Chance me for T20

Chance Me / Match Me!
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You really need to talk with your school counselor and check out your school’s Naviance or scoir and get some questions answered to help you:

As Dad2NY said, your 4.0 needs to be put in context for your school(top few kids vs top third ?) : even if they do not rank, there will be school profile sent to colleges that gives some general idea of the gpa distribution.
Rigor: every single admission session/tour we have been to(and it is a lot over 3.5 yrs with 2 kids, and the vast majority were T25s or top15 LACs) emphasizes rigor in relation to what is offered at your school . The most competitive schools want you to challenge yourself across disciplines. None of us know your school, so we cannot assess if you did this.
Based on the courses you listed, you could be in middle or even the bottom half of most rigorous at some schools, or in the top few kids at other schools. You need to ask at your meeting how you compare.
School: what % of kids get in to Top20ish? Top50ish? How do successful applicants from your school compare to you?

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If you consider ~top-20 schools inclusive of various types of colleges (such as in the example site below), this may broaden your perspective and offer you further ideas for where to research and apply. You may discover that you would appreciate the undergraduate focus of a school such as Williams, for instance.

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A strong Honors program can make a difference but there’s only so many Honors classes. Eventually students still end-up in at least a few large classes.

OP is interested in med school. From what I understand, recommendations are important for admittance. Easier to get when you know and interact with professors. Every school has med school advising but some are probably better than others. That’s one reason Pitt’s Honors program is coveted. They offer Honors advising for medical professions. A recommendation from their Honors program adds a fair boost to your odds of med school acceptance.

Both of my son’s Honors experiences vary widely. One mediocre at best (GT) and the other excellent (FSU). Not all Honors programs are created equal. OP should apply to large publics if she wants. Just be aware of the limitations and drawbacks.

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Yes, for sure. That’s why I said “highly ranked publics that have a strong Honors college/living-learning program”.

Avoiding the publics (even the highly ranked ones like OP has mentioned) and applying only to highly selective private schools isn’t a good strategy IMO. Full pay isn’t a hook at those schools because they get more full pay applicants than they can admit.

OP needs a balanced list of private and public schools.

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My daughter is in Honors at College of Charleston. Interestingly, she’s complaining about her sociology lecture - it’s 45 kids - her biggest class in her 3 semesters.

Her Honors classes are small and her regular classes are small - although that might be major specific.

So - often times, the size of the school may impact your learning - and as for professor interaction, she is taking advantage of office hours and tutoring (which the profs in areas where it is offered are aware of and that impresses them).

So for many - a smaller environment may work better - and may provide at least better recognition for needing recommendations.

Of course, every kid handles the “size up” experience from HS differently - some thrive and even find the work easier. Others get lost in a sea of people and struggle to stay afloat.

That’s why finding the right school and program are far more important than a big name.

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IMO Wash U statistically could give you the best chance of ED acceptance at a Top-20 school.

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Tough to get in to these schools on the basis of academics alone. Advise you to make good use of ED1/ED2, and to shoot for ‘easier’ schools. For example, Wash Univ. in St. L is a great school and takes has taken around 30% of early applicants in recent years. In your applications, you’ll
need to identify and highlight some aspect of your background, personality or ECs that make you special. Good luck,

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You need more than top grades and a strong ACT to get into a tippy top school, or even T20. You need a “hook”, meaning something that you have very, very high achievement in, preferably at the national level. Without this, you’re unlikely at a tippy top, and even a T20.

You want med school? Then do yourself and your family a favor. There isn’t a state in the northeast without a decent flagship state U. That’s your safety. You’ll probably get merit at UMass Amherst and U Maine to bring cost to close to your in-state flagship, maybe at some of the other flagships. Also apply to flagship state U’s with serious merit money, like Arizona, Alabama, and others.

There is absolutely NO reason to pay 320K for premed, when you wind up with the same results for 120-160K at a state U. Plus you’re not gonna get into the super duper name privates - although maybe one of the just below, and maybe if you’re from Vt, NH, or Maine (geographic diversity).

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Sorry you asked, yet? :wink:

My daughter had a similar unweighted GPA, but better AP and ACT outcome - and was ranked in the first decile of her class.

With that, she secured merit offers from several out-of-state flagships (such as UMA Amherst), and also from most of the T20-T50s where she applied to.

I would imagine that you’ll likely get accepted into some state flagships, and generally have reasonable odds for some T50s. Of course, your ACTUAL likelihood will depend on how well your essays and application present yourself as a great fit to each individual college, so that the admission officer sees you as someone who might actually enroll there.

If you are treating all these colleges as a “commodity” (any 5 T50s, any 10 T20s, any 2 flagships), then you might have a hard time to sound convincing when explaining “why college x”.

Remember: Colleges take a chance when extending offers! They know that many applicants will have equal or “better” offers, but the admission officers want to fill their class with the best possible mix. So they will try to “weed out” applicants for whom this college is just another number on a long list.

As far as T20s, your chances are equally as poor (the term “good chances” doesn’t apply to anyone in this context) as any other, similar high-achieving student. Meaning - there simply aren’t enough spots for 85-95% of all the high-achieving students who are applying.

And yes, applying ED can significantly improve your odds (for some colleges by a degree of multitude) - because the admission officer can be confident you WILL enroll if they “reserve” a spot for you.

So, add me to the list of people who suggest that you first identify specific colleges based where you see yourself as a good fit. Then you can get more targeted/relevant feedback.

Your odds don’t “multiply” with the number of applications you submit - many similiar-ranked colleges will extend offers to a similar profile of applicants. So if there are 10,000 applicants for a class of 1,000 - and you are in position 5,000, then applying to 3 similar schools still won’t improve your odds much, because you’ll likely be competing with much of the same pool at each of the other schools.

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