Finding targets and likelies

[Anonymous]

Mid-west: Macalester (near St.Paul/Minneapolis), Oberlin (near Cleveland)

West: Reed (near Portland), Occidental & Loyola Marymount (near LA)

East: GW (DC), Boston U, Rochester, Michigan, UMD

[Anonymous]

Not a safety by any means but definitely try to visit Bowdoin for the non-competitive environment, smart friendly kids, and easy proximity to Portland, Maine (half hour by train and station is close to campus).

[Anonymous]

Are women’s colleges a consideration?
Bryn mawr and Scripps seem a great match

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have some good suggestions here already, I'll throw out a few others:

Universities that are generally strong but not as competitive: Indiana, Minnesota, other second rung flagships. Also privates like BU, GWU, AU.

Consider some schools outside the East Coast: Reed, Lewis & Clark, Macalester, St. Olaf. Carleton and Grinnell are top tier but get fewer apps just because of the locations.

There are a ton of less competitive SLACs all over the Northeast - Bard, Trinity, Conn College, Providence, Fairfield, Clark, Holy Cross - plus the various OH and PA schools.

Obviously some geographic diversity and flexibility around the criteria is necessary for targets and safeties.

I would highly recommend ED, but avoid the temptation to overreach. Yes, someone gets into the T10/15 but odds are it won't be your kid.

Unless you apply to BU as an ED candidate, the acceptance rate for RD last year was around 6%.
This year, ED1 has a 34% acceptance rate, but it includes a significant number of athletes.
ED2 stands at 20%. While it seems that getting admitted through Early Decision becomes more attainable, I don't believe Regular Decision is any less competitive.
However, you still have a good chance with RD. My daughter was accepted with similar stat during RD last year.

[Anonymous]

Earlier PP here. Honestly tried to suggest possible safeties and targets (not reaches) to fit OPs parameters. As mentioned it was not an easy thing to identify non reaches of that size, urban and or adjacent. There were some nice ideas posted tho.
To those who posted not so helpfully that they found them to be crap reccos, would be interested in hearing your suggestions. Some roundly criticized with no alternative suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the great responses

Some of these she’s looked at / been thinking about

- PiTT is on the list

- GW felt not campus-y enough but we weren’t on an official tour so maybe we missed something ? Otherwise loves DC

- Macalester felt like it maybe didn’t have as much STEM emphasis?

Will be a NMSF so I feel like USC and Fordham like that but I don’t know much about Fordham for STEM and I think she is on the fence about NYC for college

I wish Rice was in a different location- she really isn’t interested in TX

What about American University? I think it has more of a campus feel that GW and it’s in DC.

[Anonymous]

For safeties, University of Denver, Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, University of San Diego and University of San Francisco seem to fit your description. Urban or urban adjacent, less than 8K and suit the geography parameters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the great responses

Some of these she’s looked at / been thinking about

- PiTT is on the list

- GW felt not campus-y enough but we weren’t on an official tour so maybe we missed something ? Otherwise loves DC

- Macalester felt like it maybe didn’t have as much STEM emphasis?

Will be a NMSF so I feel like USC and Fordham like that but I don’t know much about Fordham for STEM and I think she is on the fence about NYC for college

I wish Rice was in a different location- she really isn’t interested in TX

If your kid likes GW but not campus-y enough, and loves DC, American might be a great safety. American's got a really nice campus for a city school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a lot bigger than you want, but Indiana would be a good safety. Tulane would be a good target. It is the right size, in a city and has a great vibe.

Does anyone read? They mention "under 8K undergrad" That is not Indiana

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Target
Target Reach
BC you’d need to ED though or get yielded
Northeastern same

Target
Santa Clara
U San Diego
Villanova? May not be urban enough ?
Fordham
Syracuse may be too big
Tulane you may need to ED also it’s on the south

Safety
Rochester
GWU
Pepperdine slightly smaller school

Rochester is a great choice. But not a safety for anyone. Acceptance rate of ~35%

NEU is not under 8K undergrads, its more than double that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Visit Rice in TX, he might be surprised!! It literally ticks all his boxes! ED and be don’t with it.
Those scores put him in no man’s land if he doesn’t get in ED REA someplace.

Ummm...Rice is not a Target or safety for anyone. It's a high reach for most

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a lot bigger than you want, but Indiana would be a good safety. Tulane would be a good target. It is the right size, in a city and has a great vibe.

Does anyone read? They mention "under 8K undergrad" That is not Indiana

We’re in an environment where admissions are increasingly unpredictable for all smaller schools with national reputations. For safeties it really seems like you have to go bigger or go to regional schools. And a lot of people who say they want under 8k undergrad would actually prefer IU to UMW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having trouble figuring out targets / likelies since everything is so competitive these days …things that were once safeties are no more

Also we are not instate for MD or DC so those options are out

What do you think would be targets or likelies for 4.0 UW, 4.6+ Weighted, 1550+ SAT, excellent ECs, will have around 11 or more APs w 5s so far

Looking for
- midsize or smaller school (maybe 8,000 or fewer under grads)
- likes an actual defined campus
- prefers urban or urban adjacent locations
- prefers collaborative vs competitive environment
- they like an intellectual vibe but also want an engaged student population that is involved in a lot of activities
- has a few academic interests - so wants STEM and humanities
- open on geography - except not really into the south -eg, no FL, Tx
-would be full pay and can do it
- not athlete , not URM
- do have legacy at one T25, which they will apply to

It seems like most schools are reaches now and it’s hard to interpret much from our small school’s SCOIR data since often there aren’t a lot of data points or the data is old

Northwestern or WashU/Vanderbilt ED/ED2

Seriously, those are HIGH reaches for most, not a Target or Safety for anyone
The OP is looking for Target and Safeties

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's annoying that people keep recommending schools in the south when OP already said that's a no.

Or that they keep recommending schools with 15k+ undergrads when OP stated "less than 8K" . Or they keep recommending schools that are REACHES for everyone, when OP is looking for targets and likelies

Almost as if people just like to spew their opinions and not actually answer the questions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the suggestion of Tulane as target based on stats and some of your student’s criteria. Loyola New Orleans is around the corner and could be a safety.

Clark also an excellent suggestion.

It’s in the south but if Nashville appeals, Belmont University is beautiful traditional campus in an urban city.

What about Drew University in NJ? It’s a 45 minute train ride into NYC.

If open to Midwest, I think Oberlin and Kenyon could be targets.

OP’s kid doesn’t want to be in the south.1/2 the schools you listed are in the South. Also, why would such a high stats kid be considering Belmont and not Vanderbilt if they were interested in going to school in the south.

Well Vandy is a Reach for everyone---not a target or likely