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<p>How about restating as “those of in Texas whose children are in the top 8% of their graduating class [and want to attend a school with 40,000 other students] are lucky. The other 92%, not so much.”</p>
<p>D. has applied only to schools that we knew she would get huge Merit $$. That included one private school, the rest state. All gave her huge Merit $$. She is a senior at state school, has applyed to several Med. Schools, has a spot in one. Elite colleges is way overrated. D’s experiences, opportunites, grants, scholarships, pretty much everything at her state school was way beyond we have ever expected. That includes awesome pre-med committe and advisory with everything done well before some other schools (as far as I can judge from CC posters). Her tuition was free. The thing that worries her somewhat at this point is that she will not be able to match her pretty UG campus to any of Grad. Schools.</p>
<p>Miami- you would have more credibility if you would phrase your comments as, “For what my D wanted, an elite college was not necessary.” It may be hard for you to believe, but not every elite C is overrated. I would never state that my kids would not have been successful had they attended your D’s college, and likewise, you cannot know what opportunities your D may have had if she had chosen somewhere else.</p>
<p>Not everyone is interested in medicine; for many kids who end up with free tuition for grad school (grants, fully funded PhD or a Rhodes, Fulbright, etc.) paying for undergrad if the family can afford it is the smarter way to go, etc.</p>
<p>It is great that it turned out so well for your D- she sounds like a fantastic kid. As our many of our kids.</p>
<p>The real risk you run is ‘What is a Safety’? By this I mean, that it still has xx% chance of rejection. Perhaps the reader doesn’t like the essay, even tho 100 others would absolutely love it? At least consider a couple of safeties, just in case.</p>
<p>Blue…maybe we have been mislead, but for kids in the top 8% of their respective graduating class, the safety net is pretty much 100%. Can anyone correct me on this? Is there something I don’t know?</p>
<p>collegeshopping, your dd is guaranteed admission to UT if she is in the top 8%, but she’s not guaranteed the college of her choice.</p>
<p>^^which is exactly why we are still “shopping”. But she feels she can make UT work regardless. With her stats, I think she has a shot at Plan II and real good shot at the freshman research positions (new).</p>
<p>I know Plan II well, and that program is not nearly as stats-driven as others, like the colleges of business and engineering. The key to Plan II is the essay and being a good “fit.” Good luck to her! Everyone I know in the program just loves it.</p>
<p>collegeshopping, since Plan II offers rolling admissions and can let applicants know as early as October, why not have your D apply early and see if she gets one of those early admits? She could then just dispense with anything but reaches that she’d consider over Plan II.</p>
<p>She is doing just that. The school will be doing an “application rank” (last official rank they got was mid quarter Junior year…and according to GC her rank improved…it has been going between #3 & #4 of around 675 so I dont know if ‘improved’ means she is closer to #1 or the student population has increased and the percentage is better) distribution in two weeks and her goal is to have her application complete by the end of next weekend so she can have everything complete (transcripts, scores, etc) there by Sept 15, 2010.</p>
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Is it OK, sure … as a fan of keeping options open my only concern would be it is a long time until decision time next May and some of those match schools may be a lot more appealing by then so for my kid (and I have one in a very similar situation) I’ve advocated keeping a couple reaches in the mix in case her/his feelings about schools change over the next 9 months.</p>
<p>When D was applying to UT - it was top 10% but essentially same. Guaranteed admission to university, but not guaranteed to intended major. D was worried about that part. Worried that her major (theatre) would fill up before they considered her application. But she was accepted to both UT and theatre major. I think you can consider admission 100% guaranteed. I hear that music, theatre, and some engineering are the only majors that fill up.</p>
<p>" Blue…maybe we have been mislead, but for kids in the top 8% of their respective graduating class, the safety net is pretty much 100%. Can anyone correct me on this? Is there something I don’t know? "</p>
<p>-I disagree. Even for the #1 ranked kid with decent scores and all kind of EC’s not every place is safety. Certainly not some very selective programs, Ivy’s…etc. It is OK to have 50% rejection rate, this only means that the college list was appropriate, not too high, not too low. It is also important not to have overblown expectations, but discuss possible outcomes and verious options.</p>
<p>My eldest D was accepted to Colgate, but waitlisted to Elmira (go figure). She was 6th in her HS class, and got a 1410 on her SAT (back in 2004 - no writing section).</p>
<p>You never know what really is a “safety.”</p>
<p>That being said, I do think there should be one “match” in the list, or another “safety.”</p>
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Miami, you completely misunderstood this remark. Collegeshopping was specifically talking about UT-Austin, where the top 8% are guaranteed admission to the school, but not necessarily into the program requested. See missypie post #41. Of course being in the top 8% of one’s class doesn’t make an Ivy a safety. They are not safeties for anyone.</p>