I really don’t think AOs put any thought into that at all. They try to choose the candidates they think are the best fit, they know what their expected yields are and they go from there.
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At some schools (Chicago, Northeastern, Tufts, CWRU and UMich come to mind, but there are others) - AOs very likely consider this.
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Ugh so sorry! I’m in the same boat and just waiting to hear my official date. I’ve found good resources on the Hysta Sisters website, if you need some community feedback on the procedure and recovery.
Leaving for our Collegepalooza tour tomorrow. Four schools in four days across Illinois and Iowa. These are the first four of seven or eight visits we’ll make in October, with a couple more in December, I think (Minnesota is beautiful in December, I hear).
We rented a minivan so we could travel with my D23’s boyfriend and his parents (close family friends who we have traveled with many times before). In other words, we’re doing this in style. I’m ridiculously excited for it. The seniors… less so.
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Don’t forget to play College Tour Bingo!
Print out some cards at this site; there are lots of others…
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you have just leveled up our collegepalooza and I thank you for it
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This whole conversation got me wondering why the prevailing conventional wisdom is to have a mix of reaches likelies, and safeties. I mean, yeah, I get the appeal of a mix, but why?
(I get safeties—gotta have a place to go to if nothing else pans out. But why reaches and likelies?)
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Indeed, most of those things are mentioned on every tour. Another thing S23 noticed was that most tours said that something on campus is “like Hogwarts.” (building architecture, residence hall vibe, etc.) He complained, “why do they all mention Hogwarts? I don’t want to go to Hogwarts!” So it was funny when he toured Edinburgh which is supposed to be the actual inspiration for Rowling’s books.
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That’s great!! Have fun!
If a student’s safety really is a great fit (affordable, excellent education in their major, student enthusiastic to attend), then no likelies --or even reaches-- are needed. But often kids make a list that involves just reaches and then a single “safety” that isn’t a great fit (lacks a strong program in their areas of interest or barely acceptable to the student.) Thus the idea of making a “balanced” list with some schools that would be a good fit while having better admit odds than the reaches.
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I’ve never spoken to AOs at any of those schools but have had candid conversations with AOs at a number of schools and have been told that its not a thing. I have seen contrary evidence with a number of kids that were accepted to HYPSM+ also getting into all their less selective options.
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My son was invited to the Northeastern Preview Day on 10/8 so quick trip to Boston this weekend. They didn’t post the agenda but sounds like there will be both student and parent sessions running from 9-3pm. We did an info session and tour about a year ago and he loved it and really wanted to explore NU more, so this should be helpful. I’m not convinced a co-op school makes sense for psychology but keeping an open mind.
Out hotel is near Brandeis so we might take a walk or drive around campus. It’s been on his radar, but he’s not sure it’s a good fit and I’m not sure they’d come through with enough merit if he gets in anyway (same with NU.)
We are also stopping in the Albany area on the way back to Buffalo to visit a friend so thinking of driving by the SUNY Albany campus and Siena to see if he has any interest in exploring more. He has 2 local SUNY’s on his list (Buffalo State College and UB) but might be good to have an “away” SUNY on the list as a good financial safety. His list is fine as is (14 schools) but he is open to adding 1-3 more if he feels they have potential. U Rochester is one of the maybes-we plan to visit soon but application isn’t due until December, so he has some time to consider that one.
His goal is to revise his essay this week (he’s a perfectionist, so struggling to wrap this up!) and submit to all common app schools by 10/15.
Good luck to everyone, no matter what stage of the process you are at!
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Love this! I might swap the t-shirt square for, “parent who asks about the party scene/drugs and alcohol use”
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I’ve seen this with several kids: their list is all reaches that are highly selective/rejective small liberal arts colleges - and then they throw in our state university as their safety. Nothing in between. If you want to go to a SLAC, then please apply to SLACs that you have a really strong chance of being accepted at!
I’m more in favor of encouraging kids to apply nearly entirely to schools as you describe “a great fit (affordable, excellent education in their major, student enthusiastic to attend)” and stop thinking about their list as some sort of carnival game (e.g. “shotgunning” apps to all the Ivies because “if they each accept 5% and I apply to 20 of them, then I’ll prob get in to one!”
I think kids and parents hear the words “safeties, targets, reaches” as if they’re different types of lottery tickets with different odds, instead of looking at that above definition of “fit” - and thus have a misplaced understanding about how to approach the college application process in the first place.
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I can speak only to the information posted here on CC about UMich, but I’d agree with you. We had several CC posters this past admissions cycle who were accepted to both UMich and Ivy League schools.
One poster who comes to mind, turned down a Wharton offer to attend UMIch.
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I don’t want to debate (it’s against forum rules) so I’ll wrap up by mentioning that people who’ve gone through the admission process at the schools I listed have observed that they care a lot about whether an applicant will actually enroll or is using them as a safety.
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Go to the school’s admissions page on their website to be absolutely certain; they’ll spell it out under their test section.
Not uncommon these days to see colleges allow self-reporting for the application, and then if the student is accepted (and wants to attend), then they require the official scores to be sent. Alternatively those colleges may accept SAT scores that are recorded on the student’s transcript from the high school, so it can be worth checking to see if your high school lists scores, or will do so on your request.
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Agreed. This is why I preferred the terminology that @AustenNut uses (extremely likely, likely, toss up, less likely etc) with the idea that ALL the schools are decent fits, and only differ in the chance of acceptance. Unfortunately, it’s not the terminology that AOs and the general public use.
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The variables we have used in shaping our process has been fit, fields of study and likelihood. IMHO, fit always comes first…if you can’t imagine yourself being happy at a school, don’t apply has bee one of my guidelines for my kids. There are some very good schools we have struck from the list (where other kids are very happy) because fit with my kids just wasn’t right for a variety of reasons. Reach/Target/Safety is the common vernacular…but it basically a gauge of admission probability. Our approach has been for roughly 40% of the list to be in the Long Shot (Reach), 50% to be in the Quite Possible (Target) and then 10% to be in the Very Likely (Safety)…but recognizing that those likelihoods are not the same for every student profile.
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The Poets and Quants website has some great insights into undergrad B-Schools. This list provides acceptance rates for the past three years, lots of great schools that are in the 50-80% range
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