p.s. One problem we will have is that my DS keeps falling in love with every college. 
He can only go to one… But this means that if he is going to a “safety” that I bet he’ll be happy in any event.
@TomSrOfBoston
There are a lot of students who are qualified for HYPSM that are rejected. When you’re accepting 1 student per 10 to 15 to 20 applicants, there will always be perfectly qualified candidates left out. That’s why it’s important to make sure that you have great safeties, even if you are qualified.
Umichigan is really getting tough to get into EA even with great stats, and is no longer rolling. Last year the EA results weren’t announced until around dec 20. I think it’s better to have a positive answer earlier so that you’re not adding applications late in the game. My kids applied to rolling schools…one to Uwisconsin and Tulane, and both to Pittsburgh. These are great schools & if they apply by early October, they’ll hear within weeks. Also, if the kid has ivy level stats, they will probably get merit$ from tulane or pitt. Lots of ppl where I live also apply to UVM early, particularly those interested in Dartmouth, middlebury, Amherst & Williams.
I got into harvard SCEA (miracles do happen). I couldn’t bring myself to write any essays to any other schools until I got my answer. So I can reporapplied only to Harvard. Had I been rejected or deferred, I had a list of twelve schools to which I’d have applied (ivies, lacs, umichigan (safety)
It is possible that your parents’ notion of prestige may prevent you from finding any safeties at all, since most notions of prestige among US universities are based on or heavily correlated with admission selectivity. The most generally prestigious schools tend to have the highest selectivity, which means that they are safeties for no normal applicant (i.e. not related to a huge donor and not an important recruited athlete).
Do large public universities ever participate in this practice of denying students who might not give them better yield? I’m interested in answer for both OOS and IS students. Also, do any large public universities that are generally EA (e.g. UMI, but not only) send academic likely letters or other positive things before the official notification? For instance, at UMD, would they send earlier notification if a student is eligible for merit money?
p.s. this may be a dumb question: when you say “Pitt” do you mean “University of Pittsburgh”? If so that is a great candidate for my DS; we visited last summer.
“Had I been rejected or deferred, I had a list of twelve schools to which I’d have applied (ivies, lacs, umichigan (safety)”
…and Michigan probably would have deferred you too. Once again, Michigan is no longer considered a, “safety” school for anyone, especially those who think they can use them strictly as an effective backup.
@fretfulmother, if you are looking at public schools in other states, be sure to look carefully at costs for out of state students. It is usually very expensive to go OOS to a public school unless you get a lot of merit.
@suzy100, can you suggest safeties that would be fairly reliable for .merit aid? I already know about Bama.
@fretfulmother
There is a link with low cost schools (under $25,000) as well as one with scholarships available.
It sounds like you might be in a similar situation as we are. Our ds is a gifted young man, but costs definitely guide our decisions. I saw earlier in this thread that someone recommended CWRU. Unless you win one of the coveted full scholarships (I think they have 3??), their typical highest scholarship offer is $30,000/yr. That is a fixed amt. If tuition increases or other costs rise, so do yours. Our budget was much lower than your $25,000, but our EFC is also higher than $25,000. That eliminated most schools.
Most publics offer poor OOS aid. With the exception of AL, they would have ended up more than Case bc of the scholarship. (GT was by far our most expensive option.) Fwiw, our ds decided on UA. He is attending on full scholarship which is a huge blessing and is part of their research honors program, CBH, and absolutely loves it there. He has zero regrets.
Fwiw, the professors at UA have been fabulous. Ds has great mentors.
One of my kids was a top student who wasn’t interested in Ivies, but she was accepted everyplace she applied, including U of Chicago, Swarthmore, & Harvey Mudd. For her Carleton was a match, and she also was accepted (with merit) to Kenyon, Mount Holyoke, and Lawrence.
@mom2aphysicsgeek - thank you! This is certainly frustrating… Our issue with AL is that their Jewish community is really not a good match for DS. The school itself, its HC, etc are all great. But I can’t see DS going somewhere that doesn’t have a kosher meal plan, for instance, or at least dinners available. I guess it may come down to that. I haven’t heard back really about whether UMA, where were in state, denies high stats kids EA for yield reasons.
Also, 25k is not desirable for us; it is a redirection of retirement contributions which makes me very nervous, particularly if for a “not favorite” school. After three more years, my youngest won’t have tuition for private school and it will be much less bad.
Temple U also has great guaranteed awards and may be more “palatable” (literally) for those looking for a strong Jewish community.
@fretfulmother, is your son likely to be a National Merit Finalist? If so, places like Bama, Kentucky, Arizona (I always forget which one - AU or ASU, might be both) would be likely safeties because of the aid they offer to NMFs. Miami University in Ohio has nice merit aid based on SAT/ACT scores and GPA and could be a safety for you. I think Pitt and Temple are also good suggestions. I’m not aware of any large public schools that defer high-stat kids to protect yield, but certainly there are private schools that seem to do that.
Per Mom2aphysicsgeek, CWRU’s top merit is a generous $30K, but only 2 full tuition scholarships beyond that, which causes most students to not even apply for them. Tulane also offers good merit aid, plus additional applied-for full scholarships, but defers many high stat EA applicants. Georgia Tech offers the Presidential Scholarship, 70% to completely full ride, interview required, to 50 students. GT has a very early application deadline to be considered for these scholarships (Oct 15 last year).
@cptofthehouse @suzy100 @NJProParent - thank you! I just added Temple to the list and will look at the others as well.
DS got 232 on his selection index which did make the NMSF cutoff in MA. I don’t know about NMF, though, much less NMS.
Also, I want to make sure everyone knows - I’m not in any way assuming DS will get in places 100%. Crazy things happen with admissions. And DS will work hard on any app he does, including finding genuine reasons the college could be a good fit (which is one reason we hesitate about University of Alabama in spite of its wonderful qualifications).
That said, I think he could have a good shot at many colleges, and the money piece makes everything so much more complex.
Yes, Pitt is University of Pittsburgh. They do have good merit money, and the do have facilities that have things that Jewish students would want.
@suzy100 - I asked about publics protecting yield because I think it was implied on a different thread that UMI is doing it now. My DS also likes UMD and I don’t know if they do it as well. (He has real interest there for many reasons as well, including an aunt there).
Hofstra is another school with good merit possibilities.