<p>Yanimated,
Theres no doubt that your daughter is doing challenging work for her mothers business (rather than waitressing in a restaurant as you said) after reading your second post. Reiterate after reading the second post. Point is, the details, especially pertaining to responsibility, challenge, obligation, whatever, would have to be brought out (essay?). The mere mention that you work for a parent, and then ending it there, is dangerous. Unfortunate but true.</p>
<p>Dear YANIMATED,</p>
<p>WAKE UP. </p>
<p>LISTEN TO YOUR DAUGHTER. </p>
<p>LISTEN TO THE POSTERS HERE. </p>
<p>The only good news is that there are perfectly good rolling admissions colleges that your D can still get into next summer - welcome to U of Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>
That's not entirely true.;) Some schools in the South and Midwest have a dearth of Asian applicants and would love for someone of your daughter's interests and caliber to apply.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon is so correct, but the problem with the OP family that I believe we are all so valiantly trying to point out is that they are overly focused on getting into college at a very small subset of schools. At those schools, the OP is largely correct. But, dear OP, we are all trying to get you to advise your D to broaden her search. And we are only doing it in hopes that she will have several excellent choices come April. If some of her choices are from her current list, that is wonderful! But if that list tanks except for two west coast schools (which she says she doesn't want), one of them a public (which she says she doesn't want), what will that feel like?</p>
<p>It just seems that we are not getting through. I have been on cc a long, long time. Almost always, a thread of this length engenders diverging - even conflicting - viewpoints. Here, we are pretty much all of one mind. But we do not know if we are getting through and I'm not sure why we would be so ineffective.</p>
<p>jmmom: Well, honestly I don't know what to think. We are still awaiting those life-altering SAT scores. According to PrincetonReview and CollegeBoard, if she scores above 700s on all sections of her SATs, she has a good chance of getting into all of those schools. I am definitely not sure of her essays. She's a strong writer, though her last SAT scores don't show that. I think her essays are good. They're very different and definitely show her creative personality.</p>
<p>In terms of recommendations, she has very good ones from two teachers, and an extremely strong one from her counselor.</p>
<p>I talked to a friend's daughter at Northwestern about it, and apparently they put people who have scored between 650-800 in the same category.</p>
<p>There are just so many different opinions and predictions, it's quite confusing.</p>
<p>As for other safeties, she's also considered Dickinson.</p>
<p>beprepn: You somewhat contradict yourself. What my D says and what the people in this forum say are not the same.</p>
<p>Yanimated,</p>
<p>I never said that Middlebury was a all-women's college. Smith is. Wellesley is.</p>
<p>Your friend at Northwestern is wrong. Sorry, but there is not a selective college in America that treats a 1300 the same as a 1550. (I've got the Penn stats, I just have to find them.:))</p>
<p>As to my other thought about Asian at Southern schools- Davidson 2.6%, Vandy -112 out of 1622. I think Chinese may be a plus at these two excellent schools with great rep's and prestige to boot!.;)</p>
<p>Oh, your reply seemed to imply it.</p>
<p>Here's the numbers for UPenn. I'll look for Northwestern but this should show you the effect of higher SAT scores at one school she's interested in attending. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/profile.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/profile.php</a>
CR M Writing
750-800 27% 22% 28%
700-740 22% 19% 22%
650-690 18% 16% 17%
600-640 15% 15% 13%
550-590 9% 9% 10%
500-540 7% 5% 5%
Under 500 1% <1% 1%
"Old" SAT only 21% 21% 21%
ACT only 15% 15% 15%
Incomplete Testing 0% 0% 0%
Total 17.7% 17.7%</p>
<p>Vanderbilt and Davidson. That's when the Asian parent in me starts to worry. My girl's pretty moderate (rare in Seattle, it seems like everyone at her school is very liberal), but I personally don't think she would be able to survive in those kinds of environment. Plus, there still is some racism in the South. And I know that racism cannot be avoided, but I don't want to put her in the heartland of it (no offense to Southerners).</p>
<p>Of course though, I'll ask her about the schools. Can't hurt to apply and visit right?</p>
<p>What does everyone here think about Carnegie Mellon? Their average GPA is significantly lower than my D's. And I'm sure her SAT scores will be up to par or above.</p>
<p>She's shown interest in it, I think. Odd though, I have never heard about it until she mentioned it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
According to PrincetonReview and CollegeBoard, if she scores above 700s on all sections of her SATs, she has a good chance of getting into all of those schools.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm only a newcomer here, but I want to point out that this statement is not true, and can be dangerously untrue. A better guide would be her high school's stats for past years' acceptances, if those are available. Looking at my daughter's school's stats makes me want to burst out crying, looking at all the excellent kids who are turned down from top colleges. True, stats don't tell the whole story. But just for instance, 45 kids from my daughter's school applied to Penn last year and ONE kids was admitted! You wouldn't believe the kids who didn't make it. Unbelievable.</p>
<p>Still, after I stop crying (I'm kidding, here), a dose of reality sets in.</p>
<p>I'm just chiming in to say, as others are telling you, make sure your daughter's list is well-balanced. In fact, I'm advising my daughter to add a match school right now.</p>
<p>I know how difficult it must be to hear that your D is not as strong a candidate for admissions at the listed schools as some may have led her to believe, but do you want to find out now - or in April? We are trying to help. </p>
<p>As to the Southern thing and racism, may I suggest she visit? ;)</p>
<p>About the UPenn chart realize that what it's saying is that a kid with a 640-690 CR has a 33 and 1/3% less chance of acceptance (18%) than a 750-800 kid (27%) . And of course , that nobody has great chance , even a 1600/2400 val.</p>
<p>I believe that the differential would be similar at Northwestern and most other highly selective schools.</p>
<p>Yanimated, I think youre getting a lot of negative feedback on your daughters list because theres a lack of clarification on her academic stats. I gleaned the following from your initial post- SAT Is in the 600s. SAT II in 600, although AP of 5 (math). SAT II in Chinese 700s, although it seems that your daughter is Chinese, or her mom Chinese? Other than that, the GPA- 3.8. Maybe additional clarification with her class rank, curriculum (IB? # of APs? Honors?) would help.</p>
<p>curmudgeon: Those stats look very familiar! :P I think I'm just as much obsessed about this as my D is. But thank you for posting them. I'm actually surprised (and at the same time, not) that some kids with 500s (or less) got accepted.</p>
<p>Sorry - I meant to say that if she was considering Middlebury geographically, she might want to look at the all-women's colleges in New England, most of which are similar to Middlebury with their small town settings and collegiate communities. </p>
<p>Middlebury is much closer in atmosphere to Smith than it is UPenn, which is located in a not-so-great section of Philadelphia. Middlebury is considered an undergraduate institution, whereas UPenn derives most of its reputation from its research and graduate studies. Does she want the school's focus to be on undergraduates? Does she want to attend a research university? Does she like cities, suburban towns, or the country? These basic questions need to be answered before she sends in her applications.</p>
<p>I'm still not confident that we're getting through to you. I'm sure your daughter is VERY smart and VERY ambitious, but so is everyone else applying to the schools you've mentioned. Can she beat out 9,000 other students, even though most will have higher scores and grades? Yes, she might, but the odds are not great. All of us here have seen remarkable kids turned away from schools that five years ago they might have gotten into.</p>
<p>Just a quick story: the valdictorian of my daughter's former school (a public high school with an excellent reputation) didn't get into a single Ivy, Amherst, Washington University, Swarthmore, Haverford, and a score of other prestigious schools. Her family had hired a professional college advisor who fortunately saw that, even for a student of that caliber, nothing was guaranteed. This girl got into her safety northeastern school and Claremont-McKenna in CA, which she chose to attend. Two schools out of fifteen. That's it. She got straight As from freshman year through senior year, did community service, had musical talent, had strong ECs, AND got at least one perfect SAT score.</p>
<p>You cannot be too careful.</p>
<p>Alright doubleplay, here we have it:</p>
<p>Just her cores. Her school goes by semesters. And there are no A+ and A-, etc. Six classes max per semester. These are the hardest classes at her school. Except, she opted for calculus-based physics instead of AP Chem her senior year. Though the classes are both very tough, she chose physics because god knows she's terrible at science and physics is big on math.</p>
<p>Freshmen Year:
Integrated III Honors (A/A)
World History Honors (A/A)
Language Arts 9 Honors (A/A)
Biology (Honors not availabe; A/A)
Chinese III (Honors not available; A/A)</p>
<p>Sophmore Year (1 B in photography):
Marine Science (A/B)
Journalism & Language Arts 10 Honors (A/A)
Pre-Calculus Honors (A/A)
AP European History (A/A; Score: 4)</p>
<p>Junior Year:
AP Calculus AB (B/A; Score: 5)
AP US History (B/A; Score: 4)
AP English (A/A; Score: 4)
Chemistry Honors (B/A)</p>
<p>Senior Year:
AP Calculus BC
AP Statistics
AP Literature
AP US Government
Calculus-Based Physics (Planning on taking AP Physics)</p>
<p>Also planning on taking the new AP Chinese.
She takes night classes outside of school at a very small and obscure college called Amasia College. She's received A's in all of the courses.
At the university she studied at in China, she managed a B+, pretty good for someone taking classes a D level class (highest level was F) with Chinese majors.
Ah, and I forgot, she has around 1,400 community service hours since 9th grade.
Her mom and I hold a Masters and Ph. D respectively.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if her school ranks. I've never seen it on transcripts.</p>
<p>Yanimated, your daughter may want to try the advanced search option here at CC. She can enter "official decision" in the "search by key word" space and the colleges in which she is interested (one by one) in the "search in forums" space. Then she can see what the scores and ECs of students who were accepted, rejected and waitlisted this past spring. That should give her some perspective on other applicants.</p>
<p>The transcript should only show her final grade in the course, right? So she has gotten almost all As (except in photography). Her transcript should look good.</p>
<p>Northwestern's most recent CDS numbers (that I can find on their site anyway. LOL.) Not anywhere near as explanatory as UPenn. :(</p>
<p>Percent of first-time, first-year (freshman) students with scores in each range:</p>
<p>SAT Verbal SAT Math </p>
<p>700-800
51 63</p>
<p>600-699
40 31 </p>
<p>500-599
8 6 </p>
<p>400-499
1 0 </p>
<p>300-399
0 0 </p>
<p>200-299
0 0 </p>
<p>100% 100%</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornew: No worries!</p>
<p>Again, I don't think she cares about environment too much in terms of rural, suburban, or urban as long as it's on the northeast. She visited Middlebury recently. I thought she would hate it because it's in the middle of nowhere in freezing cold Vermont, but apparently she loved it.
Undergraduate focus would be best.</p>
<p>Well, since my D's not a valedictorian or has perfect scores, we won't be expecting amazing results like the others did. She's got enough optimism to apply and give it her all on applications, but enough pessimism to not get disparaged when those thin white envelopes come.</p>