Hi! DD (current HS junior) has some stretch and match schools but really only one safety. Ideas? GPA is 4.3 weighted, 3.99 UW, rank in class 63/786, several AP & IB classes, so far got a 5 on AP Lang and 4 on AP Bio (only 2 she’s tested so far), 33 ACT, average extracurriculars like volunteering, clubs etc (all with leadership roles including president for two of her clubs that she’s done all throughout HS), will graduate with 500+ hours volunteer service.
Bio major, possibly premed, wants to be in a big city that is socially and politically liberal and LGBTQ friendly with good public transportation.
On her list to apply so far: Columbia, NYU, UPenn, Drexel, BU, Northeastern, UCLA, USC, Cal Berkeley.
She needs some safeties. I think BU, NYU and Northeastern are match for her, Drexel is safety, and the others are reach/stretch. Other ideas? Thank you!
Are you OOS for the UC’s? If so there is no financial aid. You would be full pay.
Drexel would be a low match. A safety would be a non-selective state flagship e.g. University of Vermont.
Her schools are all reaches, if you use the class of 2018 acceptances as your guide. It’s crazy competitive these days, and it’s simply not enough to have average ECs to get in to the schools you mention.
Not trying to bum you out, just trying to give you a heads up as to what’s heading your way.
Ai yi yi! Just keeping her head above water with her classes keeps her so busy. I just don’t know how these ultra competitive kids manage their time. We were really counting on that 33 ACT being super good for her. Tom, we do live in California. Luckily we are in a position where we are not that concerned on the financial end of things. Mostly we want her to go to the best fit for her.
Duh! LOL I should have looked at your screen name.
Boston are schools like Northeastern, BU and BC have become incredible competitive in the last 10 years.
Drexel seems like it would be a safety? Just looking at the median GPA and ACT? She actually really liked Drexel because she wants to do a coop program if possible. Of these schools, her top choices are BU #1, Northeastern #2, Drexel #3.
How about Simmons College in Boston? It’s a women’s college near BU, Northeastern and several other colleges. I believe they’re strong in the health sciences.
Chapman, LMU and University of Denver were my D’s safeties that she would have been happy to attend. Her gpa is lower than your D’s, same ACT score. She got a lot of merit at each of these schools.
Safety would be a place she really likes with a much higher acceptance % than the schools she has listed. This year has been extremely competitive and the former matches are not so much anymore.
I think there is a huge thread on the California schools alone and they have been exceptionally competitive with some record breaking applications.
The Ivy’s are in low single acceptance numbers and BU and Northeastern were very competitive this year.
My guess is that after the dust settles on this class the match/reach category will change from past years in a more dramatic way than in the past.
Are the calculators like Niche etc not accurate? She is getting results like 85-90% strongest applicant for BU, Northeastern, NYU. Her ECs are not horrible, just she doesn’t have any one big thing to make her stand out (like she’s not the state oboe champion or whatever.)
She also wants to be at a large school – 12,000+ student body. She loved the campus feel of BU - that is like her ideal feeling she’s looking for in a school. When we look at charming smaller schools with pretty campuses that feel more like a college from a movie, she doesn’t like it. She wants urban.
“Her schools are all reaches”
Drexel is not a reach. Neither are some of the other schools. That doesn’t mean they are guarantees as of course matches are not (or safeties for that matter). For safeties, I’d look at some of your state school options.
For safeties, perhaps some state schools like University of Colorado - Boulder.
Definitely find a couple of EA or rolling admissions schools she likes and apply early. She could then cut down her list and not worry about some schools if she gets into one she likes.
What about Pitt? Probably not a safety, but a solid match. Great for health sciences, very urban.
Pitt’s application opens very early, with rolling admissions.
How does she feel about the Claremont Schools? women’s colleges? Not that they are any easier to get in to but just thinking of all options for you to discuss with her.
What about Fordham in New York? GW in DC. Might be a closer fits versus all reach schools.
Or perhaps a LAC like Occidental?
You said she wants a big city, but would she consider a smaller school within or near an urban setting?
It’s heartbreaking to read the threads from kids who had stats like your DD, and even higher, who applied to the schools you mentioned thinking they had a shot at them, only to be denied by all of them. It’s seriously gut wrenching. My suggestion is to take the time to read a few of those, just so you have a sense of what kids are dealing with this year, and then adjust your DDs expectations. Not to say she’s not brilliant, and a very strong student, but it seems kids these days have to be super stars just to be accepted to any college at all.
With Grace, the UCs are a mess (and I say that as a UCLA alum.) I am not pushing any of the UCs for her and she only likes UCLA and Cal anyway. So many friends’ kids end up taking 5+ or even 6 yrs to graduate and it’s just like crowd control. The one UC I thought she might like because of wanting to major in Bio is UCSD and she hated the feel of the campus, didn’t like the vibe of the students there, didn’t like the campus location and it feels too close to home (we live not far.) Ordinarily a state school would be a good safety but I don’t know for her – maybe one of the other UCs but the ones in locations she likes are very hard to get in.
A few possibilities, although none of these meet all your daughter’s requirements: St. Olaf (Northfield, Minnesota, 45 minutes from the Twin Cities); University of Vermont (Burlington); Agnes Scott College (suburban Atlanta; all women); Beloit College (one hour from Madison and Milwaukee, two from Chicago).
How about some of the less selective UCs? UCLA and UCB are competitive for EVERYONE. But there are other less competitive UCs.
If you can be full pay…
Santa Clara would likely be a safety.
What about Arizona? U of Arizona should be a sure thing…and possibly with merit.
Mimi, yes, I want her to have a full list of schools that she’d be happy to attend rather than have her heart set on 1-2 schools and get into none on her list. We need to take a look at Fordham. My FIL went there many many decades ago lol. We need to take a look at Occidental and also LMU. I don’t know much about either.
Also we haven’t looked at the Claremont colleges at all since they all seem so small. Need to check that out. She said hard no to women’s college. I was pushing her to look at Barnard because she’d have access to all that Columbia has to offer. The other thought is she wants to minor in comparative religion or Jewish studies and she can apply to the Columbia/JTS List program. It’s kind of a back door into Columbia General Studies. She has friends in that program now. We have a lot of research to do!