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[quote=Anonymous][quote]I would skip most of the top 20 or so schools entirely. Skip the ivies and all the swanky New England SLACs, skip Stanford and Chicago. Reaches should be top schools in the south or midwest that don't get the same volume of applicants that the big hitters do, e.g., Carleton and Davidson, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory. Maybe Pomona and Claremont McKenna.[/quote]

Eh, I don't know.  It's important to be realistic, but if she is a B+/A- student at a top private with great test scores, I think it's ok to have a few top (not Harvard, Yale, Stanford level, but Chicago/New England SLAC/Dartmouth level) as reaches.  It is not always so cut and dry in terms of who gets in.  There is always someone who gets into their super reach, and someone who gets into only their safety who seems like a shoo in.  If there is an "elite" school she is in love with, sometimes ED can push a borderline student over the edge.  For some of those SLACs, a really strong "Why Swarthmore" or whatever essay can make a difference.  FWIW I graduated high school in the mid-2000s and got into a SLAC that my college counselor said there was no way in hell I'd ever get in due to ED and it being a really good fit for the sort of student I was.  There were also B+/A- students who got into places like Northwestern and Wesleyan, and people with straight As who didn't get in (and I'm not talking about obvious hooks--I'm talking about differences in courseload, essays, and test scores).

Carleton, Davidson, Vanderbilt, Rice, and Emory are all good schools to look at also.  But seriously, make sure you have some "safeties" you are ok with.  Interested in Carleton?  Maybe look at St. Olafs as well.  If you're interested in Pomona, maybe also look at Pitzer.  A lot of people use Tulane as a safety.[/quote]

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