Is it safe to assumer that the parents will happily pay $65k per year for any school that the DD wants?
what is her major and career goal?
Ok, but there still is nothing wrong with her having reaches on her list, as long as she has a good mix of matches and safeties.
You might want to look at Macalester, too.
Some one above said it is important for her to interview. She should only interview if she is good at it. One of my kids was great, so she interviewed everywhere. Kid #2 (aka “Cat Behind the Couch”, not skilled at small talk and interviewing) did not interview anywhere, and got in everyplace she applied.
What about Scripps? Maybe fewer NJ applicants, no hit for being female :), her ACT is smack in the middle of their range, and the Claremont Consortium is amazing (I have a kid at another college there).
Sounds like my guidance counselor! They tend to be very conservative because they can’t predict if a school is suddenly going to get a surge in applications and throw the numbers off like happened with BC last yr. That being said, Lehigh is a great school and while Middlebury is a reach she does have a reasonable shot at the others. Trinity could be a good school to add as well as Bucknell, F&M, Connecticut College. My daughters stats are similar to yours and we hear the same thing.
Mom2collegekids, she is an only child and money isn’t an issue. Bucknell is a possibility we have visited.
Here’s a site that calculates chances according to GPA and test scores. For example among the possibles in MA for a 3.7 GPA are BU, Clark and Mt. Holyoke, and Bucknell in PA
http://www.collegesimply.com/guides/3.7-gpa-colleges/massachusetts/
http://www.collegesimply.com/guides/3.7-gpa-colleges/pennsylvania/
It will also let you combine the GPA + ACT search
http://www.collegesimply.com/search/state-massachusetts/act-31/gpa-3.7/
I see that you think Gettysburg is too wild, when our kid was thinking of applying to Lehigh our GC warned us that the social life there could be wild too. About Muhlenberg, we toured and liked it, and while it has its share of theater geeks they aren’t the majority.
Middlebury, Haverford and Hamilton look like the most competitive schools on the list and BC could be a reach too.
Have you considered Lafayette? Many boarding school students go there and seem to love it. About a 33% acceptance rate overall.
@crepes Muhlenberg also has a big contingent of pre-med students
Personally, I wouldn’t listen to anything the guidance counselor tells you.
Thanks @wisteria100, we have a friend whose son went to Muhlenberg and I was trying to remember what his major was: pre-med.
To expand on my advice in post #6, @ScaredNJDad:
We looked at over 30 LACS between my 2 kids and 4 of the schools on your daughters list were applied to by my kids.
Most of these schools are going to want to see “demonstrated interest”, so interview where possible, either at the school or with alumni. See if the admissions rep is visiting your area for a college fair or other visit.
My advice:
Make her list at least 12-13 schools, and I’d consider doing as much as 15. That way, she can apply to her handful of reaches but supplement the list with more safeties and matches. My experience, watching my own kids, relatives, and friends and classmates of my kids, is that those who applied to more and who utilized strategies which diversified the schools they were applying to, had the best options come March/April.
Apply Early Action where it is available. Try to have at least a couple early action schools on the list.
Apply to at least 2 colleges in another geographic region. As I mentioned before, consider Kenyon, Macalaster, Denison, Whitman. Other favorites for our family outside of New England and the Mid Atlantic include Colorado College, St. Olaf, Grinnell, and Lawrence in Wisconsin. Again, many do offer merit aid. Some of these are still quite competitive but at least your daughter is from outside their geographic area.
Definitely have her consider a women’s college or two, especially one in a consortium with other colleges. Bryn Mawr is an obvious choice given her interest in Haverford. Smith and Mount Holyoke are others in consortiums. The education at all is first rate, yet admissions is less competitive.
The last strategy is adding a couple less competitive northeastern schools. As I mentioned before, Dickinson and St. Lawrence are among my favorites. I’d take a look at Connecticut College, too.
My guess is she’ll have success at a couple on her current list, but its better to not sweat it and to insure more options by expanding and diversifying her list.
If you think Gettysburg is too wild, you might want to look very closely at Lehigh and Bucknell!
Not sure what exactly you mean by “wild” but both of those schools have active Greek life and parties.
Muhlenberg is a wonderful friendly school. Lafayette and F&M might also appeal.
Are city schools out? It seems she prefers suburban or rural?
Is this DD premed? What is her major?
If she is premed, then choose a small private that she likes where her stats are strong for the school (not average). She’ll need to shine and survive all the weeder classes.
Are any of the Catholic schools ok? If she’s premed, then look at Holy Cross. That’s popular with premeds.
I think you have to consider the percentage of the class that’s filled in the early round.
At Bates, it’s a bit over half.https://www.bates.edu/admission/student-profile/ When that much of a class is filled early, it’s hard to get in if you apply RD and are a white or Asian female from New Jersey with 2 college educated parents. There will already be made students with that profile who were admitted in the early round.
Hamilton says that 23% of those who apply RD are admitted. Her 31 ACT is below the mean of 32. NJ ranks 4th in the # of students per state.
Any chance she could choose a favorite and apply ED? Maybe ED 2?
Awful that the GC is so gloom and doom! Those are great stats! Also, being full pay will help a lot. Here are some great colleges you might want to consider:
Union College
Franklin & Marshall
American University
Brandeis
Beloit
Macalaster
University of Rochester
Skidmore
Barnard
Oberlin
Lafayette
Also, regarding Middlebury: If your daughter checks off the box asking if she’d be willing to enter in February, she might have a better chance. The “Febs” end up becoming a close-knit group and most of them do something very interesting in the fall semester before they start.
I don’t think the GC is overly doom and gloom, maybe a little on the pessimistic side, but I think its better to set expectations low than to be overly optimistic. Remember, the GC is seeing where the OP’s D’s classmates are applying as well. Many of the schools on the list are sure to be popular amongst her classmates and colleges will look at her in the context of other applicants from the school.
Well, it kind of rubs me the wrong way that the GC put percentages on the student’s chances for each college. It makes it sound like she has some formulaic insider info.
Good advice, but I assumed that the guidance counselor, knowing both the student and the high school, would have taken rigor and the student’s profile into consideration when making recommendations.
I think your daughter is a very strong student, but kids from our very strong HS with those numbers got wait listed or rejected to many of the schools on her list. Lehigh tracks interest big time; she needs to visit the school and go to any and every local event. She also needs to pay attention to those essays. Although your daughter is a strong student, most of the schools on her list are difficult to get accepted to. She may get in, but she may not. If she does not like TCNJ (a fabulous school), then she needs a few more safeties. If your daughter’s GC is confident that she will get into Lehigh and Wake, then I suppose (?) its OK (however these two schools are not easy to get into). Lehigh is very familiar with our HS, and last year took 4 kids out of the 10 who applied. All of the applicants were strong students.
Since BC is on her list, I’m assuming Catholic schools are acceptable. Some good safeties might be Fairfield (CT), Providence (RI), St Michael’s (VT). With an ACT 31 she’s at the 75th %ile for Villanova.