We REALLY struggled with “”targets” for our high stats student. So we have some where acceptances are total safeties but the merit part and affordability part would make it less of a safety if that makes sense. Example- Villanova would be a target acceptance-wise, but her getting the Tuition Exchange Scholarship to actually make it affordable is a less than 10% chance, so it becomes a reach. We hope we ended up with a list that will give good options.
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I have a friend whose daughter got into Wharton and Cornell but not U Mich
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Oh no, oh no, oh no.
Sent kid and hubs to Cleveland to visit Cleveland State and Case Western.
Y’all can imagine the result.
Sigh. We cannot AFFORD that school.
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Yep, my son loved our visit to CWR! Don’t think my bank account will love it quite as much! Lol. Curious how the visit to Cleveland State was. They’ve been sending my son lots of info, but it would have to really wow us to surpass our great SUNY options.
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Yield-protection is part of the process you describe. They know the class size they need to fill, they know that x% will not attend after having been admitted, and it would be bad if that % was suddenly off by a large degree (in either direction).
So it’s actually part of their job to make an educated guess which students are truly interested, and more likely to attend if offered admission, vs. those who just needed some safeties but will get and accept offers elsewhere.
I realize/accept that this is anecdotal - but I can state that my daughter was indeed NOT offered admission to some safeties, was offered interesting merit aid/honor programs by the “fits” (including some out-of-state publics to bring cost down to in-state), and lucked out with some reaches.
Over the years, I’ve gotten the sense that this not an uncommon (if not outright expected) outcome.
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My kiddo FINALLY has a draft of her common app essay. And it’s GOOD. It took her English teacher requiring them to all bring a draft to class this week to get her going. I think her supplementals are done. Or mostly done. And she’s meeting with her college counselor Monday, I am almost done with CSS (just need the date our LLC started), and I guess once I hit submit then we have to upload docs. She also has to record her ballet pointe variation for her arts supplement. November 1 is coming quickly!
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I’ll give a third-hand trip report when they’re back and I’ve debriefed them both. They’re both still touring the city, so I don’t wanna interrupt their time.
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Hurray for the essay draft! I’m a couple of years behind you with a bun head as well; do you mind telling me what colleges she’s applying to? Is she looking for a BFA? (I know the high level players for ballet: U of OK, Butler, IU, U of UT, SMU, but am putting any other suggestions in my back pocket for future reference.)
@illneversaynever
She is not majoring or minoring in dance. She changed her mind about that around the end f 9th grade when she was diagnosed with a bulging disc in her back. Also, she doesn’t want to be a starving artist. She’s a math whiz who wants to make money 
. So, she is applying to schools who seem to have really good student run dance companies. Her dream is Princeton. They have an excellent student run ballet company and you can get a certificate in dance. They also accept arts supplements in their application. It is a reach for anyone, but her stats are in the very top of their range.
She has a good friend who just started at Point Park. And my daughter did their summer intensive one year. She didn’t love it at the time because she was purely a bun head at the time and pre-pro at PBT, but now she’s at boarding school and has fallen in love with jazz, hip hop and contemporary so her opinion may be different now. I honestly think of a kid wants to be a ballet dancer they should pursue that first outside of college if possible. The ballet training in a second company, as an apprentice or in a post-high school program like the grad program at PBT is going to typically be much better than at a college. Just my opinion.
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I don’t know what is up with this board but my reply to specific people button is gone, as is my edit and like buttons….
I wanted to add that I am happy my kiddo doesn’t want to major in dance as I don’t feel like the financial investment would pay off. My sister-in-law had a long dance career as a professional in a regional ballet company, choreographer, teacher, then went back for a master’s degree never having gone to college- her program gave her credit for her career experience, and now she teaches dance at a University.
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This has been reported by many users.
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@AnonMomof2 Did you see Alabama has a free app week? I think it is now or soon. We received a postcard. I saw your 23 is applying so wanted to make sure you knew application fee could be free!
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I also can’t see reply buttons on posts. I guess there is a bug in the system.
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Alabama free app week is from Oct 17. I also marked the date for my kid.
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Our high school doesn’t rank. Does anyone know how to figure out what percent of the class you fall in (example top 5%, 10%) based on knowing the highest gpa in the class in comparison with my own? Thanks
Talk to the guidance counselor and ask the percentile. I don’t believe there would be any other way for you to figure it out.
Thanks, I have. They will not disclose it. Trying to figure out if I’d get any merit as some colleges offer it to kids who rank in the top percentage. She said the colleges have a way to figure it out for merit- but I just wish I knew.
Isn’t the whole point not to have to tell your classmates on May 1 that you are going to a school they’d look down on? If you go a year later then you don’t have to tell them and sit in class/go to prom/prizegiving etc and have everyone talking about it.
It was very obvious for my older kids that some schools (Stanford, Georgetown) got oohs and aahs from both parents and classmates at senior night, others (even UCLA!) didn’t. As a top 10 student in her class, D really got a lot of negative reactions and sheer disbelief that she went to a lower ranking state school (most didn’t know she got a full ride and went to one of the top ballet colleges in the country and turned down both Berkeley and UCLA).
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Can you get a copy of your “school profile “? That is a document the guidance counselor sends to colleges that breaks down the things like how many APs, the school offers, what the distribution of GPAs typically is, etc. I have seen some schools post that school profile on their webpage. I don’t think it should be some thing secret, but that might be the information that the college uses to gauge where in the class you rank.
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Yes. I have the school profile and it’s shows the highest gpa out of a 5 is a 4.91. But how do I use that to compare mine and how I rank? The profile shows 15% of kids score in the 1400-1600 SAT range of that helps. Thanks for your help.