<p>I know this probably belongs on the "chances" board, but I really would like the opinions of other parents. DD's stats are as follows: 8/191 class rank; 3.87 weighted GPA (3.65 unweighted), CR 580 math 620 (new sat and she will retake in October), strong commitment to ECs in music, swim team 4 years (likely captain this year), track 4 years, school musical, works in school office during the year, lifeguard in the summer, National Honor Society, All State musician, Hartt School precollege ensembles (3 years). Piano 9 years, Oboe/English horn 9 years. Scored a 5 on the AP Music Theory exam.</p>
<p>Sr Courses:
AP English Literature
AP Government and Politics (wanted Modern Euro...schedule conflict prevented that)
Honors Anatomy and Physiology
Honors Precalculus
Honors Wind Symphony
Health/Pe
Elective TBD (schedule conflict closed her out of her first choice. This will be resolved).</p>
<p>Wants a program strong in sciences (favoring engineering but would like to have core courses for exploration of other areas); must have music ensembles for non-music majors.</p>
<p>Reaches:
Lafayette (as a female engineering major...if she chooses to apply there)</p>
<p>Matches:
Santa Clara University (first choice and will apply EA)
U of San Diego (second choice...also EA)
Drew University </p>
<p>Safeties:
U of South Carolina (and she loves it)</p>
<p>Any parent opinions or suggestions....While she would prefer a warm climate, she is open to other ideas. Nothing further north than where we live (CT). Just fyi, Santa Clara is far and away her top choice. She will apply as soon as their application can be done online. It has everything she wants and she loves the location. It was a "wow" school when she visited. </p>
<p>P.S. She only wants to apply to 4 or 5 schools....maybe 6 total...so she can do a good job with those applications.</p>
<p>Smith isn't an option...it's north of here...and it's all women...two things DD does not want. But thank you for the suggestion. We tried VERY hard to get her to look at Scripps but we were unsuccessful as it's all women.</p>
<p>Is she considering UConn as a safety instate as well? We looked at it as it has S's intended major..I didn't expect to be impressed but I was......</p>
<p>Is your daughter an all-state oboist? If so, that is a real hook, because most orchestras are in great need of that instrument (may also be true of the English horn, tho I'm not as sure about that). Anyway, that may seal the deal at her first choice school as well as the others, and probably would make any reaches have much greater likelihood for acceptance.</p>
<p>Yes, she is an All State oboe player (sat first chair last year in the all state orchestra). She was also principal oboe of the Greater Hartford Youth Wind Ensemble, and English horn/oboe in the Connecticut Youth Symphony (both precollege ensembles at the Hartt School). She absolutely wants to continue playing in college. She owns both instruments.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your D's amazing music accomplishments! At the risk of confusing things, I believe that if your daughter's SAT's go up in the fall, (lets say to 1300 on the math/verbal ) and she has been taking AP's before senior year, she would be competitive for many very fine schools that she may have not been considering (honestly, I'm not a good resource on specific programs for engineering, ). However, she might want to explore her reach options a bit further. There is no question that her exceptional music accomplishments on instruments that are in tremendous demand, and her desire to play in college (both which should be highlighted in her application) would make the admissions committees take a very serious look at her.</p>
<p>Tulane has the strong engineering and the music situation seems good. And it's plenty warm :). Large number of engineering students also involved in music in some way. S will be doing either private lessons for credit, or an ensemble. I found the Music Dept. very welcoming.</p>
<p>RE "strong core" and engineering. You may have done more research than I. But my experience is that there is v little time for "exploration" in the first year or two for a potential Engineering major. Tulane, eg, has distribtion requirements for 3 courses, each, I believe, in the Humanites, Soc Sciences and Hard Sciences. But Engineering majors don't do those (largely) until Jr/Sr year. This seems to be commons across engineering depts, as the science/engineering load upfront is heavy.</p>
<p>I find this a little disappointing, as I would like to see S explore more early on, if only to confirm that Engineering is "it." But, it is what it is. And, the advice we have heard, universally, is that if one is even considering Engineering (but not sure) it is better to start there and move out, rather than to explore elsewhere and move in. Although this wouldn't be a factor, I guess, if one didn't care about completing the degree in 4 years.</p>
<p>Tulane does have TIDES courses (Tulane Interdisciplinary Education something ) which are very interesting and exploratory, low credit so can be fit in.</p>
<p>Not sure where Tulane would fit re match/reach.</p>
<p>thumper1--thanks for spotlighting Santa Clara as a place for getting an engineering education. I live in Calif (admittedly, Southern California) and have heard of Santa Clara, of course. But I hadn't heard much about their school of engineering. </p>
<p>The schools to which we have often sent our hs students interested in engineering--Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Irvine/Davis (Berkeley has been too tough to get into for our students interested in engineering).
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has a very well-thought of program that deserves consideration. </p>
<p>How is the orchestra at SCU? It was very hard to find any info about it on the school website (the composition of students, how to get into it, etc.). That gave me pause. . .Have you had any contact with the conductor or others?</p>
<p>Re test scores: 50% of kids have SAT verbal scores of 600+; 60% have SAT math scores of 600+. 8% have SAT v scores of 700+; 14% have SAT m scores of 700+ (obviously the effect of the engineering students). Looks like her SAT scores are in a good range for general admission. I would be interested to see the figures broken down for the School of Engineering. . .I would hope one retake of the SAT in the fall could up the math score (just in case the engineering school wants to see higher scores, you just don't know).</p>
<p>Agree with coureur that the English horn/oboe could be a real big plus++ for admissions. Submitting a tape that can be passed along to the music department (even if you aren't considering a music major) could turn out to be a real boost.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If her first two choices are California schools, why are her other choices east coast schools?>></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>Well, CA is her top choice. We looked at a bunch of schools in the southeast as she would prefer warm weather. That is how U of South Carolina got on the list. THEN WE insisted she look at at least a couple of schools closer to home (we live in New England) just in case she changes her mind about going far away...thus Lafayette and Drew. She has been in contact with the music department chairpeople at U of San Diego, and the oboe teacher and music department chair at Santa Clara.She has had very positive feedback regarding playing and lesson options at Santa Clara...and that makes it even more her number one choice.</p>
<p>Look at Lehigh for engineering ond orchestra--they have an arts and engineering program.
Rice, a lottery in admissions, is known for both engineering and music. but not sure if you can do both there.</p>
<p>you might try again with Scripps. Unlke the 5-C's in Amherst which require a bus ride to the different schools, the other Claremont schools are literally across the lawn. Plus, their curriculum is designed such that students take can readily take classes in the other schools (Pomona has several Pomona-preference classes, however). Obvioulsy, Harvey Mudd is a top-tier engineering school. And, the weather don't get any better, anywhere. :)</p>
<p>But, my concern is about checking engineering as an intended major unless that SAT-M score is significantly higher. Having xx chromosomes is a plus for eng, but the relatively low SAT M would give an adcom heartburn for departmental "fit", IMO. One thing that Xiggi oftentimes points out is the logic built into the SAT-M problems. Once a kid sees the logic (or as I call the 'trick'), the problem is relatively easy to solve. But, "seeing" is the issue....which is the same in higher level math, such as Calc, physics and engieering. In the tech schools, Math is one SAT that they actually look for....</p>
<p>We are hoping that when she retakes the SAT in October that her math score of 620 will be closer to 700. That seems like a realistic enough goal if she works. We too are concerned about her SAT scores and how they would look at Lafayette in a particular. She will not be applying to any schools that are the caliber of Harvey Mudd AND I doubt seriously if I could pay her to go back to any of the Claremont McKenna schools. She really didn't like Claremont McKenna (sorry Xiggi)...not the town, not the school, not the location, not the people she met...nothing. We tried tried to get her to just look at the others (just a drive through) and all she wanted to do was leave town. Some of you know how strong these seemingly unreasonable opinions can be.</p>