Those are worth considering of course but I think the list is already good and lots of students don’t want an all womens college or to be in New York City. They have a good and balanced list I think.
There is the Academic Common Market, but it only works if the school one is interested in offers a major not offered by a public school in one’s own state…and if the student doesn’t change majors later on. Also, some of the more popular colleges are now limiting the ACM rate to juniors and seniors (i.e. students who are more likely to remain in the major).
We live in MD which is part of the Academic Common Market. No good for us unfortunately b/c none of my kids were interested in going to a southern school, plus none of the majors they were remotely interested in would have qualified anyway. I do know at least one of my kids’ classmates who took advantage of the program at Univ of South Carolina, but he graduated a couple of years ago. I forget the major but it was something to do with real estate I think.
My friend’s daughter went there and worked hard to get in. She didn’t have legacy or connections. Upon arrival, she was surprised to learn how many so-so students were allowed in due to wealth, legacy, or other connections.
My other friend’s child was accepted and the school didn’t give enough money so that was sad.
Some professors sounded excellent, and the events on campus are/were fun and interesting.
I’ve been on the campus many times and live in the DC area. There is no shortage of things to do for students, and the location by the river is great.
The area is walkable to gardens, river, bars, restaurants, etc.
The campus seems squished up to me, though. We drove around the neighborhood during the pandemic out of boredom and visited the houses of past famous people like Julia Child and the Kennedys. Jeff Bezos lives nearby, too.
One house we saw has an orangerie—only $11M in case you’re interested.
Anyway, we drove on campus, and I was surprised at how congested it felt even though it was empty and in the middle of a pandemic. Maybe it’s a whole different story if you’re walking around the campus.
The Exorcist stairs are always fun to see if you end up visiting. 
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The first paragraph is true for every selective school. Athletes and donor kids are always a significant part of the class.
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She wants to study biology and eventually go into forensics.
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She has no interest in LACs. Too small!
Great list - she should have an excellent chance to get into the schools on her list that are great for that field.
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Western Carolina has a really cool undergraduate forensics program along with a ACS accredited Chemistry program. COA is <$20K. Very underrated school. Just throwing it out there.
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Wow, Western Carolina’s cost of attendance, even for out of state students is really low!
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Thank you for the information. My spouse will now love to visit the stairs that you mentioned. And if we hit the lottery, we’ll consider homes in that area! 
Sounds like an amazing place based on your descriptions.
Good luck on the ACT tomorrow for whoever may be taking it. Our kid is taking it and also decided to retake the SAT in August. Scores for the June SAT we’re good (at least I think so), but DC wants another go. We’re supportive of their decision.
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St. Andrews in Scotland was beautiful. I buried in April. It’s on the CommonApp and they are very familiar with American Students.
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Hey everyone! Love reading all the updates.
My son is in Mexico for the whole month of July (wanted to sharpen his fluency and is doing gymnastics training-all in Spanish which is cool.) My husband has family there, so he is staying with a cousin who speaks limited English.
He finished the year strong with a 98% overall GPA, so able to keep his 4.0 (they don’t weight grades at his school.)
He took all advanced classes but only took one AP this year (Psychology) and earned a 5 so he was very happy.
He took the SAT in June to try to bump up his December score but went down a little in both Math & Reading, so going to keep the 1450 and hope for the best.
Before school ended he asked 3 teachers if they would mind writing recommendation letters for him and they were very kind and said they’d be happy to do so, so he’s good on that.
He’s planning to begin the common ap on or around August 1st but hasn’t worked much on his essay. He’s taking an essay class on August 10th so hopefully that will help to get him focused. He’s a pretty good writer so should be fine.
He’s hoping to be done with the application process by early September so he can focus on enjoying his senior year, although it will be challenging with AP Stats, AP Calc, AP American History, AP Bio & 2 SUPA (Syracuse University) classes-academic writing and presentational speaking. He does love a challenge, though.
He is close to finalizing his list as follows (plans to study psychology with minor or double major in Spanish):
Will Apply:
University of Buffalo
SUNY Buffalo State College
UMASS Boston
LeMoyne (Syracuse)
St. John Fisher (Rochester)
Rollins
Northeastern
Emory Atlanta
Case Western
Fordham*
Maybe:
Macaulay Honors (Hunter or City College)*
Pitt (visit planned for August)
Nova Southwestern*
Florida International*
Northwestern*
University Illinois Chicago*
*have not visited these colleges, not sure if we can before applying
There may be a few last minute ones he adds but I think this is pretty much it. Seems to have a good mix of safety, target & reaches and a few that are already in our target budget zone. His favorites are Northeastern & Rollins but he told me he’d be happy at any on the main list (and final cost will be a big factor since he wants to keep undergrad as low as possible with his end goal to pursue a PhD in clinical psych.)
So that’s my update, looking forward to seeing final college lists and checking in as decisions come in! A very exciting time! Hope you are all enjoying your summer! My daughter attends school at Loyola in New Orleans and is there the whole summer and my son is away all of July so we are reluctantly practicing the empty nest thing-I’m not doing so well! I miss them both!
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Love Rollins priority app!
Your kids sound pretty cool!
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My kid is likely applying to LoyNO, which I can’t remember if I’d brought up before - please let me know all the goods and bads! (And apologies if I already asked this. My memory is shot, and I can’t even blame Alzheimer’s.)
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My s23 will be applying to loyno as well!
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Who-hoo, road trip in the making 
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We are upper midwest which requires a plane. Not sure when to fit in a visit.
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We are PA, but we don’t mind long drives. A road trip was on the cards for this summer, but a spate of family illness is making that look unlikely.
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I wish my kid was applying to Loyno, I think the program there would fit her desires nicely, but she wants (needs may actually not be pushing it too hard) a bigger school.
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