Need help identifying match and safety schools

College Search & Selection
1

Hello CC, hello everyone!

DS is a rising senior in a competitive public school in north east. I found it’s not easy to identify match and safety schools. For almost ALL the schools we looked at, collegedata.com said “maybe”, and Naviance has green for SAT score, but red for GPA. I’m not sure how to position him, since his GPA and SAT score are not in the same range.

Here is his stats:

SAT: 2280 (CR800, M760, W720), took it once.
SAT II: US History 780, World History 750
AP: US History 4, waiting for scores for World History, US Gov, Comp Gov
GPA: 3.7 weighted, with big uptrend. 9th grade: 3.14, 10th grade: 3.71, 11th grade: 4.25
AP courses taken so far: US History, World History, US and Comparative Gov, AP physics 1
AP courses planned for 12th grade: Eng lang, Stats, Calculus, macro/micro Econ

He doesn’t have a ton of EC, but what he has are concentrated on what he loves. He is a humanity kid, loves history and politics. He is considering to major in international relationship or political science with econ as minor.

School list we have so far:
Reach: Georgetown, Tufts, Swarthmore, Johns Hopkins, William & Mary
Reach/Match: Brandeis, Bates, Colby, Haverford (Not sure if they are reach or match)
Match/Safety: American, George Washington, Franklin & Marshall (not sure if they are match or safety)

Does this look realistic? Is it top-heavy?

Many thanks!

2

Haverford would be a reach - more competitive than W&M.
Are you applying for financial aid or is money not an issue?
A few more schools to consider that are good at international relations/poli sci: Emory, Dickinson, St. Andrews in Scotland (Andrews admissions is very stats driven so he is highly likely to get in. There is, however, hardly any aid available for Americans)

3

Thanks for your comments! Agreed, Haverford probably should be a reach. Will look into Emory and Dickinson. We are not considering schools outside of US, at least for now. Money is not an issue.

4

UVM could be another good safety for him

5

might look at Trinity and Holy Cross.

6

@purplecorn George Washington is not a safety. Bates, Colby and Haverford are reaches. Don’t lose sight of the fact that these schools are only looking for a few hundred students for a freshman class, making admissions decisions unpredictable. Also, if you apply to small schools try to get stats just from regular decision, not overall.

If this student doesn’t interview at Haverford, Bates or Colby, the application won’t be a priority.

The term “match” can’t be used when acceptance rates in regular decision are less than 20%. These terms get used without any analysis of the expected value.

7

Given your son’s GPA, there are no safeties on this list

8

@BatesParents2019 Just wondering why GWU would not be considered a safety. I’m just curious because several students at my high school got in with much lower stats than the OP. I looked at the Common Data Set and 48% of males were offered admission and the stats mentioned by the OP are much higher than the 75th percentile. (By comparison, American is more selective (e.g. admitted 41% of males and had similar percentiles). Does an academic safety need to have a higher admissions rate - e.g. 50% of above? Thanks.

9

@dreambig2018 I see acceptance rates in the middle 30s.

True, this may actually be a safety for the OP but the school is still too selective to be viewed that way.

10

@BatesParents2019 OK, thanks for explaining. I think I am reading the Common Data Sets wrong (7729 men applied/3726 men admitted = 48%) and they must calculate the official acceptance rates differently.

11

William and Mary is a match for your son, not a reach. At most, a reach/match.

12

Forbes, US News and College Data show mid 30s, so who knows the right number. Some news stories say 43%. College Data says 8,859 men applied.

13

Still, schools will want to know the unweighted GPA. The upward trend is nice, however. You might want to add some real safeties in there because it does seem that the schools chosen are selective.

However, because you say money is no object, then it makes it easier. He’ll probably get in to one of these schools, as long as you’re willing to foot the bill.

14

Thanks everyone for your comments, I really appreciate it. My next question is what is the strategy to compile a realistic school list for someone with mediocre overall GPA, but has a huge upward trend and really good SAT scores? I guess schools who focus more on the big picture? Are LACs more on holistic side? Also, I heard some schools, such as Johns Hopkins, didn’t look at freshman year grades before, but they do now. Does it mean that 9th grade GPA still counts less for these schools, more so than other schools?

15

To thank the CC community, here is my son’s update. Accepted: Emory, Brandeis, Bates, Colby, Kenyon, F&M, American, Dickinson; Waitlisted: Haverford, Davidson, W&L; Rejected: Swarthmore, Georgetown, Tufts.

16

Thanks for updating and congrats on all the great choices your son has. Is he leaning in any particular direction for his final choice?

17

He is leaning towards Emory, Brandeis, Hamilton and Colby. I forgot to list Hamilton in the accepted list. I think it would boil down to the choice between university and LACs.

18

If his interests still include economics, these analyses based on faculty publishing can be useful: “Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges” and “US Economics Departments” (IDEAS).

19

Thank you! We will look into that. He actually considers major in econ and minor (or double major) in Pol Sci now. Brandeis offered him 5 year BA/MA program in its international business school. Both son and I are not sure about undergrad business school. Will visit the above 4 school next week.

20

The visits should be great.

Hamilton students can get a certificate from HBS, should that sound like something your son would want to pursue: “Harvard Business School Expands Online Initiative to Liberal Arts Colleges” (WGBH).