TCNJ suffers because it is in NJ and is not close to a city. It also limits some majors.One of my kids got in for biomed engineering but if he decided he didn’t like the program, he would not have been able to be a biology major since that major is capped at 123 (or something) and no more. That was a turnoff for him. TCNJ also does not have the resources or variety of majors as at Rutgers. TCNJ is a great school, but honestly if one can easily afford a private college, most kids would make that choice.
Expanding the list makes sense. I know some kids who were overly optimistic and had OK safeties, but not enough matches. When they didn’t get into their reaches, they had no choice but to go to the safety. Which is fine, but they may have found a better fit at more of a match school.
I suggested Carleton as a reach. I often see Bates, Carleton, and Grinnell as a common set of colleges for students.
The student probably has the same chance at Carleton as at Middlebury, Bates, or Haverford. If the GC said a 1 in 6 chance, that is reasonable for selective schools.
I think she is a solid applicant for Elon, but they have their pick of other solid east coast applicants. Try to find a couple more safety schools.
Look at the school profile for your daughter’s school and you should be able to glean some good choices for safeties.
ScaredNJDad- you have nothing to be scared of anymore! The new list is great and she is going to have lots to pick from. Best of luck to you and your daughter.
@twogirls@Maters. Elon has an avg ACT of 27. His daughter has a 31. That seems more of a safe bet than match. But I am curious as to what people think the ACT or SAT deviation from avg needs to be to be considered a safety. How
I think your new list looks great, and I hope your daughter feels better about it. It’s good you looked at so many schools.
Even though TCNJ is assuredly a great school, I think sometimes kids don’t really like going to a school that a lot of other people in the area are going to. We lived in upstate NY, and kids in the private schools up there really aren’t wild about the idea of attending Syracuse University, but now we live in Maryland, and lots of kids have Syracuse on their list as a safety school or match . . .so I do understand where she’s coming from on that one to a great extent. It just isn’t always appealing to go to the closer places even if they are good. Neither of my guys wanted to go to Maryland, saying it was too big. I just think they didn’t want to do what so many others were doing . . .
Good luck with it all . . .it’s a long tiring road. I can’t wait to be done already with my senior. Once he’s in a school I’ll feel so much better.
I thought Elon was more of a match than a pure safety because of the GPA. Elon’s average GPA is a 3.98 (however to be fair, I am not sure if this is weighted or unweighted). That being said, I think she will get in. I spoke to a woman at the airport a few weeks ago- she was going to Elon for visiting weekend. She told me that 75% of the students at Elon come from the northeast. This girl does not bring diversity to the school, and she is likely competing with many strong applicants. That’s why I think it is more of a safety/match than a pure safety. I think the new list is very good. Good luck!
Wisteria100, in the case of Elon I cannot see how a student in the top 25% of a school with a 54% acceptance rate can be rejected mathematically, unless for example one program like pharmacy or an accelerated medical program has requirements not captured in the averages.
The math gets fuzzy when the acceptance line crosses and being in the top 25% is not so reassuring.
It’s a shock, isn’t it? But it sounds like things are moving in a positive direction. I think kids in this “bracket” can have a lot of success if they are realistic. And it sounds like your GC gave you a good dose of reality. My D had her let down in October when she realized the unlikelihood of getting into some of her reachy-reach schools (she still threw a Hail Mary Pass at Middlebury which was her only rejection in the end!) Unfortunately a number of her friends had their let down in April when they didn’t have many choices.
I’ll throw out a couple thoughts from having gone through this with 2 Ds in the last 5 years. They may or may not be relevant to you.
If she will consider a women's college she would likely have a lot of success there. Smith is actually ranked higher than Bates (fwiw) and she would have an excellent chance of acceptance there. Plus, Smith, as well as Mt. Holyoke are in the same consortium as Amherst, Hampshire, and UMass Amherst. Similarly, Bryn Mawr is in a consortium with Haverford and Swarthmore. My older D would never consider a women's college but my younger D will attend MHC next year with a nice pile of merit $$ (deferred acceptance and taking a Gap Year).
Moving off the East Coast will help. For example, on stats Oberlin was a reach for my D but in fact she got in and received a merit award! She was wait listed at Bates but got into Kenyon even though they have similar acceptance rates.
Have an EA safety that she likes on the list. My younger D had 2- Wooster and Guilford. She would have been happy to attend either, they both gave her lots of $$ and they told her early that they wanted her. Took a lot of stress out of the situation and that money made her feel good.
Don't neglect the matches. It's easy to have a list that is a bunch of reaches and a couple safeties. But it is in the matches that her sweet spot should lie. And given that a match means it's a 50-50 chance- your kid is qualified, but so is the kid sitting next to her and they can only pick one- you want a few to up her choices in the end.
St. Lawrence is an awesome option! It was on and off my D’s list until the end. It looks like your D likes slightly bigger schools as well as LACs so take a look at Brandeis and University of Rochester. She won’t mind the cold at U of R if she can take St. Lawrence. My older D went to Muhlenberg, and she is a theater geek. But I will say there were lots of other very smart, very talented kids there doing all kinds of other things and they are strong in sciences. There are a lot of kids from NJ though if she wants to get away from that Muhlenberg might not do it for her.
LeftofPisa, she goes to an all girls Catholic school now, so an all girls college is not gonna fly. Brandeis we saw and its not her type of school. She is very preppy and sporty.
Twogirls, I don’t think so. If you look at the list, she is interested in well known schools in NY and Boston. She is a fanatical skier and snow boarder so going down south that far is not an option.
BC, Bates, Colby would be tough. I don’t think Lehigh is out of the pict. Like the others have said, I’d add a Grinnell, a Dickinson, a W&L or W&J. Kenyon, Macalester are good too. If size is not a problem for her, I’d say Rutgers & UMiami are definitely in play.
OK. How about SUNY Geneseo? It’s a likely solid match ( my friend’s D with a 3.8/28 was given a spring admit) and the town is very very cute. I am just throwing out schools that come to me- you have a great list.
@twogirls. That 3.98 gpa number for Elon seems suspicious to me. I also saw it reported as 4.0 somewhere. Must be manipulated somehow or on a different scale. @ScaredNJDad Saw you added Holy Cross to the list. Great school! They like demonstrated interest as does Hamilton
Beware of the social media prediction sites like Naviance. A lot of us are good enough to get into the most elite but the fact is they deliberately want to keep their small status. One cannot figure out the algorithm. Look for the very selective schools that accept more in the 40-60% range.
My older D went to Muhlenberg, and she is a theater geek. But I will say there were lots of other very smart, very talented kids there doing all kinds of other things and they are strong in sciences. There are a lot of kids from NJ though if she wants to get away from that Muhlenberg might not do it for her.