Targets for "strong standard" kid interested in economics or cognitive science

[Anonymous]

OP, you have a beautifully simple option sitting right in front of you.

If your son really likes William & Mary, I'd encourage him to just apply there ED and be done with it. Only a small handful of the reachy private schools people have listed would possibly give him a "better" experience than W&M, admissions to all of them would be iffy, and absolutely none of those would be cheaper than the in-state rate at W&M. Set the money you save aside in undergrad to help with law school (or other grad school).

(Also have him check out W&M's adventure program: https://www.wm.edu/offices/wellness/campusrec/programs/outdoorrec/trips/ )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we supposed to know what "strong standard" means? Is that a B student? A C+ student?

Agreed this is all just a bit too vague. Disliking the college transitions booster.

There is no College Transitions booster. And what's your contribution here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he is at a private school, you need to lean on their guidance. What are they suggesting for an ED? Have you seen the scattergrams?

What subject is the outside research project in?

Northwestern likes kids with multiple interdisciplinary spikes. Make sure he shows a lot of demonstrated interest. There are a lot of ideas here for him for this summer.

- continue the pt job (can you tie into behavioral economics)
- add in an in school independent study into his transcript if his high school allows it for senior year and make the topic related to behavioral economics
- review his full activities list to ensure he’s had impact and leadership as well as showing a community orientation and long-term commitment

I second this. Consider adding something like this into this summer to accentuate his econ spike:

https://fte.org/students/student-programs/
https://www.coursera.org/learn/duke-behavioral-finance (free)

Agree. I wouldn’t list Econ unless kid actually has some relevant knowledge/tie-in.

What does the kid have for cognitive science though?

https://youthneuro.org/summer-program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since there appears to be a high school student on the thread, I'll address the OP directly. Although my comment on the CogSci programs of URochester and Case Western was based largely on knowledge of these schools, this site may be of interest:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/best-colleges-for-cognitive-science/

For the undergraduate study of cognitive science, it ranks URochester 12th nationally and Case Western Reserve 26th.

College transitions Methodology is not about academic quality. It’s a ranking of graduation rates and salary, which is mostly locale and choices, not having much at all to do with the college itself. I wish people stopped posting this poor source as fact.

It’s as valid as the link someone posted ranking graduate schools by publications as a valid ranking for undergraduate studies.

These are all major research universities. It’s weird that someone concerned with undergraduate teaching would waste time looking for those rankings. Go to the R1 cause you want the best research available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we supposed to know what "strong standard" means? Is that a B student? A C+ student?

Agreed this is all just a bit too vague. Disliking the college transitions booster.

There is no College Transitions booster. And what's your contribution here?

There’s an ai booster. It’s pretty obvious and hopefully Jeff starts getting rid of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never seen or heard anyone use that particular, odd phrase before. You travel in very strange circles.

"Strong standard" doesn't make any sense if you are talking about a kid with high SATs and grades. That's not what the word "Standard" means....

It's standard strong. IECs and AOs use it ALL the time.

Never heard of it. Must be a very niche private school thing.

[Anonymous]

You're hired! Can you do this for similar profile from a MCPS public?

Anonymous wrote:Here's a suggested school list:

Male
(Full pay?)
GPA is 3.9UW/4.5W;
SAT 1510;
The highest rigor at a private school.
Major interests: economics & cog science


Reach (choose 1 for ED and 1 for ED2 in the event of ED1 rejection):
Northwestern
UChicago
CMU
WashU


Target:
Case
Lehigh
Denison
UMiami
Tulane
Wake
Northweastern
BU
BC
Villanova

Likely:
Pitt (rolling - apply in August)
Syracuse
Vermont
CU-Boulder
Dickinson
Elon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have a beautifully simple option sitting right in front of you.

If your son really likes William & Mary, I'd encourage him to just apply there ED and be done with it. Only a small handful of the reachy private schools people have listed would possibly give him a "better" experience than W&M, admissions to all of them would be iffy, and absolutely none of those would be cheaper than the in-state rate at W&M. Set the money you save aside in undergrad to help with law school (or other grad school).

(Also have him check out W&M's adventure program: https://www.wm.edu/offices/wellness/campusrec/programs/outdoorrec/trips/ )

OP here, we are OOS but if DS wanted to do this I would fully supportive. I agree there are great benefits to finishing the college process early and especially to minimizing the stress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its a phrase used by some expensive private counselors and on an obscure podcast.

Normal people have no idea what OP is referring to with that phrase.

Admissions officers at colleges use the phrase “standard strong” when going to committee and evaluating applicants. They created it not DCUM.

100%

They also use the term average excellent to describe top kids without anything which stands out. These would be the high stats kids who get shut out every year because they swim in a big pool with little differentiation which means it's a lottery for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we supposed to know what "strong standard" means? Is that a B student? A C+ student?

Agreed this is all just a bit too vague. Disliking the college transitions booster.

There is no College Transitions booster. And what's your contribution here?

There’s an ai booster. It’s pretty obvious and hopefully Jeff starts getting rid of them

What's an ai booster?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have a beautifully simple option sitting right in front of you.

If your son really likes William & Mary, I'd encourage him to just apply there ED and be done with it. Only a small handful of the reachy private schools people have listed would possibly give him a "better" experience than W&M, admissions to all of them would be iffy, and absolutely none of those would be cheaper than the in-state rate at W&M. Set the money you save aside in undergrad to help with law school (or other grad school).

(Also have him check out W&M's adventure program: https://www.wm.edu/offices/wellness/campusrec/programs/outdoorrec/trips/ )

OP here, we are OOS but if DS wanted to do this I would fully supportive. I agree there are great benefits to finishing the college process early and especially to minimizing the stress.

Ah, sorry about that; I conflated your post with a different one from a Virginia resident. FWIW, we were in a similar position to you (we're in California) and our two were looking for medium-sized, undergrad-teaching-focused universities where they could still do research, etc. The science-y one was drawn to Rice, the humanities-y one was drawn to WashU. Both were WL'd at their reach schools, but are now at W&M. Even with the OOS cost, it's been an absolutely fantastic experience. I 100% recommend it as a school to keep on the shortlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we supposed to know what "strong standard" means? Is that a B student? A C+ student?

Agreed this is all just a bit too vague. Disliking the college transitions booster.

There is no College Transitions booster. And what's your contribution here?

There’s an ai booster. It’s pretty obvious and hopefully Jeff starts getting rid of them

What's an ai booster?

An ai made to boost schools, websites, etc. A lot of the internet is bots, not real people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we supposed to know what "strong standard" means? Is that a B student? A C+ student?

Agreed this is all just a bit too vague. Disliking the college transitions booster.

There is no College Transitions booster. And what's your contribution here?

There’s an ai booster. It’s pretty obvious and hopefully Jeff starts getting rid of them

What's an ai booster?

An ai made to boost schools, websites, etc. A lot of the internet is bots, not real people.

Does the entity know that it's artificial? Or is it, to speculate wildly, implanted with human-like memories?

[Anonymous]

GMU has an excellent Economics program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have a beautifully simple option sitting right in front of you.

If your son really likes William & Mary, I'd encourage him to just apply there ED and be done with it. Only a small handful of the reachy private schools people have listed would possibly give him a "better" experience than W&M, admissions to all of them would be iffy, and absolutely none of those would be cheaper than the in-state rate at W&M. Set the money you save aside in undergrad to help with law school (or other grad school).

(Also have him check out W&M's adventure program: https://www.wm.edu/offices/wellness/campusrec/programs/outdoorrec/trips/ )

We know little of OP’s economic situation. Why are you trying so badly to force this kid in state?