My merit chaser ended up at Clemson, even though they’re not great for merit ($8000 a year, one if her lowest offers). She’s in the honors program. She’s a business major (finance), and loves everything about the university. Big football school obviously, she loves game days, incredible school spirit. There are lots of a cappella groups, Greek life seems big, but she spends more time socializing outside of her sorority (most of her friends are all in different ones). Outdoor activities are fantastic, the business school brand new. The weather is awesome, and she says everyone is super nice. There are many from all over the US, a lot of students from the northeast. She’s a city girl but loves it there.
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My other daughter is graduating UD next month, honors, heading to BU for grad school, she applied to 10 DPT programs and was accepted at all of them. Villanova honors for undergrad was her top choice, but way to expensive.
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After reading this I just want to mention Agnes Scott one last time. It’s in Atlanta, so it’s a big city, even though I don’t know if she loves it. Well, it’s in Decatur, one of the most walkable parts of the Atlanta area. And it’s a member of the Atlanta Regional Council of Higher Education (ARCHE) which allows members to cross-register at any of the other universities. Agnes Scott gives generous merit aid and is much more accessible with respect to admissions as well. These are the universities where she could cross-register:
- Agnes Scott College
- Brenau University
- Clark Atlanta University
- Clayton State University
- Columbia Theological Seminary
- Emory University
- Georgia Gwinnett College
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Georgia State University
- Interdenominational Theological Center
- Kennesaw State University
- Mercer University-Atlanta
- Morehouse College
- Morehouse School of Medicine
- Oglethorpe University
- Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta
- Spelman College
- University of Georgia
- University of West Georgia
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Wow, thanks. We will definitely take a closer look!
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another vote for Agnes Scott here. It will definitely be a safety for your D and with merit COA will probably be in the mid to high 20Ks. I have a D22 and we attended a ton of virtual sessions with them over the last year. I was beyond impressed with them, their communication was very prompt, helpful and nice, the people seemed genuine and invested in the success of their college. They seem very well networked into Atlanta opportunities and help with internships and study abroad sounded great.
It’s a very small school, so fit will be important. My D decided to enroll somewhere else, but this was the “no thank you” email that actually hurt, because they had shown her a lot of love.
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My dd just chose UD due to being wait-listed at Nova. Even if she were to get off the list, the price difference doesn’t make sense to me and would hope she’d stick with UD.
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In terms of wanting a larger school in/near a city, you can’t compare BU and GWU to NYU. My son has similar preferences and loves both BU and GWU. He has no interest in NYU – as it really is purely urban without a campus. He loved BU because it very much did have a “campus feel” while being right inside a city. When you go back to Bay State Road, you practically feel like you’re on a pretty quiet college campus. As to GWU, they occupy several square blocks including a couple green quads that are practically entirely GWU-- and then (mostly for freshman) they actually have a very green traditional campus just outside of DC, the Mount Vernon campus. (where about half of freshman live).
So based on her likes, I’d definitely consider BU an GWU. BU is at least as “campus-y” as Northeastern.
Overall, it’s a good list that is pretty matchy. She would have an excellent chance of admission in ED at any of those schools. (In top 5% of her class, lots of rigor, around 1500 on SATs – While Cornell has a very low acceptance rate, the Hotel school acceptance rate is about double the rest of the university. Applying ED, with those stats… she would likely have a 50/50 shot at admission).
I dare say she has a realistic shot at everything on the reach list – I’d actually consider most of that reach list to be Match/Reach – schools that her stats are match, but they do reject lots of matching students.
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About one month into her freshman year my daughter told me she was so glad Villanova was way to expensive, she couldn’t imagine being anywhere better than UD, she just loves everything about it.
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@Dadto2NY I literally just got almost the same suggestion from a BU alum recently. We’ll need to put BU back on the list. I’m still hesitant about GW - I toured it with my older son, and he didn’t love it due to lack of a campus. Although he was seeking a bit more green space on campus than I think my daughter is (he’s going to a small LAC in New England). So, maybe . . .
Thanks for the optimism about her list! I hope your predictions regarding her chances are accurate - I’m tending towards being more pessimistic due to how tough things have been over the past few years. My own thoughts on her reachier options are that she’s got a reasonable shot (maybe 40-50%) at BC, Wake, and Northeastern if she applies early decision, and at least a possible shot at Cornell (SHA), Tufts, or Barnard if she EDs (maybe 15-25% depending on the school and how her essays turn out for each school). I think Notre Dame and USC will be the least likely as neither has an ED option, and she doesn’t want to apply REA to Notre Dame.
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It’s good to temper expectations, so a bit of pessimism is healthy. But apart from a Top-10 school, she will be an above-average applicant.
So take Tufts as an example (Just toured it with my kids a few weeks ago) – 16% acceptance rate for regular decision. Though last year, dropped to 11% for women. They don’t report their early decision acceptance rate – but probably around 20%+. So an average applicant has a 20% shot… your daughter is an above-average applicant to Tufts… so if applying ED, probably closer to a 30-50% shot.
For the last reported common data set, Barnard has an ED acceptance rate of 26% and I’ve seen reports that it was 29% this year. So again, she would likely have better than a 26-29% chance at Barnard ED.
Meanwhile — Northeastern, for last year’s entering class, the early decision acceptance rate was 51% for class of 2025 and 33% for class of 2026. She would definitely be an above-average applicant to Northeastern. So while I would avoid excessive optimism, she would have a much better than 33% at Northeastern ED.
All these colleges are interested in protecting their yield rate. They don’t want to become anybody’s “safety school” – They don’t want to offer admission to someone who is going to reject them. But that’s not an issue in ED, so ED acceptance rates are generally much much higher than regular decision.
So much so, that a school that’s a reach for RD may become a match for ED, a RD match may become a ED “likely.” (while ultra reach schools will always remain ultra reach for everyone)
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In today’s world, with acceptance rates about half of what they were pre-Covid, ED is a critical chip. It’s not for everyone, especially if your decision is going to be tied to aid.
But if you have a clear first choice, independent of aid, applying ED makes a lot of sense. With ED applicants, the schools don’t have to worry about the yield game. If the student matches their profile, they can offer acceptance safe in the knowledge that the student isn’t using them as a backup. (Ie, a school may reject an “above-average” student who applies RD solely to protect their yield rate, but they would have fewer reasons to reject that student ED)
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This is correct…it ‘can be’ critical for a certain set of schools but it may also be unaffordable and too many are taking that step without realizing it.
Or it may be affordable but then the family realizes later, wow we could have gotten to a similar outcome for $50k less.
So my comment was simply to point out - one doesn’t need to ED - even in 2026 and can still have a great experience. Too many think ‘they must’ ED and nothing is farther from the truth.
They can if they desire but it’s not a necessity is all I’m saying.
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@Illinoisparent12 (original poster), If she’s looking at small LAC schools similar to what you have in your reach category, my oldest goes to Davidson and it is an excellent college. Hidden treasure. I think it ended up at 16-17% admission this year but is far less known than the comparable northeast LACs. Yes, in the south, but Davidson (the city) and Charlotte, NC, are cities that are very blended in terms of residents.
If she’s interested in Wake, look at Davidson which is only about an hour fifteen south as you go to Charlotte airport (much more convenient!). My daughter liked Wake a lot too but ultimately the community at Davidson, the Honor Code (they set their own schedule for exams!), the Eating House system for women, and a few other special things really pushed it ahead over the northeast equivalents. (Also, being accepted early to a school you love versus the insanity of some of the New England app rates and admissions - definite plus.)
(If she visits, let me know - my daughter is Class of 2024 double major - Psychology (focus on Child/Adolescent) and English. Dances in student dance ensemble. House chair for her Eating House - their lottery-based social system that is far more supportive and equitable than sororities but offers some social outlets that are women only. She’d be happy to meet someone!)
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For the class of 2026, Tufts had a 9% acceptance rate overall. They don’t separate out early decision numbers, so it’s hard to say what the ED acceptance rate was.
“In a year that saw applications climb and admissions offers plunge, the Class of 2026’s acceptance rate eclipses the previous [record-low of 11%] set by the Class of 2025 and falls nearly six percentage points below the admissions rate from 2020.”
Going back to older reported data:
"For the Class of 2024, 662 students were admitted through the early admissions process. Total early applications totaled 2,560, yielding an early acceptance rate of 25.9%. "
So for the class of 2024, the total acceptance rate was about 16%, with an ED acceptance rate of 26%. Extrapolating, the ED acceptance rate for the class of 2026 was likely 15-20%.
Haven’t read the entire thread, but your D sounds somewhat similar to mine so I’ll share her list and results. My D’s GPA was 3.95UW, 4.38W with 11 AP classes, 1470 SAT (710R, 760M). She’s a humanities/social sciences kid, political science, English, sociology, philosophy are interesting to her. Similar ECs, a few big leadership roles on the paper and clubs. We are in a suburban public school in the Bay Area, CA, not URM or first gen, full pay.
List + Results
Safeties
University of Oregon (EA, admitted to Honors College, 10k per year merit)
University of Vermont (EA, admitted, 18k per year merit)
Fordham (EA, admitted, 26k per year merit)
Targets
Kenyon (RD, admitted, 15k per year merit)
Macalester (EA, admitted, 22k per year merit)
Smith (RD, admitted, no merit)
University of Wisconsin (EA, admitted, no merit)
University of Michigan (EA, admitted, no merit)
UCSB (RD, admitted, no merit)
Reaches
UPenn (ED1, rejected)
Yale (RD, rejected)
Columbia (RD, rejected)
Tufts (RD, rejected)
Middlebury (RD, rejected)
Wesleyan (RD, waitlist)
Boston University (RD, rejected)
UCLA (RD, accepted)
UC Berkeley (RD, rejected)
USC (RD, rejected)
As you can see, a pretty reach-heavy list. She was also universally turned down by her reaches. She went Test Optional only at Yale and Columbia, where her 1470 barely scratched the surface of their 25 percent average range.
She happily committed to UCLA.
My advice to you would be to play the ED card wisely if there’s a true standout school, especially if it’s on the target/reach border. My daughter’s classmates saw the best success with ED when the schools weren’t tippy top reach (a lot of deferrals there) but were pretty reachy (15-30 percent acceptance rate).
Also, apply EA whenever possible. My D had a great early admission round and it reassured her during RD that she had choices she liked. And, spend more time hunting for safeties that your D would happily attend. Visit them, go to their online events, treat them seriously as contenders. Not only might you find a gem, you can be pleasantly surprised when other more selective results are in her favor.
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I haven’t seen it phrased quite that way before, but I think “playing the ED card on the target/reach border” is a perfect synthesis of everything I’ve learned on CC about using Early Decision. Thanks for putting it like that - I’m going to steal that going forward. 
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Another good use of ED is if your first affordable choice is a college that you are “overqualified” for, but which is prone to rejecting or waitlisting “overqualified” applicants who do not show a high enough “level of interest” (i.e. the “false safety” schools). ED is the strongest possible way of showing a high “level of interest” in this case.
Granted, this is probably uncommon on these forums, since most students on these forums have top choices that are reaches, rather than safeties or “false safeties”.
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THIS is a very good point.
On this forum, you often see applicants get rejected by (Regular decision) schools where they are statistically among the top applicants. Where Syracuse University is rejecting someone with a 3.9 and 1500 SATs, where BU is rejecting 4.0 and 1550 and 10 APs, it’s not that these students weren’t matches. I strongly suspect the main reason schools like that are rejecting those students is yield protection.
Read something recently about BU trying to improve their yield algorithm this year, given last year’s over-enrollment.
During ED, they don’t have to reject those students for yield protection.
I think the lesson is-- ED isn’t just for true reaches. If your top choice is a match-school, and you would enroll independent of financial aid, then it makes a lot of sense to apply ED.
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FYI my son attends Elon and he would not describe it as ‘Greek life important’ at all. That was actually a factor we used to screen out some schools, so we were definitely paying attention to that. The only Greek residences are sophomore year only, a tiny area with maybe 4 houses; after that they just tend to group together in particular apartment complexes. There is active Greek life for those who want it,yes, but my son has not found it a dominant or heavy factor in the social life.
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