School Suggestions Please

Penn State is safe, but Penn State business is a match, not a safety.

@Musicmom2015 Would your daughter be happy to attend Indiana if that was the only school she got accepted to? Would she feel like she was settling? Finding those safeties can be a challenge (the dream schools are easy to find and easy to love, lol) because the safeties need to be a school your child would be happy to attend, as well as most likely to be admitted.

If you have the time and ability, I would definitely look at both Delaware and Maryland. I am not sure how competitive both/either of those schools are for business (I would assume more competitive than Arts/Sciences admission) because if she is looking for specific admission to a highly competitive program - that changes the calculation of safety/match/reach.

I would recommend reading the current “lessons learned” thread on the parent’s forum. Some great insights from those who just went through the process this past year.

Is Penn State business school a direct admit?
I would think UVA (school of arts and science) a match for op’s DD, based on her stats.

Indiana’s Kelly School of Business is highly regarded. Bear in mind, however, it’s huge: 40,000 students, just at the business school. I think that’s 20,000 undergrads and 20,000 grads, something like that. So, your daughter’s classes would be big. If small class size is important to her, she wouldn’t be finding it at Indiana.

This is my second child. My son ended up applying to 14 schools and the safeties and matches were tough to find. But he was reaching for top 10 schools. I’m hoping to get a balanced list that’s a little shorter this time.

Direct admit to business is nice but at schools where it is later on she is applying to arts and sciences which is usually not

Penn State business is a direct admit.

Opinions vary on this, but I personally don’t call lottery schools like UVA out-of-state a match for anyone. Especially an out-of-state white girl. She looks like the students they admit, but she also looks like the students they reject.

Her guidance counselor called UVA a match but I’d say low reach just because OOS is so hard. I wish their EA was December instead of January notification - that would simplify this a lot!

OP said her D was interested in accounting or finance. I therefore stand by my earlier statement that the list is odd, especially for accounting. It’s more of an economics looking list, imo. And it’s still too reachy.

Do you have any suggestions? She wants a school with a business school since that’s her current leaning. Specifically what type of business major she will figure out in college.

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She would almost certainly be admitted to the non-business-school part of Penn State. That’s a safety for her if she is happy to attend the non-business-school part of Penn State. Otherwise it isn’t.

UVA is certainly a reach. Even in state, it is a low reach. I know plenty of 4.0, 1550 kids from NoVA who were waitlisted.

Exactly, and out of state for UVA is much harder than instate. I question the judgment of a guidance counselor who calls UVA a match for a white girl from NJ who is not a recruited athlete.

FWIW, the business school aspect matters a lot. At colleges that have undergrad business schools ( and many do not) many employers often focus all their recruiting efforts there and pay little attention to students in other majors such as economics. I was surprised by that, but it seems common.

Focusing all recruiting efforts on the business school is probably because of signaling. A business major is not a better major for a business job than an econ major is, in my opinion. However, at colleges with business schools the business school students have shown that they can be admitted to a competitive business school, whereas the econ major was admitted to a less competitive school. Often the business school is a lot more competitive than the associated university.

NOVA is an “anomaly” as the kids there compete among themselves, even though UVA might want to accept many more students from NOVA, they simply couldn’t.

The same is true for kids from NJ. Sorry, but true. I recall the alumni counselor told my dear friend that NJ was the worst place to be from for UVA admissions. Not surprised. Lots of applicants from there.

If your daughter wants to make sure she is accepted to Penn State, she should apply to DUS (undecided) rather than Smeal (business school). No one at Penn State is actually admitted to Smeal until they have completed entrance to major requirements and have the requisite GPA at the end of sophomore year. Any student in DUS can take the same courses and be admitted to Smeal, just the same as if he/she was originally admitted to the Smeal pre-major.

SMU with its Cox School of Business? Very highly regarded and great employment prospects after graduating. Not small, not huge, pretty campus and good school spirit.