1480-1550 is the mid SAT range at Wash U. There are lower SAT scores at Stanford.

My goodness! OPs question was what makes a good match for a kid with those stats not whatever many questions you all seem to he answering instead. Wash U, Emory, and GT are good answers I’ve seen for lower reaches. Seven sisters and related LACs that aren’t top five but still elite are some other good options.

Anonymous wrote:3.8 unweighted could consider Colgate, Wesleyan, Bucknell, Lehigh, Colby, Bates, Middlebury, Tufts, Wash U, Emory. Lots of schools in that range.

Yes, ask her her take a look at these (a mix of high matches/low reaches and regular matches/targets).
For other mid-sized and small schools that would be target /low target, ask her to take a look at: Case Western (excellent school, but stronger in STEM / health sciences / - is she looking to be a humanities major? their econ department looked good, but I don't know about other humanities there), U. Richmond, Fordham, Davidson, Denison, Kenyon, Macalester, Barnard, Oberlin, Wooster, Skidmore, Grinnell, Bowdoin, Dickinson, Allegheny. She could read about them in the Princeton Guide and see what appeals to her.

And I agree that it's worth looking at a couple of the other smaller Virginia schools as safeties (CNU, UMW), unless there's a safety or two out of state she ends up preferring. It's good to have a range of schools that she's applying to.

These are good stats! No wonder most kids these days have mental health issues. OP, please let your kid apply to whatever college she wants to as they look at the total package and some standardized test scores are not required or optional.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the advice so far. I’ll try and answer some of the Qs abt DD. She has no interest in big state Us (otherwise we’d be pushing UVA a lot harder) so her only state school pick is WM which she’s not crazy about but we wanted her to pick one to look at. We took her to our alma maters (UT and Mich) and she had no interest. She did one thing that garnered a bit of national press attention (feel good local story tv story, articles in some national papers and magazines, a small award or two) which she is writing her common app on but other than that her activities are pretty standard. I’m white and DH is Persian (I guess technically also white) so no URM.

If the 15,000+ schools are out (UVA, JMU, VT, GMU), that leaves a ton of options like CNU, Longwood, Mary Washington, ODU...and those are more realistic options for her. With her GPA, she is probably just above average in her class, so stop pushing the highly selective schools. Check the scattergrams as mentioned earlier.

OP's kid is better than the schools you've listed. I wouldn't send my kid with her stats to any of the second tier VA schools.

So out-of-state second tier is better than VA second tier? Why? Because they cost more? Because you have to put the kid on a plane to get there? Some people might be impressed by the implied message about wealth that comes when you say your kid goes to an out-of-State school, but it’s bizarre to say those schools are better than the Virginia schools that are similar in selectivity/rank.

The thing is that there are plenty of flagship out of state schools that are ranked HIGHER than the second tier in Virginia. Those are the out of state schools they are sending their children to- not equally ranked out of state second tier schools.

And double the cost. Better to save that money for grad school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the advice so far. I’ll try and answer some of the Qs abt DD. She has no interest in big state Us (otherwise we’d be pushing UVA a lot harder) so her only state school pick is WM which she’s not crazy about but we wanted her to pick one to look at. We took her to our alma maters (UT and Mich) and she had no interest. She did one thing that garnered a bit of national press attention (feel good local story tv story, articles in some national papers and magazines, a small award or two) which she is writing her common app on but other than that her activities are pretty standard. I’m white and DH is Persian (I guess technically also white) so no URM.

If the 15,000+ schools are out (UVA, JMU, VT, GMU), that leaves a ton of options like CNU, Longwood, Mary Washington, ODU...and those are more realistic options for her. With her GPA, she is probably just above average in her class, so stop pushing the highly selective schools. Check the scattergrams as mentioned earlier.

This post is totally off-base for a 3.8 unweighted. Selective schools are definitely within reach.

Not if they aren’t in an AP program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the advice so far. I’ll try and answer some of the Qs abt DD. She has no interest in big state Us (otherwise we’d be pushing UVA a lot harder) so her only state school pick is WM which she’s not crazy about but we wanted her to pick one to look at. We took her to our alma maters (UT and Mich) and she had no interest. She did one thing that garnered a bit of national press attention (feel good local story tv story, articles in some national papers and magazines, a small award or two) which she is writing her common app on but other than that her activities are pretty standard. I’m white and DH is Persian (I guess technically also white) so no URM.

If the 15,000+ schools are out (UVA, JMU, VT, GMU), that leaves a ton of options like CNU, Longwood, Mary Washington, ODU...and those are more realistic options for her. With her GPA, she is probably just above average in her class, so stop pushing the highly selective schools. Check the scattergrams as mentioned earlier.

This post is totally off-base for a 3.8 unweighted. Selective schools are definitely within reach.

3.8 unweighted could consider Colgate, Wesleyan, Bucknell, Lehigh, Colby, Bates, Middlebury, Tufts, Wash U, Emory. Lots of schools in that range.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the advice so far. I’ll try and answer some of the Qs abt DD. She has no interest in big state Us (otherwise we’d be pushing UVA a lot harder) so her only state school pick is WM which she’s not crazy about but we wanted her to pick one to look at. We took her to our alma maters (UT and Mich) and she had no interest. She did one thing that garnered a bit of national press attention (feel good local story tv story, articles in some national papers and magazines, a small award or two) which she is writing her common app on but other than that her activities are pretty standard. I’m white and DH is Persian (I guess technically also white) so no URM.

If the 15,000+ schools are out (UVA, JMU, VT, GMU), that leaves a ton of options like CNU, Longwood, Mary Washington, ODU...and those are more realistic options for her. With her GPA, she is probably just above average in her class, so stop pushing the highly selective schools. Check the scattergrams as mentioned earlier.

OP's kid is better than the schools you've listed. I wouldn't send my kid with her stats to any of the second tier VA schools.

So out-of-state second tier is better than VA second tier? Why? Because they cost more? Because you have to put the kid on a plane to get there? Some people might be impressed by the implied message about wealth that comes when you say your kid goes to an out-of-State school, but it’s bizarre to say those schools are better than the Virginia schools that are similar in selectivity/rank.

The thing is that there are plenty of flagship out of state schools that are ranked HIGHER than the second tier in Virginia. Those are the out of state schools they are sending their children to- not equally ranked out of state second tier schools.

A 3.8 weighted us not high enough to get into W&M unlesss seriously hooked. Check Naviance and SCHEV stAtustics

The top 20-30 schools are crap shoots for nearly every student with stellar stats. Then they have target/safeties in a clump for the rest. There are too many extremely good students and not enough spots at those schools. However, the great thing is- that there are tons of other fabulous schools and your DC can look around and find the schools that they really like and fit.

Anonymous wrote:Respectfully, looking at your daughter's profile and the schools she's interested in I'd say you're making a big mistake not pushing UVA a lot harder unless you're independently wealthy. Not only is it likely to be the best school she can get into, it's hardly just "state U." It has a decidedly private feel to it and is an academic peer to the schools you've listed. Why on earth would anyone go to Georgetown, for example, over in state UVA? Makes no sense.

You should also be aware that it's probably harder for an in state girl to get into W&M than UVA. A 3.8 is actually low for both schools unless it's unweighted and she has loads of AP classes.

3.8 is unweighted

OP hasn't answered whether the 3.8 is weighted or unweighted. If it's weighted UVA and W&M are likely both out of reach, even ED (but could try). So I would suggest insisting on an in-state safety--maybe JMU?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the advice so far. I’ll try and answer some of the Qs abt DD. She has no interest in big state Us (otherwise we’d be pushing UVA a lot harder) so her only state school pick is WM which she’s not crazy about but we wanted her to pick one to look at. We took her to our alma maters (UT and Mich) and she had no interest. She did one thing that garnered a bit of national press attention (feel good local story tv story, articles in some national papers and magazines, a small award or two) which she is writing her common app on but other than that her activities are pretty standard. I’m white and DH is Persian (I guess technically also white) so no URM.

If the 15,000+ schools are out (UVA, JMU, VT, GMU), that leaves a ton of options like CNU, Longwood, Mary Washington, ODU...and those are more realistic options for her. With her GPA, she is probably just above average in her class, so stop pushing the highly selective schools. Check the scattergrams as mentioned earlier.

OP's kid is better than the schools you've listed. I wouldn't send my kid with her stats to any of the second tier VA schools.

So out-of-state second tier is better than VA second tier? Why? Because they cost more? Because you have to put the kid on a plane to get there? Some people might be impressed by the implied message about wealth that comes when you say your kid goes to an out-of-State school, but it’s bizarre to say those schools are better than the Virginia schools that are similar in selectivity/rank.

OP, ask her to come up with 10 choices. Let her research it. She'll learn, you'll learn. Even if you let her do ED, since it's still months away, having her consider others would be wise. I don't think the exact definition of safety/match needs to be determined if, at least, she's trust her own research that some are easier to get into than Northwestern.