Hi OP,

I set up the same parameters for my kid’s search. They still applied - and were accepted to Top 50 schools, but they were non-starters for us too because of the costs.

Check out the schools listed by US News as regional schools. Some are not nationally ranked because they are too small, while others are usually below 150 to the mid 200s. Most give generous merit scholarships and many have Honors Colleges or Honors Programs. My DC attends St. Joseph’s University aka St. Joe’s in Philadelphia. A Jesuit school with 4,000 undergrads, the school provides advising from freshman year on, and colleges of pharmacy, arts & science, business, nursing, education, and liberal arts. They also have many combined 3-2 health certification programs such as PA.

DC graduated from a local DMV private with a 3.5 and a 1440 SAT. They were not accepted into St. Joe’s small honors program because of their low-ish HS GPA. They’ve excelled at SJU, being a big fish in a little pond. Lots of great internships, shadowships, study abroad, and honors programs, and hands-on attention from professors. Majoring in finance, this summer they’ll be interning at a best in class global firm with an intern acceptance rate of only 2%.

We read somewhere, early in our search, a research study showing that the best indicator of success is where a kid applies. If they see themselves at Georgetown or Penn, for example, they’ll achieve at that level.

Good luck to your DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Towards the bottom of T30 schools are not extremely selective such as UF, WF, UNC, UVA.
Some T50 schools are more selective than these.
The first cut off would be T25

This is so out of touch and wrong it’s not funny. UNC has an OOS acceptance rate of 8%. UVA has an OOS acceptance rate of 12%.

Just for OOS, 12% is still higher than Tufts and 8% is still higher than Northeastern.

Yes, other extremely selective schools are also extremely selective

Those schools are mainly for in-state students.
Around 25% for instate. 1 out of 4 gets in.
It's not considered extremely selective overall.

Until you look at stats required. Only 25% of people who are in the top 5% of stats get in. You need to do two layers of math when thinking about selectivity.

Anonymous wrote:Since you mentioned the appeal of Hawaii's Asian Studies, here's a list of other colleges with good Asian Studies programs:
https://www.collegexpress.com/lists/list/colleges-with-excellent-asian-studies-programs/110/

Some on that list that might fit:
IU Bloomington
Boulder
U of Denver
U of Oregon

Thank you! I was going to try to find that for them.
Once you are off the T30 or bust, the world of colleges Opens Up.

Keep in mind that even T100 schools are pretty difficult to get into these days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Towards the bottom of T30 schools are not extremely selective such as UF, WF, UNC, UVA.
Some T50 schools are more selective than these.
The first cut off would be T25

This is so out of touch and wrong it’s not funny. UNC has an OOS acceptance rate of 8%. UVA has an OOS acceptance rate of 12%.

Just for OOS, 12% is still higher than Tufts and 8% is still higher than Northeastern.

Yes, other extremely selective schools are also extremely selective

Those schools are mainly for in-state students.
Around 25% for instate. 1 out of 4 gets in.
It's not considered extremely selective overall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Towards the bottom of T30 schools are not extremely selective such as UF, WF, UNC, UVA.
Some T50 schools are more selective than these.
The first cut off would be T25

This is so out of touch and wrong it’s not funny. UNC has an OOS acceptance rate of 8%. UVA has an OOS acceptance rate of 12%.

Just for OOS, 12% is still higher than Tufts and 8% is still higher than Northeastern.

Yes, other extremely selective schools are also extremely selective

Anonymous wrote:

Towards the bottom of T30 schools are not extremely selective such as UF, WF, UNC, UVA.
Some T50 schools are more selective than these.
The first cut off would be T25

This is so out of touch and wrong it’s not funny. UNC has an OOS acceptance rate of 8%. UVA has an OOS acceptance rate of 12%.

Just for OOS, 12% is still higher than Tufts and 8% is still higher than Northeastern.

Towards the bottom of T30 schools are not extremely selective such as UF, WF, UNC, UVA.
Some T50 schools are more selective than these.
The first cut off would be T25

This is so out of touch and wrong it’s not funny. UNC has an OOS acceptance rate of 8%. UVA has an OOS acceptance rate of 12%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UF is about $28k OOS, less than $50k / yr all-in including room and board. Gainesville has a regional airport, but Orlando is also less than 2 hours. Not a suitcase school.

UF is a top school and hard to get into OOS

It's also ranked in the top 30. Not the criteria OP is looking for.

Well, to be fair DC is not opposed to T30 school this is more me learning about what is out there apart from extremely selective schools.

We're CA based. Yes, will be leaning into UC options as well - Berkeley is the dream but again, trying to avoid getting hearts set on one school.

Towards the bottom of T30 schools are not extremely selective such as UF, WF, UNC, UVA.
Some T50 schools are more selective than these.
The first cut off would be T25

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UF is about $28k OOS, less than $50k / yr all-in including room and board. Gainesville has a regional airport, but Orlando is also less than 2 hours. Not a suitcase school.

UF is a top school and hard to get into OOS

It's also ranked in the top 30. Not the criteria OP is looking for.

Well, to be fair DC is not opposed to T30 school this is more me learning about what is out there apart from extremely selective schools.

We're CA based. Yes, will be leaning into UC options as well - Berkeley is the dream but again, trying to avoid getting hearts set on one school.

There is a vast array of colleges between Cal and T100, including many UC/CSU schools.

You went from T15 to T100. What about T75? Is that not realistic?

UT Dallas

Since you mentioned the appeal of Hawaii's Asian Studies, here's a list of other colleges with good Asian Studies programs:
https://www.collegexpress.com/lists/list/colleges-with-excellent-asian-studies-programs/110/

Some on that list that might fit:
IU Bloomington
Boulder
U of Denver
U of Oregon

Anonymous wrote:This is OP: back to see what you all had to say and in reading this thread seeing some comments were deleted which is strange. For PP's who posted school lists please re-post if you don't mind!

Anyone with experience with University of Hawaii? I know that's slightly lower than T200 but curious - DC was intrigued by the focus on Asian studies/Japanese. They don't have a true "pre-law" but rather legal studies. Worried it's a suitcase school with such a high % of non-mainland students…

3.9 UW, excellent EC's and out of school volunteerism both with long time commitment & leadership. Rigorous class schedule, two different Honors science classes per year so far (school offers as EC's in other subjects apart from the usual Bio/Chem etc. e.g. Neuroscience Honors). DC is in 10th grade, we have time but I'd like to learn more about options all over the board vs. just focusing on T20 schools that seem so incredibly hard to get into year in/year out based on what I read on the boards here. Trying to cast a wide net, not have DC get their heart set on one school and feel celebratory when the time comes they get into a school they love based on what it offers and the fit and not that it fits into some mold of a "name" or rank.

U of Delaware, Rutgers, U of Utah, ASU, U of Arizona

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UF is about $28k OOS, less than $50k / yr all-in including room and board. Gainesville has a regional airport, but Orlando is also less than 2 hours. Not a suitcase school.

UF is a top school and hard to get into OOS

It's also ranked in the top 30. Not the criteria OP is looking for.

Well, to be fair DC is not opposed to T30 school this is more me learning about what is out there apart from extremely selective schools.

We're CA based. Yes, will be leaning into UC options as well - Berkeley is the dream but again, trying to avoid getting hearts set on one school.

This is OP: back to see what you all had to say and in reading this thread seeing some comments were deleted which is strange. For PP's who posted school lists please re-post if you don't mind!

Anyone with experience with University of Hawaii? I know that's slightly lower than T200 but curious - DC was intrigued by the focus on Asian studies/Japanese. They don't have a true "pre-law" but rather legal studies. Worried it's a suitcase school with such a high % of non-mainland students…

3.9 UW, excellent EC's and out of school volunteerism both with long time commitment & leadership. Rigorous class schedule, two different Honors science classes per year so far (school offers as EC's in other subjects apart from the usual Bio/Chem etc. e.g. Neuroscience Honors). DC is in 10th grade, we have time but I'd like to learn more about options all over the board vs. just focusing on T20 schools that seem so incredibly hard to get into year in/year out based on what I read on the boards here. Trying to cast a wide net, not have DC get their heart set on one school and feel celebratory when the time comes they get into a school they love based on what it offers and the fit and not that it fits into some mold of a "name" or rank.