Safeties/ matches please....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:help need safeties/matches:

My child is a junior at a big 3 with GREAT grades and a strong kind of unique extracurricular. Otherwise unhooked, we can swing full pay and have saved up, but merit somewhere would be amazing. Our kid likes a medium to large sized school in an urban/city area but with a campus i.e Columbia not NYU. A big fun college town can work too.

High Reaches: Princeton, Yale, Duke, Northwestern (I know these are basically impossible will choose one or two to try)
More reaches Wesleyan, Emory , Michigan, Cornell
Target: Wisconsin, University of Toronto, Syracuse
Safety? UVM? Colorado? Indiana

Please help with targets and safeties (though we are very aware there seem to be no true safeties these days)- Are there medium sized schools 5000-8000 kids we are missing?

Yes -we asked our College Office is suggesting a lot of slac's and they are too small or too rural. I know everything is random and difficult to predict.

Hoping the great DCUM hive mind will have some suggestions! Thanks in advance.

Curious how you came to decide upon Wesleyan which doesn't seem to jive with size or city preferences. Burlington and Bloomington also have less than 100k residents.

OP here good point- but tor kid felt the Burlington was a cute town (we visited). Agree about location of Wes. and size but it was a little bigger than the other SLACS so it's on the long list to look at.

And to the other PP, the snarky person who asked why we are asking the DCUM group- I already addressed that. Yes- I am paying $50,000K and was flummoxed by the list provided by our college office. Are you happy now? What is your excuse for lurking, reading the post, then needing to be mean and unhelpful?

I have actually found there to many nice supportive people with great knowledge bases on DCUM, so I wanted to hear from them. Thanks for the good suggestions from many of you so far- Major: probably Psychology or biology but maybe history. Kid is still undecided.

Rochester would be an excellent choice, and a target for your kid (35% acceptance rate). Their cluster system (in place of core curriculum) allows students to explore what they love more in dept. Basically there are 3 categories: Humanities, social sciences and StEM. Your major falls into 1, then you take 3 courses (12 credit hours) in each of the other categories, but those 12 credit Hours are ALL in the same discipline (and from an approved list for that area of interest). You take a freshman writing course and that is the only requirement. Otherwise, you get to study what you want. Most non-stem majors double major or single major and double or triple minor, since you are halfway to a minor with your cluster.

+1 Also know that Rochester values the interview. Visit and if your kid has any interest at all (or even if not sure) schedule an interview while you can get one. Do it while the visit is fresh. It's definately a school that values the interview so do one to show demonstrated interested, especially if you are a high stats kid (UR is filled with kids who did not get into T20 schools, and many who did but liked the programs at UR better).

I LOVE Rochester for a target but demonstrated interest is key. My dc also really liked Denver, Clark and American for safeties.

Yes demonstrated interest is KEY. Our CC told us, visit (summer before senior year) and if we liked it at all, if it was not an automatic NO, then immediately schedule an interview while still available and for shortly afterwards while everything is still fresh in our kid's mind---scheduled the interview within 2 hours of our visit and did the interview 1 week later. They need demonstrated interest because they know many applying are also hoping for T20/T25 schools---so they need to gauge interest for yield management. They also value ED/ED2----only if you apply thru ED/ED2 do you get to "select top 2 freshman dorm choices"---which basically means you can avoid living on the "freshman quad" if you do so and have a shot at the newest dorm on campus with AC---if you do EA/RD you will never end up in that newest dorm with AC---it goes to athletes (right next to athletic fields) and ED/ED2 students. EA/RD you don't get to "list/select freshman dorms"---not a huge deal but if it's your top choice and you can afford it, worth the ED

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For our son at a private in DC
Those were his safeties recommended by counselor at school
University of Maryland
William and Mary
Indiana
Penn state
U mass in Amherst

Most of the private schools don't even use the concept "safeties" anymore. The schools that are still operating with this mindset are the ones that are disappointed in their outcomes.

My son got in to his ED choice.
Our counselor was great and terminology does not really matter
Most kids are happy with the results of their college acceptance.
He had 15 choices
5 reaches, 5 50/50
And 5 safeties

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For our son at a private in DC
Those were his safeties recommended by counselor at school
University of Maryland
William and Mary
Indiana
Penn state
U mass in Amherst

At least a couple of these don't seem much like safeties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For our son at a private in DC
Those were his safeties recommended by counselor at school
University of Maryland
William and Mary
Indiana
Penn state
U mass in Amherst

At least a couple of these don't seem much like safeties.

W&M is not a safety for anyone and UMD isn't really either, especially for CS/ engineering etc. OP's kid wants bio / psych so they might have a chance but def not as a safety, more a target.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Our kid likes a medium to large sized school in an urban/city area but with a campus i.e Columbia not NYU.

My kid was in the same boat.

Outside of T20 T25, hard to beat Northeastern.

Except NO CAMPUS

You might be thinking of BU. Northeastern has quite a nice campus. (My student attends.)

I was there last week for about the 50th time. Still fully urban / no campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For our son at a private in DC
Those were his safeties recommended by counselor at school
University of Maryland
William and Mary
Indiana
Penn state
U mass in Amherst

Most of the private schools don't even use the concept "safeties" anymore. The schools that are still operating with this mindset are the ones that are disappointed in their outcomes.

My son got in to his ED choice.
Our counselor was great and terminology does not really matter
Most kids are happy with the results of their college acceptance.
He had 15 choices
5 reaches, 5 50/50
And 5 safeties

As long as a kid chooses an ED that's a target, most of the other issues don't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Our kid likes a medium to large sized school in an urban/city area but with a campus i.e Columbia not NYU.

My kid was in the same boat.

Outside of T20 T25, hard to beat Northeastern.

Except NO CAMPUS

You might be thinking of BU. Northeastern has quite a nice campus. (My student attends.)

I was there last week for about the 50th time. Still fully urban / no campus.

My kid goes there.
It has a nice cohesive modern looking campus about 80 acres that is well integrated with the city.

You are confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rochester, Case Western, Villanova, Carnegie Mellon as targets (maybe a slight reach).

Agree with Pitt. How about American as a target?

Carnegie Mellon is not really a target for anyone
i think its a reach for most.

+1 It does depend on the major, though. STEM/theater related majors - it would be a reach.

As an aside, I find it so interesting that CMU is great for two dichotomous majors - STEM and theater.

DP, CMU is my kid's dream school.. He is into Theater and wants to study Computer Science with a few classes in Theater. Unfortunately, he is great at both but not exceptional at any to get into CMU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For our son at a private in DC
Those were his safeties recommended by counselor at school
University of Maryland
William and Mary
Indiana
Penn state
U mass in Amherst

Most of the private schools don't even use the concept "safeties" anymore. The schools that are still operating with this mindset are the ones that are disappointed in their outcomes.

My son got in to his ED choice.
Our counselor was great and terminology does not really matter
Most kids are happy with the results of their college acceptance.
He had 15 choices
5 reaches, 5 50/50
And 5 safeties

As long as a kid chooses an ED that's a target, most of the other issues don't matter.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few thoughts from another private school parent-

If your school is pushing slacs, your kid is not as strong an applicant as you think in the current admissions environment. Private schools still have very strong feeder relationships with slacs so they are promoting these schools because that’s where they think she has the best chance of admittance. Given this, you are likely aiming too high with the bigger universities. Probably should be looking at schools like Tulane, BU, NE, Wisco, maybe Miami. These schools all strongly prefer applicants who ED.

You don’t mention test scores. Unhooked private school students often can get away with being test optional at slacs. The T25 universities for the most part are going to want to see test scores from this demographic.

What is the extracurricular that you think sets her apart?

OP Here
PP I think you are right about why College office is pushing SLAC's. But they are pushing HARD SLAc's with low admit rates- Williams, Swarthmore, Middlebury which seems weird, but as you say, maybe they care less about scores

DC may go test optional despite SUPER high GPA. Her SAT is just OK 1480-1500 ish. Wonder about if we should submit or not- I know at high reaches those scores are low.
I can't name extra curricular bc it's identifying, but it may help at some schools and it's unusual so it's sort of a wild card that might make a difference at the tippy top places.

I agree ED one at the Emory/Tufts/Georgetown level has been a successful strategy for high stats big 3 kids. ED 1 for unhooked kids at Ivies/Duke/Stanford is throwing away the ED advantage- do folks agree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For our son at a private in DC
Those were his safeties recommended by counselor at school
University of Maryland
William and Mary
Indiana
Penn state
U mass in Amherst

Most of the private schools don't even use the concept "safeties" anymore. The schools that are still operating with this mindset are the ones that are disappointed in their outcomes.

My son got in to his ED choice.
Our counselor was great and terminology does not really matter
Most kids are happy with the results of their college acceptance.
He had 15 choices
5 reaches, 5 50/50
And 5 safeties

If your kid applied to 15 schools he was not at GDS they only allow 10 and I think that is true of other two Big 3 schools. So ....

[Anonymous]

OP, your last reply got swallowed into the PP.

But yes, I'd agree that you should forget about ED at Ivies/Duke/Stanford and consider ED at a school like Emory or Tufts (Georgetown doesn't have ED, sadly.) I'm sure your DD's stats are impressive but the reality is that nearly all the applicants to the top schools have the same stats. Maybe her EC will help her stand out, but there are a gazillion interesting kids out there, some truly unique and some professionally curated. Either way, ED to a target is a much more viable strategy than ED to a reach. But she should be prepared with an ED2 pick as well and do EA anywhere it's offered.

Btw 1480-1500 is a great SAT score, but in the TO era, the median stats are increasingly stratospheric because those who score below the middle 50% don't submit their scores. It's ridiculous because it means every year the middle 50 creeps higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:help need safeties/matches:

My child is a junior at a big 3 with GREAT grades and a strong kind of unique extracurricular. Otherwise unhooked, we can swing full pay and have saved up, but merit somewhere would be amazing. Our kid likes a medium to large sized school in an urban/city area but with a campus i.e Columbia not NYU. A big fun college town can work too.

High Reaches: Princeton, Yale, Duke, Northwestern (I know these are basically impossible will choose one or two to try)
More reaches Wesleyan, Emory , Michigan, Cornell
Target: Wisconsin, University of Toronto, Syracuse
Safety? UVM? Colorado? Indiana

Please help with targets and safeties (though we are very aware there seem to be no true safeties these days)- Are there medium sized schools 5000-8000 kids we are missing?

Yes -we asked our College Office is suggesting a lot of slac's and they are too small or too rural. I know everything is random and difficult to predict.

Hoping the great DCUM hive mind will have some suggestions! Thanks in advance.

Curious how you came to decide upon Wesleyan which doesn't seem to jive with size or city preferences. Burlington and Bloomington also have less than 100k residents.

OP here good point- but tor kid felt the Burlington was a cute town (we visited). Agree about location of Wes. and size but it was a little bigger than the other SLACS so it's on the long list to look at.

And to the other PP, the snarky person who asked why we are asking the DCUM group- I already addressed that. Yes- I am paying $50,000K and was flummoxed by the list provided by our college office. Are you happy now? What is your excuse for lurking, reading the post, then needing to be mean and unhelpful?

I have actually found there to many nice supportive people with great knowledge bases on DCUM, so I wanted to hear from them. Thanks for the good suggestions from many of you so far- Major: probably Psychology or biology but maybe history. Kid is still undecided.

My husband went to UVM 20 years ago so maybe it’s too far from now to care but it’s not nearly as good a school as it once was and Burlington is cute but it’s hard to find work after graduation. He doesn’t want our kids to go there.

[Anonymous]

No. Ask your school counselor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, your last reply got swallowed into the PP.

But yes, I'd agree that you should forget about ED at Ivies/Duke/Stanford and consider ED at a school like Emory or Tufts (Georgetown doesn't have ED, sadly.) I'm sure your DD's stats are impressive but the reality is that nearly all the applicants to the top schools have the same stats. Maybe her EC will help her stand out, but there are a gazillion interesting kids out there, some truly unique and some professionally curated. Either way, ED to a target is a much more viable strategy than ED to a reach. But she should be prepared with an ED2 pick as well and do EA anywhere it's offered.

Btw 1480-1500 is a great SAT score, but in the TO era, the median stats are increasingly stratospheric because those who score below the middle 50% don't submit their scores. It's ridiculous because it means every year the middle 50 creeps higher.

BTW, Emory or Tufts are NOT Targets. They are still reaches for everyone with acceptance rates well below 25%. They might be considered reach vs high reach, but still reaches