Anonymous
12/25/2025 16:47
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: Op- Thanks for the detailed and very helpful insight! Did your DC apply to Brown ED? Stats similar to my DD’s or higher?
Yes, he did apply ED. White male, unhooked, majoring in engineering. We realize he got very lucky, but he was also in the top 5% of a very competitive private school in a heavily underrepresented state (Appalachian area where few kids apply out of state). He had a 4.0 UW, 35 ACT and great ECs. I think you have some great suggestions here, I particularly like the poster who suggested Tufts, Wesleyan, Vassar, Oberlin, Rochester. I’ve visited all and agree these have a similar vibe/feel.
DD looked at Wes, Vassar, Oberlin and Brandeis. Attends one of those. We looked at Case Western and hated it. It was so different than the other schools. Their info session focused on outcomes after college - no talk about the love of learning or liberal arts. Absolutely joyless. Seemed like a grinder school. We walked out early, so maybe the tour was better.
At 99k per year and you are not interested in looking at outcomes? You are either too out of touch or too ignorant.
Anonymous
12/25/2025 16:42
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How did she feel about Chicago?
No.
OP - that wasn’t me
So, yes?
You can do ED0, highly recommended. If rejected, you can still ED or REA to an Ivy. Sign her up for one of Chicago’s summer programs.
Or you can do EA. They will ask you to switch to ED2. If rejected by your ED school, yes ED2 Chicago is a good option.
Isn’t Chicago the polar opposite of Yale and Brown?
TBH, if you realistically want a T20, Chicago is the easiest one to get in. Yes, Yale and Brown are your dream schools, aren’t they dream schools for too many. Many kids EDed Chicago though their dream schools are Yale Brown or other ivies.
Anonymous
12/25/2025 16:42
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Lehigh should be pretty safe if you show interest (visit etc.)
Anonymous
12/25/2025 16:31
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: Op- Thanks for the detailed and very helpful insight! Did your DC apply to Brown ED? Stats similar to my DD’s or higher?
Yes, he did apply ED. White male, unhooked, majoring in engineering. We realize he got very lucky, but he was also in the top 5% of a very competitive private school in a heavily underrepresented state (Appalachian area where few kids apply out of state). He had a 4.0 UW, 35 ACT and great ECs. I think you have some great suggestions here, I particularly like the poster who suggested Tufts, Wesleyan, Vassar, Oberlin, Rochester. I’ve visited all and agree these have a similar vibe/feel.
DD looked at Wes, Vassar, Oberlin and Brandeis. Attends one of those. We looked at Case Western and hated it. It was so different than the other schools. Their info session focused on outcomes after college - no talk about the love of learning or liberal arts. Absolutely joyless. Seemed like a grinder school. We walked out early, so maybe the tour was better.
Anonymous
12/24/2025 17:44
Subject: Re:Please suggest lower reach and target schools
I don't have much in the way of specific schools to list, but I can tell you (as someone said, from where I also sit in deferral city) what you might think is a safety might just surprise you. I was under the impression at least 6 applications from my kid were safeties and they were all deferrals. I think half of it is yield protection.
The nice thing about Pitt is they open the application August 1 and it's rolling admissions, so you'll know in about 2 weeks. And that does sound like an easy safety if you think Rice is doable.
The hard thing to reconcile is they are all stacked against each other from each school. So if people from her school are all applying to the same place with the same states, she will have to stand out from her classmates. Even 0.01 difference in her GPA could be the differentiator, and that's really hard to swallow because once those Junior Year grades are baked....that's what you're putting forth.
Good luck to you and your DD, OP. I knew it was coming but I was not prepared for living through it.
The nice thing about Pitt is they open the application August 1 and it's rolling admissions, so you'll know in about 2 weeks. And that does sound like an easy safety if you think Rice is doable.
The hard thing to reconcile is they are all stacked against each other from each school. So if people from her school are all applying to the same place with the same states, she will have to stand out from her classmates. Even 0.01 difference in her GPA could be the differentiator, and that's really hard to swallow because once those Junior Year grades are baked....that's what you're putting forth.
Good luck to you and your DD, OP. I knew it was coming but I was not prepared for living through it.
Anonymous
12/24/2025 17:33
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Wesleyan (most like Brown), tufts, WashU, UW- Madison, check out UK schools, UNC Chapel Hill,
DC is in at Northwestern ED for a dual degree program, all these schools were on her list.
All are big lifts, the story for why she wants to study what she wants to study is key to standing out in a sea of high stats.
Good luck.
Second on Northwestern ED! A wonderful school and not as selective as Yale/Brown.
Yes, for the right student. Not for everyone.
Anonymous
12/24/2025 17:16
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:Wesleyan (most like Brown), tufts, WashU, UW- Madison, check out UK schools, UNC Chapel Hill,
DC is in at Northwestern ED for a dual degree program, all these schools were on her list.
All are big lifts, the story for why she wants to study what she wants to study is key to standing out in a sea of high stats.
Good luck.
Second on Northwestern ED! A wonderful school and not as selective as Yale/Brown.
Anonymous
12/24/2025 17:08
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:Tufts
Emory
Case
Wesleyan
Not Emory
Anonymous
12/24/2025 17:07
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:op never mentioned interest in all women’s colleges.
She should consider themM
Anonymous
12/24/2025 16:26
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Wesleyan (most like Brown), tufts, WashU, UW- Madison, check out UK schools, UNC Chapel Hill,
DC is in at Northwestern ED for a dual degree program, all these schools were on her list.
All are big lifts, the story for why she wants to study what she wants to study is key to standing out in a sea of high stats.
Good luck.
DC is in at Northwestern ED for a dual degree program, all these schools were on her list.
All are big lifts, the story for why she wants to study what she wants to study is key to standing out in a sea of high stats.
Good luck.
Anonymous
12/24/2025 16:21
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.
Emory is that at some privates in the South.
Anonymous
12/24/2025 16:16
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Tufts
Emory
Case
Wesleyan
Emory
Case
Wesleyan
Anonymous
12/24/2025 16:07
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How did she feel about Chicago?
No.
OP - that wasn’t me
So, yes?
You can do ED0, highly recommended. If rejected, you can still ED or REA to an Ivy. Sign her up for one of Chicago’s summer programs.
Or you can do EA. They will ask you to switch to ED2. If rejected by your ED school, yes ED2 Chicago is a good option.
Isn’t Chicago the polar opposite of Yale and Brown?
Anonymous
12/24/2025 16:04
Subject: Please suggest lower reach and target schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How did she feel about Chicago?
No.
OP - that wasn’t me
So, yes?
You can do ED0, highly recommended. If rejected, you can still ED or REA to an Ivy. Sign her up for one of Chicago’s summer programs.
Or you can do EA. They will ask you to switch to ED2. If rejected by your ED school, yes ED2 Chicago is a good option.
Anonymous
12/24/2025 15:44
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.
I agree with this comment. Michigan would fit but your kid would choose Rice instead due to size and Pitt is a good attainable substitute for Michigan. I know this because I went to both Pitt and Michigan. I think your kid would likely enjoy Rice.
Do you have an in-state school to choose?