colleges for gifted yet social kids

[Anonymous]

Dartmouth College's ED admit rate is over 19%.

Admit rates at Cornell vary by school and by state residency for certain schools at Cornell.

She stands an excellent chance of being offered admission to Michigan Honors.

Emory's ED admit rate = 32%.

Northwestern's ED admit rate is above 15%.

U Penn's ED admit rate was 15.6% a year ago.

Stop giving bad advice! At my kid’s top DC private, only ONE kid was admitted to Michigan - and not honors! Kids in the top 10% of the class with 1500+ SATs and solid ECs were denied or deferred. That’s just one example. And no school with a 15% admit rate or less is one a kid should count on. The admissions landscape has changed dramatically in the last two years - catch up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely get ready to let go of your illusions of DD sailing into every school she applies to. Like everybody, she'll need to apply to a range of schools in terms of how competitive admissions are. Basically, you want to look at academically competitive schools with a robust Greek scene. In addition to the schools you mentioned, take a look at:

Cornell
Dartmouth
Emory
Michigan Honors
Northwestern
Penn
Princeton (despite what a few PPs have said, it's super-social -- DH went there and DS will be a first-year, so we are familiar with it)
Cornell
SMU
UT
Wake Forest

Most of these are long reaches - less than 15% chance of getting into the first eight on this list as well as UT out of state. Wake is a decent reach bordering on target, and SMU is a good target. Highly recommend studying the data from this cycle. Without hooks most of these schools will be very difficult admits. It's OK to aim high but be prepared.

Disagree. Among the top 7 schools listed (Cornell is listed twice among the top 8 schools), OP's daughter should receive very strong consideration at Cornell, Emory, Dartmouth College, and Michigan Honors. U Penn as well. Northwestern is possible ED with teacher recs that discuss intellectual prowess of the applicant.

Of course she will be considered, but it doesn't change the fact that each will be a long reach (less than 15% chance, and most less than 10%) without hooks. Straight As and 35 ACT isn't that special anymore. Best shot of those is Michigan but Honors is tough and the school is huge, which she didn't want.

Dartmouth College's ED admit rate is over 19%.

Admit rates at Cornell vary by school and by state residency for certain schools at Cornell.

She stands an excellent chance of being offered admission to Michigan Honors.

Emory's ED admit rate = 32%.

Northwestern's ED admit rate is above 15%.

U Penn's ED admit rate was 15.6% a year ago.

It's not that high unless you are a recruited athlete, who account for 20-30% of the ED acceptances. For everyone else, it is more like 10% or less. Make sure you really understand the data.

https://www.collegezoom.com/early/early-decision-early-action/

You make an excellent point. Nonetheless, Emory's ED admit rate of 32% is probably unaffected in a meaningful way by "recruited" athletes as Emory, but I could be wrong.

You might be right about Emory, although I'm not sure that I would recommend Emory for someone who is very social, loves sports and wants to party on weekends.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious what schools the counselor suggested? Want to tell us some, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely get ready to let go of your illusions of DD sailing into every school she applies to. Like everybody, she'll need to apply to a range of schools in terms of how competitive admissions are. Basically, you want to look at academically competitive schools with a robust Greek scene. In addition to the schools you mentioned, take a look at:

Cornell
Dartmouth
Emory
Michigan Honors
Northwestern
Penn
Princeton (despite what a few PPs have said, it's super-social -- DH went there and DS will be a first-year, so we are familiar with it)
Cornell
SMU
UT
Wake Forest

Most of these are long reaches - less than 15% chance of getting into the first eight on this list as well as UT out of state. Wake is a decent reach bordering on target, and SMU is a good target. Highly recommend studying the data from this cycle. Without hooks most of these schools will be very difficult admits. It's OK to aim high but be prepared.

Disagree. Among the top 7 schools listed (Cornell is listed twice among the top 8 schools), OP's daughter should receive very strong consideration at Cornell, Emory, Dartmouth College, and Michigan Honors. U Penn as well. Northwestern is possible ED with teacher recs that discuss intellectual prowess of the applicant.

Of course she will be considered, but it doesn't change the fact that each will be a long reach (less than 15% chance, and most less than 10%) without hooks. Straight As and 35 ACT isn't that special anymore. Best shot of those is Michigan but Honors is tough and the school is huge, which she didn't want.

This! It was a huge wake up call for my DD when she applied REA and was rejected. 3.98 UW GPA, 36 ACT she has published a book and 3 articles, principle in her instrument in a youth philharmonic past 3 years, and sectional athlete. She has 2 acceptances right now from her safety schools. Kids like her are a dime a dozen.

No, your published, brilliant, perfect test score, athletic and talented DD is NOT a dime a dozen. She is actually extraordinary. I do not know any child as impressive. Wherever she was rejected made a big mistake but I am sure she will land well and continue to do great things!!

[Anonymous]

This! It was a huge wake up call for my DD when she applied REA and was rejected. 3.98 UW GPA, 36 ACT she has published a book and 3 articles, principle in her instrument in a youth philharmonic past 3 years, and sectional athlete. She has 2 acceptances right now from her safety schools. Kids like her are a dime a dozen.

No, your published, brilliant, perfect test score, athletic and talented DD is NOT a dime a dozen. She is actually extraordinary. I do not know any child as impressive. Wherever she was rejected made a big mistake but I am sure she will land well and continue to do great things!!


Thank you so much. She knows she will thrive wherever she does attend college. When she was rejected she said "admissions officers have a better feel for who will fit in to the school than the applicant. When I applied I thought it was the school I wanted but even before the decision came out I was having second thoughts." I don't think I was that mature when I was 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This! It was a huge wake up call for my DD when she applied REA and was rejected. 3.98 UW GPA, 36 ACT she has published a book and 3 articles, principle in her instrument in a youth philharmonic past 3 years, and sectional athlete. She has 2 acceptances right now from her safety schools. Kids like her are a dime a dozen.

No, your published, brilliant, perfect test score, athletic and talented DD is NOT a dime a dozen. She is actually extraordinary. I do not know any child as impressive. Wherever she was rejected made a big mistake but I am sure she will land well and continue to do great things!!


Thank you so much. She knows she will thrive wherever she does attend college. When she was rejected she said "admissions officers have a better feel for who will fit in to the school than the applicant. When I applied I thought it was the school I wanted but even before the decision came out I was having second thoughts." I don't think I was that mature when I was 18.

I agree with the PP -- she sounds fantastic. Definitely not a dime a dozen.
Frankly, I think no kid is , but yours seems to do a better job of standing out than many. Mine was rejected scea last year, but the ended up with 5 fantastic admissions in RD. Good luck to yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This! It was a huge wake up call for my DD when she applied REA and was rejected. 3.98 UW GPA, 36 ACT she has published a book and 3 articles, principle in her instrument in a youth philharmonic past 3 years, and sectional athlete. She has 2 acceptances right now from her safety schools. Kids like her are a dime a dozen.

No, your published, brilliant, perfect test score, athletic and talented DD is NOT a dime a dozen. She is actually extraordinary. I do not know any child as impressive. Wherever she was rejected made a big mistake but I am sure she will land well and continue to do great things!!

Thank you so much. She knows she will thrive wherever she does attend college. When she was rejected she said "admissions officers have a better feel for who will fit in to the school than the applicant. When I applied I thought it was the school I wanted but even before the decision came out I was having second thoughts." I don't think I was that mature when I was 18.

I agree with the PP -- she sounds fantastic. Definitely not a dime a dozen.
Frankly, I think no kid is , but yours seems to do a better job of standing out than many. Mine was rejected scea last year, but the ended up with 5 fantastic admissions in RD. Good luck to yours.

Agree, OP. Your kid sounds awesome and is NOT a dime/dozen. She sounds like Ivy material, actually- effortlessly smart and social to boot.

-parent to the physics-loving yet sporty DS who’s been on both threads with you! 😊

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe honors at a public state school.

+1

[Anonymous]

I am still sleeping off my hangover from college at a top Ivy. I am 40. Partying can happen anywhere!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my DD is very smart and a very hard worker- straight A's, 35 ACT Score, great extracurricular activities etc... but not really the intellectual type. She is a social butterfly, loves sports, would rather talk about tik tok or go shopping than read etc... Once you get to know her you can tell she is smart and interested in the world, but it isn't her surface level personality. She would rather be at a party than studying on any weekend night.

She should have no problem getting into most schools. I am thinking because of her personality she would be happiest at a school like Duke,or Vanderbilt that seems to have a lot of student-life balance. UVA may be too big.

Any insight? Anyone have any experience with a kid like this at an ivy league or smaller school? Trying to help her guide her college search, and she didn't love the idea of many of the options her school college counselor gave her, but does want to go to a top school.

Lol. Late to the party but will grab my popcorn and read through!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely get ready to let go of your illusions of DD sailing into every school she applies to. Like everybody, she'll need to apply to a range of schools in terms of how competitive admissions are. Basically, you want to look at academically competitive schools with a robust Greek scene. In addition to the schools you mentioned, take a look at:

Cornell
Dartmouth
Emory
Michigan Honors
Northwestern
Penn
Princeton (despite what a few PPs have said, it's super-social -- DH went there and DS will be a first-year, so we are familiar with it)
Cornell
SMU
UT
Wake Forest

Most of these are long reaches - less than 15% chance of getting into the first eight on this list as well as UT out of state. Wake is a decent reach bordering on target, and SMU is a good target. Highly recommend studying the data from this cycle. Without hooks most of these schools will be very difficult admits. It's OK to aim high but be prepared.

Disagree. Among the top 7 schools listed (Cornell is listed twice among the top 8 schools), OP's daughter should receive very strong consideration at Cornell, Emory, Dartmouth College, and Michigan Honors. U Penn as well. Northwestern is possible ED with teacher recs that discuss intellectual prowess of the applicant.

Of course she will be considered, but it doesn't change the fact that each will be a long reach (less than 15% chance, and most less than 10%) without hooks. Straight As and 35 ACT isn't that special anymore. Best shot of those is Michigan but Honors is tough and the school is huge, which she didn't want.

Dartmouth College's ED admit rate is over 19%.

Admit rates at Cornell vary by school and by state residency for certain schools at Cornell.

She stands an excellent chance of being offered admission to Michigan Honors.

Emory's ED admit rate = 32%.

Northwestern's ED admit rate is above 15%.

U Penn's ED admit rate was 15.6% a year ago.

It's not that high unless you are a recruited athlete, who account for 20-30% of the ED acceptances. For everyone else, it is more like 10% or less. Make sure you really understand the data.

https://www.collegezoom.com/early/early-decision-early-action/

You make an excellent point. Nonetheless, Emory's ED admit rate of 32% is probably unaffected in a meaningful way by "recruited" athletes as Emory, but I could be wrong.

You might be right about Emory, although I'm not sure that I would recommend Emory for someone who is very social, loves sports and wants to party on weekends.

And, once again, you are spot-on correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Dartmouth College's ED admit rate is over 19%.

Admit rates at Cornell vary by school and by state residency for certain schools at Cornell.

She stands an excellent chance of being offered admission to Michigan Honors.

Emory's ED admit rate = 32%.

Northwestern's ED admit rate is above 15%.

U Penn's ED admit rate was 15.6% a year ago.

Stop giving bad advice! At my kid’s top DC private, only ONE kid was admitted to Michigan - and not honors! Kids in the top 10% of the class with 1500+ SATs and solid ECs were denied or deferred. That’s just one example. And no school with a 15% admit rate or less is one a kid should count on. The admissions landscape has changed dramatically in the last two years - catch up.

Other than regarding Michigan Honors, I think that you misunderstood my post.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure we even know enough about OPs daughter to make any predictions: "straight A's, 35 ACT Score, great extracurricular activities etc" is not very specific. And OP hasn't returned for many pages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gotta love the breezy “she should have no problem getting into most schools” line, lol. Ah, to be so innocent.

How about where we tell you where NOT to go. Schools where kids are very academic: Chicago, Swarthmore, Carleton, Reed, MIT, what else DCUM?

I fear what’s coming for OP….her kid is so basic and she has no idea…

Indeed. It's would be a big mistake for (almost) anyone to think they'll have no problem at the most selective schools.

Right on! OP- the DMV is full of kids like yours. Mine went to Yale + had exceptional ECs, grades, test scores just like most every other kid at an Ivy. Sounds like yours would like Duke if she can get in. If not, try Trinity in CT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gotta love the breezy “she should have no problem getting into most schools” line, lol. Ah, to be so innocent.

How about where we tell you where NOT to go. Schools where kids are very academic: Chicago, Swarthmore, Carleton, Reed, MIT, what else DCUM?

I fear what’s coming for OP….her kid is so basic and she has no idea…

Indeed. It's would be a big mistake for (almost) anyone to think they'll have no problem at the most selective schools.

Right on! OP- the DMV is full of kids like yours. Mine went to Yale + had exceptional ECs, grades, test scores just like most every other kid at an Ivy. Sounds like yours would like Duke if she can get in. If not, try Trinity in CT

Trinity College ??? Why ???