@roycroftmom yes. Exactly. Honestly, if she really really likes Richmond, my opinion would be for her to just go ED and hopefully be done. The midsized school list above is full of schools that fill up early and want interest but we are not going to fly around the country visiting each one. MAYBE we would do Villanova and BC because D is planning on visiting S at Bowdoin sometime this spring and we can work that into one trip. But I don’t see us going to Tulane or Emory or USC or Santa Clara.
I worry about not going ED. Applying RD worked for S19 but he was a boy with high scores applying to LACs. If D isn’t sure about ED then we are looking at EA at Santa Clara, Villanova, Richmond, Tulane and EA can be a rough go. Some, like Richmond, don’t give EA result until after ED2 deadlines at other schools. I think the others here notify in time for her to throw out an ED2 app if needed. I’ll need to look into that more but we need scores before we think strategy.
Guess what, the new, 2019-2020 Common Data Set includes a field for composite SAT range. Schools are beginning to post these on their websites, so check around.
We keep revolving around the mid-size privates in the same high-middle range. I was sure there would only be one school that appeared on both their lists, but scores changed that picture, and there is so much potential list overlap that I decided to make a single spreadsheet for school stats.
I added columns for EA/ED options and EA response date, as few give EA decisions in December, which is unfortunate because the January ones don’t reduce the need for RD apps. I’m already starting to visualize what their fall apps will look like, probably one ED1 (for one of them) and then EA at maybe 2-3 others plus our publics. Of course if they go into RD, all heck breaks loose, so to speak. (Watch, the lists I imagine they’ll have will end up being totally off base eight months from now LOL. We have some visits to do.)
USC - when we went a couple yrs ago, lots of energy! Big school.
@evergreen5 if I take her to usc then it’s game over. I have friends who have visited and said our D would fall in love. I don’t think they have any early rounds at all though and our school’s acceptance rate there looks so odd on Naviance that I have no idea what type of student gets in. Add that to my list of questions for the GC!
Well,as you know, EA does not provide much of an admissions advantage. Very different schools on the list-USC and Wake attract very different types, neither of which have much in common with Villanova.
@roycroftmom I agree but we are just in the beginning stages of list making. I also think she’s the type of kid who could find people at Wake or at Villanova. We know girls at both schools and they are similar kids.
@roycroftmom are you in CA? Anyone in CA? Anyone have opinions on who “fits in” at USC? Honestly I think the weather and the school spirit would be winners. I have heard that they’ve gamed the system lately to move up in the rankings and maybe academics aren’t equal to some of the other schools ranked similarly. And of course there’s the issue of the kids with a lot of showy money.
Even though the new CDS allows schools to put this number in, the admitted student mid 50% scores are really what you want to use…it is typically higher than the matriculated range (which is what is on the CDS).
Schools often post the admitted student range on their websites, in press releases, and/or the student newspaper.
I wasn’t thinking of academics. I do think USC is, generally, a socially competitive school, and has a lot in common with SMU in that regard, with a fair amount of of glitzy conspicuous consumption. Upperclassmen that I know there had to move off campus for housing, and the options were both unpleasant and very expensive. Wake has more of a southern preppy/sorority vibe, from the kids I know there. Why not visit and judge yourself?
I vote for visiting BC, as there is considerable energy (9.3k undergrads on 371 acres, yet more columns on my spreadsheet) though obviously a more northeast feeling than USC and not as huge (USC 19.9k undergrads on 226 acres). SCU is much more chill in vibe. Villanova more similar to BC, I suppose, though we only visited once (6917 undergrads on 260 acres).
(By the way, from info available so far, BC’s ED1 acceptance rate was 36%, and my estimates for ED2 30% and RD 18%, though we’ll see what data they release in March.)
I have not visited Villanova since it moved from a Regional University to a National University in the US News rankings several years ago.
In the past, Villanova was populated by a lot of students from the same Catholic high schools who often formed cliques & many went home on weekends. I wonder if this has changed ?
Also, based on your daughter’s current ACT scores, isn’t USC a bit of a reach ?
USC seems to be trying very hard to move up in the US News rankings of which standardized test scores are a component.
@socaldad2002: You may have misread my post. I wrote that the kids are similiar. The major difference is location.
As for SMU being “voted” the #3 most Christian college by Niche, that is hard to believe. In fact, I know that it is inaccurate. It isn’t even the third most Christian college in Texas.
Baylor, TCU–Texas Christian University, for example are more Christian than SMU. After reviewing colleges & universities just in the state of Texas, SMU would definitely not rank in the top 10 most Christian colleges in Texas.
SMU, according to the Fiske Guide To Colleges 2020:
“Although founded by what is now the United Methodist Church, SMU is nondenominational; less than 10 percent of students are Methodist and all faiths are welcome.”
Agree that SMU students are more conservative than those at USC & that USC has a much larger student body.
I can’t imagine anyone thinking SMU is Christian, at least not anyone who has visited. Prada is worshipped on both campuses, in my limited experience. Tho SMU is an easier admit, it may have better employment prospects, as it is effectively the only game in town in Dallas, a home to many Fortune 100. USC places into jobs well for its Marshall majors, but for the rest of the students who I know at least, it was a bit more of a challenge. USC seems rather sensitive to admission of privileged students in the last round of admissions.