Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 10:14     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Does your DC prefer a mid-sized school? McGill is huge- my DS considered it, because he is fluent in French and the idea of using his language skills in Montreal was of interest, but the intro lecture classes with 600-800 other kids didn't appeal to him. He's at Brown in CS/Engineering right now. The other schools that have a vibe similar to Brown (at least to me, from the many tours we've done) were Oberlin- the campus felt very similar and we were impressed with everything from science offerings to the strength in music. Wesleyan U- very similar student body, lots of kids use it as a backup school if they love Brown, and Brandeis - my kid spends time up there with his club sport and says the students he interacts with are very similar to Brown students- quirky, nerdy, friendly kids. Plus it's the second smallest R1 and the science offerings are extremely strong. Case Western is also worth a look, but demonstrate interest. My DS was rejected from Case but accepted at Brown (we didn't tour/do any online info sessions at CWRU)
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 10:11     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:
My DC was similar except he didn't like Brown, and nixed Rice due to weather and distance. He had Georgetown, Emory, Williams, Cornell, Wesleyan, and BU (honors program) on his RD list.


Did your Dc get into some of these during RD?
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 10:10     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:High reaches are Yale and Brown; more realistic reach is Rice. DD’s school has near 100% acceptance rate to Rice in past 5-7 years in ED round with stats similar to DD’s but DD may not choose to ED there. Don’t know if those accepts include legacy (which we’re not); we know they were not athletes or Questbridge. If DD decide to ED Brown or SCEA Yale, will need target schools ready for RD round. This is for next year.

Safeties are EA early at Pitt and McGill, both also have 100% acceptance rate for DD’s stats and rank from her school.

Looking for suggestions for more attainable reaches and target colleges similar to Yale, Brown and Rice. DD most interested in interdisciplinary studies (science and language), want a research university with collaborative, learning for learning’s sake culture, not pre-professional. Full pay from well respected private HS known to elite colleges but otherwise an unhooked applicant, top 10% of class. Every year top 35% of class get into Ivy+ WASP but we don’t know how many are legacy (not many are athletes).

Thanks!


Science and language? Pretty broad. Can't advise on best schools without truly knowing what your kid wants to study. I mean certain schools do certain majors a lot better than others in preparing their graduates. For instance, if by science you mean CS or Engineering, my list will be very different. If by science you mean Biology or say Chemistry etc. then I'd say you are wide open for whatever school.


Likely chemistry and English or Latin
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 10:08     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
With the exception of research university, Wesleyan fits the bill. And it is a university with a small graduate program (mostly in the sciences), so it’s a little bigger than other SLACs (3000+) and has good research opportunities.

It’s collaborative, interdisciplinary, and not preprofessional. Lots of overlap with Brown in terms of applicants.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 10:07     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:High reaches are Yale and Brown; more realistic reach is Rice. DD’s school has near 100% acceptance rate to Rice in past 5-7 years in ED round with stats similar to DD’s but DD may not choose to ED there. Don’t know if those accepts include legacy (which we’re not); we know they were not athletes or Questbridge. If DD decide to ED Brown or SCEA Yale, will need target schools ready for RD round. This is for next year.

Safeties are EA early at Pitt and McGill, both also have 100% acceptance rate for DD’s stats and rank from her school.

Looking for suggestions for more attainable reaches and target colleges similar to Yale, Brown and Rice. DD most interested in interdisciplinary studies (science and language), want a research university with collaborative, learning for learning’s sake culture, not pre-professional. Full pay from well respected private HS known to elite colleges but otherwise an unhooked applicant, top 10% of class. Every year top 35% of class get into Ivy+ WASP but we don’t know how many are legacy (not many are athletes).

Thanks!


Science and language? Pretty broad. Can't advise on best schools without truly knowing what your kid wants to study. I mean certain schools do certain majors a lot better than others in preparing their graduates. For instance, if by science you mean CS or Engineering, my list will be very different. If by science you mean Biology or say Chemistry etc. then I'd say you are wide open for whatever school.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 10:00     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Michigan
NYU
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 09:59     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Case
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 09:59     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
My kids top two were Yale and Brown (ended up at one of them). Other schools they liked were Notre Dame and I think they would have liked WashU based on what we've learned about it since applying. The things you described were also what they were looking for.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 09:55     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:High reaches are Yale and Brown; more realistic reach is Rice. DD’s school has near 100% acceptance rate to Rice in past 5-7 years in ED round with stats similar to DD’s but DD may not choose to ED there. Don’t know if those accepts include legacy (which we’re not); we know they were not athletes or Questbridge. If DD decide to ED Brown or SCEA Yale, will need target schools ready for RD round. This is for next year.

Safeties are EA early at Pitt and McGill, both also have 100% acceptance rate for DD’s stats and rank from her school.

Looking for suggestions for more attainable reaches and target colleges similar to Yale, Brown and Rice. DD most interested in interdisciplinary studies (science and language), want a research university with collaborative, learning for learning’s sake culture, not pre-professional. Full pay from well respected private HS known to elite colleges but otherwise an unhooked applicant, top 10% of class. Every year top 35% of class get into Ivy+ WASP but we don’t know how many are legacy (not many are athletes).

Thanks!

With the amount of detail provided, I'm guessing you already have your entire list of schools.


OP here - literally don’t. Only have Yale, Brown, Rice bc those are DD’s favorite from school she has toured to date. Pitt and McGill are just what everyone does at her school with her stats. Looking for suggestions in between. TIA


My DC was similar except he didn't like Brown, and nixed Rice due to weather and distance. He had Georgetown, Emory, Williams, Cornell, Wesleyan, and BU (honors program) on his RD list.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 09:51     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:High reaches are Yale and Brown; more realistic reach is Rice. DD’s school has near 100% acceptance rate to Rice in past 5-7 years in ED round with stats similar to DD’s but DD may not choose to ED there. Don’t know if those accepts include legacy (which we’re not); we know they were not athletes or Questbridge. If DD decide to ED Brown or SCEA Yale, will need target schools ready for RD round. This is for next year.

Safeties are EA early at Pitt and McGill, both also have 100% acceptance rate for DD’s stats and rank from her school.

Looking for suggestions for more attainable reaches and target colleges similar to Yale, Brown and Rice. DD most interested in interdisciplinary studies (science and language), want a research university with collaborative, learning for learning’s sake culture, not pre-professional. Full pay from well respected private HS known to elite colleges but otherwise an unhooked applicant, top 10% of class. Every year top 35% of class get into Ivy+ WASP but we don’t know how many are legacy (not many are athletes).

Thanks!

With the amount of detail provided, I'm guessing you already have your entire list of schools.


OP here - literally don’t. Only have Yale, Brown, Rice bc those are DD’s favorite from school she has toured to date. Pitt and McGill are just what everyone does at her school with her stats. Looking for suggestions in between. TIA
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 09:51     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
William and Mary
UVA
Emory?
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 09:49     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:For a top 10% student at a private, you need to ask the school counselor. There are almost certainly a few T30 schools with near-guaranteed admissions for those kids. Sounds like Rice is one of them, find out what the other ones are. Simple.


Thanks. Plan to do this but we don’t have our scheduled appointment with CC for another 4 weeks so asking now while seeing these ED/EA/rejection trend posts.

Rice looks like only near guaranteed in ED round based on recent Scattergrams so we want more school suggestions for RD round to maximize the odds.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 09:48     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:High reaches are Yale and Brown; more realistic reach is Rice. DD’s school has near 100% acceptance rate to Rice in past 5-7 years in ED round with stats similar to DD’s but DD may not choose to ED there. Don’t know if those accepts include legacy (which we’re not); we know they were not athletes or Questbridge. If DD decide to ED Brown or SCEA Yale, will need target schools ready for RD round. This is for next year.

Safeties are EA early at Pitt and McGill, both also have 100% acceptance rate for DD’s stats and rank from her school.

Looking for suggestions for more attainable reaches and target colleges similar to Yale, Brown and Rice. DD most interested in interdisciplinary studies (science and language), want a research university with collaborative, learning for learning’s sake culture, not pre-professional. Full pay from well respected private HS known to elite colleges but otherwise an unhooked applicant, top 10% of class. Every year top 35% of class get into Ivy+ WASP but we don’t know how many are legacy (not many are athletes).

Thanks!

With the amount of detail provided, I'm guessing you already have your entire list of schools.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 09:44     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
For a top 10% student at a private, you need to ask the school counselor. There are almost certainly a few T30 schools with near-guaranteed admissions for those kids. Sounds like Rice is one of them, find out what the other ones are. Simple.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 09:35     Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
High reaches are Yale and Brown; more realistic reach is Rice. DD’s school has near 100% acceptance rate to Rice in past 5-7 years in ED round with stats similar to DD’s but DD may not choose to ED there. Don’t know if those accepts include legacy (which we’re not); we know they were not athletes or Questbridge. If DD decide to ED Brown or SCEA Yale, will need target schools ready for RD round. This is for next year.

Safeties are EA early at Pitt and McGill, both also have 100% acceptance rate for DD’s stats and rank from her school.

Looking for suggestions for more attainable reaches and target colleges similar to Yale, Brown and Rice. DD most interested in interdisciplinary studies (science and language), want a research university with collaborative, learning for learning’s sake culture, not pre-professional. Full pay from well respected private HS known to elite colleges but otherwise an unhooked applicant, top 10% of class. Every year top 35% of class get into Ivy+ WASP but we don’t know how many are legacy (not many are athletes).

Thanks!