<p>My S is a rising senior at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) in Fairfax Virginia, the number one rated public high school by US News. </p>
<p>His highest SAT is 2340, with 800's on both the math and critical reading. He has also gotten 800's on the SAT II Math2, Physics and Chemistry. He has taken 6 AP tests so far--2 Physics, Calculus, Chemistry, Computer Science and U.S. History--and gotten 5's on each. TJ only calculates weighted GPA scores and does not provide class rankings. S has a 4.262 weighted GPA but has gotten some B's in English and German along the way. A's in all his AP and science and math courses. </p>
<p>For extracurriculars, he is spending his second summer as an intern in a chemistry lab at Georgetown University, working for a professor who is prepared to write a rave review. He will also be named on the upcoming research paper, which may or may not be accepted for publication before he applies to schools. He is also an avid singer, lessons, recitals, A Capella choir; an avid photographer, whose has done the author's photo for an upcoming book; and an avid film buff. Loves hiking. His counselor at TJ thinks that Caltech is PERFECT for him and his Georgetown prof thinks he should go there or to MIT.</p>
<p>S wants to go a medium-sized research university or an LAC strong in the sciences, with a view to going to graduate school to become a research physicist. He has a thing against Ivy Leagues schools but not against Little Ivies. His current list of possible schools is as follows.</p>
<p>Caltech
MIT
Williams
Amherst
Reed
Bowdoin
Wesleyan
Swarthmore
Chicago
WUSTL
Duke
Carnegie Mellon
William and Mary
U. of Rochester
Case Western Reserve</p>
<p>He has legacy at Bowdoin and Swarthmore. </p>
<p>So, how would you rate his chances at these schools, and do you have any other suggestions?</p>
<p>i say that he is a sure thing for all but cal tech and mit, for which he has good chance. the school choice appears rather very diverse, though.</p>
<p>Definitely NOT a sure thing for most of them - those schools have lots and lots of high stats, high-interest applicants, more than they have room for. At your son’s level, there really are no “match” schools, only reaches and safeties.</p>
<p>Caltech, although tiny, is like a medium-sized research U because they just do so darn much. They also have a nice a capella group.<br>
[Caltech</a> Girl by Caltech Out of Context - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>My son also had a thing against Ivies! He also had a diverse list of choices. You might consider Harvey Mudd, Rose Hulman, and Colorado College.</p>
<p>According to the Swarthmore CDS alumni relation is only considered while at Bowdoin it is important, and Bowdoin accepts a higher %age of applicants. I think Swat is still a reach and Bowdoin looks likely.</p>
<p>Why would he have a thing against the Ivies? That’s a broad-brush assessment that’s pretty silly for someone of his accomplishments. They’re widely diverse schools, and there’s no criterion he could have that would eliminate all eight.</p>
<p>He’s got a solid shot at all those schools - the most selective are still a reach. They are for all but a few superstars.
Have him look at schools - visits, talks with reps, surfing the web pages.
There are some schools that are probably safeties - maybe Case and URochester.</p>
<p>gadad, my son doesn’t have anything generically against the Ivies. Most are even more selective than the ones he is interested in. Some, such as Harvard, seem to require four years of a language for admittance, which he doesn’t have. Plus he doesn’t think he could get in anyway, even with his scores. He visited Princeton but didn’t like it for some reason. He doesn’t want to go to school in urban New York or Philadelphia which eliminates Columbia and Penn. Cornell is too big, Dartmouth too preppy and Brown has a supplemental application that is ridiculously long for a school that is so difficult to get into. Finally, Yale never popped up on our radar screen for some reason. Nonetheless, I suspect he might prepared to accept counter arguments.</p>
<p>A goodly number of LACs will want a strong showing in a language.
The ‘little Ivies’ also tend to have long supplements and may be preppy as well.
Chicago is not a great choice for kids not interested in or strong in writing, generally.
Consider climate which might or might not matter, and distance from home.
Definitely look at Harvey Mudd and Olin.
Cut down the list eventually to about 8.</p>
<p>Caltech
MIT
Olin
Harvey Mudd
WUSTL
Carnegie Mellon
U. of Rochester
Case Western Reserve
would be my starting point.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions nemom. Of the schools I listed my S has visited all of them except Chicago, Duke, Case and Rochester. We definitely did not get the impression that the Little Ivies we visited were preppy and we were looking for signs of it. In fact, we thought that Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan and Bowdoin were all fabulous places. Reed was also right up there in our estimation. S’s grandfather is a very prominent Bowdoin alum so we are fairly confident he will be accepted there. He did not take to Swarthmore but did like Haverford (which I failed to list–his mother went to Bryn Mawr). We did visit Harvey Mudd on our West Coast swing but thought it a bit of a dump (physically ugly, the worst dorms we saw anywhere), although we are aware of its rep and it was admittedly a rare rainy gloomy day when we were there. I thought that Olin was strictly an engineering school and my S definitely does not want to be an engineer. Case and Rochester are what we are looking at for safeties, although we think S’s scores make him a pretty safe bet for Carnegie Mellon and William and Mary given the track record of TJ students at both institutions, at least as revealed by TJ-specific scatter grams.</p>
<p>While your son’s SAT stats are good, those colleges are really going to be competitive no matter what. These days, having a high SAT score and even 10+ AP’s (assuming the school offers that many) is becoming just the base case for top schools.</p>
<p>I am not saying he won’t get into these schools, but they are all reaches. I suggest really focusing on things like extra-curriculars, leadership, and essays. Perhaps expand his range (more little ivies, top schools, whatever). If colleges wanted to fill up their classes with perfect SAT and GPA students, they could. This isn’t meant to discourage, your son is already well positioned, but just be aware that the competitive landscape of colleges is pretty intense.</p>
<p>His 2340 is at one sitting. His superscore would be 2350 so he is no slouch when it comes to writing. Interestingly enough, per csdad, according to the College Board website, during the most recent test cycle for which they have data, it may have been last years, only just over 1300 SAT test takers got 800’s on both math and critical reading, so that is a relatively small universe. You would think that my S would get into at least one of the schools he is applying to.</p>
<p>Is that 1300 figure from single sittings? It does seem like a surprisingly small number. Makes me wonder about the number of perfect scores each year.</p>
<p>For those of you who were kind enough to comment on my son’s chances of getting into the laundry list of schools I provided in my first post on this thread, I thought you would like to know that he ended up applying early action to both Caltech and MIT. He got his first response back today by email. It was from Caltech. He got in!</p>
He also had a diverse list of choices. You might consider Harvey Mudd, Rose Hulman, and Colorado College.</p>