Need help with safety school list

Parents Forum
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<p>We are trying to come up with a good list of schools for my son, who is finishing his junior year. The easy part is finding the reach schools. He is a good candidate, but I know these schools are long shots for everyone. So, I am trying to make sure we have a solid list. The difficulty is that he really wants an ivy/similar type of environment in terms of the student body. He wants to be among academic peers and not be an "honors" student like in HS.</p>

<p>Quick stats: 4.7 weighted GPA, unweighted about 4.0-4.3 (all A's), all APs junior year, SAT 2390 superscore, 2370 single seating, Math II 800, Bio 770, Physics waiting for scores. Great music ECs, all state since freshman year on unusual instrument, chosen as drum major for next year, etc. Other typical stuff like NHS and other honor societies but his main passion and ECs are around music. He teachers private lessons to a few kids. He also has a PSAT to give him National Merit.</p>

<p>His dream is Yale. We visited and it lived up to the hype for him. He will also apply to Princeton, Duke and Stanford, among the top 10, and probably Penn. So, these are all reaches, I know.</p>

<p>So the list right now is:
Yale
Princeton
Duke
Stanford
Cornell
Vanderbilt
UVA
Michigan</p>

<p>If we stopped there, are any of these really safe enough or are they just matches? We have visited all of these except for Stanford and Michigan.</p>

<p>Should we add others like BU, Brandeis, RPI, Lehigh, other suggestions?? His main criteria are very strong academics along with strong music opportunities. He will major in either engineering or science. He is not planning to major in music, but definitely plans to perform and possibly minor. We are on the East Coast, so I'd prefer safeties within driving distance.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for any insights! It is hard because relatives keep saying "of course he will get in" but I know how competitive these schools are!</p>

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<p>I’d consider Univ of Rochester - with the eastman school of music it seems an ideal safety, if of course you don’t mind the weather. I’d put Case Western in there for the same reason but I get it isn’t east coast.</p>

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<p>Are you instate for UVA and are finances a concern?</p>

<p>What does your school’s Naviance or admit stats tell you? </p>

<p>I’d look at Rochester and Carnegie Mellon for the academic vibe he wants before I’d add BU. Brandeis is not a bad choice for vibe, but better for science than engineering.</p>

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<p>Great stats. I think that Rochester should be on the list, and it’s probably a safety, but they won’t admit him until March, creating this great big window of stress between Jan 1 and March. </p>

<p>For sanity’s sake, I recommend that he apply to a rolling admissions school as soon as the application opens. </p>

<p>We’re on the east coast. My D had top stats and used the University of Wisconsin as a safety. She applied in September, was admitted in October, and then was admitted to her top 2 choices EA. Having the first admission in the bag before the EA deadline eased a lot of stress.The application is easy, and his admission is almost automatic. Neither one of my Ds put a lot of effort into their Wisconsin essays and both were admitted. Both of my kids also liked the vibe at Wisconsin better than the one at Michigan. I think the water on the lake and downtown Madison felt a lot more Boston-like. </p>

<p>If you want a safety with money attached, the other great choice is University of Pittsburgh, which is academically about the same level as BU, but they also have cross-registration with Carnegie Mellon. They offer a good number of full rides to students with your son’s stats. They are also rolling admissions and give out admissions and money very early.</p>

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<p>Another very good school with strong music is Oberlin.</p>

<p>And for a total safety – yet still a decent school with strong music – there is also Lawrence University.</p>

<p>In sum:
Match/low match: Oberlin
Safety: Lawrence </p>

<p>And – UW-Madison is awesome in so many fields and ways…</p>

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<p>Would you consider Northeastern?</p>

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<p>Though by no means a safety, Emory has higher admit rates than Ivies, but likely would provide him with great opportunities, including in the area of his passion, music. William and Mary also fits in this category, and has a 3:2 Engineering program affiliated with Columbia U and RPI. Muhlenberg would be a safety that would offer good merit money to him and they also have 3:2 with Columbia. As long as he would consider LAC’s, Wesleyan, Vassar, Williams and Amherst also have strong music and science, though definitely are not safeties. But with his stats, I think he would get into some of these as he is in the range, numberswise, at or above most of the accepted students.</p>

<p>It sounds as though money is not a consideration here. If it is,Tulane is another option as they almost certainly would accept him with great merit $$$. I also agree with CWR as mentioned above. If money is not a consideration, I can see that it will be hard to get him excited about many of the other schools that he would be tippy top in his class again. If money is an issue, then his safeties will have to be financial safeties as well (those that give a lot of merit to top stats kids), bc I just do not see you or him getting excited to give >60k/year to a school that is not the fit he is looking for. Funny how less important fit is when you are getting a full ride! It would be as if I went to a consignment shop looking for a wedding dress. If I found what I thought was a beautiful $5k wedding dress for $100, I would not care much how perfectly it fit. In that case, I am wearing it out of the store! </p>

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<p>My first thought was the University of Rochester. Pitt is another good choice for a safety, and he should apply early.
I agree with ClassicRockerDad, above.</p>

<p>I think that it is likely that he will be accepted at one or more of those already on your list, but I wouldn’t want to risk everything on that. You never know. </p>

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<p>Consider Carnegie Mellon.</p>

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<p>One definite safety but which has a great music school is Indiana University-Bloomington. See their Jacobs School of Music here: <a href=“http://www.music.indiana.edu/”>http://www.music.indiana.edu/&lt;/a&gt;
and here:
<a href=“Jacobs School of Music - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobs_School_of_Music&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>He definitely needs to apply to safeties. I agree with the advice to apply ea or rolling admission to one he would be happy to attend. Since Michigan is already on your list, I’d vote for that. If he gets in then he can exhale. If he doesn’t get in I would highly recommend that if at all possible he visit other safeties he applies to. It does happen that schools bypass tippy top students who don’t demonstrate interest. There are endless debates about which/whether schools (including Tufts) suffer from “Tufts Syndrome.” But why take the chance? Make sure his safeties know he’s serious about them. Really, choosing safeties is the most important part of the process. Good luck! </p>

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<p>Decent music programs I think - UDel honors, UMaryland Honors, Northeastern,</p>

<p>Rutgers honors - I have a premed friend who is doing marching band and the honors school and loves it (got to perform in the pre-super bowl program and Universal Studios in his time so far).</p>

<p>Better music programs -Fordham honors, Vasaar, Tufts </p>

<p>You would need to visit these schools as they all have very different feels</p>

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<p>I also would recommend Rochester. My daughter grauated from there and she loved it. The music scene was great.</p>

<p>Regarding Michigan, it is not a safety but is a match. Your son should get in. I recommend applying to Michigan via their early action process. Submit your application on or before October 31 and you wil hear by early December. My son did this and once in he then only applied to his reaches as well as his already submitted ED school, Penn. Getting this earlty admit resposne from a good school took a lot of pressure off of him for the regular admission processs. </p>

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<p>UMich, URochester and Indiana U all have great music schools. That being said the opportunities for a major vs. a non major or minor in music are very different. They all have opportunities for participation in non music major groups. Just be sure to check out what they offer for non music majors to see if it fits with your son’s interests.</p>

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<p>URochester came to my mind as a safety as well. I would also apply to UMichigan as early as possible – this way he should hear back by Dec </p>

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<p>I agree that he’ll likely get into Michigan, but that you need a true safety, ideally a public with a very numbers-driven admission process. Since he likes Michigan, and his top choices include Duke and Stanford, I think Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, or Ohio State would be terrific true safeties. He’ll likely get very nice honors program invitations, too.</p>

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<p>You will need to check your facts in the accessibility of music programs at places like Indiana. The Jacobs School really is for auditioned music majors. Ditto Eastman. U of Rochester has music ops for non-majors, and so does Indiana. But not at Jacobs or Eastman.</p>

<p>How about Case Western as a safety? They have good music opportunities for non-majors as well.</p>

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<p>I also agree about Michigan, it’s a likely admit but it’s a fluky school with admissions for out of state kids (if you are OSS for Michigan) so would be considered a match. Absolutely that application needs to be complete (test scores, reqs, everything in) before the end of October. Only complete applications are considered for EA. He’ll have to choose his college at Michigan which might make it tough if he’s uncertain about engineering. I also agree with Rochester. Adding one of the small schools that have engineering like Lehigh, Lafayette or Bucknell might be good safeties and give him more flexibility to Major/Minor or double Major. </p>

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<p>Thank you so much everyone! I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. In response to a few questions, UVA is not in state for us. We did visit there last summer and liked it. Based on naviance the avg gpa of accepted students was 4.46 and Sats were 1515/2210. Of those above the averages in both, 8 of 10 were accepted and 2 we’re wait listed. So does this make it sound like a safety for my son with a 4.7 and 2390?</p>

<p>For Michigan the naviance stats are 4.32 and 1449/2169. Husband and I went to grad school there.
For Vanderbilt the navianxe stats are 4.3 and 1504/2246 with all students who had above both accepted. We visited and loved it but I have been nervous to think it could be safe. Is it a match or safety?</p>

<p>I will look into some of the others schools suggested. I have “heard” that sometimes schools with a music performance program are actually not great if you choose not to be a music major. My son eliminated Johns Hopkins and Northwestern for this reason. I think Rochester may have a similar issue but I will check. How about USC? The possible issue is that you are competing for seats with conservatory students. </p>

<p>The other big state schools are far from us. I have always sort of thought since there are so many great schools in the area that he would only choose something far if it was a really special choice. I think Carnegie Melon and Tufts are good possibilities, but are they any safer than UVA? Sorry I can’t scroll up to see all of the others mentioned. We may also look at Bucknell and Lafayette since they are easy to visit. We will visit a few last schools over the summer but I’m not sure we can make it to Pittsburg, Ann Arbor and Boston! I’d prefer he sees some of the safer schools before it becomes necessary.</p>

<p>Also, I like the idea of getting an early response. The current thinking was to apply EA to Yale, UVA and Michigan and also submit the RD to Vanderbilt by Nov. 1 so he is eligible for scholarship considerations and shows interest. Sounds like Pitt is also a good one to do early.</p>

<p>Looking forward to reading any more suggestions! Oh, and while I would love financial aid, I am not expecting it based on need. We are in the gray area where schools somehow think we have the funds. But we have determined that if it comes to it we can probably pull together full pay. </p>

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<p>Though your son’s stats are highly impressive, it’s probably risky to consider UVA (OOS) and Vanderbilt (for anyone) safeties.</p>