I believe we finally have a final list for my daughter, whose stats are as follows:
3.89 unweighted/4.39 weighted GPA
31 ACT
1370 SAT
strong activities/community service
Her list (safeties to reaches):
Gettysburg College
U Conn
U Mass/Amherst
Lehigh
Mount Holyoke
Bryn Mawr
Macalester
Smith
William & Mary
Wesleyan U
Emory
Vassar
UVA
We have lowered her sights (originally, she was looking at Georgetown, Brown, Vanderbilt but we realized her stats don’t support that level of schools). Anyone want to offer an opinion as to her list? No money discussion, as that is not an issue for her. Thanks!
Looks like a good list. I suggested UConn and the northeastern state schools in another thread before I saw this one, so I think those are good additions.
It looks like you have a good list…my only question is what kind of school experience/fit/area of study your daughter is looking for, as she has a variety of schools (SLAC, women’s colleges and large publics on the same list)…but if she likes all the schools she has and would be happy to go to any of them - congratulations on her list.
That looks like a good list at first glance. What is her intended major? I ask because some admits - Engineering & CS - are much tougher which can move schools from safety to match to reach. I assume she is looking more towards the humanities based on this list, but wanted to make sure. If you are OOS I’d move William & Mary more to “reach” since they cap the number of out of state students (I think 90% must be from VA).
She is most likely a Political Science major but still has a love of advanced chemistry, and that is still a real possibility (and her transcript will support this). Hoping that gives her an ‘in’ at Vassar, as I know they are looking for more math/science people and are very arts heavy. My daughter does love to hang out with the artists/musicians-- definitely skews to the alternative. No interest in engineering or CS. According to their website, W&M (although public) has an oos acceptance rate of 31%.
Excellent list. My D21 (now at Smith) applied at schools that overlapped 50% of your D’s list. If you are out of state in Va, that application falls in the lottery ticket category (with the Ivies, UNC and other schools with OOS quotas) regardless of stats. If that is the clear #1 definitely apply Early Decision, then apply ED2 is that is an option at the clear #2.
The small LACs are bursting at the seams with all of the deferrals from Class of 24. Look at this year’s enrollment stats to see how they handled this year’s class. For example, Smith kept admission consistent at 600 for '25 and had and additional 125 deferrals Co’24 which (combined with study abroad still on hold) has created a slight housing crunch and made class sizes a bit larger for Intro classes.
It does sound like our girls have a lot in common! Yes, UVA and W&M are going to be a challenge given that we live in Maine! UVA is her top choice and likely her ED school. How does your daughter like Smith so far?
She loves Smith. She has made lots of friends in so many activities. I think the house culture does a lot to integrate Firsties into campus life. She’s only frustrated that she can’t take ten classes a semester. She’s leaning Government/Economics but has been really geeked that the open curriculum supports her taking chemistry and engineering this year just because. I think that Smith’s reputation for empowering women community activists overshadows how really culturally, economically, socially and intellectually diverse the college really is.
She’s also exploring New England and learning that Northampton is a lot more accessible to the big city exploration than she thought.
If you are using EA, I don’t think that you should have a final list until January. Getting some actual results from EA in early/mid December can change your list. For my DS, he both added and subtracted schools from his list. After a positive response from an EA reach, he added two more reach schools and removed all the remaining match/safety schools. He is currently at a school that wasn’t even on the list until late. If you start getting unexpected bad results in EA then you not only may have to reconsider your list, but also review the application for fatal flaws.
Can she eliminate any? That is still a pretty long list but I guess everyone is doing that these days. The probability of admission doesn’t really go up with more applications. But I know it feels that way
This is an excellent point. Her college counselor has suggested the same-- apply EA to any school on her list/she is interested in that offers it and then regroup. My only worry is that as an out of state applicant to UVA, I have to believe applying ED there might really boost her chances. It’s just hard to abandon that ED power.
I would still look to see if any of the schools on your list allow EA if you ED somewhere else. She doesn’t want to be in a position, if she doesn’t get good news in December from UVA, of having no other information about her app.
I would expect the OOS ED acceptance (25.7%) rate at UVA to be impacted by athletic recruits.
Not EA. Some schools have restrictions on their EA qualification. The two most common are Single Choice EA (limits other EA/ED applicants) or Restricted EA. Macalester on the OP’s list has Restricted EA. If the OP’s DS applies ED to UVA, they can’t apply EA to Mac.
