GPA UW 3.7, W 4.0, Rank 61/226
ACT - 32
SAT - 1430
Coursework - 11 AP classes with mostly 3’s a few 4’s (not submitting scores)
Awards - “Normal” basic academic awards from school
Extracurriculars - 4 year varsity sport, team leadership, various regional awards; various honor societies NHS, MAT, Science, Language, etc., service clubs; works as a private lessons coach to middle school aged kids in her sport.
Essays/LORs/Other - Normal for a good student, Reasonably Strong
Cost Constraints / Budget - None specifically but may factor into final decision
Schools including Safety, Match, Reach (include ED/EA when applicable)
Focusing mostly on Catholic Schools but open to considering others as well. Looking for mid-size and prefer a large city or a suburb of a large city. I feel like she has a decent list.
Unlikely - these are top choices but may not want to “waste” ED/REA on these since they are unlikely
Boston College
Georgetown
Budget will be very important, so you may want to cobble together what you will be paying and then adding to that amount for travel, daily living expenses (toiletries, etc.) leisure activities and health insurance.
If BC is desired-but-unlikely, have you considered Holy Cross? Can still do outings to Boston pretty easily on commuter rail, plus Worcester is a city in its own right.
If you like Wake, are you considering Richmond? I expect you already know that odds at Tulane are very different for ED vs. RD, and many EA applicants are deferred and urged to convert to ED2.
California-wise, have you looked at U of SF?
If you like Tulane and you like Catholic U’s, I’d expect to see Loyola New Orleans on your list. Mid-Atlantic wise, Loyola Maryland could be worth a look also.
Both are fine schools. I did undergrad at Fordham myself (and grad at Georgetown actually), and my daughter very nearly went to USF (ended up choosing a state school that fit our budget better). We are not Catholic, but I am a huge fan of Jesuit education.
Also, Seattle U is in a nice part of a cool city and could also be worth a look, although I realize it’s as far from home as you can get from the Southeast without leaving the continental US! Also in the PNW, there’s U of Portland (which is in St. John’s, a very different part of Portland from the downtown area that gets bad press).
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Marquette, too (and about Milwaukee as a city). If you visit the Chicago schools, it would only be an extra 2 hr drive (each way) to check out that possibility.
Yes she is considering Loyola New Orleans. Worried it is too small (feels the same way about Providence) but I think it’s a great location!
I’m curious about UMD, especially because we have family not too far from there. I read another post saying it’s super hard to get into. When I looked up their common data set it seems they accept about 40 percent of applicants, but it also says their average “unweighted” GPA for their admitted students is 4.4 and that more than 90 percent of applicants have an unweighted GPA of 4.0 or higher. I don’t understand that at all since, to me, “unweighted” means the highest you can get is 4.0 (or I guess some people would say 4.3). I don’t understand how you even get 4.4 unweighted…but she’s WAY below that so I’m afraid it would be another unlikely!
With Loyola and Tulane right next door to each other, there’s a pretty good-sized student community right there, but it’s true that Loyola is smaller. Loyola Maryland is similar in size to Providence, so maybe she wants bigger than that.
Yes, “4.4UW” for UMD doesn’t sound right. That has got to be a weighted number. Even so, it would be a reach OOS with a 4.0W. Have you considered U of Delaware? That might be a better fit (and similar in vibe to other schools she likes, IMO), and it has some great programs for her interests. More suburban than urban, but that’s equally true of UMD. The two are less than an hour apart, so still pretty close to family.
Ah! I misread your earlier post and thought you were suggesting University of MD. But now I see you said Loyola MD, which makes so much more sense to me!! Will add it to the list to consider! Thanks
You might look at Creighton, Xavier and if Nova is liked, St Joes. If willing to stay near home, Trinity (non catholic).
You have admits on your list already.
The risk with ED is the early action part. But it’s not a waste of it gives you better odds. Too many think if I don’t get in ED, it was wasted. I’ll disagree.
But other than rank, why are those the two under ED consideration ? You are going four years - you need to love where you are day after day. A rank doesn’t assure that. I hope they’re your favorite for other reasons.
As an FYI, students at Loyola New Orleans and Tulane are able to take classes at the other university and to eat in the others’ facilities too, I believe.
With your daughter’s interests and focusing in on Catholic schools, has she considered:
Catholic U (D.C.): It’s about 3k undergrads, but D.C. is a hard place to beat for your D’s interests. This would be a likely admit.
Seton Hall: About 6k undergrads just outside of New York City, and if your D’s interests lean towards international politics at all, they have a very interesting diplomacy program. They also offer a semester in D.C. that many of their political science majors can take advantage of. This would be another likely.
Thanks for your comments! Her ED choices are based a lot on preferred location as well as academic interests. DC is her favorite city and she will probably add GW as it is more of a match just because it is in DC and really great for Political Science. I don’t think she would ED there though because she prefers more of a “real” campus. She didn’t really like the vibe of American or Catholic. She also loves Boston and that is why BC is a potential ED. Other potential ED are Villanova and Tulane…also because of a combo of academics and location.
I’d say this - GW and Gtown (and AU for that fact) - all very different.
I’m glad your daughter knows what she wants - not GW or AU so I agree - no reason to ED and really no reason to apply to those. My daughter also felt GW is too urban. We left the tour. We liked Gtown but that’s where I learned about no merit aid schools and I wasn’t willing to pay full… My daughter liked being in the city but wanted a campus like yours and ended up at College of Charleston. Of the three in DC, she applied only to AU and was accepted but liked being in town more vs. further out. This semester she’s in DC through the Washington DC Semester at her school - which participates in the U of SC Honors College DC Semester - so if you go outside of DC, many colleges will have a DC semester offering. She’s working at a well known think tank and the housing is right near the capitol - so you can still get a DC experience if she’s not ultimately in DC.
C of C might be of interest as another mid size although it’s public - but it’s a public LAC. And it’s in downtown - but has a campus. I’d also say - look deeper than just names. Different schools will have different programs. I don’t know if with a 3.7 your daughter could qualify for the Charleston Fellows Program - but they have the Mroz Institute and my daughter has met and spent time with dignitaries from Dennis Ross to the Swiss Ambassador to the US to the former Canadian ambassador to the head of the George Bush Institute on US China Relations. I think many schools have many of these types of opportunities - but you might find out. I think a lot of schools do a lot of great things but don’t necessarily get a lot of credit for them.
I can see why DC is her favorite city. When I dropped her off at the end of August, I just walked and walked - there’s so many cool buildings, neighborhoods, monuments, markets - it’s just a super neat city!! I walked miles every day just taking it all in.
One doesn’t have to ED of course - that’s a choice - and of course BC isn’t in Boston proper no different than Nova isn’t in Philly and Tulane directly in New Orleans although of course in the city limit.
I’d say for Poli Sci there’s far more great schools than you can imagine - so she’d certainly have her pick. So far, my daughter interned for the state where we live last summer in the DOT and is at the think tank now - but had other opportunities as well for the semester.
Your student can do great things no matter where they go to school - if she’s got grit and hustle.
I put a couple C of C links below - because other schools may have similar programs that interest her - but she might not be familiar with them - so what we’ve learned after the fact…if we looked under the hood more at all these schools, we might have found some really cool stuff that might get her giddy. Things like the Mroz Institute which is awesome but admittedly she only found out about after starting.
If she loves Boston, has she thought about Emmanuel (Roman Catholic)? With only about 2k undergrads you might think that it’d be too small, but it’s part of the Colleges of the Fenway consortium which allows students to take classes at the other area universities, participate in clubs and sports with folks from the other universities, etc. Its location might also be very appealing. From my understanding, it’s a well-defined campus, not like a GW urban campus.
