<p>I have been checking out schools on the College Board and on Princeton.
When I fill out the questions and match schools are listed, the gpa is usually around a 3.5- 3.8, but the average act is usually a few points lower than what my son scored. (He took the test at the end of Soph. year) So I have to assume that most kids who received his act score had much higher GPa's. (His is only a 3.0).</p>
<p>I hope this makes sense. So in order to find a safety, do we need schools that have a gpa average lower than a 3.0? What will these schools think if he act score is significantly higher than their "average" applicant?</p>
<p>Lastly, should we match gpa and ignore test scores to find matches?</p>
<p>(Please excuse the lack of capitol a's. I've lost a key)</p>
<p>GPA can be calculated in so many ways that it is often not useful. (And some schools grade harder than others, making GPA less meaningful. Is your son's GPA unweighted? Does it include extra points for Honors and AP courses?) A true match has not only similar ACT scores and GPAs, but accepts more than 50% of its applicants (at the very least), preferably more. It needs to have programs that your student likes, too. </p>
<p>A great match school has rolling admissions or early action (not early decision), so that you know very early if you need to apply to other matches.</p>
<p>To me, a match is where your kid is SOLIDLY within the middle 50% of the previous year's accepted students for SAT/ACT scores and for class rank. Preferrably, they need to be at the midpoint or above in the ranges. If the college doesn't require SATs, or your high school doesn't rank, and you have to use the GPA stats the college gives, I'd contact the college and ask them how they calculated the GPA's they gave on their admissions website (is it weighted? If so, how much?) Remember a match is NOT a guarantee, I'd say it's a school your kid has a reasonable chance of being admitted to. Maybe a 50 - 75% chance.</p>
<p>A safety would have your kid ABOVE the range in both, and should admit at least 50% of their students.</p>
<p>At least, those are my definitions.</p>
<p>BTW, I don't care who you are or how perfect your grades & scores & EC's are, NO ONE is a "match" for HYP. Any school that admits in the 10% range of their applicants is a crap shoot for everyone and should be considered a reach for everyone. Whether you get admitted there will probably have a lot to do with things that are out of your control (you play field hockey, and they need players - or you play oboe but they need low brass). There are a LOT of parents & students that don't understand this...</p>
<p>"... a match is where your kid is SOLIDLY within the middle 50% ...."</p>
<p>Of course this means "the middle 50% of kids like your son." An out-of-state kid will generally have to have much better stats than an in-state applicant for example.</p>
<p>My definition of a Safety is where the student is in the top quartile of accepted students on standardized tests - generally in the range where you would expect merit money if the institution awards such. This is for schools that are not highly selective, of course (HYPSM, et al excluded).</p>
<p>Match is within the middle 2 quartiles, once again with the caveat about highly selective schools.</p>
<p>Reach then is left to schools where a student would be in the bottom quartile.</p>
<p>I would also define highly selective as having an accepance rate of under 25% although reasonable people would disagree.</p>
<p>I think you need to use a sliding scale, depending on the school's acceptance rate. Something like this:</p>
<p>Acceptance rate < 20%: Reach for everyone</p>
<p>Acceptance rate 20-45%:
Reach if applicant's stats are in bottom quartile or lower part of third quartile
Match if applicant's stats are near or above median (upper part of third quartile and higher)
Safety if applicant's stats are significantly above 75th percentile (upper part of top quartile)</p>
<p>Acceptance rate 45-65%:
Reach if applicant's stats are in bottom quartile
Match if applicant's stats are anywhere in middle two quartiles
Safety if applicant's stats are in top quartile</p>
<p>Acceptance rate > 65%
Safety if applicant is anywhere in the ballpark</p>
<p>Nicely put bclintonk - more refined than my cut. If there is one more thing I would add, EA/ED also makes schools more reachy during regular admissions and perhaps improves a safety status as well for early applicants, depending upon what percentage of the incoming class is processed during EA/ED.</p>
<p>The only school my daughter was rejected at -- one of the "Little Ivies" -- her stats were well within the mid-range. Of course, with an acceptance rate in the mid to low 20%, MOST of their applicants probably are well within that range. (She wasn't even wait-listed!) She was ACCEPTED at another school with a similar acceptance rate. The difference between the two schools was mostly the "type" of kid they look for. I think this is where ECs come in, in a big way. They identify the person in a way that test scores and GPA don't.</p>
<p>^ Good point. For highly selective schools it's not just a numbers game. ECs and "fit" (from the school's perspective, not just the applicant's) are equally important, and could make some schools a little more "reachy" than they appear just by numerical assessments. But a rejection doesn't mean the school wasn't really a match; I'd expect a certain number of rejections from a list of matches, which is why you want to have several matches and at least one true safety, as well as a couple of reaches.</p>
<p>My daughter’s safety
We went to our Bear List (school mascot)and selected the best school which had : rolling admission starting in September, The Bear would be in the top 25% of grades, scores and activities, had merit aid based on scores and grades, a good reputation for getting kids into medical school and she would be happy there.
Baylor came out on top and she was admitted October 15th of her senior year. It made those other applications a lot easier.</p>
<p>True Safety: A school that has to admit you based on your stats, and that you can pay for without any financial aid other than federally determined aid. This will probably be a local community college or one of your home state public universities. Find this school, develop some affection for it, and apply early so that if everything else goes wrong you have somewhere to go next fall.</p>
<p>^ Unfortunately, many students just can't bring themselves to like--much less love--a "true safety." Especially if one lives in a state with very little choice in terms of in-state public universities. I.e. UDel is my only logical in-state option and it is a true safety b/c of the Commitment to Delawareans. However, I hate the curriculum, the sports/social life, and the size (medium for a public, but everything else I'm looking at is a small LAC). I will still apply, but if it comes down to it, I'd rather take a gap year than attend UD. Thus, I've found two safety-level schools that I do like and would be happy at.</p>
<p>A true safety is important, but it can't substitute for the not-guaranteed safety school that you actually like.</p>
<p>I understand what you are saying about finding it hard to like -- much less love -- your home state public U and/or local community college. But, if you read the financial aid threads, you'll see just exactly how many kids end up at those places because they can't scrape the money together to go to the other colleges/universities that have admitted them. Unless you win big in the lottery during your gap year, money may still prove to be a barrier. Finding a financial safety is critically important.</p>
<p>As for hating U Del, you could check offerings of other universities that are part of the academic common market:</p>
<p>If your major isn't offered at one of your home state universities, there are other out-of-state public universities where you would be treated as an in-state student (at least for tuition purposes, I don't know how this affects admission). So it's not quite as "safe" as a true safety, but may be a reasonable option.</p>
<p>Acceptance rate 20-45%:
Reach if applicant's stats are in bottom quartile or lower part of third quartile
Match if applicant's stats are near or above median (upper part of third quartile and higher)
Safety if applicant's stats are significantly above 75th percentile (upper part of top quartile)
Sometimes these schools are a safety for no one, because "fit" is a primary requirement.</p>
<p>I generally think of "match" as 50/50, no surprise either way.</p>