I wondering how you all take/took into account the ‘money’ aspect, where a certain school may be a ‘match’ for your child from an admittance standpoint, but only if the money is right. This could be due to a possible merit award that would make the school feasible, but that you just can’t count on. Do you have schools in your list that do not require aid, and some that do, for each category?
While we did not formally categorize the schools this way, any school where large merit was required to make it affordable was considered a “reach” in my house.
Also you can use the Super Match tool over on the left…you can check whether you are looking for schools where you r scores would be higher than average so as to be competitive for merit scholarships.
@2muchquan, I should clarify: if large merit aid was required and it wasn’t automatic then we considered it a reach. D was a NMF, so for those schools where large merit was automatic for NMF, then those were considered safeties.
Yes, have you checked out the automatic merit aid thread in Parents Forum?
A true safety includes the ability to afford it. I’m not. sure how important that is in a match/reach, but you should have an idea of how it will be reasonably afforable before it goes on the list, otherwise it may lead to heartbreak…
In some circumstances, “reach” schools can end up being the most affordable. Check the financial aid calculators on school websites. Harvard is a reach school, but gives very generously to all but the richest families. A number of other Ivies and top tier schools are also quite generous. Duke, and Vanderbilt are on this list.
@suzy100 Yeah, makes sense. I don’t yet have scores and NSM information (but have ideas based on practice tests) so I’m running with that (plus her interests) to get a preliminary list.
@ClarinetDad16 Yes, this is a good way to break it out even further. I’ll plan on capturing this as well.
@HRSMom Yes, I’ve bookmarked those threads. Duly-noted on the safety.
@Disneydad Yeah, I think the questionable merit awards are making most of our schools ‘reaches’ at this point. Academically we have several expensive matches that I would now consider reaches. Not sure we’ll be applying to any Ivies, but maybe. Plus, she loves Vandy.
Man, I hope things change in the next year or we’ll be applying to 25 schools! Hopefully we’ll find some time during a busy junior year to make some more visits.
It will get more clarity over time. Some of the 25 will fall away due to $, some bc they won’t like part of it, or the campus!
We still still have 20 on the list, and he is going into Senior year! The plan is to do ED and all EAs early and then work on the rest, but wait to see what happens in December. If he does not get a good enough acceptance, he will apply to more. Otherwise, he’ll be done.
He has 2 good reaches, 2 matches and 1 safety in that early bunch, so the likelihood is good he may be done, or that he may have to do more. But he may get to drop off all safeties! And any match below what he gets early.
That’s the plan anyway!!! Best laid plans and all…
Honestly, I’ve never seen the sense in overthinking this. Make sure you have a couple of safety schools on your list that you are sure you can afford. The rest of the list can be whatever you are comfortable with. Neither of my kids had much in the way of matches.
And I like HRSMom’s plan to apply early where you can. (I assume she is sure they can afford the ED school.)
@mathmom Oh, you make waaaay too much sense! But, I think it is fun to find those schools you might not otherwise discover if you didn’t put the time in to overthink. Schools like UofSC that give in-state tuition if you join the marching band. If you put that on the list, then you HAVE to categorize it!
You’re right tho. If you can find 2-3 true safeties, then it doesn’t matter what the others are as long as they are affordable.
There are schools that considered financial reaches, while may students applying to low match or safety schools for a higher chance to get merit scholarships. Note that safety school is one that you are very likely to be admitted, it is affordable, and you are willing to go there, not just based on your credential.
Safety: assured admission and assured affordability at list price or automatic-merit-scholarship-for-stats, or net price calculator estimate is well within affordability (with a buffer in case of variation).
Match and reach: if not affordable at list price or with financial aid estimated by the net price calculator, the match or reach assessment must be made on the likelihood of getting a large enough merit scholarship to make it affordable. This is often more difficult to estimate, due to less information on how students are awarded merit scholarships that are not automatic-for-stats. If in doubt, assume that a merit scholarship is a reach.
@mathmom I agree with you. As a parent know what you are willing to contribute and discuss it with your child. Have 1 school you know is affordable, your child is assured admission and is content to attend. All the other schools are either matches or reaches depending on stats and selectivity. Your child’s ability to consider them depend on scholarships and financial aid offered the end of March or the beginning of April. It’s pretty simple though no less stressful.
We knew money would be an issue for us as well, so my D cast a fairly wide net in terms of matches and school types (private, public, small, large, etc.). She applied to two I would consider safeties, one that I thought was a ridiculous reach (but accepted her without merit money) and six that we thought were matches. Then we waited to see where the money did or did not come from. She was fortunate that her first choice match school came up with a scholarship that made it the same price as her financial safeties.
One of the ways we selected the six “matches” was to use the test scores of the 75th percentile of its current students as a benchmark. If my D’s stats weren’t that good or better, we did not apply. We figured she would need to be near the top of the crowd to have a chance at good merit money. Not a perfect methodology of course, just some food for thought.
D2 is in the unique position of having her safety also be her first choice. Theoretically she could just apply to one school. She is going to apply to 4, her safety and 3 matches. If one of her matches gives her something special she might consider it, however, I am pretty sure I know where she is going to attend.