We’ve seen quite a few schools with her 2 years older brother and a few with just her. U of Washington, Puget Sound, Occidental, Mizzou, Connecticut College, Harvard, Emerson, Tulane, UT-Austin with her brother. He ended up at St. Andrews in Scotland and we never visited it prior. She toured Richmond, UVA, Georgetown, American, GW and William & Mary last February. Of these, I think only UVA is still on her list.
Generally, she wants to be in the northeast, Mid-Atlantic or west coast. She seems to not want to explore the Midwest or SEC schools/states. She’s a little shy until she knows people but then she can be incredibly funny. She’s progressive but not necessarily an activist. She loves live music. BIG Taylor Swift fan and she’s really into Broadway musicals. She wants to be able to have some fun in college. Her high school isn’t known for that.
As you know UVA is harder OOS. UT Austin is certainly not a match without auto admit so I am not sure you have any matches other than your safeties. Lots of reaches.
For UT-AUSTIN, usually her school has 3-4 auto admits but, by the end of the year, 7-8 additional students get admitted. 10-12 out of about a class of 70 usually go to UT. Both my wife and I have degrees from there but we aren’t too excited about her attending.
Yes, she’s in the top-10. Probably #8. Her friend’s GPA was 4.48 vs. D’s 4.44. She knows her friend was #7 because the school tells the students who the top 4 are for auto admission to UT and who the top 7 are for auto admission to A&M.
Since she visited Tulane with her older brother, I’m assuming that she liked the school?
From your comments, and the preferred schools (and those that were not preferred), I suspect that Boston College, Vanderbilt, and Duke might be the preferred reaches, along with UVA and Tulane. Villanova would be a near-reach, and I think might join them in terms of the feel she’s looking for.
For some likelier options besides IU and UVM, she might want to consider:
U. of Massachusetts (which is in a consortium with Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, and Hampshire)
Gonzaga, like Boston College, is a Jesuit school and I suspect might have the “fun” vibe your D is hoping for. There are about 5100 undergrads there.
San Diego State: Maybe it’s just me, but I have the impression that it’s more fun than UC San Diego, and has the added benefit of being about $30k cheaper to boot. Perhaps @gumbymom might share her perspective?
SDSU used to have the reputation of a Party school many years ago. The stigma still exists today but could not be farther from the reality. SDSU is a well respected school with a diverse student body in exiting coastal city. SDSU has a school spirit due to their athletics especially their Basketball team. There is a Greek presence which probably adds to the perception of a “party school” but the majority of students are academically focused.
Location wise, UCSD wins over SDSU which is more inland than on the coast like UCSD.
My younger son and niece both loved their time at SDSU and are doing quite well after graduating.
SDSU does not have Cognitive Science as a major however but Psychology and English are options. As in most CSU’s, you have Professors teaching majority of the classes so reliance on TA’s is minimal vs. the UC’s.
SDSU has a 2 year on-campus housing requirement which helps give the campus a closer knit community feel.
The Webers Honors College has a great reputation with many benefits such as smaller class sizes and access to research opportunities.
If you have specific questions or want more information, you can send me a PM.
If Wesleyan is on the list, I would also look at the Maine SLACs. My daughter is at Bates College for psych and loves it. It’s a beautiful campus, about a mile from a small city (lots of internships) and 40 minutes from Portland. Many kids from Texas there! You can also apply for English, as you mentioned. It has one of the best known psych programs in New England. Best of luck!
Just an alert. Our younger kid toured colleges when her older brother did…and actually had a favorite that she claimed was the only college she planned to apply to. And really, it would have been fine for her. Fast forward to when she was looking herself. I mentioned this school and she said “I don’t want to go to college in Texas”. The college was in Texas.
I guess what I’m saying is…those tours with the older sibling likely were not viewed as seriously as contenders for your daughter. So…just keep an open mind about those unless she says that any are on her list.
Adding…if you are looking in Maine, I would add Colby to the list. It’s not a safety, but in my opinion, it’s an easier admit than Bates.
Your daughter has a great profile. It’s hard to chance for the reaches - especially given the SC ruling. If she is interested in Tulane, ED (EA?) is a must as they take most of their students then - if I recall correctly, they took very few in RD last year. Among the reaches, I’d say BC is the most likely - especially if you go ED. The women’s colleges would also be more likely among that group.