Real Reach Schools That Accepted Your Child

Parents Forum
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<p>that you were sure would not. I'm not talking about kids w/750s SATs across the board and a 3.8 UW GPA (rather than a 4.0). I'm curious about kids w/SATs around 2000 combined and 3.6 UW GPAs w/maybe 4-6 AP courses. What "hooks" or things that were differentiating about your S or D do you think made the difference (other than sports or ethnicity).</p>

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<p>^My son had a very high CR score, but Math and Write were just under 700. He had 6 or 8 APs depending on how you count Calc BC and Physics BC.</p>

<p>We considered U of Chicago a real reach and Tufts a reach.</p>

<p>What made a difference at Chicago?

  • applying EA
  • being a semi-legacy (grandmother and aunt attended but didn’t graduate, uncle and grandfather graducated)
  • writing a funny “Why Chicago” essay that included reference to some silly Chicago t-shirts family still wears
  • going all out on supplement essay - again a little daring, sense of humor
    -I also thought is EC essay was valuable in showing both intellect and again his sense of humor
  • outstanding school recommendations
  • he probably looked like a better musician on paper than he actually is (in two orchestras, concert master of freshman orchestra)
  • I think there was a pretty coherent picture of him as intellectually curious, not quite ripe, but with lots of potential, and a great sense of humor.</p>
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<p>My oldest applied to a reach school- her GPA & SATs were below( slightly) the median of accepted students. She didn’t have any APs ( her school didn’t offer them)
She is however a strong writer, had unusual ECs ( 2000 volunteer hours @ the zoo) and excellent recommendations.
She also had taken a year off after high school to volunteer with CityYear- hadn’t applied to Reed while she still was in school, but while she had been admitted to all her previous schools- we wondered if we could find a school that was a better fit for her.
She was admitted regular decision with a good fin aid package that met 100% of what remained after our FAFSA EFC.</p>

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<p>My younger son spent his high school sophomore year in France, in a French public high school in Provence.</p>

<p>He had amazing results, especially considering that junior year grades weren’t at the standard of freshman year grades (and sophomore year grades were from France and not factored in). His poor junior performance was due to a serious concussion in August, after returning from France and before starting junior year. His grades did start to come back up at the end of junior year (he said he didn’t feel normal until April–) and his first semester senior year was outstanding.</p>

<p>Stats – around 2000 SAT, 3.7-8 in a demanding private school, graduated with 3-4 AP courses.</p>

<p>He is currently at Cornell. He was also accepted at Connecticut, Wheaton, BU, Lafayette, American, and a few more that escape me.</p>

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<p>Another " hook" which my daughter had, is that she has learning disabilities ( which she addressed in an essay) and she was first gen college.
Which is possibly why we had trouble finding a school that was a strong fit for her- we didn’t have CC as a resource :frowning: at the time, & because of the LD’s , her advisor recommended colleges that we thought were " too safe" & not challenging enough.</p>

<p>Our neighbor had attended Reed ( same year as Steve Jobs) & assured us that they had good financial aid- I had no idea colleges even handed out money to attend, so it hadn’t been on her first list because it seemed too much of a reach. ( which was also why she didn’t apply ED, even though Reed said that ED candidates had the best aid packages, we still felt we needed to be able to compare them).</p>

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<p>you should read this older thread-
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/767118-under-3-6-gpa-applying-top-20-parents-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/767118-under-3-6-gpa-applying-top-20-parents-thread.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>These stories are very interesting, thanks for sharing.</p>

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<p>in an intensive language and cultural studies program following junior year. I think that tells colleges something about an applicant’s ability to adapt to a foreign environment, away from home, and may be indicative of a level of maturity for which they are looking. She also studied for, apprecenticed and obtained her sailing license. Again, especially for a girl, stepping outside a traditional comfort zone. It goes to show, you never know who will be reading your child’s essays—could be an avid sailor, someone who themselves studied abroad before going to college, etc.</p>

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<p>also got in to UCLA (OOS), McGill and Bucknell.</p>