Thanks! Wasn’t aware of this.
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You are welcome.
The books “Inside Honors 2020-2021: Ratings and Reviews of 40 Public University Honors Programs” by John Willingham and “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania” by Frank Bruni might be a good investment.
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She should do well on the PSAT this Fall.
She has time to explore interests and colleges since she is a junior. Her high school sounds great and her school’s college counselor will have some suggestions based on your child’s unique strengths. Remember, that person will write a recommendation, explain the level of courses your child completed, and will provide schools with info needed to make their decision.
Go take some tours within a couple hours of home just to start to see what she likes and does not like about campuses (big, small, urban,rural), dorms (distance from academic buildings, room configuration, options), academic options (rigid requirements for core classes or flexible options), etc… This will help narrow down where you may spend money to go visit.
Maybe she can find an internship or other opportunity to explore her career interests that may help her decide on schools with majors she is interested in. This can also help her application stand out if she is able to connect her interests and experiences with being at a college with a specific lab or institute she is hoping to be a part of.
Spend some time on the cost calculators on the college websites and really think about how much you want to spend on those 4 years. The calculators will be fairly close and give you an idea of costs. It is easy to say cost is not an issue at this point, but by April of her senior year you want to have some financial aid packages that make sense for your family. Look at honors colleges, schools with merit aid, and colleges that offer merit and need. It is not all about the ranking systems, it needs to be a good fit for your child and make sense financially.
What would be the highest ranked safety school(s) for her given these stats?
IMHO that’s not a great question to ask. A safety should be a school to which admission is assured, is affordable, and which the student wants to attend. What good will it do to find a “top ranked” school if she hates being a student there?
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People:
For kids from the school she attends, her stats will get her into any LAS program in UIUC.
So yes, UIUC is a safety, including actuarial science.
UMN would also likely be a safety, as would Wisconsin.
UMN will also likely offer a kid with a 4.0 GPA and an SAT of 1500 or higher good merit financing. My kid’s GPA was lower, and UMN offered $20,000 a year. If not for the fact that my wife worked for the U of Illinois system (we would have paid 1/2 in-state tuition), that would have made UMN cheaper than in-state U of I CoA.
@Pirc Her school will almost certainly be administering the PSAT/NMSQT this fall. Most schools like your kid’s automatically register all Juniors for both the PSAT/NMSQT in the fall and the SAT in the Spring, and the tests should be administered in the school - check the school’s calendar. While the tests are optional, as a magnet school, it will also not only administer the tests, but most of the kids will be taking the test.
I recommend that your daughter take the PSAT/NMSQT instead of the SAT this fall, because of the financial advantages of being an National Merit finalist. She will be taking the SAT in the spring at her school anyway, and will be more prepared, after another semester of math and English.
The best prep for SAT tests are previous SAT tests. Even without taking any prep, your daughter is likely to de better on her next SAT, just because of the practice that come with taking more tests in real time, as well as the extra education in the meantime.
My kid’s spring of 10th grade PSAT 10 score was lower than your daughter’s SAT score, and her PSAT/NMSQT score was high enough for NMSF. My daughter improved her score from her first PSAT 10 in fall sophomore year to her SAT in spring of junior year by 250 points, with no real prep. Just two more PSATs in the meantime, and her classes in English and math.
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This is almost exactly what happened to us. My son applied and was admitted to Pitt as a safety school through Rolling Admission. Both the University and the City were a surprise to us when we visited and left my son questioning his Early Decision school.
Pitt has a strong and highly regarded honors program. They also have what they call Guaranteed Admit for Pre-Med. If you get selected and get through the undergraduate program you are guaranteed a spot in Pitt Medical School. Also if you chose to visit Pitt, Carnegie Melon is within walking distance and you can easily tour both schools in a day.
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