Get some safeties in there. The kids with good stats are typically the ones that end up disappointed in the process, cause they think that’s all it takes. Do not get sucked into advice that certain schools give great aid and merit money like they are are certain to throw money at you. A lot of the aid they are referring to is actually loans. Merit money given is highly competitive at top schools if given at all. A school may give a scholarship to an NMF, but that is only if they admit that student, many NMFs aren’t actually accepted to the schools that make this offer. No guarantee in the college process, so investigate closely. Stats are good, but frankly common for those competing for those schools. There are a zillion kids with great stats like that flooding top schools with applications, but only so many spots. Interests in things doesn’t mean much unless they have demonstrated the interest substantially. Shoot for the stars but make other plans. Disappointment is felt by those who do not look at things realistically. Be cautious of cc, great advice for sure, but it can lead you down paths. Some are trying to sell you on schools (schools have people working this forum), some don’t want you applying to a school (competition) and others are sincerely helpful with awesome advice. Sometimes it is hard to separate who is who. Good luck.
Do not plan to borrow to pay for his college. I know you said your son is a good investment but situations change. There are threads where parents didn’t do a realistic budget BEFORE the kid applied to the colleges. while it’s fine to have some colleges that you can’t afford unless he gets merit don’t plan on that in the beginning.
OP, if you are interested in Ivies, I would consider applying to Columbia and Penn instead of Harvard and Yale. I do not see anything in his EC’s that will get him into any of the four, but his chances would be significantly better at Columbia or Penn.
To improve his chances to get into any of them he needs to show ECs that demonstrate his interest in Poli Sci and Int’l Relations, and have a strong essay.
University of Rochester and Brandeis both offer merit. Show them love and I think he would have an excellent chance at each of them.
Find a school he can apply to EA that he really likes and he has a good chance of getting into. It will take the edge off later.
Since we were discussing U of Miami on another thread, I’ll bring that up here. They offer merit to high stat kids like yours. What language does your son study?
You should also look at his high school history with acceptances. Sometimes it can be very helpful.
My GC said the kids should stay off CC bc it gives them anxiety!!!
Yes, Naviance is very helpful! Ask your GC whether your school uses it.
EA or rolling admissions. Either one gets you a decision early.
A lot of good students in my area (Maryland) use Penn State for this purpose. It’s a rolling admissions school.
Thanks for all the additional comments! My son is essentially fluent in Spanish and hopes to add a third language to fluency level in college. His school doesn’t have Naviance. A few Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, MIT kids every year from his high school, but by no means a feeder school to anywhere amazing. Mostly in state schools.
I’m intrigued/intimidated by the idea he needs to “show the love” to schools. This idea is foreign to me. I thought he just applied, visited, took a tour - with an interview if they gave him one, and went home and waited. I will do more reading on this idea for sure. This is a lot to think about. Time for a break from CC to let all this settle in and get some perspective.
Here’s what I recommend:
(1) Check if your S’s PSAT/NMSQT score is within the NMSF cut off for TN. There are threads in the National Merit Scholarship forum. If so, make sure he takes the SAT and gets the “confirming” SAT score. Otherwise, there is no NMF status to use.
(2) Work your way through the schools that offer high merit scholarships to NMF and high-stats students like your S in earnest to see which of these schools hold the greatest interest and the best “fit” for him, not just the most money.
(3) Rule out schools he would really never consider attending even if he were offered scholarships. Many of my D’s classmates seemed to have paid little attention to this last part until decisions came down to the wire. Then, it was more complicated than necessary to make a decision because they were having to reject schools that were almost full scholarships or full rides but were in consideration only because of the money. In the end, these schools were never really in contention but the complication added extraneous angst for student and parents.
(4) Make sure that your S is aware of the earlier application deadlines (most coincide with EA or ED deadlines) for automatic consideration for merit scholarships at schools where he does apply.
(5) If the high reach but no merit schools come through with admission, you have to be prepared to stand behind your financial commitment (or not). But that becomes harder if there are also far less expensive but excellent options. Your S and both parents need to know how you will handle this decision as a family.
College of William and Mary joint degree in International Relations:
http://www.wm.edu/as/undergraduate/curriculum/special/standrews/programs/index.php
The Joint Degree Programme is specially designed to combine the breadth of a William & Mary liberal arts education with the specialization offered at St Andrews. It’s a blend of the very best of two universities with a centuries-old commitment to excellence - St Andrews, founded in 1413, and William & Mary, founded in 1693. The Programme offers joint degrees in four fields of study - Economics, English, History and International Relations.
I don’t buy the idea of showing a school love, if kid is good they should be sucking up to the student. Don’t waste money on a bunch of extra visits and tours to get your name on a log. Ask the school if demonstrated interest is a factor, for most it is not because it is unfair to those that can’t afford extra trips/visits to include it as a factor. Reach out to a particular college HS rep/advisor with questions if you have them or do an interview. But remember these can work against you as well as for you. Their essays should effectively show a student’s eagerness to attend a school. If a school wants you to show it love it is a desperate marketing attempt to make a school seem more attractive than it is. Most schools don’t factor it in and good students don’t need to. Not sure why you have to suck up to give them $50K+. And if your student is that good to get merit, they will suck up to you. This college frenzy created by colleges and furthered by desperate parents has gotten out of hand. But it drives up applications and brings in lots of money to the local economy of any college.
Lastly, don’t believe all the marketing materials that come to your house in any way mean they want your student. Some schools spend a ridiculous amount of money on mailers. It means your student is in their range that they get from collegeboard or SAT data, but other than that, zip. Top kids are recruited and you know the difference when you are really wanted because of the letter or call you receive rather than from bulk marketing mailers.
"if kid is good they should be sucking up to the student " =))
Right…
Tell that to all the “good” students that were rejected just last month by schools that “should” have been grateful for their applications.
Amen, @blueskies2day, amen. While the schools may be nonprofits they ain’t rubes.
My younger son majored in IR - his safety was American. He had good SAT scores but was not a NMF and got a half tuition scholarship from them. He actually liked them better than Georgetown in many ways. His other safety (which sounds ridiculous was U of Chicago) - obviously it was not originally meant to be a safety but when he got in EA it became one. I don’t think you need to have match schools if you have a couple of safety schools on your list. But a match school your son might look at is Brandeis.
You don’t need to show the love with a lot of visits, but if you do visit make sure they know you did. You show the love by understanding what that particular college values. Write your “Why ___ College” essay that goes beyond the obvious. Don’t talk about how wonderful Boston is for a Tufts essay, and probably not about how wonderful the IR program is. Instead dig a little deeper - active citizenship, making a difference globally while you are still in school, the EPIIC program for example might appear in a Tufts essay. Or you could go completely whimsical and write about chalk (on the sidewalks) which is what my son did.
Let’s just say for argument’s sake that for some reason he gets shut out of his reaches. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a few matches in addition to that safety or two?
@ blueskies2day “Their essays should effectively show a student’s eagerness to attend a school. If a school wants you to show it love it is a desperate marketing attempt to make a school seem more attractive than it is. Most schools don’t factor it in and good students don’t need to.”
Even if they do not consider demonstrated interest directly, they will consider how well you know that University in your “Why xyz University?” essay, so I guess it depends on what you mean by showing them the love.
For top schools, it is very important to show them that you know the school, and you understand why it is that that school is the place that you want to attend. What is it about their programs, culture and the opportunities the particular school presents, that are of particular interest to you.
When you visit colleges, writing down details that you can use in your essays can be very helpful.
Trish…my kid had no matches on her very short college application list…of three schools (she did add a reach school at the last minute to which she was rejected). But her three schools were all pretty sure things. One was rolling, and two were EA. she was accepted to all three by December 15 of her senior year of high school. She had two of those acceptances (including the school to which she matriculated) before Thanksgiving.
Bottom line…she loves these three schools…so,there was no need to hunt for others…and her early applications and acceptances were icing on the cake.
@trishella “Let’s just say for argument’s sake that for some reason he gets shut out of his reaches. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a few matches in addition to that safety or two?”
This is the most common mistake that I see in real life. What @Thumper1 did is okay if you really and truly love your safeties, but that often is not the case. Students and parents apply to several top 25 schools, and then a couple of safeties ranked between 75 and 100, with nothing in between. They often believe that they will probably get into at least one of the top schools they applied to based on volume of applications. This is a mistake for most students, unless you are sure you love your safety school.