Anonymous wrote:My 1490 DS who was a hs senior last year got into two SLACS ranked 5-10, two more in the teens/high 20s (small amount of merit at both) and UVA and W&M. Denied at 2 Ivys (legacy at both, but were known reaches and chose not to ED because these weren’t top choices), waitlisted at another top 10 SLAC (didn’t choose to stay on WL), and into a large solid Midwestern state flagship (merit). Full pay, no hooks, rigorous course load (12 APS with 4a and 5s in the exams, math through BC calc, 4 years foreign language in high school). ECs were strong but nothing remarkable, had summer jobs, attended good NoVa public. Probably got nice LOR from teachers, who liked him, and wrote good essays.

His results were in line with what he expected and he was very happy with his choices. He is currently enjoying his first year at one of the top 10 SLACs, even with the COVID situation.

That's impressive. What was his GPA?

My 1490 DS who was a hs senior last year got into two SLACS ranked 5-10, two more in the teens/high 20s (small amount of merit at both) and UVA and W&M. Denied at 2 Ivys (legacy at both, but were known reaches and chose not to ED because these weren’t top choices), waitlisted at another top 10 SLAC (didn’t choose to stay on WL), and into a large solid Midwestern state flagship (merit). Full pay, no hooks, rigorous course load (12 APS with 4a and 5s in the exams, math through BC calc, 4 years foreign language in high school). ECs were strong but nothing remarkable, had summer jobs, attended good NoVa public. Probably got nice LOR from teachers, who liked him, and wrote good essays.

His results were in line with what he expected and he was very happy with his choices. He is currently enjoying his first year at one of the top 10 SLACs, even with the COVID situation.

Anonymous wrote:OP - Her list is top-heavy. The thing that you should think about is that she will be competing with kids within your school and within the area. It will depend on where her classmates are applying as well. While it is fine for her to apply to top schools, she should identify some other places where she could be happy. Getting a stack of rejections really bothers some kids; others would like to take the chance on a lottery-style reach. I know that travel is difficult right now, but if you can do your best to show her some safeties in person (and no, those aren't Cornell and Michigan), I think you will be glad that you did.

You haven't told us (or at least I may have forgotten after reading through all of the pages) whether she is at a private (and whether top-rated private) or public. It will matter. If she is one of the top kids coming out of her school, she will do better.

Our safeties for a similar score: Colorado College; NYU; SMU; Rhodes; Pepperdine (obviously, we are religious, so might not fit for you); Haverford; Trinity U in San Antonio. Our DS got into all of them, so obviously we had too many, but the merit offers were nice!

Haverford was a safety, PP?! Wow. Congrats to your DS for getting in, too! DC (senior) loves it, but even with a high ACT score and decent grades, would consider it a reach given its acceptance rate!

OP - Her list is top-heavy. The thing that you should think about is that she will be competing with kids within your school and within the area. It will depend on where her classmates are applying as well. While it is fine for her to apply to top schools, she should identify some other places where she could be happy. Getting a stack of rejections really bothers some kids; others would like to take the chance on a lottery-style reach. I know that travel is difficult right now, but if you can do your best to show her some safeties in person (and no, those aren't Cornell and Michigan), I think you will be glad that you did.

You haven't told us (or at least I may have forgotten after reading through all of the pages) whether she is at a private (and whether top-rated private) or public. It will matter. If she is one of the top kids coming out of her school, she will do better.

Our safeties for a similar score: Colorado College; NYU; SMU; Rhodes; Pepperdine (obviously, we are religious, so might not fit for you); Haverford; Trinity U in San Antonio. Our DS got into all of them, so obviously we had too many, but the merit offers were nice!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yale, rice,jhu, vandy

Cornell and Michigan as safeties

This is just so far off for 1490 and 5 APs. Sorry to say. Our child was just in this position with a similar SAT and more than twice as many APs. That's a really nice academic record, the the reality is that the 25-50 ranking range is the place to look for matches and safeties, and maybe add a few reaches in the top 25.

I agree that those schools are a reach, but I don't agree with you PP that more APs automatically means better. I think schools are starting to back off from that. Yes, take challenging courses, including some APs, but also use your time to do extracurriculars or work a job. The kids self-studying to try to do 14 APs just make themselves look more uni-dimensional.

Anonymous wrote:I went to MIT with that score...

It also matters when that was. Scores have been adjusted several times since the 1980s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What it the conventional wisdom about the importance of the SAT this year?

I've heard theories all over the map. Some say your kid is lucky if they got to take the test and have a not-bombing-the-test score. Others say, schools don't care about the SAT at all this year. Others yet say, only kids with terrific scores will send (and therefore an application without scores will appear to be a low score by default).

In years past, with my DS, he and his friends took multiple tests to try to improve scores. This year my DD took it once (did ok, not great) and won't have a chance to retake.

Completely confusing to know what to do.

If you submit, it will be considered at most places. If you don't, it won't. Almost like the difference between kids that have an AP score vs others that don't. Most of the colleges ask you if you want scores to be considered and if you do and provide, they will be.

Isn't there some risk in not submitting? Could risk suggesting that the scores are bad? Even our counselor is saying that not one is entirely clear b/c schools are being a bit dodgy about this issue.

Absolutely! For test optional schools, SAT is an additional data point instead of being a primary data point. All things being equal, a strong SAT WILL make a difference. Just that this year, you have the option not to. Suppose your GPA is 4.2 and the typical expected SAT for this is 1500 (making this up, I'm sure there's advice on this out there), you should submit your scores if you are 1500 or above. If less, don't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What it the conventional wisdom about the importance of the SAT this year?

I've heard theories all over the map. Some say your kid is lucky if they got to take the test and have a not-bombing-the-test score. Others say, schools don't care about the SAT at all this year. Others yet say, only kids with terrific scores will send (and therefore an application without scores will appear to be a low score by default).

In years past, with my DS, he and his friends took multiple tests to try to improve scores. This year my DD took it once (did ok, not great) and won't have a chance to retake.

Completely confusing to know what to do.

If you submit, it will be considered at most places. If you don't, it won't. Almost like the difference between kids that have an AP score vs others that don't. Most of the colleges ask you if you want scores to be considered and if you do and provide, they will be.

Isn't there some risk in not submitting? Could risk suggesting that the scores are bad? Even our counselor is saying that not one is entirely clear b/c schools are being a bit dodgy about this issue.

Anonymous wrote:What it the conventional wisdom about the importance of the SAT this year?

I've heard theories all over the map. Some say your kid is lucky if they got to take the test and have a not-bombing-the-test score. Others say, schools don't care about the SAT at all this year. Others yet say, only kids with terrific scores will send (and therefore an application without scores will appear to be a low score by default).

In years past, with my DS, he and his friends took multiple tests to try to improve scores. This year my DD took it once (did ok, not great) and won't have a chance to retake.

Completely confusing to know what to do.

If you submit, it will be considered at most places. If you don't, it won't. Almost like the difference between kids that have an AP score vs others that don't. Most of the colleges ask you if you want scores to be considered and if you do and provide, they will be.

What it the conventional wisdom about the importance of the SAT this year?

I've heard theories all over the map. Some say your kid is lucky if they got to take the test and have a not-bombing-the-test score. Others say, schools don't care about the SAT at all this year. Others yet say, only kids with terrific scores will send (and therefore an application without scores will appear to be a low score by default).

In years past, with my DS, he and his friends took multiple tests to try to improve scores. This year my DD took it once (did ok, not great) and won't have a chance to retake.

Completely confusing to know what to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan is a safety for 1490

UM is no safety with any test score.

+1. My friend from Michigan got rejected with a 1600.

She absolutely has a good chance at all of the best schools. Congratulations!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS also has a 1490, more rigor (9 APs) but weak ECs. The only highly ranked school he's applying to is UVA. All the other top schools where technically his stats are a match...1) I'm sure he won't get in as your average high-stats white boy with mediocre ECs and 2) even if by some chance he got in, those schools only give need aid which we won't get but we can't afford full pay. It's still highly unlikely he gets into UVA (based on our school's Naviance) but at least if he did, we could pay for it.

I think he'd have a lot better shot at highly ranked SLACs and possibly get merit since boys tend to be at an advantage with SLACs but he really wants the big college experience. So, he's focused on big state schools with honors colleges. Either in-state or OOs that give merit.

Apply to Delaware! He’ll be in the honors college and get aid. It kind of feels like uva. Great school and he’ll love it.

Lol, I was the PP and just saw this. Delaware is on his list for exactly this reason. We were able to tour before everything shut down and he really liked it.

She did great on the test. Please congratulate her!!

Sometimes I think hs counsellors act underwhelmed because they don't want to be blamed if kids get rejected. If they convince kids to aim low, their (the counsellor's) acceptance stats will look good.

Put her stats in perspective nationally. Not just at her elite DMV school. She should understand that she is a highly desirable applicant. This area can distort our kids' perceptions and self esteem.

Anonymous wrote:I agree. 1490 isn't the golden ticket. I have one child in college who scored 1470 of the SAT. He didn't get into any college ranked higher than 35. I have another child who is a high school senior who scored 1490 on the SAT. Submitting applications now.

Our public school has lots of kids with SAT scores in the 1500s. They are really impressive kids in every way (bigger braianiacs than my kids and often with something really special in their character to offer). And even they don't get into some of the colleges they apply to.

Every kid, no matter how high the scores, needs to apply to safety and target schools, plus throw in a reach or two for fun. Good luck!

Don’t you mean he didn’t get into any college ranked LOWER than 35?