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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

Being an athlete is an earned credential as well. It is all a numbers game and an applicant either has a story that catches the eye, or they don't. There are thousands of talented, hard working students out there, and the most selective colleges really have their pick of how they want to round out a class. [/quote]

Of course recruited athlete is an earned credential and of course the college can do whatever they’d like in admissions but it is important to distinguish between something an applicant has genuinely earned vs. something they just happen to be, like a legacy or an URM.[/quote]

There is a world of difference between being a legacy and being an URM.  Succeeding in high school as a minority doesn't "just happen" it is earned.[/quote]

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