Case and Northeastern have become unlikely (aka reach schools) in recent years. Look through the threads for those schools this cycle and you will see a lot of very high stats kids who were not accepted.
If your D is recruitable, that will help.
I don’t see a pattern in this school list. What is your D looking for other than a larger size?
If she likes Case, look at Rochester. Similar vibe and more predictable admission.
I’d also add Pitt. They have rolling admission so if she gets her application in early, she may have an early acceptance and it could act as a likely (safety).
Without more information, this is tricky to answer . A lot of what is a safety or target depends on the rigor compared to peers(over a quarter of students in some schools take all honors /AP in 11-12, so to stand out in that situation, the quality of AP can matter a lot), the school’s history of admissions(some schools have almost half go to T20s, some have only the top few kids) , and the class rank(or estimate based on school profile). Emory , Tufts and Georgetown would be targets at our school for a kid in the top 10% taking the hardest courses available, assumingverifying data such as 5s on almost every AP and 75Th%ile scores etc.
I hope you’ll update us on the art schools. My D23 isn’t interested, but I can see my D27 possibly wanting to go that route (it’s a little early to tell) and would love to hear how it goes for your student. My D23 is looking at schools for CS + video game design, so I can relate to needing to make a tough mental adjustment. It took me at least a month to get on board with the idea, a couple months to realize that it’s probably a really good fit for her, and at least six months before I could be honest with people why we were looking at certain schools this past fall. Some people are supportive, but I definitely still get a lot of looks that tell me they’re thinking “You’re really going to let your kid major in that?” Sigh. Yes. Yes, I am.
Yeah, the occasional weird looks toward those of us with kids interested in “niche” (wrong word, but I can’t think of a better one right now) fields is kind of odd. (My D23 is planning on majoring in recording tech.) I feel fortunate to be living in an area where college prestigiosity isn’t a huge part of the parental conversation, but the idea that an unusual college major can lead to anything other than a wasted life, yeah, I hear that sometimes, and I don’t get it.
Difficult to advise as these colleges are all so different. Boston University or Boston College would seem to fit into your list very nicely. The former is a safety, the latter target with a cool honors program, very typical backup to Georgetown.GEorge Washington and American are also typical backups for Georgetown. Wesleyan fits in with some of the schools on your list - prob target for a tippy top student. NYU is typical target backup to Columbia as is Barnard for women. Colgate and Hamilton are typical backups for kids focused on Dartmouth or Cornell though both are targets at best.
I “let” my D major in theater, and after graduating in May she has an amazing full time job in the industry, with a fabulous NYC level salary for a remote/currently living in Ohio job, incredible advancement opportunities (co-writing a sequel to a popular play, directing). I don’t think theater majors are unusual but definitely fall into the eyebrow raising category.
I will! It is a lonely path. Her guidance counselor hates us (seriously) because DD decided against joining NHS (not enjoyable to her and she is not political or status-oriented) and is not going to take the SAT/ACT. (She took PSAT and can always opt into the system at a later date, if she chooses.) She is an AP 4.65 student, and for those who believe in following a certain script, opting out of the conventional path is taboo. I’ve been an alum interviewer for 2 decades, and I know first-hand that test optional really means test optional.
To be fair, we live in a state where there aren’t many examples of lucrative creative careers. HS staff think art degree = $300,000 expense to become an elementary school teacher. While I didn’t have the luxury of attending art school, I still entered a creative career path and worked my way up to becoming a creative director. I was paid very, very well. (Too well, I sometimes thought, given how much I enjoyed it!) This is a perspective that many HS counselors simply don’t have the context or experience to consider.
After I posted that I wondered about theater parents getting the same kind of looks! It’s nice to hear that letting your kid follow their passion can lead to success. Thanks for mentioning your D’s story.
This is a meaningless conversation and suggestions are not likely going to be useful unless you know your budget. The schools you have listed are pretty hard to get into for standard strong kids with parents in the doughnut hole. Highly selective D3 LACs might be her best bet, especially ones in urban settings that have arrangements with other larger schools to take classes. Once again, this is not going to be a fruitful search unless you know your budget.
Thanks. She’s looking for strong pre-med, large “ish” school, must have a true campus (so NYU, BU, and GWU are out) with some green, diverse and international student population. Not sure if wants more urban or not so checking both out. We’ve got legacy at some of those schools so think also interested in checking out schools where we or relatives have gone. That’s the thinking so far. Will look at Rochester and Pitt, thanks.
@1dadinNC - thanks but not sure what you mean? If by budget you mean the cost of these schools - they all cost about the same and I’m aware of the cost. Also not sure what you meant by doughnut hole. Agree with suggestion to look at LACs that have arrangements with larger schools. Will look into that.
First weekday of spring break here, and I’m working from home and heard the piano playing in the 8:00a hour.
It turns out that D23 has decided that spring break is the perfect opportunity to dive into Ableton (one of the standard expensive professional-level digital recording programs, but they make it quite affordable for K–17 students, so as to hook them in early) and lay down some tracks to mix together for the portfolio submissions she’ll need come application season.
That she started working on this doesn’t necessarily surprise me, but the fact that she’s motivated enough about it to wake up and start working on it before the clock turned to double digits? Yeah, that surprised me (and annoyed her younger sibling who got woken up by the noise, but that’s a whole other story).
@hoya91 Sorry about your basketball team! Have her think about what she would want to major in. Get in touch with the “Health Professions” advisor at the different schools and ask about placement rates relationships with specific medical schools, direct entry programs…
Visit a few different types of schools even if it’s not on her list. The area flagship state schools will be an easy safety (Pitt, UMD and Rutgers). University of Rochester as mentioned by a previous poster might be a good fit (open curriculum). You could also check out Amherst, you get the LAC vibe but they are part of a consortium of 5 colleges including UMASS and you can take classes at any of the schools.
WashU is about 8000 UG, 1800-2000 first years. Reach school. Pre-med program is top notch, but appears to be very brutal. I read somewhere they have 1000 1st years taking general chem. But every year they send about 400 applications to US MD schools, meaning kids who have their pre-med reqs, ECs, MCAT, and about to graduate. 60% attrition rate? Ymmv.
It is Div III sports, so your D can see if she can get recruited.
I don’t know the track timeline, but you can figure that out.
My D didn’t like the school. Too big for her, so scratch off the list. But very popular at her high school. Good luck!
@hoya91 Have you considered Johns Hopkins, Duke, or Yale? We’ve gone on visits to each of these and have a kid at one. Seemed to have a lot of pre-med emphasis at each, but these are perhaps too similar to those already on your list.
@JaimeMomof3 Our DC23 also decided against NHS. I don’t have an opinion one way or another. (Anyone care to share the advantages?) Other than having a great induction ceremony, there wasn’t much benefit to my older DC that I could see. But I’m not knocking it for anyone, at all. I was in it in HS and made sense at the time to me. I think our current student just has other clubs/ECs that they’re passionate about and there’s only so much time.
DC23 took SAT recently but thought it didn’t go well. I told them not to worry too much about it and move on to next thing. They have a Science competition coming up in April and then AP exams - plenty to focus on. We’ll schedule a retake June or August/September.
We have all of our spring break tours booked. Glad they’re all in-person. Not many info sessions however. We will also be hitting a concert at one school. Lots of traveling but hoping it’ll be productive and fun.
If your daughter is spatially and visually oriented, she may want to consider Hamilton. The school’s legacy of having been two colleges manifests in diverse architectural aspects and associated amenities, such as especially varied dining and living options. By acreage, Hamilton resides on a campus well over 10 times the size of that of an urban school such as, say, Columbia. Nonetheless, Hamilton’s greatest appeal will be to students who are decisive in their preference for a purely undergraduate focused small college.