We’re in the Baltimore-Washington area (roughly) with family all over the country. Here it is holiday time, and who’s coming for dinner? My kid who lives in Brooklyn (~3h+ train ride away) is here. My sister from NJ is coming. My kid in CA definitely is not.
My S2 went to college 1700 miles from me, but ~90 mins from relatives. Having family fairly close to him was great. For example, it made it much easier to ship and store stuff. It also made extended visits possible without hotel hassles or expenses.
First of all, since you are thinking Ivy right now, focused on the, do the NPCs for each of them. If you don’t own a business, there isn’t a NCP involved and your finances are straight forward, that will give you some idea what each of those schools will expect you to pay. You aren’t going to get a cent of merit money from them, or from a number of other schools, and merit at schools like BC, Duke, Hopkins is hard to get. So you need to figure out about where there is even a possibility of getting the money you want and need for your son’s college. No sense fishing where there aren’t any fish. Several families already this year, as every year who were only focused on their kids getting into selective schools are now whipping their heads around, wondering where the money is. Ain’t none if you don’t qualify for financial aid and the schools determine whether you have the need, not you.
Your son has great stats. but my son’s close friend, who wanted to stay near home, with stats close to your son’s got shut out of his first choice schools which hit him hard emotionally. He has his safety and likely school, but the cost of one is way up there, not a dime of merit and they don’t qualify for financial aid. He did not get accepted, much less get offered merit at some of the top flight schools. If you read around the boards here, you can see that the young man was not alone. The problem with many parents who have kids like yours, is that both kid and parents start thinking that HPY are the reaches and the other all matches, and who needs a true likely or safety? Just there in case, when the reality can be quite different.
Also around the NYC area, many who think they are middle class in income are shocked to find themselves categorized as full pay. Around here, a half million dollar house is one that is worth a third that in most parts of the country but the aid calculators do not take that into account, nor do they give some corner to an income needed to support such a house. payment.
He had a 220 on the PSAT which historically (for NY) should get him to national merit, but of course we’re not thinking it’s a foregone conclusion. None of us are “Ivy league crazy”, just trying to cast a wide net for financial purposes. The absolute financial safety would be the local community college for 2 years, which is actually a pretty good one.
He doesn’t have his heart set on any one school, so that shouldn’t be an issue, although he really would like to live on campus to get the full college experience.
I can echo what am9799 posted above. From what I’ve seen, the kids who get into HYPCS not only have 2300+ SATs and 97+ GPAs, but something else that is not common. For example, they are All-state musicians, playing at a level that would get them into top conservatories, or they’ve won national recognition in science, or they’re recruited athletes, or they’re operating at an adult level in some area. They are different. This is not necessarily true of kids admitted to Cornell, Penn, or Brown.
My friends son with virtually same stats was rejected by all of the top tier schools because of his ECs. She was flabbergasted, I was not. I’m not saying not to try, just forewarn your son of that possibility and plan accordingly.
Stanford gave my D terrific financial aid - their need based calculation came out better for us than Yale - and they included a realistic cost of transportation from MA to CA in their budget.
And believe me, I understand how hard it was for her to get into Stanford. The point is to not rule it out because of travel/airfare.
Pomona accepted my son three years ago, and even though he is at Columbia, their financial aid also included air transportation in their expected budget.
It will be tough for us to go visit her at Stanford, but she will be happy there.
I will agree with many others here. In my son’s class here in Ohio, there are students headed to Princeton, Brown, MIT, Columbia and UChicago next year. Each had stats in the 2300+, 4 point range. All had one unique quality that made their application stand out. Two were recruited athletes and the other three were all deeply involved in one ativity or another. This seems to have made these kids kind of “high stats plus”, if that makes any sense. By contrast, another guy with very similar stats but more superficial ECs did not get in to any of the Ivys where he applied. Does that mean that a “normal” high stats kid has no chance at the Ivys (or Stanford, UC, etc)? No. But with the crazy number of applications, anything that distinguished one straight A, 99th percentile SAT scorer from the rest in the pile is a significant advantage. I would therefore think that a “normal” braniac’s chances at the uber selective schools is probably substantially less than the published acceptance rates.
Ohiodad51- I took a look today at the Penn accepted thread and it was scary. Those kids are unbelievable. Even if my son had the time and energy to do everything those high schoolers did, he does not have that kind of single-minded drive for award and recognition they seem to have. He’s not lazy, but he wants to be a teenager. It may be that the Ivy Leagues would not be for him if all the students are that ultra-competitive and driven. It seemed to me to be almost
unhealthy.
“he does not have that kind of single-minded drive for award and recognition they seem to have.” - That’s fine. But know that some highly decorated students are driven by passion for their EC, not zeal for awards/recognition. Some families encourage students to “game” admissions, but often students just love what they do.
@artie1, the point I was driving at is that expressed by @colorado_mom. The students I know who have been admitted to very selective schools did not have a ton of extra curriculars. The common thread is that they all spent their time doing something they really enjoyed rather than chasing resume fillers. Not only did that seem to be a successful choice as far as college admissions this year, but it allowed these guys to be, as you say, teenagers as well.
We don’t know enough about what OP’s son has done to answer the EC question. “No leadership positions at school” points back at the common misconception that titles in hs are what matter. You have to look at everything he’s engaged in, see if it makes sense. He may show leadership in other ways. That applies to the job, too- it can matter what he does.
If it’s a small Catholic hs, does that mean no AP? Is there rigor to replace that and has he taken those courses? Does he know what his major may be and has he pursued anything in that direction?
Getting into an Ivy is about more than stats and the finaid possibilties. I always say families need to really learn what makes each of the top schools tick, their values, and what they look for among all those tens of thousands of top scoring/top gpa kids. That’s not necessarily standing out to some odd degree. Some of the expectations are more ordinary. Don’t just think of good activities as padders or resume fillers if they are the right experiences.
“He did work for most of his junior year so that might help”
This does mean something. It’s not the something “plus” and would seem an affectation for a family that has sufficient income that working seems to be an arbitrary choice compared to other activities the child might be excelling in (say swimming to national level times). But, for another kind of family, in a less urban/competitive environment, working might show commitment to family, effort, and, depending on what he gets out of the work and what he contributes, leadership and learning.
As others say, superficial lists of lots of activities one does at even a high level for a school are not enough. Being highly capable, having accomplishments that show those capabilities, and being unique in the applicant pool. Uniqueness isn also not enough, because the school may not be looking for your brand of uniqueness (or they may have someone else who fits that category).
Also, I hate the advice not to try. It’s advice that strikes the less connected harder than it does everyone else. And those 60 schools that meet full need – they’re a real benefit for the families who qualify for need, if a child can get in to the school.
The key is to have a satisfactory backup plan, a certain one.
The observations in this thread about high stats plus are interesting to me, and seem to be the case at my daughter’s school.
So where are the high stats very bright students (not plus, just normal ECs) getting in? Would love to read your observations.
In my neck of the woods (SE), it seems to be Vanderbilt (must have superb test scores), WUSTL, Northwestern, the occasional top LAC if ED, sometimes RD, Dartmouth, UVA, Georgetown, Emory, UNC Chapel Hill.