehigh is growing its student population, so from 2020 to about 2027, they will accept @ 150 more students each year. (My numbers may not be precise as I am going from memory). Last year they had a 50% acceptance rate, which is remarkable, given that the acceptance rate was @ 21% not long ago.

Lehigh uses demonstrated interest to a ridiculous degree. So if you are serious, you must visit, try for an interview, attend webinars, write a super focused essay, etc.

It is a rigorous school, particularly in the Engineering and Business colleges. They will want to see evidence that the student has taken the most rigorous courses available.

Lehigh is tougher to get into if you are from NY, NJ, PA, or CT than from the DMV or elsewhere.

Visit? Interview? Super focused essay? Sounds like too much work for a safety

Yes. I think a safety school where, if you meet the requirements on the website and haven't been to prison, you get in. If it requires anything much more than minimum grades that a kid has and minimum test scores that a kid has, it can't be a true safety.