UVa (as an in-state) and UT-Austin (out of state).

I'm a transplant here, so I didn't realize how hard it is to get into UVa, and cringed at the Open House last spring when I heard their average admissions stats. My kid is very smart, very self motivated, and was applying with a GPA of 4.25, 21 credits from AP classes plus 12 hours of college coursework earned in his senior year (or would be), but his SATs were okay and his ACT at 32 was 90-95 %-ile. I guess I'm a half-empty worrier and he's a half-full optimist because he never doubted himself applying to either and I was trying to level-set his expectations the whole time.

He was set back on his heels when UC Berkeley declined him, but it probably enabled his head to pass through regular doorways! Great kid -- he wishes he'd applied to a couple of Ivies to see what financial aid he might have gotten if he was accepted. Now he'll never know.

I kind of like hearing these stories, especially if you have an idea what the hooks were the kids got in with. My son's essays for UVa were really creative - I was kind of surprised since he hates writing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colgate.

"Average" student at Big 3.

You mean not top 3rd?

Any hooks?

Did you apply ED?

Sounds about right for an average student at a Big 3. It would probably be top third of class at other privates/publics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:46 probably referring to Cornell

I'm thinking Penn.

Haha. Wrong again. Nice try, only six more to go, so I'm stopping now. You'll just have to suffer in ignorance.

Ther's an Ivy with a higher rate of admission than U Penn? I didn't know that.

When did Penn start going by U Penn? Or is that a DC thing? I get that it is not to confuse it with penn state. But I grew up in Philly and have several family members that went there and everyone just said Penn - except the old waspy types just called it Pennsylvania.

My brother graduated fom Penn 30 years ago. About 90% of the people I've mentioned it to think I'm talking about PSU. I'm from western PA. I guess the people from Philly can keep it straight.

+1. I grew up about 1 1/2 hours north of Philadelphia, and "Penn" meant Penn State, which is where most people went to college, very few if any in my class went to UPenn.

I grew up in south central PA and it was always known as Penn. didn't hear this u Penn nonsense until I moved here.

Anonymous wrote:Colgate.

"Average" student at Big 3.

You mean not top 3rd?

Any hooks?

Did you apply ED?

Anonymous wrote:Colgate.
"Average" student at Big 3.

Congrats!

Colgate.

"Average" student at Big 3.

ITT Tech

Strayer

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both Yale and Princeton.

I knew she would get in wherever she applied, but we didn't expect to be offered so much in financial incentives.

She turned down both.

Where is she going instead?

University of Florida. They have some kind of honors medical school program. It cuts a year out of the amount of time she'll have to spend in school. She talked with her pediatrician her senior year of high school when she started thinking about medical school. She is the one who pointed her towards the UF program. It's highly competitive, so she may have to go the traditional route in the end. This is a description of the program -

Junior Honors Medical Program offers a fast track to medical school. Students apply to this highly competitive program (12 spaces only) in the second semester of the second year of undergraduate study. If selected, they begin coursework for medical school in the third year and enter the M.D. program in the fourth year. After completion of the first year of medical school, students earn their B.S. degree.
Admission Criteria: 1200 SAT; 3.5 GPA. Apply during sophomore year

She was admitted to the Freshman Honors College and is doing really well, so she is headed in the right direction. I keep waiting for her to change her major.

I should add that we have two other kids in college. Both of them were pretty good students, but not great. We didn't do anything special with this one. No private tutoring or test prep. She is just really smart. She is a National Merit Scholar and graduated with a 4.45 GPA. We knew she would get in to just about any school she wanted to. I have no idea where she gets it - Both DH and I did o.k. in school, but we studied our asses off.

Thanks for sharing. This is really informative.

That's correct pp -- I was an earlier poster whose kid is already in college (P.U.)