Hi HRS,
It’s a well-balanced list for your son where even the safeties are still really good schools. He is blessed by being smart and having good stats! Is your Miami the U of Miami (FL) or Miami U (Ohio)?
Agree that Tulane and BU are more safetyish than matchish for your son, but also agree to make sure he takes all of the applications seriously, because there is a lot of evidence of schools rejecting or waitlisting high stats kids who don’t show interest. Bucknell is probably also closer to a safety than a match.
Otherwise, I agree with your assumptions of S/M/R.
Given the number of reaches, he will probably be able to grab a couple as well. However, you should make sure he does whatever he can to make his essay better than “OK” as that can be a difference-maker for kids in his stats bracket. Plus, based on your geography, there are many others like him.
Thanks @Cameron121 . It is Miami of Ohio, btw. It is such a pretty school. I wish I had gone, but went to BGSU. I didn’t really know Miami was a state school back then (pre-internet, with farm town guidance:)
He is a typical NY kid. And not much for introspection! his current best essay is the failure prompt. It’s got a twist tho, as it is about his iPhone being stolen and what he learned about himself from that.
@HRSMom, my son and I were quite impressed with Miami, and they offered him a big scholarship (110ish over 4 years). I would have been happy for my son to go there. If he thinks it’s a possibility, apply by the early date, and show them some love. When we visited, it was the dead of winter, but everyone seemed really happy there.
I don’t know what they meant by “help.” But it’s a fact that a very large percentage of Tufts is filled by ED and ED2 applicants. I don’t know the number offhand, but it’s high. Anyone else know? So just from a pure numbers perspective, there are more seats available for fewer applicants during the ED rounds.
Second, Tufts is one of those schools that could reject high-stats kids who don’t show them a lot of love. Therefore, ED solves that.
Third, if you are full-pay and he doesn’t ED Tufts, then they figure that he either a) ED’d someplace else and got rejected and is now doing ED2 someplace else other than Tufts, or b) he didn’t ED any place and he will end up getting into and choosing a higher-ranking school.
Does that make sense? Anyway, all I am trying to say is that if he is rejected from his ED school and really is interested in Tufts, he should strongly consider ED2.
That is a lot of schools. You may not be aware of how many supplemental essays he is going to be writing. Don’t make any holiday plans this year…
For schools that use interest as part of their admission process, make sure he has signed up on all their websites for mailings. If there is a college fair in your area where they are represented, have him go and at least sign in at the tables of those schools. This is especially true if he hasn’t visited (or visited informally and didn’t sign in at admissions). You may already know this, but Google the Common Data Set for each college for info on whether interest matters (and tons of other good info, too).
On Tufts: ED2, got it. Thanks! He has visited, and will go to a "who gets in and why seminar they are running in a few weeks.
I am hoping he will not end up having to do all the apps. He has dumped 3 schools off of it in the last month. He just nixed Lehigh. I have a feeling Bucknell will go next!
Kids are not always logical! He’s finished his Wake Forest essays, but not yet Michigan or Cornell…sigh.
You have a great list. But between Duke and Cornell, the acceptance rate at Cornell is significantly higher if I recall correctly. If he really loves both, I’d say do ED to Cornell and hope to be finished with it all in December. Also, I’d second the comments about Michigan. My son got in EA last year, but as I was reading the board that day, there were many, many posts about kids who thought it was “safe” getting deferred. A lot of shock and disappointment. Lastly, look at the schools in the second half of your list for scholarship deadlines. My son had BU as a safety, but their scholarship deadline was sometime in December I think, prior to the application deadline. So he applied to this one earlier on, even as he waited to hear from schools higher on the list. They have good merit aid which you don’t want him to miss out on.
Duke 10% Cornell 14%, I wouldn’t call that significant; they are both extremely competitive. Also, it depends on what college at Cornell you are applying to.
Are you really willing to be full pay? (I know you stated that you could pay full COA but do you still feel that way?)
I think it is very doubtful your son will receive a merit scholarship from Duke.
You mentioned that your son has Aspergers and that “social is harder for him bc he is very rigid and literal.”
Make certain Duke is a good fit for your son if he applies ED.
I’m glad my son didn’t worry about all this stuff. He was full pay, but unwilling to choose any school ED. Tufts was a top choice, but so was U of Chicago. (He chose Tufts ultimately.) He did visit and it was clear from his “Why Tufts” essay he’d been on campus. But mostly he showed the love with really going to town on the optional essay. (They don’t have them any more, but their regular supplemental essays are similar to what they had then.) His grades were iffy and his SAT scores were in the top 25% for CR and the bottom 25% for Math - so he had no idea what his chances were. The thing about Tufts, is they are serious about holistic admissions. Everyone is very bright, but they are looking for that something else. I tend to take them at their word about whether it makes a difference: http://admissions.tufts.edu/blogs/inside-admissions/post/early-questions/
And frankly, I don’t think they are looking for “the love”, I think they are looking for “the fit”.
A lot of overlap in your S’ list and D’s list last year and somewhat similar profiles.
D was accepted to Tulane with the top merit offered (but not full tuition) and we weren’t able to visit. But her “Why Tulane” was very specific and directly relevant to the rest of her classes, activities, etc. (epidemiology - their Tropical Medicine school) . IDK what their econ and math depts are like.
Miami U (instate), BU and Northeastern all gave her pretty good merit too.