Safety schools for high achievers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To clarify for everyone replying to the chat - DD has a 1560 SAT (800 verbal, 760 math) and 4.8 weighted GPA, and yes she is applying to all 25 top schools except UCLA, UCB, MIT, Caltech. ECs are nothing too noteworthy, but she is a prolific writer and has won many writing contests and has published poems for a close to mainstream publication. She plans on majoring in English.

What safety schools are on the list? A lot of kids have stats like your kids.

Like I was saying in the original post - we view Michigan, Emory, USC as the safe schools. The naviance data at our HS supports this.

Others on this thread are trying to tell you...take every kid with 1560 and higher, just in the US. That is over 100,000 kids. Add to it the varsity athletes, the theater award winners, the full pay legacies who are "good enough" and the economic and racial diversity with stories too good to pass up and you have well over 200,000 kids. Those 200,000 are vying for, call it, 25,000 slots. Add to it all the kids who have great stories or other hooks and you start to get to 500,000 kids. Now add the international students, who are full pay for the most part. All of the sudden, you can see where 4% of applicants gain admission to these top 25 schools, including Emory, USC and Michigan, that you seem to think are safeties.

The math just isn't with your kid...or ANY kid. Assume a 4% chance at ANY of these schools (maybe Michigan is a little higher just because they have a bigger Freshman class)

Find some actual safeties that your DD will be happy with.

I think it is only around 5000 students earning 1560 or higher per Prepscholar but I agree with your main point. It is really hard for a high stats kid without a hook. I agree with all the PPs who are encouraging you to help your dd identify at least 2 safety schools. It is also madness to apply to 20+ schools imo.
My kid had nearly identical stats. Applied to a mixture of schools including several in the 30s range. Is now at our state flagship
Find a couple of safeties and try to get her to love them!!
I also think it is odd that an English major isn’t interested in a slac

[Anonymous]

OP’s kid’s looking only at top 25 schools simply because she’s looking for top 25 most eligible bachelors. Is that so wrong? If the poor bastard is number 26, just drop him. Go girl!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP’s kid’s looking only at top 25 schools simply because she’s looking for top 25 most eligible bachelors. Is that so wrong? If the poor bastard is number 26, just drop him. Go girl!

You are a sexist idiot, from another era, who belongs back there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP’s kid’s looking only at top 25 schools simply because she’s looking for top 25 most eligible bachelors. Is that so wrong? If the poor bastard is number 26, just drop him. Go girl!

You are a sexist idiot, from another era, who belongs back there.

Can't imagine you would say this to a male with those credentials.

We have a long way to go as long as there are people like you in this world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC had similar stats and excellent ec's but was not an athlete or URM or legacy. Guess what- he did not get into a "top" school. He is at a great state school and extremely happy and doing exceptionally well. Our experience is that if you have a top student, it is not so easy to get into Michigan or Emory because they think you will get in to a better school and go elsewhere. They all want a high yield. I would really think long and hard about making sure your child will be happy at every school on their list because they may end up at a school they never dreamed of attending. It is a total crapshoot.

+1 I know the world is different now, but to try and circumvent this, we visited my daughter's safety schools to show interest and any other schools that had a tendency to yield protect.

[Anonymous]

A lot of top schools are looking to get rid of test scores - too preppable if you have $$ and too biased. They want to know how she spent her time, and that she will be a unique addition to the campus community. They want something besides writing and getting good grades. If everyone at your school is aiming high, you would know that they are demonstrating passions and not relying solely on numbers. You can’t list studying USNWR rankings as an EC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP’s kid’s looking only at top 25 schools simply because she’s looking for top 25 most eligible bachelors. Is that so wrong? If the poor bastard is number 26, just drop him. Go girl!

You are a sexist idiot, from another era, who belongs back there.

Can't imagine you would say this to a male with those credentials.

We have a long way to go as long as there are people like you in this world.

Everyone’s trying to figure out this OP. I’m doing my part to explain OP’s thinking. OP is probably thinking the kid can fall in love with top 25 just as well as she can with number 100. This is not my thinking. This is what OP thinks.

[Anonymous]

I understand why everyone is bashing OP. However, how difficult is it to get into an English program at the T25 schools? How many high stats kids want to major in English? Doesn't that give her daughter a fair shot at one of those schools, esp. at Vandy, Rice, Notre Dame, Emory, Georgetown or Ann Arbor?

[Anonymous]

No, not at all. Zero help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP’s kid’s looking only at top 25 schools simply because she’s looking for top 25 most eligible bachelors. Is that so wrong? If the poor bastard is number 26, just drop him. Go girl!

You are a sexist idiot, from another era, who belongs back there.

Can't imagine you would say this to a male with those credentials.

We have a long way to go as long as there are people like you in this world.

Everyone’s trying to figure out this OP. I’m doing my part to explain OP’s thinking. OP is probably thinking the kid can fall in love with top 25 just as well as she can with number 100. This is not my thinking. This is what OP thinks.

If you are correct, and the kid can fall in love with any school (of any type/size/location/culture) just based upon the number that USNWR assigns to it....that is what is off.

What is the kid a shapeshifter?

Kids really should, by that age, have some preferences with regard to the type of environment they feel at home in.

I am worried that this kid/parent are just going to SHOVE her into the highest number school that admits her and she will mimic those around her. What a formula for (or indicator of) poor mental health and low self esteem.

[Anonymous]

And the parent is clearly an enabler (or perhaps instigator) to go along with this girls whacky scheme.

Sad case all around.

If the kid/family had some center of gravity within themselves, it sounds like she could do quite well.

[Anonymous]

I think OP is a troll, you suckers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, not at all. Zero help.

That said, it’s really none of your business who she wants to marry into. T25 do have a reputation as RICH ivy rejects. If it’s T25 or bust, that’s her own business.

[Anonymous]

I would have her think about what city/region she wants to live in after college and apply to a selective school in that city. If you are going to live in Austin, Texas A&M would be a great choice.

[Anonymous]

I would also add that if child is a match for schools- say Michigan & Emory- don't count on getting in to that tier of schools either. In some ways, I think that is the hardest tier to predict. Reaches are a crapshoot, but the matches are where the schools really want to know you are their first choice. We knew many kids with lower stats who got into schools that on paper were matches for my DC but probably a bit of a reach for others. You have competition at every level. You must go for safeties with very high admit rates- no matter what your child's stats are- especially in this area.