Daughter Hates Her Matches And Safeties

<p>CPT- I hear you. I'm sure there's a kid at Julliard right now who was late for his audition; a kid at Caltech who couldn't be bothered to take HS chemistry, and someone at Chicago who thought the quirky essays were moronic and just submitted the Common Ap with no "uncommon supplement". However, I equate these to HS kid urban legend status, just like my company allegedly employs a guy in the mailroom whose company pension is over $5 Million, due to shrewd asset allocation, and the man who hands out towels in the health club in the lobby was one of the founders of Google.</p>

<p>Yup. It could happen.</p>

<p>My first thought as I read this was "why didn't D know that 3 SAT IIs were required for admission?" Glad to know that I wasn't the only one. </p>

<p>I'd leave the whole thing up to her. One of life's lessons.</p>

<p>Cindy - sorry to hear that your daughter did not make the EA at Georgetown... at this point, I would say she should take the extra test - after all what are Christmas vacation for other than studying - but it is ultimately up to her if she wants to put the effort in. I agree with the above that not having all of the elements makes the application stand out in a bad way. </p>

<p>When DS asked why do a optional component on his applications last year, the line that his GC used on him was - "With thousands of qualified applicants, why make it easy to toss yours out? "</p>

<p>We knew that three SATIIs were required. There is just a lot to do, that's all.</p>

<p>She (correctly, IMHO) chose to use her time to take the ACT rather than the third SATII. I think she will do the English Lit one. That what she said tonight.</p>

<p>Georgetown does say that you can apply ED with only two SATIIs, so that is what she did.</p>

<p>At this point, the way I read the Georgetown website, if Georgetown really is her hands down first choice, she'd better hustle and get her registration in in the next week or so for January's SAT II. From their website (bolded is mine, for emphasis):

[quote]
SAT Subject Tests</p>

<p>All candidates, whether they submit scores from the SAT or ACT, are requested to submit scores from three SAT Subject Tests of their choice. The scores from writing portion on the SAT and the optional writing portion of the ACT will not be used in place of a Subject Test. </p>

<p>*Note to Early Action Applicants:</p>

<p>Given the Early Action deadline of November 1, the Committee on Admissions recognizes that applicants may not be able to meet the SAT Subject Test requirementsThose candidates are welcome to submit an Early Action application, and the application will be considered complete and reviewed in its entirety. Candidates applying under the Early Action plan who have not yet taken three Subject Tests should still register to take the tests in the event they are deferred from Early Action to Regular Decision. If there are extenuating circumstances which prevent an applicant from submitting three SAT Subject Test scores, the applicant should provide a written explanation to the Committee on Admissions to be included with the application.

[/quote]
If she doesn't take that third SAT II, Georgetown is a definite denial. Now might be a good time to go visit College of Charleston.......</p>

<br>


<br>

<p>Actually, one of the founders of Yahoo! might soon be down in the lobby of the health club handing out towels...</p>

<p>Ellemenope, he probably be in line for the job with Wall street folks.</p>

<p>Like another parent said in these threads, I would be careful about setting expectations on the "reach" schools. "Lower end of the mid-50s is OK" for some state/private schools but certainly none of the Ivies or even the "one-downs" from the Ivies. My son who is a "reasonably bright" kid (GPA: 3.9, ACT:34, all AP classes) was turned down by UPenn (ED). Yes, UPenn admitted kids with ACTs of 29, 30, 32.........so there are "other considerations" that matter in the selection process. We had indicated to him that HPY was definitely a "pipe-dream" as were Stanford & Caltech. We did not want to discourage him but only set realistic expectations. Hence, he is applying to a few of the "one-downs" from the Ivies with some hope of being picked up by one of them with only one safety. Hence, make sure your "reach" is really within "reach".</p>

<p>I don't see a problem including true reach schools. If a student wants to give it a go, so he should. He certainly has no chance if he does not apply. I can tell you that I have seen some real surprises at times, my son being one of them.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I don't see a problem including true reach schools. If a student wants to give it a go, so he should.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I don't either. As I told D, the reward for picking out a safety school that you can see yourself attending, that you can get into and that we can afford is that you can apply to any other schools on the planet, no matter how selective they might be.</p>

<p>ellemenope-- good reasoning! I plan to steal, er, borrow that advice to tell my D. :D</p>

<p>Ok I haven't read this whole thread, but what about Elon?</p>

<p>Not my reasoning...just CC common knowledge. Having a TRUE safety takes ALL the pressure off when it comes to application season. But it is also the hardest school to find...finding reaches is the easy part!</p>

<p>Cindy-
I read the first 21 pages of this thread but need to get some things done...so I haven't read the last ten. I know your daughter has stated that she wants a student population of about 5000 students which has ruled out a lot of public universities. I have noticed that students put that criteria into their college search primarily to eliminate large public universities and limit their search to privates. (JMHO)</p>

<p>Some very large publics do not really feel all that large after you learn the campus. Many offer special living options/learning communities which group students with similar interests together in dedicated housing and offer programs to foster those interests. Also, their applications are generally pretty simple and many do not even require any essays. I would suggest your D might consider to apply to a couple of East Coast out of state publics that could be safeties. </p>

<p>A few suggestions:
University of Delaware
University of Connecticut
Penn State University
University of Rhode Island</p>

<p>These are universities with a large east coast population. I personally know a number of people who attend/attended the University of Delaware and Penn State. They all seem very happy. Also being large schools that offer a large number of majors, it might be a good option for a student who really doesn't know exactly what to major in.</p>

<p>If in the end she doesn't get into one of the schools she really wants and gets accepted to one of the large publics, she can go and visit. </p>

<p>BTW...Penn State is only about an hour or so away from Bucknell.</p>

<p>I tell everyone that anyone can cherry pick schools off the top of a list. No work in putting HPY as your top choices. The safety schools are the hard picks. Throw in financial safety to boot and this is where the true challenge of finding a college for a student arises.</p>

<p>A match/safety I can recommend is Butler in Indianapolis. Butler has a lot of what your daughter is looking for. It's closer to you than Northwestern. The campus is beautiful and 15 minutes from downtown. You have all of the advantages of a large city without the negatives - traffic, congestion, etc. Student body is about 5,000. Academics are very, very good. I hardly ever see Butler mentioned here on cc, but we visited a few years ago and everybody loved it. It's one of those schools a lot of people never hear about, but once they learn about it are pleasantly surprised. I think it could be worth investigating.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>I visited Butler, and I second the recommendation.</p>

<p>hey--I went to Butler in 1968-1970. Then due to $$ and that I was unhappy in my sorority, I transfered to IU. Butler was a very nice and warm U. I have wondered why it has not been mentioned on CC.</p>

<p>Butler is well-known in dance circles for its dance major, which is particularly strong in ballet. It's audition-based and very difficult to get into.</p>

<p>A lot of the schools west of OHio are not. UDenver is another gem. So are Marquette, Williamette and another large group of schools. They offer good merit money too.</p>