D goes to a small high school (120 in her class with half of them being professor’s & professional’s children). Because she took bio and algebra in 8th grade, it seemed to throw her off for trying to maximum a rigorous schedule. For example, junior year she could only fit AP Physics with honors classes - no other AP would fit her schedule. This year two AP’s fit along with two classes from Syracuse U but spanish 5 threw her off any other AP chance.
She’s ranked 2 in her class, 1340 SAT (no classes or tutoring around here), captain of three high school teams and her club team, US Lacrosse Academic All American, U of Rochester G. Eastman Young Leaders Award, NHS Treasurer, Spanish Club Secty. Because we are military, all the colleges she applied to are out of state.
Here’s how she is sitting - UVA, UR, Wake Forest, Davidson, wait listed. A service academy coach kept a slot for her until January but she didn’t want to go that route. The one state school she applied to ( respected) she was accepted and both lacrosse and soccer coach are recruiting her. We visited every one of these wait listed schools, but on our own. She was in the middle of basketball season and got her applications in barely on time.
Is she a weak candidate for these schools or did she look disinterested because they don’t have a record of her visiting? and where do we go from here?
First off, I commend your D for being ranked #2 in her class while being a 3 sport high school plus club team athlete. That time commitment must be enormous, and it is no easy feat to maintain high grades with that schedule. (I often think athletes don’t get the respect they deserve on CC). That being said her SAT was low for an OOS UVA applicant, low for Davidson and on the lower side, though still in range for UR and Wake. So her pure stats would make all those schools tough. Wake does like kids who interview - did she set up a skype interview? If not, that could have been a factor. While a lack of interest probably didn’t doom her, it is possible to show interest without an official visit and that is usually easy to do. (ie; meet wth the Rep if he visits your hs stop by the booth at a college fair, get on the school’s mailing list, send an email to your admissions rep)
Where do you go from here? Deposit at the state school, find things to love about the state school, accept the wl offers at the other schools and send them any updates along with a brief statement of why you want to attend the school if offered a wl spot.
Thank you for your insight! My fault, she got accepted to a very expensive private school (I think when I typed “state” I meant it was a college in our state). We are tempted to let her take a gap year if she doesn’t come off a wait list and retake the SAT with a little prep. You’re right about the time commitment. Her drive to excel on a sports field and in academics makes us very proud. She’s not gifted like many here but she works her but off for her grades.
^^ The wl schools are expensive too. You should do a re-visit to the school she was accepted at. Would also advise to make the May 1 deposit so you have an option. Your feelings may change with a bit of time removed from this crazy process. And you know what they say about a bird in the hand.
Is the expensive private school affordable without your taking loans? Can you afford any of her
Curriculum rigor (if it wasn’t properly explained by guidance counselor) and relatively low test scores for the colleges she applied to may have played a role.
An issue is that it looks like all her schools were reaches (defined as being near top 25% for stats but not above, and selectivity below 30%).
You can deposit at the school she got into if it’s affordable and wait till May 5th as each year NACAC publishes a list if college’s that miscalculated yield - there are always surprisingly good colleges on the list.
We found out that a coach from one of her wait listed schools, saw her in a tournament this past weekend. He has talked to admissions and instructed her to call admissions and tell them she has been offered a spot on the team pending her getting off the wait list. I guess now we wait and pray that she gets a spot. She is visiting the school she got into this weekend and we are traveling to visit the other school this week. I appreciate everyone’s input.
Fingers crossed.
^ Great news in post #5. However, if that does not work out, I would have her do the gap year and apply again next year to the WL schools and others that she likes. Also, you mention that there is no SAT tutoring available. She should consider tutoring via Skype which is what many kids do now. Also she should try the ACT again. Did she apply test optional to Wake?
I’ve re-read your post a few times in hopes of funding something positive to say but I keep coming back to that 1340 SAT score AND your excuse that there are “no classes or tutoring around here.” I’m trying to make sense of how a obviously dedicated, involved parent wouldn’t ensure that their child applied to at least 1 reasonable school. The #2 ranking means much less than those test scores IMO. Anyone can “work their butt off” and be they high in their class.
Each of those schools named were reaches for her. Therefore, if she was serious about these reach schools, I think these universities would have liked to see more interest than "visiting on her own"and barely turning in apps on time. If it’s not too late, A good idea may be to send a personal letter that explains the huge discrepancy between her test scores and her class rank. College admissions officers are very adept at identifying inflated grades when such inconsistencies exist. Most importantly, I would avoid making excuses for the child’s performance such as the “no tutoring available” or being strapped for time related to “middle of basketball season” or about being a victim of poor rigor because of a scheduling issue dating back to 8th grade. It may backfire and cause them to question her ability to prioritize and manage her time well. I understand your panic with the WL letters but I hope you don’t put too much hope into a coach that can’t even be bothered to call admissions himself. This is D1 and he is already recruiting for the following year. He has likely already built his roster for next year (especially soccer). But by all means, pull out all the stops and call in favors from people with influence if you can. But PLEASE don’t walk away from all of this without a little humility and perspective that sometimes our kids that do very very well in these small schools may be big fish in small ponds and unprepared for a world (or college) that doesn’t give extra credit points to a select few who are trying desperately to hang on to their identity - I mean class rank.
Maybe it’s me, but this seemed harsh. I need to make no excuses (just explaining how I thought this perfect storm rolled out) for my daughter, who one AP teacher named “the hardest working senior in the class,” (he put her in for recognition) and another, AP Physics, saying the girl is capable of anything (97 on NY regents final, 4 on the AP exam). But it is still a fact, that playing a sport every season plus a club team, has her gone most weekends for games or tournaments and practice every day, Mon - Fri. It’s also a fact when you go to a small school, scheduling for AP is difficult. We were told by her counselor she couldn’t take AP Calc because she was in a Spanish 5 college class. We had a discussion whether to drop Spanish to fit AP Calc. I also didn’t think there was a “huge discrepancy” between her test score and her grades. The girl works her a$$ off. Also, when I mentioned the coach, I said he called admissions for her. When she then called admissions, the person said they were aware of her situation. Anyway, she got off the wait list a few days ago and will be attending her top school.
^ Congrats!! Where is she going?
“Anyone can “work their butt off” and be they high in their class.” ---- and yet they don’t. She has been named Valedictorian. There are some brilliant kids in our NHS (75 total) and yet, in the last month there were two NHS events with three kids volunteering (our daughter is always one). When top kid kept “forgetting” to tutor his child he was assigned, she was transferred to our daughter. She covers for the Pres when they miss multiple meetings. So when I say she works her butt off, I mean in all aspects of her life. Keepitreal888 are you from her school, by chance?
Working hard, being valedictorian, all of those are great accomplishments, and posters that shoot that down shouldn’t be believed (odds are, they’re HS kids themselves, not parents).
The important take-away though is to ALWAYS have matches (meaning you’re near the top 25% score and they admit 35-40+% or more applicants) and 2 safeties (you’re above the top 25% threshold and they admit 45-50+% applicants).
Did she get into Davidson then?
CONGRATULATIONS! 
Thank you, londondad and MYOS1634. Yes, she is going to Davidson!! She is beyond ecstatic. I am feeling so relieved for her and came on to share the news but got side tracked by the last posting. And you are exactly right, MYOS1634, about the take-away. I now feel compelled to educate friends with younger children.
The important take-away though is to ALWAYS have matches (meaning you’re near the top 25% score and they admit 35-40+% or more applicants) and 2 safeties (you’re above the top 25% threshold and they admit 45-50+% applicants).
@MYOS1634, while we didn’t live by these acceptance rate tenants, we did make sure our DD’s were at or above the top 25% at every school they applied to. They did well because they profiled, but they did end with 1 WL and 7 denials at some Ivies and top-5 LAC’s even though they were in the top-25% there as well - so many of their classmates overstretched and ended up at what they considered their safety because they never applied to true matches.
^ that’s why for high stats applicants it’s important to consider acceptance rate. Being near top 25% at a school that admits 35-40% students makes it a match - just being above top 25% means nothing if the RD rate is 13%.
@MYOS1634, I think you were misunderstanding what I meant as my DD’s were above the top 25% at every school they applied to, with the exception of one Ivy where they were the same. So for them, we decided that all schools with <20% acceptance rates were either match or safety schools, dependent on scores, and in the end they were accepted by all of those schools.