It’s me, the OP. Well, this part of the process is over for us!! I am grateful for cc and all of the advice I received when I was trying to help S come up with his final list, particularly the “safer” schools. For those in a similar position, here is my recap. I have not had a chance to post in all of the results threads, so here it goes!
Final application list:
Yale (EA)
U of MIchigan(EA)
UVA (EA)
Rutgers (did in September)
Arizona State (did in September)
Princeton
Stanford
Penn
Duke
Cornell
Vanderbilt
Wash U
USC
Boston University
Outcomes:
Accepted by October to Rutgers and ASU, which were the true safeties. He was later notified of large merit money at ASU and full-ride Presidential at Rutgers and admission to the new honors college. In December, he was deferred from Yale, so obviously disappointed. In December he was admitted to Michigan. At the end of January, he found out he was selected for the Shipman Scholarship of $35k/yr. Also accepted to UVA in January. So far, the “strategy” was going well. He was into some very good programs, even while he had to wait it out til March for he rest.
Ultimately, in March, he was accepted to Yale, Penn, Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Washu, USC and BU! He was rejected from Stanford and waitlisted at Princeton. (Merit $$ from USC and BU)
WE ARE THRILLED!!! This was a very long road and a lot of work on my son’s part to do all of these applications. But, he will be attending his original dream school, YALE!
So, while some of these schools now seemed unnecessary, our plan was for him to have choices at each “tier” of school, to help with the randomness of all of this.
In hindsight, the school were probably
Safeties: Rutgers, ASU, BU
Safety/match: Michigan, UVA, USC
Match/low reach: Cornell, Vanderbilt, WashU
Reach: Yale, Princeton, Penn, Duke, Stanford
We are extremely proud of him for his hard work throughout HS that brought him to this point. Any questions, feel free to ask. I’m sure the next crop of kids is going through this now! Good luck!!