Thanks for your input @Hunt @Aida @OHMomof2 and everyone from before. Very useful feedback. Starting to see the options clearly now and feel I can help D plan a good application timeline.
Grateful for all your advice!
Re: Showing interest…here is an example for another college on how to show interest that can give you ideas:
Thanks @bopper That’s really helpful!
@potentialtransfer2018 “Funny that you categorize Cornell as a reach (14.2% acceptance) and not Tufts when it has a lower acceptance rate and the same average ACT score (33).”
In my experience, Cornell is questionable without extra curriculars, no hooks, no major awards, asian, and female. I would write a strong essay. Tufts seems more likely to snap up grades and test scores, but they have more female applicants, so that one may be questionable too. I don’t know whether they have sibling legacy. Some schools do, others do not.
I’m sure you’re right @Much2learn This is why I want D to have a realistic understanding of her chances and make sure she likes her match and safetys, and she does. She’ll work hard on her essays and is a strong writer. One can only hope!
She has great long term leadership positions in and out of school that her recommenders can speak to, so not entirely without ECs. She received an invite to Cornell’s ILR school’s visit days (that’s the school she likes) and will attend. We’ll see how she feels about applying after that!
I think she could still apply to Harvard if she has leadership positions in and out of school. But if she likes Brown better, take it off, up to her.
Brown is a great school. Amherst is another school that has no gen ed requirements. UMass and Amherst are part of the 5 college consortium (with Smith, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke) in which students can take classes at the other schools.
I would do this list, but that’s me 
SAFETY
Umass Amherst (EA)
MATCHES
Northeastern (EA)
Tufts (S is a freshman)
Brandeis (Legacy through DH)
Barnard
Reaches
Brown
Amherst
I actually love that list @compmom because all the schools are nice and close to home (except Barnard) and BC and Georgetown are not on it!
(I’m not big on BC/Georgetown because of the conservative, preppy vibe which I think is not really her, but she picked them and it’s her list.)
I’ve heard so much about the consortium but we haven’t visited Amherst (S sabotaged all my attempts to get the two of them to visit UMass Amherst last year… 8-| ) D and I should stop over on the drive to Cornell and see both UMass & Amherst, I think!
BC is a slightly easier acceptance than Barnard and Tufts so you may want to leave it. List looks great.
Also BC is a long Green Line ride into town. For Boston, I like Harvard, Tufts, BU, Northeastern better than BC. With Brown on there and her favorite, I think leaving Harvard off is fine, though some get into one but not the other.
The Amherst area is great. We visited all the schools, UMass, Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire, with all three kids, as a start to their search.
Brown is probably my personal favorite school (one of mine went there). I also really like Barnard, with all the resources of Columbia but the advantages of a personalized women’s college at the same time.
I do think the list can be cut somehow, but I guess you will see what she chooses!.
Going against the grain, but isnt Georgetown better for political science/economics and internship opportunities than Brown, NEU, Tufts. I am in similiar situation to your daughter. Interesting to here thoughts.
It is fallacious to assume that just because Georgetown is in DC it is therefore better for poli sci and econ than the others. Brown is a hop skip and a jump to the statehouse… (amazing Governor with strong ties to Brown). Tufts has exceptional poli sci and is a T ride away from the statehouse. People forget that state government has fantastic internship and employment opportunities for students- it’s not just about the federal government. An ambitious kid an get an internship virtually anywhere (even mayoral offices in small towns have opportunities) but Tufts and Brown have very strong faculties AND connections politicially. NEU a more recent addition to the political scene…
hey @silver67 , that looks like a well put together, buttoned-down list of schools. I created a similar thread last year, have an analytic bent and eventually found value in using parchment and naviance (and feedback from cc) to categorize my list into safeties, matches, and reaches.
my d had similar stats, it took five minutes to update her parchment profile and add your D’s schools. I don’t know where you live, so I just left that unchanged (our d attended a top public school in ny). Here’s what parchment has to say about her chances at your school list:
SAFETY
Umass Amherst 99%
American 91%
MATCHES
Boston College 78%
Northeastern 95%
Georgetown 48%
Tufts (S is a freshman) 49%
Brandeis (Legacy through DH) 76%
Wellesley 57%
Barnard 64%
REACHES
Brown 20%
Cornell 45%
Harvard 18%
These probabilities should be validated via naviance (and creating your own parchment account) but if you come to think of them as on target (as I did for my kids), I might be inclined to move cornell to a match, definitely apply to harvard, drop two matches, move northeastern to safety, drop one of the safeties and apply to 2-3 other very reachy school. (I’m sure many (most) people here will disagree with the characterization of cornell as a match but I tend to put stock in a large, numbers-driven database rather than anecdotal experience).
so your list might look like this:
SAFETY
Umass Amherst 99%
Northeastern 95%
MATCHES
Boston College 78%
Georgetown 48%
Tufts (S is a freshman) 49%
Wellesley 57%
Cornell 45%
REACHES
Brown 20% (ed)
Harvard 18%
williams 28%
bowdoin 37%
I think the probable outcome is:
admitted to all safeties
admitted to half the matches
admitted to one reach
good luck, and let me be the first to offer early congrats on what I’m sure is going to be a great set of outcomes for your D.
As UMass Amherst is her safety, you should absolutely visit. It’s not a good safety if she isn’t good with attending if it comes to that. And while there it’s very easy to visit Amherst College, and the other 3 schools as well, though not in one day.
@flowerboy D in interested in pre-law track with maybe an IR minor and Tufts & Georgetown are both great for IR. BC, Brown, Cornell ILR, Brandeis, Wellesley are all great pre-law schools. Northeastern may not be but it’s sparkly and bright and feels like tomorrow. Agree with @blossom about internships being available anywhere for a motivated kid (D is definitely one to make her own opportunities). Good luck to your daughter!
@quietdesperation that is an impressive amount of analysis!! D does not like Williams (visited with S) or its location, unfortunately. Have not considered Bowdoin.
We’ve spent a fair amount of time on her school’s Naviance outcomes. D does not go to a tippy top MA public school district but it’s scrappy & improving and there’s always a small group of kids that make it to very selective schools. So the data might be different for us on parchment…I’ll definitely try it out. And thanks for the well wishes (crossing fingers for a decent outcome!)
@OHMomof2 We’ll visit UMass for sure. She’s not against it, but hoping for a bit better. I think seeing the standout kids from S’s batch land and be happy at a wide variety of schools (including UMass) has been great for D. I’m glad she has that perspective.
My son had similar interests. Lower math score, more APs before senior year, but probably same number in all. As a boy had an edge at American, he liked it a lot and they gave him merit money. I know from time to time American rejects high stat kids, but it should be a safety. Make sure she communicates she really likes it and has visited.
Georgetown is absolutely a reach. Did she look at George Washington? It might be more of a match. My son didn’t like it because of its lack of campus. I do think Brandeis is likely to be a match maybe almost a safety as a legacy.
Tufts isn’t a match for anyone. Their admissions are too quirky. They care about fit and what you say, and what your teachers say about you is going to matter a lot. They reject high stat students often and will do so to get a kid they think is a better fit.
I don’t really think it matters if there aren’t a lot of matches as long as she’s willing to attend either of her safeties.
@silver67, I just threw williams in there as an example. I will say there were some schools our kids applied to that they read about but didn’t visit because of travel costs. For example, I did visit wash u with my D but refused to also take the trip to rice. the plan was to apply to rice and if accepted, we’d visit. This does put the student at a disadvantage in writing the “why rice” supplement but IMO, there has to be some limit around travel.
I agree with @mathmom, gw is worth a look and while not a safety, would be surprised if she was rejected.
I guess we’ve all been assuming she won’t need merit money…if that’s not the case, please post in the thread as it will change a lot of suggestions.
Finally, if brown is her dream school, I think she should apply. I wouldn’t want the regret of not trying ED for their dream school hanging over my kid’'s heads.
My D is at cornell, send me a pm if you’d like your D to grab a coffee or something with her during your visit.
We had limited time the weekend we spent in DC so skipped seeing GW @mathmom She does like American very much, so it’s good to hear they do merit aid. Also apart from S her grandfather & aunt went to Tufts too (for grad school) so we hope they’ll feel D’s Jumbo material.
@quietdesperation we’re aware that a lot of her reach schools don’t do merit (like Tufts) Hoping for some merit aid from schools like Brandeis, Northeastern etc or else a bit of a break from the “meet full need” endowed reachy schools since we’ll have two kids at college at the same time. Either way we should be OK as per my calculations. Until grad school, at least!
Also thanks for the offer to have your daughter chat with D! That would be very helpful…let me ask her first though.
Me: Honey, this lovely lady on College Confidential…!
Her: My mother is crazy…
believe me, I understand, my D refused to meet people she knew from the tennis team when we visited cornell. mmm, also worth mentioning that I’m not a lovely lady, I’m an old, decrepit man!
LOL @quietdesperation My bad!
Definitely don’t tell her he is an old guy with the handle quiet desperation!