@2plustrio Thank you! Besides looking at schools that have pre-PA tracks/direct entry PA/schools that give preference to their own undergrads when applying for PA programs, she is wanting smaller schools (probably 2-10K undergrad - but isn’t opposed to up to 20K if they have a good path to the program she would want). She would enjoy a school with some fun sports and activities that go along with that (potentially a dance team - she didn’t think she wanted to dance in college, but has since changed her mind and wants to keep that as an option, but she isn’t seeking out schools because of their dance teams). She’s thinking she wants to be close to a big enough city to have medical-related opportunities (shadowing/clinicals/rotations or volunteering if there’s time) for down the road. She liked the feel of Pitt, which will probably be at the top of the student population numbers for her. We’d personally like her to be within an 8 or so hour drive from home, but it’s not totally a requirement. We plan to probably look at some Boston schools this summer, which would not be within that range. That’s such a great area too - we visited various schools with our S20. We’ve looked into schools that have a huge focus on the medical piece and are smaller, but she’s realized she wants something that has a well-rounded “typical” student experience. There are also some good schools that have the programs she wants, but is pretty narrow in the types of majors/programs they provide. It would be smart to be somewhere that has a good variety of majors in case she changes her path. There are accelerated programs out there (3+2), but she’s thinking she wants a normal 4 year program, then 2-3 years of PA school. At least that’s how it all stands now! 
@ljasnau Good luck with the visits! Yes, I have definitely learned (really in the past 6 months) that life can change. All we really want is for our kids to be happy and content in what they are doing. My DS20 is still in the field he always saw himself in, but he’s now going about it a different way. Ha! And actually making a great income that’s more substantial than some with degrees already in a job that is getting his foot in the door. Plus, the college piece will always be there down the road if he changes his mind and wants to go for the degree. I’m sure there have been people in disbelief that we are not making him stay at a great school and get the degree. But, in the end, you know your own kid. That’s great that your older DD is thriving and loving it! That’s so important!
I learned in 2017 about the University marketing scam. It seems when you achieve a ACT/SAT high score you get bombarded with elite/sub elite pamphlets from many schools. What parent does not want to pay the $50 for an application to an elite school? However, this is not real interest for your child. It is about getting a lot of applications to their University. Then when they accept their 1500 students out of a larger amount of apps, their exclusivity goes up. (their accepted rate is a smaller percentage) The extra $ doesn’t hurt them either.
My current 16 year old D has a 36 ACT. She has a 5% chance in actually getting accepted to an elite school. She would have to apply to 20 elite schools to get accepted by one. (all other factors held equal)
Of course that would be 20 app fees to those reach schools alone.
When you see the “I applied to 50 schools and got accepted to all 50” for a total of X million $, every year, it is generally a low income student who paid zero $ fees and had a common app go to those 50.
It does happen. I would have to pay for those fifty.
We will apply to the standard NM scholar schools of UCF/UA.
Because those schools are a Full cost of attendance for her,
I told my daughter we would take a shot at those prestigious Merit scholarships (Stamps etc.) from a handful of schools like Duke, VA, UNC, NC Maryland, Miami.
This is the same strategy we used for my high state S2017.
He is thriving at 5th year Engineering UF.
This is a “thought trap” that many people might get caught in. So this is not necessarily addressed to you.
Let’s take an outstanding, top-scoring student with scores identical to 5,000 other top-scoring students. After considering various other factors in the overall application “package”, they might rank somewhere in position 2,500 among a total of 25,000 applicants.
Such a student’s probability to be one of the 1,200 - 1,400 acceptances will not improve by applying to 7 additional Ivy’s beyond the first.
I’m simplifying intentionally, just hoping to “visualize” why the average Ivy admission rate, times number of Ivy’s applied to, does not “recalculate” a new personal probability.
Instead, for very few applicants that truly tick all the boxes, their probability is high double-digits, and they’ll see multiple acceptances, while for 80% of the applicants the probability is 0 - and won’t change even if applying to every Ivy
Yep… basic statistics. You beat me to it.
My s23 has yet to get college mailers that we havent signed up for.
If you don’t want the college mailers, tell your child to not check the box allowing college board to share test results when they take their standardized tests. D20 did that, she still got a bit of mail but not nearly the same amount as her friends who just followed the proctor’s “Check the box!” instruction. The mail she received was from colleges she visited and colleges whose websites she checked out.
D23 also made sure not to agree to have college board share her results when she took the test yesterday. She already has a fairly firm list of schools, all of them test optional and doesn’t want/need mailers.
ETA: I didn’t mean my response to be directed @2plustrio , it was supposed to be a general comment. Apologies!
Yes paths can change in big ways and our kids can be SO different. My D19 is super artsy and musically inclined, average student and average ACT. While my son is a talented percussion player, he’s more organized and academically focused with strong stats. But I know they will both do amazing things as they pursue their passions and interests. My son was planning to take the PA direct entry path and actually did a lot of research in his sophomore year, even setting up meetings with department heads. He has since switched to psychology (with end goal of PhD in clinical psych.) Here are a few links he found helpful, although guessing you may already have these. His top schools for PA were Daemen & D’Youville in Buffalo. Also liked Seton Hill & St. Francis but wanted more of a city feel. RIT and LeMoyne were contenders too. It’s definitely better to do the direct entry if she is pretty clear on her goal of being a PA. Lots of perks to that! My advice would be to apply in August. Many of those programs are rolling admission so the early bird gets the worm! Good luck!
https://www.physicianassistantforum.com/topic/56228-application-cycle-of-2020-2021/page/3/#comments
Although I wouldn’t disagree, statistics at the end of the day are just that, statistics. But technically, the odds of her being accepted to 20 applied schools (waitlisted aside) are 20 to 20. She has twenty chances of being accepted and 20 of being rejected.
But odds aside, wouldn’t one rather have 50 opportunities for free?
My son is going to an open house at Case Western Reserve tomorrow in Cleveland. I honestly don’t know how he’ll feel about the school, could go either way. He likes it “on paper” but isn’t sure he’ll like the vibe once on campus. He could love it, or decide it’s too much of a STEM school for a humanities major. Should be interesting. He does want to be in or near a city and wants a school known for rigor that has good research opportunities and study abroad options, so it does check those boxes. I’ll report back after the open house.
(I know it wasnt directed at me) My son doesn’t follow directions so he may not have checked that box on the ACT. He scored well but his GPA and our pocketbook isn’t going to get him far.
Currently he is busy with doing 2 sports plus his choirs and voice lessons. He worked 2 jobs in winter but now has 0 jobs. Hoping he gets one this summer. He’s expensive!
I brought down the current “list.” He hasn’t said college names yet, just things he may or may not want in a college. And I know the Tuition Exchange and FACHEX awards along with possible merit better than he does.
I keep posting the lists as I develop them in case it helps anyone else someday.
(He is a possible music major. Wants a fun school with activities.)
The geographic breakdown.
West Coast
University of Redlands
University of Puget Sound
University of the Pacific
Northern Arizona U
U of Arizona
Gonzaga
South
Loyola New Orleans
Shenandoah
Stetson
University of North Florida
University of Louisiana-Lafayette
Jacksonville University
Eastern
Syracuse
Salve Regina
Ithaca College
Midwest
Baldwin Wallace
University of Cincinnati
Lawrence
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Gustavus Adolphus
College of Wooster
University of St. Thomas
DePaul
Xavier
We wanted to go to Case Western’s open house tomorrow, but just couldn’t make the trip work between ECs and Holidays. Looking forward to your report.
CS/Math twin just let me see his “College Megasheet”. The catagories had me laughing, so I thought I would share those, I think the actually schools are still evolving.
MIT because there is only ONE MIT
Too Prestigous?
Can Convince Myself I have a chance
Various Levels of Hell, but look at those CS Programs(will only apply to 1 or 2 of these)
Matchmaker matchmaker make me a match
Safety
Panic Reaches(doesn’t get into Harvard and has time)
If NAU stays on your list, apply early. They have rolling admissions and he will hear back within a week. The application is $25 and takes 5 min to fill out (no essays). It is a great morale boost to know you are in somewhere before applying to the other schools.
Hello all – it’s been a while!
S23 has toured NJIT, RIT, Temple, and next week tours Stony Brook and we’ll self-tour at CUNY-CCNY. Upcoming tours include Buffalo and Dalhousie.
D17 and D20 both went/go to Temple, so he’s been there a lot. He keeps saying he’d like to do his own thing, but then says Temple’s campus has set a specific idea of what college looks like in his mind and Temple is somewhat unique – large, urban school built into the city grid but still a pretty solidly defined campus.
He liked NJIT, it’s sort of a Temple Jr in scale and urban setting. RIT was too suburban (and the merit is sub-standard compared to some peer schools, sadly). I think CCNY can be a contender if he gets Macaulay honors. I think he’ll love Dalhousie (he’s been to Halifax before and loved the city). Stony Brook and Buffalo – we’ll see – perhaps too suburban like RIT, but he’ll apply to those because they are in-state for us and should be safeties (top 2% of class in a competitive district, 35 ACT).
Any other suggestions of similar schools are welcome, this summer will hopefully include several road trips! Bonus for options with great merit and solid honors programs!
He’s turned down my offers to look at Pitt and CWRU a couple of times. But he keeps asking to visit TU Delft in the Netherlands
Hi @dreambig55 , thanks for the reminder that not all paths are straight and meet the expectations! Anyway, my son goes to Elon university and I see here and there that they have a PA program but I don’t know anything about it! It’s a medium sized school at 6000 enrollment. Their dance team also just won a national championship. Raleigh Durham is an hour away with top class hospitals. My son is super happy at Elon and I would call it a “typical fun student activities and well rounded student experience” school in a small town with bigger towns/cities within range.
Update us. It is a very STEM-driven school and does have its own unique vibe.
Hopefully, my D gets three “continuing the recruiting process”
from her 3 top schools in April. This is a parent’s hope that
we can be done by July. Better buy a lotto ticket. Feelin’ lucky!
As my sons GC at school is mostly useless with college app information, I love that the senior class each year has a social media page where kids share where they are headed and what they plan on doing. The school includes military, tech schools, community college, and joining the workforce.
It doesnt give me any true data on application acceptance/rejections but I have a guess of what some of the gpas and ECs on the kids are but no specifics.
Most kids from our school go to instate publics. We have several headed to U of Iowa or Iowa State next year. U of Minn-Twin Cities is also popular. Some of the more “random outliers” this year with 1 kid each: ASU, Butler, CU-Boulder, Michigan Tech, USCal, Georgia Tech, WVU, U of Utah, NAU, Cal State Sac, U of the Pacific, Temple, Ole Miss. Our school is not known to send any kids to T20s. Our top student last year chose WashU.
We really enjoyed our jam-packed day at Case Western. Beautiful campus, very welcoming staff and students, informative sessions. The rigor was intense but with a positive vibe if that makes sense. My son really liked it. He was reassured that it’s not just STEM-centered, they seem to embrace/offer resources to all disciplines and even encourage diversity in double majors (engineering and theatre was actually a common combo!) He plans to study psychology & loved an informal session with a Cognitive Science professor. We all agreed that Case Western would be an absolute dream for anyone studying in the medical field with such close proximity to reputable, top notch hospitals. Literally right next door! Very impressed with the school and definitely checks lots of boxes for my son. He didn’t say “wow, this is the one!” but definitely thinks it would be worth applying and trying for a scholarship. He just found out he qualifies to apply as a National Hispanic Merit Scholar (as per his PSAT score) and they actually highlighted that diversity was important to them in the admissions process and they even give extra scholarships for National merit awards like this one. Overall, a thumbs up for the school & open house. Glad we did the full day rather than just an info session & tour.