Hi there, trying to help Jr. sort out his list of target schools - any feedback is appreciated. Could use some crowd-sourced help in figuring out what are reach vs. match schools and getting this down to 10 or fewer targets. Thank you all in advance!
Here’s the rundown:
Senior in a top 20 CA public magnet STEM school; school doesn’t rank students
mixed race, middle income household. Can afford a UC, will need aid for private schools
GPA: 3.9 unweighted, 4.4 weighted. Scored 5 on AP Seminar,4 on AP Physics and History. Taking AP Spanish, English Language, and Calculus BC this year. Taking a university physics class equal to Physics C this year
SAT 1510 (790 Math, 720 English). SAT Subject Tests (Math II: 730 and Physics - not so great. planning to retake)
Athletics: XC and Track team captain. 2x USATF All American, multiple XC and track (distance) individual & team championships. Times are good for walk on at D1 schools, top quartile for D3 schools
ECs: leadership positions (design, engineering and fundraising) on multiple award-winning robotics teams. Founded TED club; hosted/organized 100+ person TEDx Youth event
Geographic considerations: suburban or rural campus preferred. Grew up on west coast; interested in trying life in the Midwest/NE
Possible majors: engineering (mechanical/industrial), econ/business, cognitive science
Legacy connection at Wash U (Aunt). No other legacy connections to other schools
Target school list:
LACs:
Williams
Swarthmore
Pomona
Claremont
Harvey Mudd
Olin School of Engineering
Research Uni’s:
Wash U St. Louis
Penn
Princeton
UChicago
Dartmouth
Vandy
Notre Dame
UCLA
UC Berkeley
Stanford
Your list is in need of matches and safeties. Right now it is pretty much all reaches and far reaches. However if the mixed race meets an institutional need, some of those reaches could be possible
Competitive for the schools listed, but they would be reaches. If by mixed race, you mean Asian, it will be tougher than URM mixed race. Have you considered going the athletic recruit route, at least for some of the D3’s on your list? Might want to target some other UC’s for potential matches.
@BKSquared great minds think alike! Yes, he is talking to coaches at each of the DIII’s and has overnight visits planned at several of them. Kiddo definitely wants to run in college so that may help
@merc81 Not necessarily. Jr. is still trying to figure out if he really wants to spend the next four years in a STEM-dedicated school vs. “STEM-lite” vs. business/econ environments. Many factors to consider!
@CaDad69 I don’t think any school with an admit rate below 20%, can really be called a match unless there is some ‘hook’. But if your S is being recruited, then that can turn any of these schools into matches or likelies. That’s a whole different ball game
@wisteria100 You make a good point and I agree re the most competitive schools. At school visits to CalTech, Stanford, etc. they announce that they reject 100s of kids with perfect SATs, 4.0’s. Good news is S is in the recruiting process with several schools on the target list : )
@intparent White/Asian. Native level in one Asian language and English and advanced in another (Spanish). I’m interested in your opinion - thanks in advance!
Very, very top-heavy list. White/Asian is irrelevant. Certainly will not help. The nephew of an alum is not a legacy.
Putting aside athletic recruitment for a moment, your son could potentially end up with no acceptances with this list. he needs to add schools that have >30% acceptance rate, and he needs to apply to them early action (if they have it) to demonstrate interest, otherwise he risks being rejected as a likely non-enrollee.
Consider University of Pittsburgh, Brandeis University, Case Western University, Lehigh University, Syracuse University. For LACs, consider Davidson College, University of Richmond, Franklin & Marshall, Lafayette, Union College, and Skidmore College.
I agree that none of these are “targets”. All are reaches due to low admissions rates. Unless he is recruited and has a coach giving him a tip, and applies ED to that school – that school might be considered a match.
If he isn’t recruited, I’d advise he pick his top 3-4 favorites off this list as reaches to apply to, then find another 3-4 matches, and a couple of sure safeties that you know you can afford and his admission is almost a sure thing. Be sure you pay attention to whether interest matters for his matches and safeties, and show them some love, otherwise they may waitlist him instead of accepting him.
I would take the following tactic assuming he is not given a true recruit spot (e.g. coach uses an allocated spot where admissions is virtually guaranteed). I would have your son apply SCEA Princeton or Stanford or EA UChic and ND. I believe ND and UChic allow you to apply EA to other colleges, so your son could apply EA to both. He should also apply rolling admissions or EA if available to a couple of other schools on your list that might be matches/safeties. In the meantime, have him get get app’s ready (maybe not 100%, reserving some longer required school specific essays for after EA decision outcomes) for the remaining reaches and a few matches/safeties. If he gets in EA anywhere, you can cull the list back to just schools he would rank ahead of that one. If his first choice were Stanford and he got in, then he would be done. If he is rejected EA (and not deferred), you will want to consider cutting back on the reach applications for RD because there is probably some weakness in his app that makes getting into any reach school unlikely. The exception is Stanford which defers very few applicants. If he is deferred, reassess your list, but he likely will be applying to a pretty broad mix. This is why applying to some match/safety rolling admissions and non REA schools may be helpful. Knowing he is in somewhere can cut out a bunch of lower ranking match/safeties.
@intparent Thanks again for the good advice! Son completed academic pre-reads with two school so far - both with positive results so that is a good sign. We have a number of official visits planned this fall and that will (hopefully) finalize the ED I, ED II or RD decision.
@BKSquared Thank you for the detailed advice - appreciate it. S is good for a walk on at D1 schools but is not being recruited at that level currently. He is being actively recruited at the DIII level and may apply ED I but he won’t be making that decision till October I think - has already started working on applications. We did meet with the Penn coach and he told us the inspiring story of his women’s distance captain who started in club freshman year, joined as a walk on sophomore year then made Varsity and captain Jr-Snr years. He really wants to continue his running career in college. Need to balance that vs. major vs. geographic considerations. We’ll definitely look into EA options as well.
@CaDad69, it sure is a process full of competing factors. If your son wants to continue running in college, the recruiting path may make the decision making process easier. S had true recruiting spots (team sport) for 2 of the LAC’s on your list. The quid pro quo was he had to apply ED. The Ivy coaches he was in contact with did not offer him a spot but encouraged him to apply, and if he got in, they would welcome him as a walk-on. S decided playing ball was not as important as the school and school experience, so he went the path I outlined above. If playing ball were important to him, he would have gone the ED route at the D3 he liked the best. He probably would have also had a shot at starting or having significant playing time as a freshmen. That would most likely not be the case if he walked on to any of the Ivy teams.
@BKSquared We are in literally in exactly the same spot. We are hearing the same things that you outlined from coaches at D1 and D3 levels. Apply ED to a top LAC and run varsity or look at some of the mid-sized top-25 D1 schools as a walk-on. Competitive running is a huge passion for Jr. so it will be interesting to see what he wants to do. Thanks again for sharing!