What is the space for my kid?

[Anonymous]

DD is a junior. As of the end of first semester of this year she has a 3.8 and 1450. In my day those kids had a shot at top 20 but DD says that is not the case anymore. She can’t however seem to come up with what schools are her target/low reaches. Her favorite school right now is Northwestern (wants to ED) and she is also drawn to schools like Penn and GT. Her stats consistently seem to fall in the 25th percentile of the top tier schools she looks at and the 75th percentile of the more safety schools. Where is she 50th? What’s a good school for a strong but not quite perfect student? I don’t want her to have just reached and safeties.

[Anonymous]

Excellent question OP. We are in similar boat. Kidd’s grades used to be 4.0 but she’s getting some B’s now and I imagine that will continue. 34 on ACT. I think things that might seem like safeties may be matches these days — eg OSU Honors, Pitt Honors. Will be interested to hear what others say.

[Anonymous]

Honors is not a safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honors is not a safety.

She said it was a match in their minds.

[Anonymous]

What does your kid think they want to study? Do they want a big school or a small one? What part of the country? Greek life or not?

Answer these questions and then start looking for colleges that match. Get a Fiske book and let them read up on schools. Trying to build a list on what you think is possible based on their stats is going about it the wrong way.

[Anonymous]

What about Emory, Barnard, Michigan, UVA (if in state)?

[Anonymous]

I would consider all of those to be reaches.

[Anonymous]

The GPAs go up to 4.5 at most of the high schools now. Throw away what you remember. It’s a whole new system. If you have Family Connections at your school, look at the scattergrams for each college and you’ll see the GPA ranges that might be competitive but keep in mind it’s the GPAs from the end of senior year on the scattergeams.

Most of the high school have a meet for junior parents between now and April.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The GPAs go up to 4.5 at most of the high schools now. Throw away what you remember. It’s a whole new system. If you have Family Connections at your school, look at the scattergrams for each college and you’ll see the GPA ranges that might be competitive but keep in mind it’s the GPAs from the end of senior year on the scattergeams.

Most of the high school have a meet for junior parents between now and April.

Family connections is now called Naviance.

[Anonymous]

Is the 3.8 weighted and what state are you in?

[Anonymous]

My DD with similar stats was admitted to schools like Wake Forest, Richmond, Tulane, Boston U, Miami OH, William & Mary.

Check Naviance at your school.

[Anonymous]

Franklin & Marshall? Wellesley? Haverford? Hamilton? Like others have said, there are lots of options but you should consider fit not just rank

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is a junior. As of the end of first semester of this year she has a 3.8 and 1450. In my day those kids had a shot at top 20 but DD says that is not the case anymore. She can’t however seem to come up with what schools are her target/low reaches. Her favorite school right now is Northwestern (wants to ED) and she is also drawn to schools like Penn and GT. Her stats consistently seem to fall in the 25th percentile of the top tier schools she looks at and the 75th percentile of the more safety schools. Where is she 50th? What’s a good school for a strong but not quite perfect student? I don’t want her to have just reached and safeties.

If she doesn't have a hook beyond grades/test scores for a selective school, falling at the 75th is a target not a safety. Falling above the 75th%ile in a school that accepts at least 50% is what we've been told is the best way to think about a true safety.

Naviance (which you should have access to through your school as a junior) is great for schools where a lot of students apply but selectivity keeps going up so you have to tilt it up a bit because the data is often the last 3-5 years. For schools like Northwestern it's often less useful because fewer apply and you don't know if they had a hook like a sports recruitment, legacy, national award etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is a junior. As of the end of first semester of this year she has a 3.8 and 1450. In my day those kids had a shot at top 20 but DD says that is not the case anymore. She can’t however seem to come up with what schools are her target/low reaches. Her favorite school right now is Northwestern (wants to ED) and she is also drawn to schools like Penn and GT. Her stats consistently seem to fall in the 25th percentile of the top tier schools she looks at and the 75th percentile of the more safety schools. Where is she 50th? What’s a good school for a strong but not quite perfect student? I don’t want her to have just reached and safeties.

If she doesn't have a hook beyond grades/test scores for a selective school, falling at the 75th is a target not a safety. Falling above the 75th%ile in a school that accepts at least 50% is what we've been told is the best way to think about a true safety.

Naviance (which you should have access to through your school as a junior) is great for schools where a lot of students apply but selectivity keeps going up so you have to tilt it up a bit because the data is often the last 3-5 years. For schools like Northwestern it's often less useful because fewer apply and you don't know if they had a hook like a sports recruitment, legacy, national award etc.

National award isn’t a hook, it’s an earned credential.

OP it sounds like DC wants a larger university but I’d look at schools like Lehigh, Bucknell, Lafayette, Union, Colgate.

[Anonymous]

Your DD has a choice. Either use ED for a "dream" school where she has about a 10% chance of admissions, or use if for something more realistic. If you burn your ED on a reach, then being in a regular applicant pool makes even the 'match' schools that much more difficult.

Think of it this way, there are 50,000 NMSF who have 1550+ on their SAT's and 3.9-4.5 GPA's, many of whom are also editor of their newspapers, 4-8 varsity letters, 200+ hours of community service all applying for the same slots at the same top 20 schools. Add to it all of the international students and you can see where the numbers become untenable.

Add to that, slots used for target students: athletes, some legacies, URMs and it gets to be like a lottery.

There has to be something so compelling in the DD of the OP's story to catch the eye of an AD. If she doesn't have that story, the stats are unlikely to get her into the conversation, no matter how smart, well composed, hard working etc she might be.