@GoldPenn Yes. Allll the time, I worry about the same for mine. This is such a stressful process. For mine, there are 3 “likelies” , and I have to keep reminding myself she will bloom where she is planted, even if it is not one of her favorites.
Honestly that list is insane. Our s19 had grades and scores like that and was NMF too. He did get into W&M OOS and he maybe would have gotten into NU ED bc he’s a double legacy but I bet the rest would have been a no. Did this student have reasons to believe she’d get into these schools? Does her high school send multiple kids to these schools and did she match those kids in grades and ECs? One needs to know their real chances, needs to find out their acceptance situation from their high school.
You should read the thread that’s going on with the ex Stanford rep. You’ll understand better what it takes to get into schools like those. Grades and scores are just the first barrier to entry.
Just wanted to say that I hate doing the CSS Profile.
That is all.
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@GoldPenn we know of a boy who had similar results a few years ago. He was valedictorian, NMS, 1600 SAT, involved in theatre … rejected at the 6 ivies to which he applied, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Tufts, and several more I can’t recall. He ended up at UMichigan but has never gotten over the bitterness, and neither have his parents. They were convinced that he would be sifting through his acceptances in the end. He never worked in high school, nor did he play any high school sports. Not sure what his ECs were, but it goes to show that stats are important at this level but by no means a guarantee.
I know D has enough safeties and matches on her list that she will have some great choices if her ED doesn’t work out - but I know her disappointment will be fierce.
@homerdog I agree the list is insane. For the record, I tried to tell her mom. I think the parents were out-of-touch with how things are today and the college counselor was inexperienced. This was all driven by the student. Sad all around.
@Solstice155 I find it really hard to define a safety. For a student with a high GPA, good ECs etc, what qualifies as a safety?
For what it’s worth, this is D21s list:
EARLY DECISION
Middlebury
EARLY ACTION MATCHES & SAFETIES
Rhodes
Wheaton (MA)
REGULAR DECISION: MATCHES & SAFETIES
Mt. Holyoke
Smith
Bryn Mawr
Dickinson
REGULAR DECISION: REACHES
Grinnell (legacy/they love our school)
Hamilton
Vassar
Williams
Wellesley
Amherst
@GoldPenn Yes, I share that fear. This is why D21 applied to a lot of schools - she has unique ECs at which she is at the top or near the top of her game, she has tons of rigor and dual credit and APs, a job, volunteer work, awards, etc - but she is homeschooled (with courses through outside providers and not Mom). That always makes things unpredictable. She had some AP scores to share but they were mostly 4s and not mostly 5s. She did not submit a SAT score that starts with 15. And she has a LOT of reaches on her list…but she also has a fair number of what should be matches and a couple of safeties too. Still, I keep worrying she will be rejected from all her reaches and yield protected from everywhere else (though hopefully the fact that she did not submit a 1500+ SAT score will keep her from being yield protected anywhere).
I will be SO RELIEVED when mid December rolls around and she gets what I hope will be an acceptance from one of the schools in her list that admits 80+% of their applicants. She really likes that school, so if she gets in that will alleviate some stress.
@GoldPenn looks like a well rounded list. I guess she really wants Middlebury. We did no add any ED because Merit and FA will have to be part of our deciding factor in all of S21 school options.
Most people do not realize that top schools are reaches for everyone. We have had to have the conversation with family members who insist son should have applied to more reaches.
@JanieWalker Your situation is so similar to ours. People questioned why S21 applied to so many. He has 4-5 reaches, 5 matches and 6 safeties on his list. Has she checked the portals for all of the schools? We are very relieved that he has gotten decisions from 5 safeties so far. Only 2 have sent letters so far.
Congrats on your son’s acceptances!!
D21 checks portals a couple of times each week for all the schools (though two don’t have updated portals yet and she submitted her applications in mid-August!). Nearly all the decisions for D21’s colleges don’t come out until mid to late March. Two come out mid-December and one comes out “sometime before February.” She has two true safeties, five matches, three low reaches/high matches, and the rest are reaches/lottos. It’s a situation where she could end up “just” being accepted to a safety or she could get accepted to multiple matches and maybe a reach. Who knows. I know she feels as long as she gets accepted to at least three colleges (any three from her list) then she’ll feel like all her hard work paid off because she will have a nice choice. And she most definitely has favorites in that list that she would jump up and down and be thrilled and so very excited to attend. But as long as she gets at least three acceptances, she’ll be satisfied with this process (assuming she does not get into her ED schools). Fingers crossed.
My son’s list is mostly safeties and match or two. He’s not enamored with brand names. I should also add that he would prefer to be a big fish in a little pond, so that’s helpful in this process.
@GoldPenn safeties can be hard for a high stat student or fairly easy if they are cool with some big state schools. Our kids could have applied to any number of public flagships that would have definitely been safe but they didn’t want that. S19’s safety was Dickinson which I think has an acceptance rate around 40 percent. Some would say that wasn’t safe enough. Plus we never visited so I don’t even know how realistic it was that he even liked it or would go there. His next safer schools were Grinnell and Kenyon which aren’t really safeties in general but our GC said they were for him. They like kids from our school. One thing for sure is that, just because a student is above the 75th percentile in scores etc, they aren’t a shoo in at places with less than a 50 percent acceptance rate. Plus there can be some yield protection at some schools if you’re not careful and don’t show enough interest.
D21 is not that high stat kid that her brother is but she still isn’t using a state flagship as a safety. Her safeties are Denver and Denison. Here on CC, I would get push back on that too but our Naviance and our GC are sure it’s ok. She thinks LMU and SCU are safe too but I’m not as sure about them as she is.
I think your D’s list looks good. She’s got some EA safeties that will give answers soon. If there’s some big surprise then you’ve got a few weeks before RD deadlines to find another school that will be a definite yes to apply to. And that’s only if she doesn’t get into Middlebury!
That’s great and it’s nice to not have a stressful process. But many kids apply to “brand names” schools because they fit and not because they are “enamored” with the name.
@GoldPenn I made a bit of a mistake with my D18 by considering UNC and UVA matches for her based on her 35ACT, 4.0UW; 4.5 W. Great EC 10 AP’s etc.
Her list was Brown, Princeton and Vandy Reaches
UNC, and UVA Mistaken matches
Clemson and Udel safeties
Rejected at Brown Princeton, UNC and UVA wait listed at Vandy
Accepted to Clemson and UDel.
It all worked out fine as she has loved Clemson and has thrived there, but we certainly learned as noted about that just having those stats and ECs don’t guarantee anything as there are thousands of kids who have similar numbers.
Just out of curiosity, did you have any high school history to analyze? I would think you’d be able to see that UVA and UNC were tough admits for high stats that way. No one here really even tries for those anymore unless they are a legacy. Our kids just don’t get in.
S21s is already admitted to UT and TAMU, his #1 choice at the moment is UT. He doesn’t have any other matches or safeties because he couldn’t think of any other school in that category that he would choose over UT.
He knows there is a possibility he will be rejected from every other school he is applying to, but he doesn’t seem stressed about it.
@homerdog from naviance there are a a few kids a year from our our school that get into UNC and UVA. Not a lot mind you but a couple. However, don’t know if they were legacy or athletes I am sure that some probably were. We personally knew a kid who went to our HS and took piano lessons from the same teacher as my daughter who attended UNC with no hooks.
My kid is one who is slightly enamored with names. He has too many reaches on his list for my liking (MIT, Duke, Georgia Tech) and then a number of schools that he and his counselor think are targets. I’m not convinced that they aren’t also reaches, especially this year. I read too many threads last spring with students feeling blindsided by schools they were sure would accept them. S21 is trying to find a few safeties with the right “fit” but it feels hard to find that with engineering.
Like @eb23282, my son’s list is all safeties (already has acceptances to all) with one reach (knows it’s a huge long shot and won’t be upset if not accepted) and one low match (this is where he really wants to go and is waiting to hear from).
He’s also the big fish in a small pond type and didn’t show any interest in applying OOS or to any private/LAC’s.
It definitely made the process relatively simple.
My D21 is applying to 10 schools total with 2 super reaches and the rest match or safeties. She applied ED to the one local super reach and also early rolling to three other schools. She was paranoid that no one would accept her so the early rolling admissions were definite confidence boosters even though two of them probably won’t be considered when final decision time comes. She did apply to one area art school (Uarts) that gave her the Presidential Scholar Award that was a great surprise. Getting that decision so early has completely taken the pressure off of her knowing that she has a place next year at a school where she will have no debt when she graduates.
This is all so helpful, to have you all as a support group of sorts! D21 also does not like big schools, is not even applying to our flagship. Her schools are all small-medium. Finding safeties was hard–she had plenty of reaches on the original list, too many!
Naviance and the college counseling office helped find the likelies:
She was given a list of 20 or more based on the matches and reaches she liked and then the plan was go and visit some–but Covid. So she did all the research online and quickly got down to a smaller group including Santa Clara, Fordham, Dickinson, Rhodes, Colorado College, Denison, Reed, and more…I am forgetting some. Then she did virtual visits and interviews if available has since pared further .
She was also given a few more high matches to look at, that she had never heard of(but I had), and ended up loving one so it is in her top group! Hasn’t seen it yet, so that is hard.
I don’t know your student’s stats…but some medium size (guessing, based on the 3 you listed) engineering schools that may be matches to highly likelies to check out: Clemson, Dayton, SLU, Colorado School of Mines, WPI, Drexel, Marquette.
Posters could probably give some more suggestions, if you share some more details about stats and preferences (size, location, etc.).