<p>I know!</p>
<p>She really is cruisin' for a bruisin', wouldn't you say?</p>
<p>:beleaguered sigh:</p>
<p>It has been a while since I read this thread, but if your D has so many reaches, is the GC letting her know that and strongly encouraging her to tweak her list? I know that sometimes my kids will listen to every word anyone, other than mom or dad, tells them! The trick is that sometimes my kids need the same info from anyone other than their parents.</p>
<p>cindy: You may have some anxious moments but in the end it will work out.</p>
<p>Try putting head between knees moment come Spring, all rejections within 2 min of opening emails - happened to my daughter. Yes, it did work out beautifully at the end, she couldn't be happier.</p>
<p>cindy, possibly the result of her EA venture will be the jolt that's needed to start the application. If it's a YES, then everyone can exhale. If it's a NO, then it just might shock her into adding some reasonables (or an EDII).</p>
<p>OP's daughter can't add any more schools, according to her HS guideline.</p>
<p>Well she does have one safety...if all goes badly in the spring, than she can work on mustering excitement about her safety. If at least one reach comes through, then there will be cheering (and a huge sigh of relief).</p>
<p>1 for-sure safety that she is willing to attend is all she needs.</p>
<p>I know it is a risky approach.... but if you think about it, a true safety is a school where admission is certain. A student can only attend one. There is no particular value in searching out other safeties or highly-likely schools if they are not in any way preferable to the safety that has already been selected. </p>
<p>So it is reasonable if the minimum criteria for addition to the list is "must be more desirable than safety". And if every school that fits the "more desirable than safety" test ends up being a reach..... well, in the end the choice is the same: either the safety that was good enough, or else the kid gets lucky.</p>
<p>I know this is against common wisdom. I know that as cindy says, the girl is cruisin' for a bruisin'</p>
<p>But I was in the same place 3 years ago, with my daughter. Hugely top heavy list. And the result was that in the end we had a lot of fat envelopes at our house, and some amazing choices. So I'm pretty sure that d. thinks she made the right choices. </p>
<p>So Cindy.... as long as you are absolutely sure that your d. will get into that safety -- my advice is for you as a parent to work up enthusiasm for that school .... and then wait and see. You'll either be giving a lot of hugs or else be whooping for joy in the spring.</p>
<p>Just finished reading this thread for the first time (not sure how I missed it) - and I must say there is an incredible amount of great thinking that went into it. Incredibly valuable to those of us that are a year behind in the selection process (with my 2010 DD)</p>
<p>Best of luck to Cindy's daughter - it seems to me that she is taking a real go for it approach - and I hope it works out for her. Dreams do come true!!!</p>
<p>Calmom, one issue is that Cindy's D has never visited College of Charleston and so while she may very well like it, it is a gamble to have only one safety if she has never visited. She may not be left with OPTIONS and will have to attend by default. She doesn't truly know if she likes her safety. </p>
<p>Another issue, in my opinion, is that when one doesn't have matches and has a list that is mostly all reaches and one safety, it seems a shame to want those reaches that badly, to then settle for the safety when there are many fine schools IN BETWEEN that are in the student's target ballpark and these have all been eliminated. I got the sense that Cindy's D feels only these reach schools will do, but by the same token, she is willing to settle for a school a lot of steps down from the type of schools she feels she MUST have. So, it seems prudent to have some schools just ONE step down from her reaches as that is where many students land....at their ballpark schools. </p>
<p>That said, I hope for her D's sake that one of her reaches comes through so she doesn't feel that she had to "settle."</p>
<p>I've been told from more than one source that Northwestern does not consider any applicants (that are unhooked) with lower than a 32 ACT (which is a 1410-1450/1600 on the SAT). </p>
<p>Our HS has quite a few who apply to Northwestern and no one except an athlete was accepted with lower than a 32 ACT. One applicant has a famous alum in the family and was still denied.</p>
<p>I didn't comment on this orginally but read it again and wonder about the OP's D choices. Oh well, this seems to happen at my kids HS and the kids end up at the state flagship or their safety. Everyone seems to want a "brand name" and if they don't get in, they'll end up at the state flagship.</p>
<p>My older daughter's GC was very nice, she told my daughter to feel free to apply to more schools over the xmas break and they would make sure her packets would go out in Jan. At the end, my daughter did apply to 2 more matches (easy applications), and one of them gave her a very nice merit aid.</p>
<p>oldfort, but your older D was denied during the ED round, not the RD round, right? Big difference, IMHO.</p>
<p>About the OP's D...I thought Univ of Maryland was her 'safety match' school. If I remember correctly, the school's guidance counselor (who, unlike us, has seen the entire file including actual scores and grades) said that she would get in to U of MD.</p>
<p>I agree with calmom. If you have a good safety, and it is a real safety (i.e, a school you are certain you will be admitted, one that you would really like to attend, and can afford without aid), then you don't need a second safety. Unfortunately for most students, it is extremely difficult to find even one good safety.</p>
<p>The issue, if I recall correctly is that Cindy's D wasn't that keen in attending UMD (I don't think it was a safety but maybe it is a borderline match/safety? Hard to say). It seems to me to be worth finding schools you like enough to attend that are not your reaches. She seems to only LIKE the REACHES and there are so many schools I bet she would/could like that are in the match range, that there is no need to settle for schools she doesn't really want to attend (UMD) or a safety many tiers down that she has never seen (U Charleston). In my opinion, given her strong desire to attend schools of the ilk of her reaches, she'd be hedging her bets to find schools that have qualities like her reaches that are just a step down and are target/ballpark/matches. She cares a real lot about wanting schools like her reaches but by the same token may land at her safety or UMD (which are great schools of course) that she is not that keen about, and there simply are schools in between what you WANT and what you'd settle for. It is unfortunate that she has not discovered the many great schools that are in her target/ballpark range.</p>
<p>^^ From post#361:</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <blockquote> <p>Roshke, yes she did tour Maryland and did like it. She liked it more than I did, actually.>>></p> </blockquote> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Northwestern is indeed very competitive these days. I had a student last year who had a very strong profile and her SATs were 1420 and she was not admitted to Northwestern.</p>
<p>Ah, I was wrong that the D liked UMD, sorry about that. Hard to keep it all straight. But my recollection was that she did not want a large school. But then again, I don't think her selection criteria was very solid (other than prestige) becuase she did not want snowy but applied to schools in snowy areas, etc. So, the very large schools were out but she liked UMD and so that is my confusion.</p>
<p>One thing I am observing is that she ruled out many schools sight unseen and yet, once she saw certain schools, like UMD, she liked them and so there is a very good chance that if she put "name" aside, and actually saw some match schools, she might like some of these as well.</p>
<p>I have seen lots of kids and parents whose criteria for schools is the selectivity. When that is the case, it's impossible to come up with safeties or even true matches. Last year was a really rough year for admissions in this area. A number of kids did not get into schools that were solid matches. After seeing so many such debacles, I would recommend using early or rolling admissions for safeties. It seems like there is very little that is safe these days, especially for kids with mixed profiles.</p>
<p>My D seemed set on a reach school but now is worried that she won't get in & is dismissing school - as though it isn't a great place - know it is just the stress of it all & that it will all work out. Her older c grad brother said about the angst of "Thee" school - "where ever you go - there you are..."</p>
<p>N place is perfect!</p>
<p>In my opinion, match/target/ballpark schools (where you have about a 50-50 chance) are really important to explore because this is where many kids will land. Reaches are fine of course. Safeties are important too. But the OP's kid is so dead set with wanting these reaches, that I can't imagine her all that happy with the safeties (though she needs them). Rather than settling with her safety schools, I think the match schools should be carefully selected because the odds favor her landing at the matches (or of course the safeties that she doesn't love nearly as much as her reaches). The matches are a happy medium! There likely are many great match schools for this student (many suggested up thread) that have similarities to the reach schools on her list (if she doesn't go by "name" alone).</p>
<p>Of course, if she LOVES her safeties, the matches may not matter. But I can't imagine this girl loving her safeties given how STRONGLY she prefers REACHES and is unwilling to even apply to matches. If she doesn't get into any of her reaches, I would bet she'd be happier at the match schools (not on her list) than the safety schools that are nothing like her reach schools that she so desperately craves.</p>