Safeties/ matches please....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Op, this is the poster you were responding to above. Our private gets kids who are not at the tip top of the class, but near the top, into Middlebury and Swarthmore ED, agree that Williams would be a harder admit.

Emory and Tufts had over a 30 percent ED acceptance rate this year (in contrast to schools like Duke, Vandy and Georgetown which were around 15 percent or below). If your student is interested in these schools, ED would be an excellent choice . Same goes for Wash U if that is of interest, very high ED acceptance rate compared to RD.

I would submit her scores everywhere. They aren’t going to put her over the top, but I think they help more than they hurt.

[Anonymous]

Wisconsin is much harder to gain admission now from out of state, not Michigan or UNC hard, but hard none the less.

[Anonymous]

OP - choose an ED wisely (one not in your reach categories) but ALSO make sure your DD finds safeties that she will truly be happy to attend.

And, be prepared for the the long haul (RD) .

Big 3 2023 experienced a difference in landscape, where unhooked full pay students did NOT get into schools ED or EA (deferred or rejected) and then were WL or rejected in RD at target and high target schools where prior results would have predicted a high chance of acceptance.

Emotionally, it can be hard if you think you are following the ED and EA advised path and find that it has been changed - and then discover you are less than excited about the RD outcomes too.

So prepare wisely.

[Anonymous]

Boston college has a 19% acceptance rate. That's not a safety.

[Anonymous]

NP. The University of Portland is a bit smaller than what you said, but is in a city and would be a safety. It also gives out excellent merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Op, this is the poster you were responding to above. Our private gets kids who are not at the tip top of the class, but near the top, into Middlebury and Swarthmore ED, agree that Williams would be a harder admit.

Emory and Tufts had over a 30 percent ED acceptance rate this year (in contrast to schools like Duke, Vandy and Georgetown which were around 15 percent or below). If your student is interested in these schools, ED would be an excellent choice . Same goes for Wash U if that is of interest, very high ED acceptance rate compared to RD.

I would submit her scores everywhere. They aren’t going to put her over the top, but I think they help more than they hurt.

This isn't true. Vandy had 2 rounds of ED. The first round is 26%. Emory and Tufts are only a bit higher but when you include ED2 all three are very low.

[Anonymous]

NC State, U South Carolina, Richmond

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Toronto is currently the top Canadian university. I don't think you can call it a target. I don't care who you think your kid is.

+10. U of T is a big reach for nearly any US applicant.

[Anonymous]

I would consider some English universities. Remember ugrad is only 3 years in England.

U of Durham
Kings College, University of London
Queen Mary college, University of London
U of Exeter

Also, in Canada, consider

U Guelph
U Waterloo
McGill
U. British Columbia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

I'm the PP who suggested ED to a school like Emory or Tufts. The other PP is right - I should NOT have used the word target. Any school with less than 20% admissions is a reach, for all applicants. Still better to use ED on a school where OP's kid might have a shot, as opposed to Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider some English universities. Remember ugrad is only 3 years in England.

U of Durham
Kings College, University of London
Queen Mary college, University of London
U of Exeter

Also, in Canada, consider

U Guelph
U Waterloo
McGill
U. British Columbia

OP's kid is not getting into any of these bolded colleges, they are HIGHLY competitive. Her chance lies with Waterloo and Guelph

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Op, this is the poster you were responding to above. Our private gets kids who are not at the tip top of the class, but near the top, into Middlebury and Swarthmore ED, agree that Williams would be a harder admit.

Emory and Tufts had over a 30 percent ED acceptance rate this year (in contrast to schools like Duke, Vandy and Georgetown which were around 15 percent or below). If your student is interested in these schools, ED would be an excellent choice . Same goes for Wash U if that is of interest, very high ED acceptance rate compared to RD.

I would submit her scores everywhere. They aren’t going to put her over the top, but I think they help more than they hurt.

This isn't true. Vandy had 2 rounds of ED. The first round is 26%. Emory and Tufts are only a bit higher but when you include ED2 all three are very low.

Your info is outdated by a year or two. This year was 17 percent for ED1 and ED2 at Vandy. Emory was 37.4 for ED1 for class of 2027.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would consider some English universities. Remember ugrad is only 3 years in England.

U of Durham
Kings College, University of London
Queen Mary college, University of London
U of Exeter

Also, in Canada, consider

U Guelph
U Waterloo
McGill
U. British Columbia

OP's kid is not getting into any of these bolded colleges, they are HIGHLY competitive. Her chance lies with Waterloo and Guelph

The Big3 schools get kids into McGill all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

They're pushing those SLACs because, as the PP said, your high school has a very strong relationship with those SLACs. My unhooked, high stat Big 3 kid was told the same a couple of years and is now at one of those SLACs (and is very happy).

If that's not what your kid wants, then run the ED to Emory/Tufts (or Wash U or Tulane or BC or Vandy - these were all midsize, urban schools that were suggested to my kid) idea by the counselor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I'm the PP who suggested ED to a school like Emory or Tufts. The other PP is right - I should NOT have used the word target. Any school with less than 20% admissions is a reach, for all applicants. Still better to use ED on a school where OP's kid might have a shot, as opposed to Ivies.

+1

Agreed. Picking a "lower reach" can definately be beneficial.