As the state’s flagship, it’s the in-state financial and academic safety for all the good students in CT. Virtually every good student (and some not-so-good students) in state apply to it. It’s not Tufts, playing a “yield” game. Its mission is not to massage its numbers to increase its yield. It accepts students based largely upon their academic achievement. As you pointed out, nearly 4/5 of those accepted students wind up at other institutions, for many reasons, including that a number of highly selective private colleges can offer certain students more financial aid. But for students whose families don’t qualify for financial aid, but also cannot afford 80K/yr, UConn Storrs is the clear choice. Many of the good students from CT’s public schools wind up going there, along with a number of good students from OOS. Are you suggesting that its yield somehow implies that UConn is deficient in some way? Let’s compare it to U Maryland, also known as a good state school (not in the same tier as U Mich, Berkeley, U Va). It has a similar acceptance rate, and a similar yield to UConn’s.
While UMaryland’s acceptance rate registers fairly closely to UConn’s, its yield, at 27%, lands a substantial 35% higher.
I’ve nothing at all against UConn. However, I think it might be a stretch to say that trends indicate Connecticut residents are voting with their wallets to attend there over other potential options. If this were the case, it would be apparent in a higher yield than UConn currently shows.
It sounds like finances are ok, but did you run the NPC for some of these schools?
You may have triggered $10,000 to $15,000 or more in need based aid at some of the more expensive schools if your family income is around $200,000 and other variables are “typical” (no business, no farm, no rental income). Most colleges do not look at equity in the primary residence.
Every little bit helps. Some schools may allow you to switch this still. You need to check if they are need blind or need aware.
FWIW, I’ve conducted alumni interviews for a top school for 21 years and think you have a great chance at many of these colleges! You have a wonderful academic background. That said, it has always been difficult to chance students for T25s, and that challenge has been exacerbated by the current test optional environment and the fact that only 20% of high schools still submit class ranks.
If you really are outside the top 10% and do not attend some sort of Ivy feeder (AOs can approximate rank based on aggregating prior year applicant and acceptance data from most high schools), your odds at Stanford are very low. Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown are also long reaches. You can view on each college’s common data set how many students they admit outside of the top 10% of their HS classes - we are talking only 1-2 dozen students, all of whom are legacies, recruits, and/or students from elite private feeders. I would even extend that sentiment to applicants outside the top 5%.
I would say decent chance at Williams & Amherst. With a 4.0, 34 ACT, and good leadership & ECs, I would be surprised if you didn’t get into almost all of the others on your list. Best of luck!
Thanks for the tip! I just ran it through with my parents and I don’t think we will be able to get much (less than $3000 at best case scenario) since my parents have some other assets or something.
Thank you for the kind words! We typically send abit over a dozen students (guessing about 20 out of 300 students) to ivy league schools each year, not sure if that counts as a feeder though but its a lot. Naviance data (which i believe isn’t totally accurate) does put me a little bit out of the box of typical accepted students. I assume that it’ll still be up to chance and other factors.
It’s kind of strange that my grade is so much more competitive with top 10% ranking; previous years a 4.0 was near/within the top 5% but starting my year, it was outside. Oh well, nothing I can do anyways, just thought it was interesting!
You got into Michigan! That’s really a better indicator of future acceptances than any feedback you will receive in this (or any other) forum.
Michigan is an awesome school. You will surely get admitted to other awesome schools, and if you keep working as you’ve worked through high school, before you know it you will find yourself 30-years-old with a prestigious degree, a wonderful job, and a bright future, no matter where you spend the next four years.
That’s the same (honest) pep talk I’ve given to my daughter who is in the same boat as you. Top colleges are parsing minutia for limited spots. I’d give pretty much everyone I interview a place at Harvard if I could. You would kill it at every school to which you applied. Most applicants would. Just know you’ve shot your shot and you’ll get in somewhere great.
The only part you can control from here is to select the school that “feels right” to you and make the most of your time there. Life will take care of the rest.
It looks like to OP is really looking for a LAC and I would speculate that she will get into a number of the schools on her list. But this thread got me thinking, what might have been a good LAC safety school to consider?
For environmental science…Not safety but very likely match in EA round (unrestricted) - Colorado college. Also despite being urban seems like Macalester good in this field as well.
Why are we recommending schools a senior far surpasses the 75th percentile for in February? She app’d what she app’d. This isn’t a chance me of schools she would have had a 100% chance to gain admission to last fall had she applied.
The ask was not aimed at the OP, who will likely have plenty of options. But for a student whose profile is a little robust and looking at LACs what should they look at for safeties. UCONN is a great School in it’s own right. But it’s a totally different experience than Bowdoin! Maybe the shotgun approach is right for LACs?
I think the question of liberal arts safeties is an interesting one to discuss, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for this thread. If someone wants to start a separate thread, please do so.