<p>I am new to the forum and I hope you can help me.
Can anyone suggest some "target" schools for my daughter? We have the reach and we have the safety but we can't agree on the target. This is creating a lot of stress. I have been reading your posts for a while I have seen some good advise given.
Her weighted GPA is 4.0/5.0. Her school's grading system is a letter grade. She has an A- which equates to 93% (4.0/5.0). Her best SAT scores are not great: math 530, reading 570, writing 660 and essay 8. She wants to major in International Relations. We live in the North-East.
Any advise?</p>
<p>I think we need more information:</p>
<ol>
<li> Do you know what her unweighted gpa is?</li>
<li>What type, location, etc. school does she want (rural, urban, suburban; size,; granola or Greek; what part of the country, etc.)?</li>
<li>What are the demographics of your D: what kind of Hispanic background, is she first gen to college, what SES, has she overcome adverstiy, does she attend an underserved HS?</li>
</ol>
<p>I often use the CB College Search function: I put in a school that the student likes and it shows what other schools applicants applied to.</p>
<p>Have you tried looking at schools where your Ds SAT scores are within the 50% range?</p>
<p>American University in DC or Fordham in New York City?</p>
<p>Thank you both for your reply.
Her ethnicity is Hispanic and Slovak. She is first generation American on the Hispanic side, but both parents went to college. No adversity or underprivileged conditions.
When she submitted her college list to her guidance counselor she was advised she had too many reach and safety scholls and not enough targets.
We had checked the US News Rankings and based on her stats her list was as follows:
Dream: She knows she will not get in but wanted to reach for the stars…Cornell, ILR school.
Reach: Villanova, NYU
Target: PSU, Rutgers, Skidmore, Fordham
Safety: Scranton, Seton Hall
However, her guidance counselor thought that Skidmore and Fordahm were reaches…so that left us with almost no target schools.
She is wants to go to either NY, NJ or PA. urban/rural does not matter and she is not big on the Greek life but it does not matter.
I will check the CB college search function.
Thank you both for your input.</p>
<p>One other method I use is to look at the US News & World Report college rankings, because they tend to be in order of general selectivity (there are exceptions, so you always have to check the admission stats for each college). For instance, I would find Skidmore on the LAC list and then look at higher numbers for schools that fit her preferences (eg. Union, Dickinson, Gettysburg, St. Lawrence, etc.).</p>
<p>I might suggest Dickinson. My niece (hispanic with similar stats) attended and loved it.</p>
<p>Have you thought about Maryland? Great programs in many areas, beautiful campus in a suburban area, and DC is within driving distance.</p>
<p>Hi occdom4! I would suggest your daughter retake SAT or give ACT a crack. She might do much better on the ACt because it is based around high school curriculum. She can do free practice tests online to familiarize herself with format. Then she doesn’t haven’t to submit SATs. I think your daughter has shown she can be very successful in academia based on her GPA and school engagement and involvement. If she plays to her strengths and discusses her weaknesses (my daughter had an absolute fear of standardized testing)
she will do well. I think you have to get a feeling for the atmosphere she is looking for as entomom suggested, urban or suburban, rural, campus size etc…Good luck and through the stress, these great kids we have get to the right place.</p>
<p>Consider Lafayette, [International</a> Affairs Program](<a href=“http://internationalaffairs.lafayette.edu/]International”>http://internationalaffairs.lafayette.edu/) , Very hispanic friendly in admissions looking to increase diversity, class of 2011 Hispanic/Latino 316 applied , 178 accepted.</p>
<p>Also look at Ithaca as a match.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your great input.
This process if driving me crazy! I don’t remember it being so complicated and expensive. Granted I did it eons ago.
Stillwatermom: very insightful. My D does not do well in standarized tests. She gets very stressed and many times is unable to finish the examination.
Her new list is as follows:
Reaches: the same
targets: we left Fordham and Skidmore (despite the guidance counselor), Dickinson, Rutgers, PSU. We are going to try both U of Maryland, although I have read College Park if very selective.
Wish us luck! I will keep you posted on our progress.
Good luck to all of you as well!</p>
<p>Take a look at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). It is an interesting school in many ways and they are trying hard to increase multicultural enrollments.</p>