@Techno13 Be careful of the SAT quartile numbers. When you subtract the special hooked admits (especially athletes) from those numbers, someone’s middle 50% kid in the overall pool may well be a bottom 25% kid in the unhooked pool. The median SAT ranges that the colleges are so fond of are some of the most misleading admissions data out there.
Agree with allyphoe! It does help is this stat range to make 4-5 categories. Largely it’s about helping the student understand the reality, encouraging some reaching, but keeping it practical and helping her focus time strategically. There is no such thing as a 100% change of getting in anywhere. Especially when schools care about yield or “expressed interest”. I think it makes a lot of sense to apply EA several places-- then you know early if you’re at least in somewhere you like and can focus the rest of your time on your most preferred schools. If you get no positive EA acceptances, then you panic.
Thanks RockySoil. I am aware of this issue but it’s hard to know how much it impact stats any any single school. But I’ll keep it in mind because we are unhooked as they come.
If your D is interested in Jesuit in an urban setting…Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. Is not a formal IR major, but the liberal arts education she receives could help her figure out a path. Deep alumni network as well. It is a Test Optional School as well.
Holy Cross does actually have a formal IR major now.
Wisconsin is a good suggestion to add to your list, though keep in mind that out of state admissions are much more competitive than in-state and UW only looks at unweighted, not weighted gpa. UW has two filing deadlines, an EA type deadline in November and a later one, and defers many many applicants until the second round to see how the class is shaping up. The OOS kids who get in to UW in the first round are the high stat kids. So the 3.9 unweighted plus something like 1400-1450+ scores, is likely – but no guarantees – be enough for acceptance. A lot of students in the midwest do the ACT so I’m used to thinking about UW admissions in terms of ACT scores – a 3.9 plus a 34 OOS student, who wrote reasonable essays, is likely to get in.
My UW kid knew plenty of CA kids, so it’s not unusual.