It’s been a while since I have posted, although I have lurked quite a bit. My D18 is currently a senior at Duke and thriving. My D22 has gotten her list pretty firmed up and is taking the month of October to get all but a couple of her applications done. I just wanted to get some thoughts on her list from the talented people here on CC. Here are the highlights of her stats:
4.54 GPA (W)
3.95 GPA (UW)
33 ACT
Will have completed 7 AP’s at graduation, earning 4 or higher so far on all. All other classes are Honor’s other that a few that are required coursework at her school that are not offered on a honors level. Member of multiple honor societies and clubs, but no leadership positions. Her school was basically shut down, all virtual from March of 2020 until this August, so none were added then. She did join one or two more this year. She has worked a PT job for the last year, working 15-20 hours per week. Our home state is NC. She is First Gen and also considered a Legacy at Duke. She does not have a firm idea of what she wants to major in yet (possible Pre-Law). She is planning on applying to the following:
Duke (ED)
UNC EA
NC State EA
UofSC EA & Honor’s College
UVA
Vanderbilt RD
Yale RD
FSU & Honor’s Program
UF & Honor’s Program
University of Miami EA
She is an excellent writer and her recommendations should be great. She is well liked by her teachers and peers. Any thoughts on her list?
All are affordable based off of NPC ran for each one. Miami comes back way higher than the others, and considering it is a school that meets full need (just like Duke, UVA, Vanderbilt and Yale), so that is a little weird. I do not see any issue with her getting into the two NC ones (although they are last on her list) and FSU and UofSC. Her stats should get her in state tuition at FSU and UofSC.
Conventional Wisdom for students that are considering law school is to target schools where you are going to get good grades at the lowest cost. So what’s driving some of the other schools on her list. Is she leaning toward Florida as a geographic preference?
We are full pay at public schools, but get tons of aid at private schools that meet full need, so they all pretty much come within 1-2k of each other, minus the Miami outlier. She likes the state of Florida, and wants big athletics. However, she would not even consider Alabama, or any of the more “southern” SEC schools. Lol. Unfortunately, minus Vanderbilt, Duke and UofSC, we haven’t toured the others.
I understand. However, they do state that they use your COA minus EFC to get to your need amount. I haven’t ran FAFSA yet of course, but I know what it roughly will be and they are $16,000 a year over that.
One of my youngest had pretty much those exact stats (plus varsity captain on 3 teams), and is absolutely loving Clemson (and we are from the northeast). I doubt we will ever see her again.
Very strong stats. I am sure admission to most NC schools will be easy. I personally would not waste any more time on applying to more NC schools unless you want to target schools that have law programs like Wake Forest and Campbell.
UVA is ivy tough for OOS applicants in the same way UNC is. I’d drop that. Based on what you have put down for EFC, I am assuming you can pay close to $50K? In that case, many schools open up like Georgetown, GW, and even Notre Dame.
Is your kid a NMSQT finalist? That can make a huge difference too. I believe USC (CA) has a nice deal.
She did think about Georgetown, but decided against it. Besides Yale, which is basically just a hail mary, she really does not want to be north of UVA. She is not a fan of cold weather, and I can say she gets it honestly. We are touring the Florida schools in November, and should she get into UVA, we will take a tour there. In a perfect world, she will be admitted to Duke ED and the visits in November will have just been a fun road trip. They just started doing official tours again a few weeks back, so we are going in a couple weeks to do the official tour, and have her sister give her an behind the scenes one. She really knows all she needs to about Duke, between her research and visiting many times with her sister and knows it is her number one choice. I think she is looking are marine bio there. I could see her getting that degree and going to law school and becoming an environmental attorney.
Nope. No Football team. Lol. That is literally her reasoning. Which, I get it, she saw her oldest sister go to an SEC school and then her other sister attends Duke. Both have great athletics. I tried to get her to do App State, but she is not a mountain or cold weather loving kid.
