<p>Friends' kid is putting together a list, mostly reaches and a few matches. Since kid wants LAC, preferably NE, really doesn't want big school, he's having a hard time finding a school that is academically challenging (he's 790/770/720, 4.0 GPA, 800 SAT2 and mostly AP courses) yet qualifies as a real safety. He needs one, because despite his stats his ECs are pretty weak. Full-pay. Given possibility of Tufts syndrome, any suggestions? </p>
<p>Some of these maybe?
<a href=“http://www.coplac.org/members/”>http://www.coplac.org/members/</a></p>
<p>Re: “Tufts syndrome”</p>
<p>Look in the schools’ common data sets (section C7) or their admissions entries on <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com”>http://www.collegedata.com</a> to see if “level of applicant’s interest” is considered. If it is, then using the school as a throw-in safety may result in rejection. But doing whatever the school thinks is “showing interest” (e.g. applying ED if it is the student’s true first choice, having visits recorded, pestering the admissions office with questions by email, logging into the admissions portal frequently, etc.) may prevent that.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus “logging into the admissions portal frequently”</p>
<p>Wait, this is considered? </p>
<p>I hadn’t seen that site, ucbalumnus, thanks. </p>
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<p>Some schools like Lehigh do.</p>
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<p>The COPLAC schools vary in quality. One in the mid-Atlantic I’d recommend is St. Mary’s College of Maryland, as long as you can afford the out of state tuition without much aid. This is Maryland’s public “honors college” but it is not as selective as William & Mary in neighboring Virginia.</p>
<p>You also could try some of the private LACs on the Colleges That Change Lives list
(<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/about/menu”>http://www.ctcl.org/about/menu</a>). Check out Earlham for example. It is a traditionally Quaker school (like Haverford and Swarthmore, but much less selective). </p>
<p>If he applies to several of the upper level NESCACs not named Amhest or Williams, he’s bound to get in one with those stats. (That would be Bowdoin, Colby, Hamilton, Middlebury, or Wesleyan). I can’t imagine applying to all five with those stats and going 0 for 5 - though they are all different and one may appeal more than the others. Some require demonstrated interest and some don’t, I believe. Bates is a little more difficult, but Connecticut and Trinity should be pretty solid. And then there’s Tufts.</p>
<p>And this is key - they all hate being backups to anyone. Never let on that’s what they are.</p>
<p>Okay… how many parents are the ones checking portals?? My D2 did not care AT ALL to check her admissions (letters or portals). She asked me to keep an eye on it and let her know if she got in (seriously). And I did… no idea that was considered “interest” by some schools, but I was watching 'em.</p>
<p>Almost all of the CTLC colleges are really going to be a snooze for a kid with those stats – not a great safety for that reason. I had a high stats kid, and we visited some of them… none ended up on her list. I do get why they are great for some kids, but for a kid with stats like that not so great.</p>
<p>My kid with almost perfect higher test scores (2380, Math II 800, Lit 800), but a bit lower GPA had the following low match/safeties: Macalester, Kenyon, Mount Holyoke (which won’t work for this kid because of gender), and Lawrence. Admitted to all with merit aid. What about St. Mary’s College of Maryland or Dickinson if he wants to stay NE? One of my kids was admitted to Bates & Dickinson, liked the Dickinson campus better and attended there (not the high stats kid, though).</p>
<p>As a boy interested in a LAC, if he’s willing to look somewhat outside the NE, he might be very competitive for Davidson and Carleton, both excellent schools. Not safeties but certainly plausible matches. </p>
<p>The true academic and financial “safety” for the high-stats kid is usually the state flagship.</p>
<p>At the moment, his list for safeties includes American (which has an honors program) and Earlham. Match is Bates, Colby, Grinnell, Hamilton, Kenyon, Reed. As OOS for William and Mary I don’t know what his status would be. Is visiting enough to “show interest”? I’ll suggest Dickinson and St Mary’s. His parents are–well, unrealistic. Having a hard time understanding that 25 years have passed since they attended. (Father says “Tufts? No way.”).</p>
<p>He should check out Clark University.</p>
<p>@intparent, which of the CTCL colleges did you visit that felt like a snooze? I visited a couple and several (Hillsdale, Rhodes, St. Olaf, etc) ended up on my final list-- one of them is currently my top choice. I was impressed by the academic rigor of the colleges when I visited. They compared very favorably with other top colleges we visited like Pomona, CMC, UChicago, Northwestern, etc. I also have good stats (4.0 uw, 2390, Subject Tests 800/780)</p>
<p>I would definitely recommend a look through the CTCL book. There might be a couple good fits in the list.</p>
<p>I’d rather not “name names”… because for someone’s kids those are fine schools. And it may depend on the high stats kid. Mine was very certain she wanted a school with intellectual peers, and is ecstatic with the high performing kids at her current school. And there is a pretty big difference between the average student at Hillsdale/Rhodes/St. Olaf and U Chicago/Pomona. </p>
<p>Fordham, Fairfield, Villanova, and any number of schools that have EA. Once he’s got the one school in his pocket, that’s his safety. If the EA schools defer him then he needs to rethink his list and get some real safeties i there. My oldest did this with three EA schools, that were math, reach, high reach. The first two accepted him the third deferred him. He had his safeties and his RD schools were all reaches. </p>
<p>For the smaller schools it is important that he show real interest even if the school is a safety. Some ideas might be Colgate, Lafayette, Franklin & Marshall, Trinity, He might also want to consider a school like Fordham which has non binding early action (and an honors program which attracts students with his type of stats).</p>
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<p>American lists “level of applicant’s interest” as “very important”.
<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=475”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=475</a></p>
<p>Earlham lists “level of applicant’s interest” as “not considered”.
<a href=“Earlham College Acceptance Rate | CollegeData”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=935</a></p>
<p>re: Earlham and interest: so does Colgate, ucb, but I have reason to think otherwise. Even a visit and interview wasn’t enough to convince the OP of our interest. This year I’m not taking chances with any of the schools to which D applied, but that doesn’t mean I’m flying to every one of them before hearing if D is accepted. There are other ways to show interest.</p>
<p>Point taken, and I would agree that it very much depends on the student. Where did your D end up?</p>
<p>Why go for Franklin & Marshall? No merit aid there, might as well apply to a school that will give some money for those stats.</p>
<p>@wd: my D was one of those “very rare” cases someone mentioned on another thread tonight who ended up nowhere.</p>