Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A kid with a 34 on the ACT with a bunch of Bs in AP classes is underperforming. Not impressive.

Not helpful.

Sure it is. It means top LACs won’t be interested. That’s helpful for OP to know. She said the school he attends doesn’t offer a lot of APs and that he’s getting Bs in the relatively few APs that he’s taking. Yet posters are tossing around super competitive schools like he’s a shoo in. He’s not. He’s not even a likely.

The poster could have been a little nicer about how they said it, but I agree with their point. Many of the schools mentioned on this thread are unrealistic for this student because they will be viewed as underperforming.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A kid with a 34 on the ACT with a bunch of Bs in AP classes is underperforming. Not impressive.

Not helpful.

Sure it is. It means top LACs won’t be interested. That’s helpful for OP to know. She said the school he attends doesn’t offer a lot of APs and that he’s getting Bs in the relatively few APs that he’s taking. Yet posters are tossing around super competitive schools like he’s a shoo in. He’s not. He’s not even a likely.

But that was the question — here’s my great not amazing kid’s stats, pls recommend some SLACs we can look at ED/full pay. It’s no help to say “color me uncompressed”. It is help to say “look at x, y, x, and lower”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A kid with a 34 on the ACT with a bunch of Bs in AP classes is underperforming. Not impressive.

Not helpful.

Sure it is. It means top LACs won’t be interested. That’s helpful for OP to know. She said the school he attends doesn’t offer a lot of APs and that he’s getting Bs in the relatively few APs that he’s taking. Yet posters are tossing around super competitive schools like he’s a shoo in. He’s not. He’s not even a likely.

People thought it was a 4.0 unweighted. It’s really annoying when people don’t post stats correctly. It nullifies all those early comments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A kid with a 34 on the ACT with a bunch of Bs in AP classes is underperforming. Not impressive.

Not helpful.

Sure it is. It means top LACs won’t be interested. That’s helpful for OP to know. She said the school he attends doesn’t offer a lot of APs and that he’s getting Bs in the relatively few APs that he’s taking. Yet posters are tossing around super competitive schools like he’s a shoo in. He’s not. He’s not even a likely.

Anonymous wrote:A kid with a 34 on the ACT with a bunch of Bs in AP classes is underperforming. Not impressive.

You are a jerk, and totally unresponsive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A kid with a 34 on the ACT with a bunch of Bs in AP classes is underperforming. Not impressive.

What am I missing? Didn’t OP say he has a 4.0? Seems like between that and 34 ACT he would be in top 1% of college applicants, no? I get that there are not enough spots at top 20 schools for every applicant in top 1% but still..

OP later clarified in comments that they meant weighted rather than unweighted, which most commenters probably assumed. So interpret early comments in that context.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the high school does not normally send kids to LACs and the gpa is weighted, your son does not have a good chance at the very tip top schools suggested — especially since your son does not appear to be hooked (sports, legacy, no outstanding extracurriculars).

My best suggestion to you is to look at the male-female ratio at LACs. It can really help to be a male applying to LAC outside of the top few. Also, look at schools where being full pay helps. Again, it won’t help at the top schools but may lower on the list.

I think Skidmore is an excellent option. Dickinson is another good option. Reed is another good choice. Trinity, Macalaster , Lewis & Clark.

How do you find "schools where being full pay helps"? Is the answer the same as schools that rely heavily on ED?

You want to look at need aware rather than need blind schools.

Yes, how is this accomplished is the question.

With a two second Google search for the lists.

Anonymous wrote:A kid with a 34 on the ACT with a bunch of Bs in AP classes is underperforming. Not impressive.

What am I missing? Didn’t OP say he has a 4.0? Seems like between that and 34 ACT he would be in top 1% of college applicants, no? I get that there are not enough spots at top 20 schools for every applicant in top 1% but still..

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the responses, but I have a son interested in SLACs who just went through the process. I would check out Denison, Swarthmore, Haverford, Univ of Richmond, Wesleyan, and Connecticut College.

two completely different groupings here -

Denison/Richmond/Connecticut College - these are legit targets and “feels right” for this applicants aspirational level

Swat/Wes/Haverford - wouldn’t even waste ED chance with these top SLACs

Davidson College is amazing!

OP, all the SLAC are competitive in part because they're very small schools and their admissions are as much about composing a class - of kids who bring different backgrounds/skills/interests - as they are about sheer numbers. That's why it's hard to give you advice without knowing the context from your school. Plus a lot of these schools have become more competitive simply because of the rise in applications all around - a small increase in volume can make a big difference in competitiveness. Example - my kid applied EA to Macalester in 2022. We thought of it as a target-ish school, not a reach. He got in elsewhere ED and so he had to pull the app, but when the admissions cycle ended, the mean GPA of the entering class had jumped a LOT from the data when he applied.

If your kid's school truly can't offer any guidance at all or even info on where your kid fits into the overall class ranking (which seems weird for a private) or scattergrams, you're best bet is to look at the Common Data Set for each individual school. They post these on their website annually, with data on applications, acceptances, and enrollment. It will help you identify the schools where ED makes a big difference and where it is just a modest benefit.

Also try to figure out what environment your kid wants or works best for him. Most SLACs tend to be outside of major cities; if that's not going to fly for your kid, you will be able to narrow down his list quickly.

And if you can, hire a college counselor who has some familiarity with your kid's HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the high school does not normally send kids to LACs and the gpa is weighted, your son does not have a good chance at the very tip top schools suggested — especially since your son does not appear to be hooked (sports, legacy, no outstanding extracurriculars).

My best suggestion to you is to look at the male-female ratio at LACs. It can really help to be a male applying to LAC outside of the top few. Also, look at schools where being full pay helps. Again, it won’t help at the top schools but may lower on the list.

I think Skidmore is an excellent option. Dickinson is another good option. Reed is another good choice. Trinity, Macalaster , Lewis & Clark.

How do you find "schools where being full pay helps"? Is the answer the same as schools that rely heavily on ED?

You want to look at need aware rather than need blind schools.

Yes, how is this accomplished is the question.

Anonymous wrote:A kid with a 34 on the ACT with a bunch of Bs in AP classes is underperforming. Not impressive.

Not helpful.

A kid with a 34 on the ACT with a bunch of Bs in AP classes is underperforming. Not impressive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the high school does not normally send kids to LACs and the gpa is weighted, your son does not have a good chance at the very tip top schools suggested — especially since your son does not appear to be hooked (sports, legacy, no outstanding extracurriculars).

My best suggestion to you is to look at the male-female ratio at LACs. It can really help to be a male applying to LAC outside of the top few. Also, look at schools where being full pay helps. Again, it won’t help at the top schools but may lower on the list.

I think Skidmore is an excellent option. Dickinson is another good option. Reed is another good choice. Trinity, Macalaster , Lewis & Clark.

How do you find "schools where being full pay helps"? Is the answer the same as schools that rely heavily on ED?

You want to look at need aware rather than need blind schools.