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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The student here is definitely on the right track.

The school list is too big — pick 2 of the top privates, 2 of the Big Ten business schools, 2 of the Southern schools, and 2 schools that will provide strong aid. Even with the Common App, there shouldn’t be more than 8-10 schools.

Activities are good but I’m not really seeing the depth and leadership.

Also, they can lead off with marketing/entrepreneurship in essays for the business schools and speak to the woman in business angle for the smaller LACs/selective schools, while tying it back to how the school specifically helps them. If they do a selective school, they can major in really anything and go onto business, so that’s a way they can differentiate. Would recommend an actual business school with direct admit if possible to make the career placement, major, networking process easier as it’s all in one roof.[/quote]

8 to 10 is too few.[/quote]

2-3 safeties, 4-6 matches, 1-2 reaches. The numbers I gave add up to 7-11 but you get the point.

Anything over 10 is overkill. There are only so many top ranked undergrad business schools and selective privates that meet their criteria around ranking, geography, placement outcomes, student experience, etc. [/quote]

She could definitely add more reaches.  We get excellent results at our private and everyone submits over ten if they don’t get in ED/SCEA.[/quote]

If the OP would like to add more reaches, they can do so. I personally don’t see the point of over-concentrating the list towards reaches. I’ve given my advice based on being in the room reading apps as a student. We can tell when someone applied to 12-15 schools: it becomes a lot to track and you want to make the process less arduous where you can.

They have Vandy/Duke/Texas/Michigan (selective schools outright and publics with almost single digit admit rates OOS), Indiana/Ohio State/Wisconsin/UMD (strong big ten publics that still wanna see genuine enthusiasm - different from demonstrated interest), Pitt, Elon, Tulane/SMU. They’re all over the place region wise and need to choose: anchor the process around Vandy/Duke/Michigan ED and a couple of the overall business schools, or lean towards Tulane/SMU/Elon/Pitt, pick one of the selective privates or a selective business public.

At some point, many of the schools on the list become the same, especially since they’re only going into junior year now — tastes change a lot between now and then.[/quote]

You went through the process in 2018, so you are four years out of school? Honestly, while I think your views are relevant, I can see now why hiring a recent college grad to advise on the process is not the way to go. This seems like a highly myopic view of college admissions. For a kid like this (aiming for school like Vanderbilt), tailoring your entire application to get into Indiana is the wrong strategy. At our private, the kids who end up at Indiana often have no other top business school options.

I hope you’re not doing college consulting professionally right now. No insult intended -truly. If you are, read the cues throughout this thread from parents and in the original post.

[b]If the applicant is full pay and from a private HS, and they are aiming for top (T10/20) privates, they are not interested in going down a level just for merit. They are better off thinking through a stronger ED 2 strategy.[/b][/quote]

This. I was the one with the brutally honest opinion above. It seems that we’re saying the same thing. [/quote]

I’m not saying tailor it to one specific school, I’m saying that they need to choose whether to go with the undergrad public business route where they get practical skills or the private route where the major is more liberal arts oriented and the skills are interdisciplinary for business. This person is a rising junior and they have time, I’m just saying the activities need to be tied to a specific narrative that shows depth.

Aiming for T10/20 privates and top undergrad business programs at top publics are completely different. Applying to UMich, Texas business OOS is as competitive as a Vanderbilt/Duke and it requires clarity from the outset. I stand by what I’m saying from apps I’ve read and peers at similar schools OP has listed.[/quote]

This kid wouldn't get into a Ross, Dyson, McCombs, or a Wharton, though - even with everything you are saying. They'd have to settle for something like Indiana, maybe BC if they did ED - if they went the direct admit route. But they could get into Penn CAS or UTexas (Moody Comms & Leadership) or Vanderbilt (HOD) or Northwestern (LOC) and maybe even UVA, depending on their private HS.

I think your advice is generally wrong for an applicant like this. Direct admit isn't where this applicant would be most compelling. My advice = always go to the very best school you get into, if you are full pay and $$$ is not an object. Peer group is everything. The peer group at Vanderbilt or Northwestern will be better than that at Indiana.[/quote]

To reiterate: I think we’re actually talking about two different, but valid, strategies.

One optimizes for brand/peer group at a top private (e.g., Vanderbilt University, Northwestern University), where you study something like HOD, Comm, or Sociology and then recruit into business roles. The other optimizes for a direct, structured business pathway where you’re in the ecosystem from day one.

For OP’s student, the activities read as pretty pre-professional (entrepreneurship, small businesses, student org leadership), which maps cleanly to the second path. That doesn’t mean the first path is off the table, it just requires reframing the story to be more academic/people-focused rather than business-first.

On the “peer group” point, it matters. I’d just frame it a bit differently: strong peer groups exist in both environments, they’re just different types. At an undergrad business school, you’re surrounded by students who are very intentionally focused on business outcomes early. At a place like Vanderbilt or Northwestern, it’s broader and more interdisciplinary.
There isn’t one that is “clearly better”—it’s more about which environment fits the student’s current direction and how they want to position themselves going into recruiting.

Best of luck to OP and family.[/quote]

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