<p>I have been doing my research on various colleges, checking SAT scores and GPA's for various schools but, are there other ways to tell if your child is a good match for acceptance to a college other then this? I know that EC, talents, essays, community service etc.. come into play as well. But is there any place to look to see what a particular school is looking for in their accepted students?</p>
<p>I would say after SAT scores and GPAs then it gets into “fit”, is it rural, is it urban, big, small the things the student would be looking for. Majors, is your student interested in a particular major, does the school offer that and what is the caliber of the profs. Is it a course of study that is popular or not so much. And after that what region of the country is it in? School like regional diversity so ‘shopping’ outside your region can be a plus. It’s a two way street - what the college needs in terms of academic caliber and diversity of majors and what the student needs. The point of intersection is the sweet spot. The sweet spot will be large so then you start filtering for finances…are you full pay, does the student need financial assistance…etc. Some schools like students to show the love and factor interest, others not so much.</p>
<p>Also look at the acceptance rates. Those schools with quite low acceptance rates should be considered “reaches” for everyone, because they turn down many applicants who, on paper, would be considered matches.</p>
<p>It is very useful to look at scattergrams, from Naviance or elsewhere, to see how many applicants with similar grades/scores are accepted and rejected. </p>
<p>At high acceptance rate schools, the results tend to follow more predictable patterns, e.g. virtually everyone above a given SAT score/GPA combo will get accepted. At low acceptance rate schools, the results are much less predictable. </p>
<p>That was what surprised me the most as I learned more about the admissions process. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking if your scores/grades are above the 50th percentile that you expect to get accepted, without realizing just how many applicants with similar scores/grades are rejected each year.</p>
<p>My son’s school just adopted Naviance the previous year, so there was not enough data to really see how the acceptances/rejections had played out. If this is the case at your son or daughter’s school, you can also visit the website “my-chances-dot-net” (I spelled it out so it wouldn’t be deleted here). We found the predicted results on that site to be pretty much on the money.</p>
<p>^ Thank you, CalAlum. My D’s school does not use Naviance, so this website should be helpful to us.</p>
<p>also, learned on CC that it is crucial to see ED acceptance rates and % of class admitted ED; influences RD admissions greatly!!!</p>
<p>CalAlum… I remember chatting with you a while back on the Whitman board. I have a S who is very similar to your S. High test scores, weak UW GPA,strong transcript, and tons of EC’s with leadership. Eagle Scout, OA Chapter Chief, beach lifeguard, volunteer fireman and search and rescue team. Loves mountaineering, has climbed many top peaks in CA. Anyway, how did the college search turn out for him… I’m very interested because of the similarities between our boys. My S is only a Sophmore, so things can change a little for him, but I don’t think much. I have also been on the website you mentioned and based on that it gave my son a 1% chance of getting into Whitman. I think we’ve had this conversation before about how much Whitman must LOVE high GPA’s… the chances he got for other schools he is interested in where much higher, i.e. 98% Vassar, 92% Colorado College, 95% Reed, 100% Sewanee. I think of all the schools he is interested in… and there are more prestigious schools, Whitman gave the lowest odds. Interesting!!!</p>
<p>5boys, I think you’re right, because that website gave my D a 100% chance of getting into Whitman, and I’m certain it’s because of her GPA.</p>
<p>Naviance or plug your info into c-olle-ge p-rowl-er</p>
<p>Thanks ctyankee for college *******. I just looked at this. Many of the schools we looked at are safety’s as it turns out. Any school that gives a target in the high 50-60% , does that mean she has a good shot at acceptance? How reliable is the financial aid portion of this site?</p>
<p>thanks to the others for the great info as well!!</p>
<p>Just a reminder…as there are others who usually chime in with this commment on these types of threads but I haven’t seen them yet…that a “safety” is only safe if it is also a financial safety. If a schools has a 60% acceptance rate, and your kid’s GPA and test scores exceed the top 25% for the school…you child may be able to gain admission to the school. But, if the costs are high, and you can’t/aren’t willing to pay — the school is not a safety or a match.</p>
<p>Good point, 2boysima. My D is applying to safeties PLUS a financial safety. Just in case H or I lose our jobs, she will have a back up plan, and it’s well worth the application fee for the peace of mind.</p>
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<p>I agree with the intent of your post but let’s not turn a “safety” into something it was never intended to be. It is strictly the likelihood of an applicants acceptance, nothing more. That said, ‘fit and finances’ are the two key elements of the college enrollment decision. </p>
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<p>As long as we are strictly speaking of need-based aid … the pr-owl-er site is pretty darn good if your financial situation is not too complicated. They take a stab at your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) based on your data. For us, they were darn close and then the specifics of each college was also pretty darn close over a range of private and public colleges. The only noticeable caveat to that was colleges that give a lot of merit aid to a lot of applicants. Where the user needs to factor that in as the website is not set up to do that. An example of that would be Northeastern University. They often give 15/20/25K merit aid for kids in the upper-half of the applicant spectrum with their acceptance letter. </p>
<p>A good tip is to have your son or daughter check out the Facebook pages for University XYZ Class of 2014 … pretty much every school has one. Then there will often be a discussions where you can find someone with similar stats and just post a note to them and flat out ask them about their (full) financial package and circumstances. Another option is just post to the specific college thread within College Confidential. You can either post or PM parents asking about financial packages. There are a lot of terrific people on this site who are more than willing to help you make an informed decision.</p>
<p>Thanks- this is very helpful!</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that the “data” printed in books, websites and Naviance is already a year or more old. We are at the high point for students seeking admission to college
( 2009 was the actual peak). This means that everything will be a bit more difficult in terms of acceptances than you are currently reading. It will take several more years before the data doesn’t shift so much year to year. So if your kid has that stats, play it safe by also applying to schools where he/she is somewhat overqualified. Good Luck.</p>
<p>Here’s a tip for the pro-wl-er site - D was only admitted to schools with a > 70% chance, by their metrics. All of the others were rejections or waitlists. my-chan-ces site (no hyphens) was depressingly accurate. She got into schools > ~50%, not the others. YMMV.</p>
<p>I’m hoping this these sites are as accurate as you say they are. I plugged in my S’s stuff and he is was at almost 80% or higher on CP and 75% on Chances on all schools he is interested in except Whitman who gave him a 1% chance. LOL!!! Of course he is only ending his Sophmore year and things can change, but I underestimated his GPA and went by his PSAT scores this year. I’m sure those will be higher. That was a happy surprise. I thought it was interesting that they did ask what school he went to. I think that was a huge bump in his predictions.</p>
<p>my-chan-ces site does not accurately predict my son’s acceptances and denies, especially for schools where they have only a few applicants. But the scattergrams are useful in and of themselves. (Note that they have a somewhat odd way of calculating GPA on 4 pt scale if your school uses 100 pt. scale.)</p>
<p>@5boys,
In reference to Whitman College, I think in hindsight we should not have applied ED to that particular school. This seems counter-intuitive, because most folks on CC talk about the increased odds when you apply ED. My son did apply there ED for the right reason (he loved the school and would have attended), but it turned out that his senior year gpa has been really strong, 4.0 uw in all AP classes. That website I referenced predicted that he would be rejected from Whitman, and this was correct. But it’s been painfully ironic to see the other students from my son’s school that Whitman accepted or waitlisted. In terms of weighted gpa, SAT scores, and leadership/community service, my son seems (to me and to his teachers and school counselor) a somewhat stronger candidate than two kids who were waitlisted.</p>
<p>So, if I had a time machine, and we could have a “do-over,” we would have applied RD to Whitman, not ED. But you know what is really interesting? I asked my son, when his mid-year grades came out, if he would like to take his counselor’s advice and appeal the Whitman decision, and by that time he had visited Willamette and said “Nope.” And in the end, Willamette’s Japanese program is much, much stronger, so it’s all good.</p>
<p>But to give some hope to your son…my son was admitted RD to Trinity College CT, UCSD, UCSB, Boston University, Oxford College of Emory University, and waitlisted at Emory College of Emory and at Grinnell. He has withdrawn himself from all waitlists, because he’s now completely committed and happy to be going to Willamette.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>