<p>My D's GPA is north of 4.3, and will be higher after taking her 6 APs this year (12th grade). She's had all A's and is ranked #3 in her class...small public school (1200 students).</p>
<p>ACT=32 But SAT I = 1900 and SAT II = high 600s</p>
<p>EC's: French Honor Society, Robotics Team, Acad. Decathlon, Girl Scouts, Tutoring at the middle school, People to People, Leadership program in Wash. DC.
PASSION: watching Bones, Psych, Skins, and baking the world's best brownies!</p>
<p>Work: making/selling on Etsy, taking care of her brother...and she has a nice sob story for her essay since her dad died two years ago.</p>
<p>She just complete the Summer@Brown for credit: Econ and Latin, both A's.</p>
<p>She'd love to go to Brown. MIT and Yale are also at the top of her list. She needs some safety schools that will see she's a hard worker and that SHE'LL see as not second rate. She will be an undecided major, but it will be some science, with a French minor. We're only looking at private, medium (2000-7000 students) uni's and LACs where her financial aid chances are better.</p>
<p>her act will be fine instead of SAT. though im a bit surprised at her SATII scores.</p>
<p>also, admissions officers don’t want “sob stories” as far as I know. unless she can write about how it helped her grow as a person it won’t be very effective.
and kind of disturbed how you refer to such a tragic personal loss as a sob story…</p>
<p>What are your in-state public universities? Many of the public universities are well regarded for math and definitely not “second rate” in math, even though admission standards in general may not be that high. Also, in-state costs may be relatively low compared to other schools.</p>
<p>Also, if she wants to major in math and will be starting out advanced (AP Calculus and/or community college math), favor schools with graduate programs in math. Math majors who start out advanced in math often want to take graduate level math courses as undergraduates.</p>
<p>Sorry if the “sob story” sounded snarky. I know plenty of kids who feel they have to punch up the hardship angle on their essays.</p>
<p>She absolutely refuses to stay in-state, which I’m fine with. California state schools are massive, broke, and she’d never qualify for financial aid. I’m a college professor, which puts her out of the running for public assistance…but perfectly in line for money at the private schools.</p>
<p>We saw Tufts and thought it was fine. I thought Brandeis was a nice pick for her. I think she’s afraid that if the admissions rate is over 30%, it can’t be good. Sigh. The other schools that’s she’s definitely applying to is U of Chicago, Swarthmore, Renssalear, and maybe Haverford.</p>
<p>Many top universities accept the ACT in lieu of the SAT AND SAR II. Brown and most LACs fall into that category of school. Other top universities, such as Chicago, Michigan, Northwestern and Stanford do not require the SAT II anyway.</p>
<p>Since your daughter did well on her ACT, I would not worry about the SAT or SAT II, although that would mean giving up on MIT and and a few other schools.</p>
<p>Although not a “safety” & bigger than 7,000 but her ACT is in line with Cornell. Others to look at would be" RPI, Bucknell, Holy Cross, & Colgate. With lower math scores, a science major at schools like MIT would be extremely difficult. Perhaps a social science such as psychology would fit her skill set better?</p>
<p>Alexandre, yes I know Cornell would be a reach but my thinking was that it wasn’t as big a reach as MIT, Brown, or Yale, but you are correct, the OP asked for safeties & I was off topic.</p>
<p>"PASSION: watching Bones, Psych, Skins, and baking the world’s best brownies!:</p>
<p>I don’t know about the part where you say she bakes the world’s best brownies. I’m afraid you’re going to have to prove that one to me. Private message me and I’ll give you my home address so you’ll know where to send a batch for critiquing. I will require at least two dozen, since extensive testing will be warranted. ;-)</p>
<p>Most of the UCs (even the ones that she should be easily able to get into) are considered good for math. Is your budget lower than the nominal in-state list price? Upper division and honors math classes tend to be small, so if she is starting out advanced, she may find mostly small classes in her major.</p>
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<p>Not all private schools are generous with need-based financial aid in the way that Harvard, Stanford, and MIT are. (Of course, these generous with need-based financial aid schools are definitely not safeties for admissions!)</p>
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<p>She will probably have to dip down to the low safety level if she wants merit scholarships.</p>
<p>The problem is, if she applies only to selective schools, and makes overly optimistic assumptions about financial aid from private schools, she may get “shut out” – either no acceptances, or acceptances only at schools which give insufficient financial aid (so that the net cost or loan obligation is higher than in-state UC). That leaves community college as the safety (which may not work out that well if she is starting advanced in math and wants to major in math).</p>
<p>Might look at Holy Cross(don’t have to be religious)-very good LAC with strong Latin/Classics department. HC has very nice campus,is SAT optional, and like the Ivies need-blind for admissions.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input! BTW, here’s the info for the UC’s (more than I have!):
Estimated average costs for California residents, 2010-11</p>
<p>Fees* $11,285<br>
Books and supplies $1,564
Health insurance allowance/fee $1,046
Room and board 12,980
Personal/transportation $2,575
TOTAL $29,450</p>