We’re newbies at this but I did alot of research here and elsewhere to determine what safety/match/reach schools would be. While D was admitted to every safety school (she applied to 5 of them EA), she was waitlisted at a lot of her match and reach schools. Some were very disheartening. In the end, she has five good options to choose from: the instate flagship honors program, two low matches, and two matches. No high matches or reach schools came in for her. OTOH, she was only rejected at her two top reaches, the other two reaches waitlisted her. She was deferred at one match school EA but was later accepted with a decent package.
Seems like a lot of wait listing this year among d’s friends.
@NEPatsGirl It does seem totally expected. Match schools do not mean 100% admission. You should not be surprised if around 1/3 of them are waitlist/rejection. So your initial assessments are pretty good.
I guess that’s where our thought-process was off…acceptance at 75% of the match schools is what we expected, not less than 50%. I guess we were using standardized test scores and commondata to estimate but hoped that the IB diploma and GS Gold Award would add that extra ummphhh. Not.
At D’s school (urban ~2000, large URM population), there was concerted effort like I have not seen in recent years to inform the kids and wake them up to the opportunities they have. They had a week where all in state school application fees were waived, to the tune of about 19K in fees waived. I would be interested to see the final results for D’s HS. Word of mouth has been good among the top 20 students. Surprisingly strong in LACs. Or should I say…I knew they were competitive. Now, it seems, so do they.
To all parents awaiting your kids’ results: good luck to all. And remember, they will be OK – wherever they matriculate!
@NEPatsGirl Note that the CDS stat is from enrolled freshmen, not the admission stat which is usually higher for most schools as the top admitted students may have better choices. Anyway, that is for reference purpose only as the admission rate still vary. I usually rate match schools as ~50s-60s% chance. 75% would be in the low match range to me.
Oh man, maybe this is just for our school, but most (I don’t know exactly how many because I don’t know everyone’s backgrounds) people who were admitted into Northwestern had connections or were legacy. This dug at me because I am a legacy (and got in) and it destroyed my confidence (especially when my dad told me I probably got in because of legacy - thanks for rubbing it in). Sigh.
Also, people who I thought would get in were waitlisted. A lot of waitlisting this year. Also WashU. Lots of waitlisting there too.
“I really think we might be experiencing that for our son and I hope it doesn’t cost him too dearly. 2300 SAT, 35 ACT 4.0 GPA tons of EC. Waitlisted at Uof Chicago, rejected at Northwestern, where he is significantly above the typical admitted student, stat-wise.”
I mean this with all due respect, but 2300 SAT / 35 ACT / 4.0 GPA kids with good EC’s are a dime a dozen at U of Chicago and NU (and any other top 20 school and probably all the way down to top 30 at this point). These were never match schools, they are always roll-the-dice schools.
I’m seeing an unusually high number of students being accepted into the big in-state flagship university, which is odd because it’s supposedly more competitive than usual. I haven’t heard any complaints about not getting into desired schools.
Early action (not ED) candidates got more acceptances and better merit money at very good but not yet “elite” schools like Northeastern and Tulane than those who waited for RD. A few ED Ivy acceptances at my D’s HS; many deferrals but also some flat out ED rejections of kids who looked competitive.
Also, you have to really figure out if a school really is a match school.
If a schools’s admit rate is 50% and your stats are around the average, then it’s a match school (and you can probably expect to get in at about 50% of them).
If a school’s admit rate is around 25%, then it’s likely that only something around 25% of the kids with stats around its average would get in.
It can probably only be a match (50% success rate) if you’re in its top 10% and have done something special/have some hook.
School’s with an admit rate around 10% aren’t a match for anyone.
^^^ safe and except for a number of special admits!
Thank you!
Sorry, thank you @doschicos
@xiggi, yes, true. Most families posting on here won’t have a kid who’s another Andrew Luck or scion of some world leader, however.
Some of the things I’m seeing:
For the most part, demonstrating interest does matter (not at all schools, but many). This can be via email, phone, interview, updates, etc. Good, intelligent communication with a potential college is really important. WUSTL documents every communication. I know there are other schools that do, as well.
Compelling stories, unique background/challenges combined with good stats seem to interest colleges. Showing improvement seems to interest colleges. Multi-talented/multi-potential seems to interest colleges.
I may be wrong here, but I’m seeing that perfect GPAs aren’t quite as important as I thought they might be. Seeing plenty of 3.7/3.8/3.9 u/w kids doing well. This one surprised me.
Lots of wait listing, I concur. I’ll be very curious which schools go to their wait lists, and how many they take off.
I have seen more competition for merit aid, but have also seen good, solid need-based aid, even at schools that don’t meet 100% need.
The UCs were rather confusing-probably too big, too many majors, and too many other factors to draw conclusions. Have seen kids with very good stats shut out of the top 4 UCs (note to kids: if you want to attend a UC, don’t just apply to the top 3-4 if you’re not a tippy top candidate) or getting into only one UC.
Here’s one I think I’m seeing: supplemental material (arts, research), if it’s high enough level, seems to tip the scale-perhaps not at all schools, but if other things on the app are solid, a school might give a kid a nod over higher “pure” stats.
WL kids should demonstrate their interest by sending in an updated packet, especially if he/she was WL due to over qualification. This can also work at reach schools. What we are seeing is kids are applying to more schools therefore it may mean lower yields for some schools and more schools may need to go to their wait list. When it comes to WL, the ability to be full pay will be a big hook. Some schools will only take students without FA. With schools’ COA up at 60k+, a lot of accepted students may need to turn them down due to finance. Bottom line, for some WL students, the game may not be over.
Last Dec a kid reached out to me about being deferred by Cornell Hotel. The kid had good stats, but ORM and not very compelling ECs/essay. I encouraged him to send in an updated packet, which his GC told him was not necessary, and helped him with his essay (D2 did most of the work). He was admitted early Mar (the Hotel school and few other Cornell schools are rolling Fe/Mar). I did get a very excited thank-you email.
Yep, more yield-protection measures (ED, demonstrated interest, and using waitlists). Then again, you see more kids now firing apps off to almost the entire top 20 RUs (and then many of those kids have the wrong expectations; they truly believe that they’ll get in to half or more of those schools instead of 1-2).
Stats aren’t the only thing (that’s always been true, but it’s a new cohort each year, so every year, some kids are shocked to find that out).
With the way all this is trending, a decade from now:
- Research universities around #50 in USN will have admit rates that RU’s around #20 have now.
- All the top 20 RU’s who have ED (and maybe the entire top 50) will be taking in over half their student body through ED. The top EA schools would also form over half their student body through EA (and then woo admits; it could get as crazy as power program football recruiting).
- A good chunk of the RD round will be taken in off WL.
- Kids will be sending off apps to 40 schools (regardless of fit) instead of 20 schools.
Jeez, 40 schools at (let’s be generous here) $75 a pop? That’s $6000 in application fees!