I would ED at a place like Tufts, Wake Forest, Davidson, Emory, CMU

a slight step down from WashU STL or Rice, but your child would have a chance at least as they would be near the 75th percentile or higher and EDing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a kid like this, doesn’t it really pay to ED somewhere? I would think the chance of getting in regular decision is pretty hard for the T20 or T25 schools for anyone.

Or do you just apply to 15 fancy schools RD and hope one takes?

He’ll need matches and safeties too, regardless of whether he EDs or not. Case might be a match, the other schools are all reaches. Maryland could be another match. This admission cycle has been brutal for high stat kids and next year likely to be the same.

It depends on the school. They have to look at the CDS, where they likely fall in the applicant pool, and how much of the class does this school fill with ED. This site has a summary of some of the ED stats https://www.bigjeducationalconsulting.com/resources.

If the school is a top choice and it’s a low reach/hard target and there is an advantage to ED, then yes it pays to ED if you can afford to do so. There are also reasons not to ED, maybe the top choice school doesn’t offer it, not sure of top choice, or family has to compare offers.

Anonymous wrote:

Another person did this and I thought it was a great idea. Need help coming up with a list.

DS
physics
UW GPA - 3.95
WGPA - 4.7
SAT - if PSAT is a guide, will be 1550 or above
Decent ECs but nothing too unusual - music and a weird sport
Will have had 1 Internship
No hooks
Competitive MD public

Looking for a medium-size school, east coast, Midwest or south (likes the idea of warm weather) not a party school or heavy Greek system

We definitely have ideas (Rice is one I’d like him to apply to, eg) but I’m curious to see if there are ideas we haven’t considered.

Hope the original PP doesn’t mind me piggybacking here.

My big issue is that I don’t know if it’s a good idea for him to focus on schools with amazing physics programs or just some place with great undergraduate teaching, since he will likely go to graduate school.

Outside the T20, leading schools in the sciences tend to be Public schools. If your kid is a good student, then don't worry about schools that teach vs schools that focus on research. A top student at a public school like a Berkeley or Michigan should be able to get world class research opportunities even as an undergrad. Physics is not that sought after (unlike CS for example) so I'd aim for the tippy top schools.

Top feeders (per capita) to physics Ph.D. programs:

1. California Institute of Technology
2. Harvey Mudd College
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4. Reed College
5. Haverford College
6. Swarthmore College
7. Carleton College
8. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
9. Grinnell College
10. University of Chicago
11. Princeton University
12. University of Rochester
13. St. John's College
14. Pomona College
15. Kenyon College
16. Cornell University
17. Williams College
18. Rice University
19. Yale University
20. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

(https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-phd-programs#physics)

Anonymous wrote:For a kid like this, doesn’t it really pay to ED somewhere? I would think the chance of getting in regular decision is pretty hard for the T20 or T25 schools for anyone.

Or do you just apply to 15 fancy schools RD and hope one takes?

He’ll need matches and safeties too, regardless of whether he EDs or not. Case might be a match, the other schools are all reaches. Maryland could be another match. This admission cycle has been brutal for high stat kids and next year likely to be the same.

For a kid like this, doesn’t it really pay to ED somewhere? I would think the chance of getting in regular decision is pretty hard for the T20 or T25 schools for anyone.

Or do you just apply to 15 fancy schools RD and hope one takes?

Weird sport might be pickleball or ultimate frisbee or javelin catching. Regardless, not an admissions boost.

How firm is the warm weather preference? Without that, I would echo Wash U and Case Western.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Another person did this and I thought it was a great idea. Need help coming up with a list.

DS
physics
UW GPA - 3.95
WGPA - 4.7
SAT - if PSAT is a guide, will be 1550 or above
Decent ECs but nothing too unusual - music and a weird sport
Will have had 1 Internship
No hooks
Competitive MD public

Looking for a medium-size school, east coast, Midwest or south (likes the idea of warm weather) not a party school or heavy Greek system

We definitely have ideas (Rice is one I’d like him to apply to, eg) but I’m curious to see if there are ideas we haven’t considered.

Hope the original PP doesn’t mind me piggybacking here.

My big issue is that I don’t know if it’s a good idea for him to focus on schools with amazing physics programs or just some place with great undergraduate teaching, since he will likely go to graduate school.

If the internship is full time (in summer) and paid, and you don’t mind a Hail Mary, try Harvard! My DD knows lots of physics majors there. The weird sport might make your DS interesting to them.

Disagree, op’s son definitely a strong student but doesn’t have the extracurriculars it takes for an unhooked kid to get into Harvard. Weird sport won’t do it.

Duke
Georgia Tech
Rice
Carnegie Mellon

What do you consider mid size?

Some of your criteria aren’t met by all the schools

Also, are you full pay? Some of these are pricey.

Anonymous wrote:

Another person did this and I thought it was a great idea. Need help coming up with a list.

DS
physics
UW GPA - 3.95
WGPA - 4.7
SAT - if PSAT is a guide, will be 1550 or above
Decent ECs but nothing too unusual - music and a weird sport
Will have had 1 Internship
No hooks
Competitive MD public

Looking for a medium-size school, east coast, Midwest or south (likes the idea of warm weather) not a party school or heavy Greek system

We definitely have ideas (Rice is one I’d like him to apply to, eg) but I’m curious to see if there are ideas we haven’t considered.

Hope the original PP doesn’t mind me piggybacking here.

My big issue is that I don’t know if it’s a good idea for him to focus on schools with amazing physics programs or just some place with great undergraduate teaching, since he will likely go to graduate school.

If the internship is full time (in summer) and paid, and you don’t mind a Hail Mary, try Harvard! My DD knows lots of physics majors there. The weird sport might make your DS interesting to them.

Not a party school with excellent academics — Emory, Rice, Wash U, Chicago (ED). All are considered reach for all schools, so you will also need matches and and likelies.

My oldest is a senior in Hs, and has nearly identical stats and interests to your son except that he preferred cold weather (so apologies if this list is not too useful). We are in MCPS. We basically ignored the interest in physics for the reason the PP cited, that who knows what DS might actually major in so don’t pick a college based on that. Colleges on his list: Case Western, Wash U, Tufts, Rochester, William & Mary, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pitt, UMD. Some are bigger than his expressed interest, but if so the plan is/was to apply to the honors colleges at those schools to create a smaller community - also we thought it was good to keep open the option of a larger uni since we noticed his preferences evolve in some ways throughout the process and there is a large gap in time between fall applications and spring admittance.

If DS had preferred warmer weather, we would have added Rice and Emory, possibly some UCs.

Anonymous wrote:

Another person did this and I thought it was a great idea. Need help coming up with a list.

DS
physics
UW GPA - 3.95
WGPA - 4.7
SAT - if PSAT is a guide, will be 1550 or above
Decent ECs but nothing too unusual - music and a weird sport
Will have had 1 Internship
No hooks
Competitive MD public

Looking for a medium-size school, east coast, Midwest or south (likes the idea of warm weather) not a party school or heavy Greek system

We definitely have ideas (Rice is one I’d like him to apply to, eg) but I’m curious to see if there are ideas we haven’t considered.

Hope the original PP doesn’t mind me piggybacking here.

My big issue is that I don’t know if it’s a good idea for him to focus on schools with amazing physics programs or just some place with great undergraduate teaching, since he will likely go to graduate school.

Tour DS is a junior? One thing I can say is that its highly unlikely that your DS will still want to major in physics in 3.5 years when he's likely to have to declare a major. Pick the best overall school

Another person did this and I thought it was a great idea. Need help coming up with a list.

DS
physics
UW GPA - 3.95
WGPA - 4.7
SAT - if PSAT is a guide, will be 1550 or above
Decent ECs but nothing too unusual - music and a weird sport
Will have had 1 Internship
No hooks
Competitive MD public

Looking for a medium-size school, east coast, Midwest or south (likes the idea of warm weather) not a party school or heavy Greek system

We definitely have ideas (Rice is one I’d like him to apply to, eg) but I’m curious to see if there are ideas we haven’t considered.

Hope the original PP doesn’t mind me piggybacking here.

My big issue is that I don’t know if it’s a good idea for him to focus on schools with amazing physics programs or just some place with great undergraduate teaching, since he will likely go to graduate school.