reality for 1500 SAT (no SLAC)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh - and also southern schools are really popular right now. So that skews the numbers and acceptance rates. So schools with rankings comparable to Vandy outside of the south are much more likely admits than Vandy itself.

This is absolute nonsense. Give a single example.

This is just more of people trying to make southern schools a thing.

Southern schools are experiencing an renaissance because the country's economic center of gravity is moving south.
There are more opportunities in the south than there used to be but most of it is still in the same old places.

[Anonymous]

I am wondering if Penn and Duke could stay on her list if she is 1600 and 4.0. She said she has strong ECs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering if Penn and Duke could stay on her list if she is 1600 and 4.0. She said she has strong ECs.

It all depends on your school, check naviance but in general a 4.0 and 1600 should be good for Penn or Duke. Good ECs will help greatly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering if Penn and Duke could stay on her list if she is 1600 and 4.0. She said she has strong ECs.

It all depends on your school, check naviance but in general a 4.0 and 1600 should be good for Penn or Duke. Good ECs will help greatly.

True it depends on school.

So you think 1500->1600 is a material change for Penn and Duke?

I'd think 1600 moves the needle the most in targets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does the SCOIR/Naviance for your HS say? DS had a similar profile, and SCOIR AI predicted 60%-70% chance ED1 at schools like WashU/Emory/Tufts, filtered to only consider the previous 3 years from our generally well-regarded public HS. This was based on GPA/SAT only. Don’t know if previous admits were athletes/legacy, but happily DS was just accepted ED1 to one of those schools. His extra-curriculars & narrative were strong, but not national-level or amazing. Full pay, STEM major, otherwise unhooked.

Thank you. We are in MCPS at BCC. Weighted is a 4.8.

[Anonymous]

This ChatGPT list is ridiculous. Way too optimistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve looked at Naviance, and at least at our school the outcomes really do vary. I can’t quite understand why a student with a 1430 might get in while someone with a 1580 doesn’t.

I’m also curious how people define “amazing” extracurriculars. Are there concrete examples of what’s considered good versus great?

Thank you! And is anyone else navigating this without relying on a counselor?

I do alumni interviews for an Ivy and you have no idea how homogeneous files of strong students generally look. It's the 1500(+) SAT applicants who stand out in some way, and have a cohesive narrative, that have some chance at the high reaches. Especially in the DMV, where strong unhooked applicants are a dime a dozen and kids are competing against international Olympiad medalists, award-winning musicians, recruited athletes, published researchers, VIP kids etc. (great ECs) The competition is simply brutal. Good = leadership in school clubs, editing the school newspaper, long-term commitment to music, art, athletics, Scouts. Not likely to move the needle at a high reach but with strong essays, solid chance at a high target.

A 1430 kid is not getting into a T-10 unless hooked, usually FGLI and representing geographic diversity as well.

Everyone always says this, but Penn has 2500 freshman; they can't all be national award winners, especially when a lot of those award winners are at other top 10 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid was a recruited athlete at WUSTL but was told not to submit his 1500 score. Go figure.

Told by who? How bizarre.

Told by the coach after the preread. He was accepted test optional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve looked at Naviance, and at least at our school the outcomes really do vary. I can’t quite understand why a student with a 1430 might get in while someone with a 1580 doesn’t.

I’m also curious how people define “amazing” extracurriculars. Are there concrete examples of what’s considered good versus great?

Thank you! And is anyone else navigating this without relying on a counselor?

I do alumni interviews for an Ivy and you have no idea how homogeneous files of strong students generally look. It's the 1500(+) SAT applicants who stand out in some way, and have a cohesive narrative, that have some chance at the high reaches. Especially in the DMV, where strong unhooked applicants are a dime a dozen and kids are competing against international Olympiad medalists, award-winning musicians, recruited athletes, published researchers, VIP kids etc. (great ECs) The competition is simply brutal. Good = leadership in school clubs, editing the school newspaper, long-term commitment to music, art, athletics, Scouts. Not likely to move the needle at a high reach but with strong essays, solid chance at a high target.

A 1430 kid is not getting into a T-10 unless hooked, usually FGLI and representing geographic diversity as well.

Everyone always says this, but Penn has 2500 freshman; they can't all be national award winners, especially when a lot of those award winners are at other top 10 schools.

2500 freshman
how many hooked? athletes, legacy, donor, faculty, FG LI, URM.
Philly local public school kids. How many?
Then there are feeder schools nation wide.
A small piece of pie for the MC UMC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve looked at Naviance, and at least at our school the outcomes really do vary. I can’t quite understand why a student with a 1430 might get in while someone with a 1580 doesn’t.

I’m also curious how people define “amazing” extracurriculars. Are there concrete examples of what’s considered good versus great?

Thank you! And is anyone else navigating this without relying on a counselor?

I do alumni interviews for an Ivy and you have no idea how homogeneous files of strong students generally look. It's the 1500(+) SAT applicants who stand out in some way, and have a cohesive narrative, that have some chance at the high reaches. Especially in the DMV, where strong unhooked applicants are a dime a dozen and kids are competing against international Olympiad medalists, award-winning musicians, recruited athletes, published researchers, VIP kids etc. (great ECs) The competition is simply brutal. Good = leadership in school clubs, editing the school newspaper, long-term commitment to music, art, athletics, Scouts. Not likely to move the needle at a high reach but with strong essays, solid chance at a high target.

A 1430 kid is not getting into a T-10 unless hooked, usually FGLI and representing geographic diversity as well.

Everyone always says this, but Penn has 2500 freshman; they can't all be national award winners, especially when a lot of those award winners are at other top 10 schools.

2500 freshman
how many hooked? athletes, legacy, donor, faculty, FG LI, URM.
Philly local public school kids. How many?
Then there are feeder schools nation wide.
A small piece of pie for the MC UMC.

Legacy is pretty much irrelevant if not a big donor. Faculty is going to be a few kids each year at most. URM is not permitted anymore. FGLI I'll give you, but again, not a huge number. Athletes are probably the biggest hook, but that aside still leaves plenty of room for normal academic standouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid is 1500 on his SATs, which after 3x is probably where it will stay. 4.0 Trying to build list and don't have counselor. Strong extracurriculars from area public but no crazy summer programs or sports that are recruitable. Interested in larger schools. Undecided for major. How did my chat gpt counselor do? Did any kids you know with these profiles get in? He liked his visit to Michigan and UVA. We love Wash U. Is Vandy & Duke or Penn even in play or a waste of application time.

🔴 REACH (1500 = still reach, but legit)

RD
University of Pennsylvania
~8–12%

Duke University
~10–15%


🟠 REACH / HIGH TARGET
Washington University in St. Louis
~30–35% (ED)
or
Vanderbilt University
~25–30% (ED)
---

University of Michigan
~40–50% (EA)

🟢 TARGET

EA
University of Virginia
~35–45%

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
~30–40% (OOS)

RD
Boston College
~45–55%

🟢 LIKELY / TARGET (1500 = strong)

University of Texas at Austin (EA)
~45–55% (OOS)

Villanova University (RD)
~60–70%

🟢 LIKELY (1500 = very strong)

University of Florida (EA)
~70–80%

University of Maryland (EA)
*~80%+

4.8 1500 BCC with decent ECs - UVA on up is a reach/unlikely, so use the ED strategy wisely and hopefully you are full pay. I would ED at Wash U St Louis as I think you'd have the best shot there as they give a true ED boost. I think BC and UNC CH should be high targets. Villanova is a true target, UT Austin out of state - who knows? UMD and UF are both realistic with your scores, but weird things happen in RD and I would strongly consider adding some more likely schools.

[Anonymous]

Whitman and BCC have great ED results this year.

[Anonymous]

I admit I was naive with my recent grad after she scored a 1520. All the rigor, AP scores, good but not national ECs. Rejected to the first five on this list. I knew they were reaches but I thought there was hope for a couple in RD.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Your perception of admission difficulty is skewed in a way that could bite you in the backside.

I would add a school that considers scores/grades only in admission. ECs don’t matter. Yet, the school is big enough that multiple interests are found on campus.

Auburn comes to mind. There are others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve looked at Naviance, and at least at our school the outcomes really do vary. I can’t quite understand why a student with a 1430 might get in while someone with a 1580 doesn’t.

I’m also curious how people define “amazing” extracurriculars. Are there concrete examples of what’s considered good versus great?

Thank you! And is anyone else navigating this without relying on a counselor?

The outliers (like 1430) have something special going on. Probably recruited athlete. Ignore the outliers and pay attention to the pack.