<p>"Even the top 25 percent is not a "sure thing" but odds are good. If you have 3-4 of those, those are your "Match" schools."</p>
<p>If class rank/grades are lower, you have to be careful with these, and look at the selectivity. My son was wl'd at Bowdoin and Carleton, 1460 SAT's, 780/790/750 SAT II's, very good EC's, good essays - BUT was only ranked top 13th percent in HS class. Fine to include Bowdoin, just be sure to include schools with more generous admit rates. Allegheny, Lawrence, Hanover - all very good schools with happier admissions chances.</p>
<p>
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If your child has a unique skill that a particular school needs, is there a better chance of acceptance? Something the child does extremely well (like play a sport or an instrument?) but doesn't necessarily want to major in.
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These are things the student's application should definitely showcase. But there is no way to estimate how much they increase the chances. If the school is in desperate need of one left-handed oboe-playing epee-wielding fencer and you are one, this is very good. However, what if 4 others apply that year? So these are just one more element in the mix, never the makings of a safety. IMO.</p>
<p>
[quote]
what if your child falls in love with a school?
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If falling in love with <em>one</em> school can be avoided, I think it's desirable. So if s/he falls in love with one, find others a lot like it to "flirt" with and apply to. Make sure some of these others are of lesser selectivity. If your child falls in love with one, don't try to stop it-you probably can't; but don't feed it. You will both lose lots of sleep during the waiting period between application and decision. And a rejection will cause even more pain than necessary. Most kids who fail to get into their "dream" school end up very happy somewhere else. The more they know this ahead of time, the better.</p>
<p>Finally, piling on to the rolling/EA admission points made above:</p>
<p>Rolling Admission or EA Admissions Safety = best kind</p>
<p>PV, don't panic, there are many fine colleges which will be happy to accept your student, both public and private. With a 3.4 gpa and 1100 SAT you undoubtedly realize that highly selective colleges are beyond your student's reach. But there literally thousands which are not so highly selective. If your student is leaning toward smaller colleges, pick up a copy of Loren Pope's most recent book. These are fine colleges which may be a match. Look at your state colleges and universities. If the flagship university(ies) are reaches there are probably others which are matches.</p>
<p>Go to USNews and, ignoring the bogus rankings, find those colleges where your student is in the top half of the 25%-75% SAT score. These should be a match with other things being equal.</p>
<p>Last years USNews had an entire article about admission of students like yours. Go to the library and read it. It will set your mind at ease.</p>
<p>I'm slightly less panicked, although I wonder why it seems to be the parents and not the students who are so invested in this process during junior year. I'm reading everything. My child couldn't be more relaxed about the whole process. Are your children all very excited about the application process?</p>
<p>I have more information to add. I was mistaken about my friend's child. They did get info about schools all over the U.S. but chose to look only in California. That is one piece of information I didn't have. The other is that they got a full list of schools but this is their yougest and the siblings got into particular schools very easily, so their child applied only to a portion of the schools on the list. They may have accidentally eliminated all the schools with easier admissions. The youngest wanted to go to the same school as the next older brother who is a sophomore and had either a 3.3 or 3.4 GPA but didn't get into even one of the same schools as a sibling did. So either something was wrong with the youngest's transcripts or recommendations, or the schools are now harder to get into.</p>
<p>We aren't looking at any of the top tier schools. The highest ones on the list have a 3.6 average GPA. The others range from 3.2-3.5</p>
<p>I didn't think to mention that my child also has a learning disability in writing and ADD, with an unwritten diagnosis of dysgraphia. The school district tested for other writing issues but not that, so it's not written into the testing report, even though there are accommodations for it. The result was that even though my child has an IEP and accommodations, they were not granted by College Board. I've appealed, but probably will not hear back before the scheduled test date. If they are not granted then my child will be taking the test with a handicap. Is this something one would want to mention in an essay when applying to colleges or not? It is the main reason, I believe, why the projected SAT scores (based on PSAT and on scores received during an SAT prep class) are not higher, as my child has the ability but needs the accommodations.</p>
<p>It also adds another factor into the mix. All universities and colleges must provide special services but some are much better than others. I've talked to parents who said their children get very few of their accommodations when they should. With dysgraphia a student should get all notes written for them, either from the professor or from another student. Also, depending on the severity, they should get a scribe with the ability to dictate during essay exams. That doesn't always happen. With ADD the student should have a quiet place for testing with 100% more time. That doesn't always happen.</p>
<p>PV -
the dysgraphia is tough. One of my son's friends is at Gannon (in Erie PA) and is finally enjoying school because none of the prof's have any trouble with providing accomodations. In particular he does his english course work (including in-class) on a computer. I'm not sure about the notes, but its a pretty supportive environment in general. One of the other schools on his list, Clarkson in NY state, certainly looked past grades and scores - and at talent and motivation. </p>
<p>Take a peak at Hiram. Interesting school - lots of their kids go on to graduate work.</p>
<p>I'm fairly sure it is only State schools that are required to serve LD students. As a parent of a child with significant LDs, I think most schools are just not prepared, at least many of those we looked at. My son, as a urm with reasonably high scores, had a good shot at the ivy I went to but a hard look convinced us not to go there.</p>
<p>I would really focus on schools that have the real help your child may need. My son ended up doing well at a top tier UC after 2 years at a CC with lots of help to get him prepared.</p>
<p>We're fortunate in being on top of the LD situation. We know what needs to be received and how to get it, if the school offers it. I've looked at the Kravets book but it doesn't have many colleges listed. I looked again at College Board and they have information on LD services for every school. I checked about 10 and there are key phrases that indicate if a school has better services. If they offer remediation, that's one clue. There are others, too.</p>
<p>Kirmum, I think it's part of the federal disabilities laws that states all schools must offer disability services. Some are just more thorough than others. They serve the populations that attend them. </p>
<p>I also found that you can list the colleges by the percentages of acceptances, so it was easy to pull out the reach, match, and safety schools just by starting with that. I now have a much better idea as to which schools are going to be good matches. The information here has been very useful.</p>
<p>PVmember, since you're relatively new to the search let me recommend some background reading that will help put things into a framework. I like the book "Admission Matters" by Franck, a recent book that covers the whole process rather than focusing on a particular slice of the college world (eg LACs, Ivy, etc). Someone else recommended a book by Pope, and his are also good.</p>
<p>With all the planning and preparation it still remains an unpredictable process for many. My S was accepted to all his reaches and safeties and none of his matches (wait listed).</p>
<p>I'm making a list of books to read. I've done some research but I was floored when my friend's son didn't get into any of their planned choices. I've talked to other parents found many students don't get into the colleges they hoped for, even those with good grades. I am adjusting my list accordingly. I am also adding every school that seems to want my child's particular skill, as I think that could provide a hook in schools that may not have enough students with particular interests.</p>
<p>I have other questions about grading systems and recommendations. Should I start a new topic for each of those?</p>
<p>Making the thread title as specific as possible is probably a good idea - you will likely get more answers and suggestions. It is also very useful for those that haven't summoned the courgage to post as yet.</p>