<p>Some undervalued schools are Marquette, U of Denver (really terrific), Depauw, Butler, Loyola Chicago and NO, UDallas, SMU, Dayton, Rhodes, NJIT, Fordham, Clark, Binghamton, St Lawrence U, Syracuse, Boston U…gosh, I can think of so many more.</p>
<p>My S fell into this category. Because we were looking for merit money, he applied to schools where he would fall into the top of the applicant pool. He was accepted, with big merit$ to Ithaca, Clark, Goucher: also St Mary’s College of Maryland, The College of New Jersey, Geneseo, Binghamton. So no academic reaches; he might have gotten in, but we would not have been able to afford to go.</p>
<p>My S fell into this range as well. While he had a 3.69 gpa when we started applications in September, he’s been on a slight downward trend since middle of junior year. He’ll probably graduate with a little less than a 3.6 gpa uw. His ACT was 34. Did not take the SAT. He still is not certain if he wants a large university or small LAC or something in-between. He doesn’t have many ECs, but has been heavily involved with youth robotics since 5th grade. He’ll probably major in the social sciences.</p>
<p>In any case, he applied to and was accepted at these schools (with merit money at about half). UW-Madison, UM-Twin Cities, Case Western, American, Miami of Ohio, Seattle University, Loyola-Chicago, Denison, Kalamazoo, Macalester, Pitt, Carnegie Mellon. It’s a wide range (I wouldn’t recommend the approach to anyone), but it just illustrates that there are many great options available to kids like this. </p>
<p>In any case, it will be an interesting couple of weeks at our house as he sorts through his options.</p>
<p>MarathonMan, why did she have to submit ACTs to BC?</p>
<p>^They require SAT-Reasoning plus Subject Tests or ACT and she hadn’t taken the subject tests.</p>
<p>ah, thanks for the clarification!</p>
<p>This thread is helpful for me as my D has similar stats and is looking at some of these schools. I’m glad that some on her list are being categorized as matches, although she is calling them safties I am hesitant to do that. When the dust settles with Senior decisions, I’d like the counselor to give a rating of where he sees her chances, since right now she is only getting the feedback from me and not thinking it very accurate.</p>
<p>Schools that have been on our radar – Pitt, American, BU, Grinnell, Brandeis, UMBC, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Goucher, Salisbury University…</p>
<p>Know there is some overlap with other posters – just reinforcing that some of these are great options.</p>
<p>A match or even a reach can become a safety if you can apply EA or rolling and have it in your pocket. A good way to test the admissions waters too. My son had most of his answers by Christmas which really made for a smooth second semester.</p>
<p>
Isn’t that the truth???</p>
<p>which of the schools mentioned above are EA or rolling? That is what I am trying to find for my D. </p>
<p>Schools on her list which are mentioned here are Conn Coll and Bates which she visited and liked, Hamilton which is on our future visit list, and St Mary’s of MD which I would like her to consider.</p>
<p>I am surprised to see Grinnell mentioned as a match here. We haven’t looked into it much and I know it gives some merit, but I thought it was more selective than others mentioned. That’s just an impression without research to back it up.</p>
<p>I realize that Dad’o’2 hits the nail on the head. Now I understand what’s going on. Kids with low 700s on their SATs “should” have a higher class rank. So there aren’t many schools where the median student had 700s on SATs and a class rank in the 13th percentile. Either the median SAT is lower, or the median class rank is higher.</p>
<p>Still, where is the school where my hypothetical student has a 50% chance of acceptance? Dad’o’2’s list accept everyone at at 60% or 70% rate, so they don’t qualify.</p>
<p>Yes, exactly what has happened to my S and the reason for some dings I am afraid. </p>
<p>700s on two Sat 2s, 710 M, 710CR, 650W. 100% honors, or APs, including 4 this year. Healthy mix of Bs in AP classes, and only top 20% in class. On your list, he’s found success at the listed schools with merit monies but not at the more selective ones…There is NO grade inflation at his school in the AP ranks.</p>
<p>peppermint, would you mind sharing your son’s admission results?</p>
<p>Would if I could, but they are not all in. He’s refused to come into the 21st Century and look online. He is waiting for the snail mail. So, I will - but in a few days.</p>
<p>Yup. S2’s school has a selective entry IB program that pulls from the top 1-2% in our school system. Those kids make up 24% of the class this year; average SAT for them is in the mid-2100s. While the school doesn’t rank, they include a chart indicating that xx% of the total class has a 3.5+, YY% are between 3.01-3.5, etc., so it’s not hard to get a rough idea. Really tough for a kid with a grade-deflated 3.6, a 2100+ and 12 AP/6 IB exams to stand out. Even tougher to keep said kid believing in his abilities.</p>
<p>If S2 were at my niece’s school he’d be the only NMSF, have 7 more APs than anyone who graduated from that school last year, and be in the running for val. As he tells everyone, IB may not get one into an Ivy, but it will certainly prepare you to do very, very well in college.</p>
<p>Grinnell may be more of a match if you live out of its normal draw area. I can’t be sure since only one student applied to Grinnell from our school but they were accepted with only a 91.5 weighted average and 1350 SAT score.</p>
<p>Sorry, Dad’o’2, I misread your chart. I now see that the schools you listed fit my criteria exactly.</p>
<p>CountingDown, D1 is in a similar situation to your S2. Your comments about keeping them believing in their own abilities, and in the student realizing that the education prepares them incredibly well for college, are both so, so true. I know that kids at D1’s school either find that college is easier than high school, or that it is at least no harder, even at colleges/universities that are infamous for their rigor. </p>
<p>D1 would be very happy at several UCs, but that deflated GPA is going to be a stumbling block, so I want to broaden her horizons. This is a very, very useful thread! Good to see some names mentioned that are already on my list of possibilities to float to D1. </p>
<p>jackief, I know that Pitt has rolling admissions. UWisc Madison has two admit cycles, deadline for the early one is early to mid November. Bard has EA. Macalester, Kenyon, Rice (a bit reachy), Brandeis, Bates, Kalamazoo, Grinnell are all ED. Michigan has an early response program with a deadline of Nov 1.</p>
<p>I think that a male applying to some of the LACs (Conn particularly comes to mind in this list) may have a somewhat easier go of it than a female. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t be quite as concerned about getting into a number of these schools with those grades and test scores – I’d be a little more concerned with the financial aid, which I think may be harder to come by than some may be thinking.</p>
<p>D with much higher GPA but a lower ACT score got into quite a few (all that she applied at) of the LACs that have been mentioned, got merit scholarships at all of them, and still had FA packages that included a good ($7-15K per year) of loans. Some other kids at her hs with similar ACT scores to your son and solid top 10% class rank have gotten merit offers from some of the same colleges that make the net COA somewhere between $9K and $20K including room and board. I’m not sure where the balance comes between wanting the kids with the high test scores, and wanting kids with top grades. Pretty clear that kids with both are the most likely to get the most lucrative offers.</p>
<p>I’d consider looking a chunk lower in the listings and seeing if you can’t find a few schools that are much more likely to give substantial merit scholarships to a kid with your child’s characteristics. You might also consider some public schools. We were surprised at how many of the publics turn out to give very decent merit scholarships – some of which you can calculate right from the school’s website. Given their generally lower COA anyway, that could prove a good value.</p>
<p>I also meant to add that I don’t think that Rice is very likely, and Kenyon seems doubtful too. At our competitive suburban high school, the Naviance data suggests that gpas lower than the top 15% of the class are strongly predictive of denial no matter what the test scores.</p>
<p>YMMV.</p>