I think if he doesnt get into his ED that is a good plan, pick 2 or 3 safeties and then go for it. He has a single high achieving activity that for some schools may be more helpful than others, adding that in also is difficult to determine.
Yield protection also throws a wrench in this. He should be fully qualified for schools like Northeastern and BU but may not get in because of yield. So complicated.
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My '23 niece is a good example of what weâre facing. She had a 1570 SAT, multiple sport varsity athlete, and great grades.
She was waitlisted at Brown, Columbia, USC, Georgetown. She was accepted at Michigan and Amherst. Sheâs a legacy at Amherst so she may have been waitlisted there if her father wasnt a decent size donor.
She was rejected at BU (yield protect) which she thought was hilarious.
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With schools like Northeastern and BU there seems to have been a movement towards ED/ED2. At our HS (suburban MA) anywhere from 10-20 kids go to Northeastern every year - most through ED; the same goes for BU. Looking at SCOIR kids who got in ED often have lower stats than some of the kids rejected in RD. S24 isnât looking at either although, on paper, he would be a match. I think the current landscape has made finding real matches difficult. I donât think the reaches are truly any reachier - most kids werenât getting in before TO (including ultra high stats kids).
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I hear you. I am planning to do the same thing. Highly selective school usually does not take demonstrated interests into consideration. I think visiting target schools is a better strategy.
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I like the description some people have used on CC of the different âlevelsâ of schools for particular students. I probably donât have these percentages exactly right, but itâs something like:
Safety means 90% plus chance of getting in, and 100% chance you can afford it
Target means 70% plus chance of getting in (and you can afford it)
Match means 30% to 70% chance of getting in, or may be higher chance of getting in but you would need a particular level of merit that is less certain to afford it
Reach is anything with under a 30% chance of getting in, or that would take a competitive scholarship for you to afford it
When you really look at those numbers, that means that even with a âmatchâ school, you would expect to be rejected 50% of the time! And a âtargetâ school you would not get into 1/3 times.
For my older S23 a lot of the data I could find online indicated that some schools (BU, BC, Northeastern) were targets or matches for his stats. But looking more closely at very recent information, and his exact profile, I think those exaggerated his chances. I do think I could call BU and Northeastern âmatchesâ for him, if I recognize that he only has a 1/3 chance of getting in. I think that is probably accurate!
I think if you think about the percentages of likelihood of getting in, then, it makes sense to apply to
- 1-2 safeties that you would be truly happy attending
- 2-3 targets that you are very likely to get into, and that youâd be happy at and could afford
- 3+ matches if you have the time, money, and interest for them
- As many reaches as you have the time, money, and interest in. But these are the icing on top schools. Like people say âshooting your shot.â
If you apply to 1 safety, 2 targets, 3 matches, and 4 reaches, you might end up with only 3 schools to choose from out of the 10 schools you applied to. But if you have done a good job picking schools from the safety and target category that you would be happy with, at least you have a choice and all the schools you should be happy with.
I guess what I am trying to say, @helpingthekid73 , is that I think your strategy makes sense. Find a few schools that are pretty much guaranteed admission and affordability that your child would be happy at. Then, apply to whatever and however many other schools your child finds attractive and could be affordable to you, without focusing too much on whether they should actually be in the âmatchâ or the âreachâ category. As long as your child understands that all the schools other than the safeties are not guarantees, and have little to do with your childâs intelligence or worth or accomplishments, theyâre just basically a lottery.
Right now we have a list of 13 schools for S24. He is slowly working his way through researching them, so some might come off the list, or if he finds particular features heâs really excited about we could add some more. I really donât want him to apply to more than 8-10, but we will see. Some of the schools that would fit his interests and the way he likes to learn are super-reaches, and I think we are going to totally forgo applying to them, even though I think he would handle the school well and get a lot out of it. But his profile just isnât strong enough to make the effort worth it to apply to schools like MIT or Brown.
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Yes! I listened to those and we actually ended up hiring the consultant they use for my sonâs process! Thank you. Heâs great, btw.
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I would put BU BC Northeastern in the reach category simply due to the low acceptance rates, even though they may be matches for stats. Then Iâd have a separate, âhigh reachâ category.
@helpingthekid73 I have a kid in the same situation, stats >75th percentile for these and they are definitely on the list, at this point. I agree with @Thorsmom66 that, if possible, ED 1 and/or 2 is the way to go with schools at this level. If a high reach is 1st choice, maybe use ED1 on the 1st choice high reach and ED2 on one of these, if thatâs how the kidâs preferences work out. Of course, application strategy and deadlines donât always nicely dovetail with the developmental timeline of a teenagerâs decision-making process.
Accordingly, we have now spent a decent bit of time visiting reaches (including the aforementioned Boston schools) for this purpose, knowing the potential significance of ED at reaches and high reaches for the high stats kid. For us, visiting a school before deciding to apply ED is important (older sibs missed out on visits during covid and did not apply ED anywhere). Schools have come on and gone off the list after some of these visits and our kidâs perspective is still evolving. The preferences of schools on the list are still being shuffled - ideally hoping for clear #1, clear #2, and then all the rest. But, life doesnât always work out that neatly.
Venting: I canât be the only one wondering, what is the point of an EA timeline that provides a result in late Jan/early Feb.
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Yes we have the 21 application situation as our reference point, and that S had mostly BFA acting programs on his list which was a totally different game. I am really not sure how to go about helping this one craft a list. He knows what he likes and what he doesnt but in between is very hard.
I dont think that EA is a help for you but for the school, lets them know who is more interested and there are some schools that fill the whole class in EA. Agree it doesnt really help the kids except that an acceptance does give a little reassurance that it will be OK.
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I think visiting schools you want to ED makes sense and after that going to a couple of schools that could be safety/match.
S24 has not yet started looking at colleges seriously. I would like to ED if he really find a school he loves. Right now his top choice does not have ED (would be a reach). Hope he likes Vandy or Williams and he can decide which he wants to ED1.
I totally agree with not paying private college fee if not really a good fit. I have told s24 this that we would not want to pay 80K+ per year if not a best fit possible.
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He loved Vandy, it was everything that he wanted, except way too far from home for me! Williams is much more comfortable for me but he has to make the decision. I think the only way he gets into either is ED. He is right int he middle of the Vandy profile for our school on SCOIR for ED.
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Hope he loves Williams also so both of you can be comfortable and happy:).
I wish S24 had a fav right now. He has not done enough research yet. He loves both the LA big schools which donât have ED.
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If he is a student who has the transcript and the stats to have the best shot one can at the highly selective schools (ie top rigor possible at his school, near top of class, scores close or above 75th%ile pre-test-optional), then I do suggest visiting all the ones he is serious about. It makes it much easier to write the Why Us essay as well as interview questions related to the same. It also makes it much easier to assess fit. Yes, they may fall in love with reaches and not get in, but that is life. For kids who are truly top-tier, the advice we have gotten here is apply to many âreachesâ and spend a lot of time on the details of the essays, etc, as a way to stand out. D23 has interviewed for 10 schools and they all asked Why X in one way or another, many with follow up questions. She has specific reasons she applied to each and about 50% of her interest came from the visit (and many âreachâ type schools came right off the list after the visit, which helped shape and stretch her list in other directions). Also, while I realize these very-top schools say they do not consider âdemonstrated interestâ, they do care about fit and knowledge of the school. About half the interviewers asked about visiting campus and most of these same schools had boxes to check on the common app on whether you visited or how you had interacted with the school(virtual, etc). They may be honest and it âdoesnât countâ, but most do ask.
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Does anyone knows much about the Poli Sci/International Relation program at University of North Texas?
I have heard they got great music program, and pretty good Biology but could not find much on poli Sci or International Realtion. Only things I found about was about the âPeace Science Societyâ there.
The tuition seems very reasonable so S24 is kind of interested. I have asked him to email the department there, but wonder if anyone has more outside knowledge of their poli sci program.
D24 took the ACT at school this morning as part of state wide testing. She hasnât taken a real one yet but weâve done lots of practice at home and were feeling pretty good about itâŠshe just said the math was harder for her and she didnât get to where she normally does, and the reading had a table on it which totally threw her off and she spent too much time thinking about it and had to guess on the last few and she is normally a perfect scorer on that section so pretty bummed for her about that. But sheâs taking the Saturday one next month so fingers crossed this was a good warm up and she can be done so we donât have to move into the digital testing cycle.
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I think this is when visiting and showing âdemonstrated interestâ can really have an impact.
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Ok, so another dilemma that we are approaching that I donât know the answer to since S21 did not apply anywhere ED. Can you send in any and all applications to other schools before the ED deadline as long as they are also not ED? It seems that some schools have scholarship deadlines before ED is released and some EA schools will only consider you if you apply EA.
For most you can. The ED schools donât restrict where/when else you apply except not more than one school ED. And if you are accepted ED you need to withdraw all your other outstanding applications.
I believe it is a little different for a school that has âREAââeach school with REA has specific rules about what is allowed and what isnât.
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Very confusing! I guess we have to read each schoolâs website. He will be applying for a bunch of music scholarships and for some you need to apply EA. UGH!
You should post your sonâs APs and list of institutions of interest in the UK forum.
UK unis admit on test scores, period. There are no exceptions - well there are, but none that your kid would qualify for - and they donât care whether the high school offers AP classes or not. They also wonât be interested in a first year IB class. The good thing is that they also donât care whether the AP scores you do submit are self studied. And if he can submit a sufficient number of scores in AP subjects related to the subject he wants to study by the time he submits his application, he may get an unconditional offer.
UK unis generally do exactly what they say on the website. No workarounds, but also very little unpredictability, with the exception of schools who want interviews (Oxford and Cambridge).
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Lots of times there are exceptions to the REA restrictions if those other EA applications are required for scholarship consideration. Not a hard and fast rule, though.
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