So now what...?

<p>I don't know...I thought I already had :S Iv known a lot of people who got into Boston university with grades and stats MUCH lower then mine. MUCH ( including SAT scores!)..apperently its not a saftey for me though, eventhough I don't understand why...</p>

<p>Because, as it stands, their average SAT is higher than yours, and will be even higher next year. Because they reject half their applicants. Because you come from an unknown school with an unknown track record, and your class rank will be irrelevant. Because they might like your hook, or they might not. (You didn't say anything about financial aid, but BU is not known for being among the most generous.)</p>

<p>You'll probably get in, but it is far from a safety.</p>

<p>Its not really an unkown school...its an international school...thats accredited by a whole bunch of places...and offers IB,alevels,ap's,IGCSE: this years class got into: cambridge,upenn,bu,toronto...to name a few. So its a good competitive school,that is HARD to get into and hence the class of 7....
but anyways thanks for keepin' it real</p>

<p>ritzpalace, a good place to start 'homework' might be to look into the 50-100 ranked LACS as well as State Us that have reliable formulas for grades & SATs that clearly put you over the bar.</p>

<p>You may also want to go to the nacac website and identify schools that have non-binding EA and Rolling admissions. If any of them interest you they would be good safties as they could be in hand very early.</p>

<p>As mini said, being "probable" is great but a few to be "sure" are even better.</p>

<p>o ok thank you! what do you think about northeastern as a "sure" saftey then? I really like their co-op program</p>

<p>Looking at the last Princeton Review numbers, Northeastern is a "borderline" safety. Only borderline because 1) your current SAT is still not above the 25-75% range for the school; and 2) they accept fewer than 40% of applicants.</p>

<p>"SAT Scores:<br>
— 25% scored above 1290
— 50% scored between 1150-1290
— 25% scored below 1150 "</p>

<p>Northeastern University - <a href="http://www.admissions.neu.edu/profile_inter.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.neu.edu/profile_inter.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>COME ON!! im in the 50% and btw they accept slighly more then 40%...and only 25% earned a gpa above 3.9 and if calculated properly im sure my gpa is like way more then that!! how can that not be a safety ...HOW!! sigh</p>

<p>Do a little thought experiment. Imagine, just for the same of argument (humor me), that they accepted ALL the applicants with SAT scores higher than yours. All 25% above 1290 (it would be higher next year), and 10% more, of those between 1260 and 1290. In other words, 35% of the class, leaving 65% of the class yet to be chosen. What that would mean is that selectivity for those who are left would be less than 1 out of 4. And you can pretty much assume that some of those places are reserved for athletes, or those who fill special niches in their admissions profile.</p>

<p>Again, you are very likely to get in. But it's by no means an absolute slam-dunk.</p>

<p>Note well: college admissions are no longer intuitive, rational, nor predictable. Don't try to figure out "how" and "why" -- your head will never stop hurting.</p>

<p>Find a school for which you're in the top 25% of all the stats, that's a better choice for a safety school.</p>

<p>ritz - one of the definitions "we" often use here for a safety: it must have an acceptance rate of <em>at least</em> 50% (regardless of your stats). This is to protect against the phenomenon that so many are talking about here on your thread, as well as on others: applicants who "match" (or even exceed) the SAT profile don't get accepted. Why? Because there are so many of them and it becomes a bit of a lottery.</p>

<p>You have so much going for you, and it comes through in your posts. So I know it can come through in your applications. What you need to do now is put your energy and ability to research schools into identifying schools with high acceptance rates which also fit your other criteria. THAT will give you the "safety" (or safeties) that your cc admirers can feel comfortable with.
It's not that the safeties you've suggested should not be safe for you; it's rather that they cannot be considered safe for <em>anyone</em>, due to the low percentage of applicants they accept.</p>

<p>When October comes and you have new SAT scores, you can tweak the list. But make the list now based on your current scores and you will have the right mix of schools.</p>

<p>Read andi's thread on "What went wrong..." to see why we parents are so vigilant on finding the right safeties. The consequences of not doing so can be devastating and you deserve not to be devastated.</p>

<p>PS to restate what another poster said, because it is so important: altho SAT ranges for each college are useful, they are not up-to-date. Often they are one OR MORE years old, depending on the source (including college's own website) and the SAT profiles just keep going up and up. So you really must be conservative when looking at those score ranges.</p>

<p>Finally (finally?), there are a number of excellent schools which have moved away from SAT/ACT scores entirely and make them optional. I'm not sure which will fit your preferences, but a couple in my own backyard come to mind: Bates, Bowdoin. See <a href="http://www.fairtest.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fairtest.org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>Ritz, take a hint - do SAT prep classes this summer, big time - try to get your scores over 1400 (referring to old SAT - so whatever conventional wisdom says is the new threshold equivalent on the new SAT). </p>

<p>I infer that you do not think the scores should matter as much as your other accomplishments, and I agree with you - standardized tests are not always indicative of accomplishment or even strong reasoning abilities. However, the fact remains that colleges are evaluated by the public through rankings that weight pretty heavily their average SAT scores, and it is important to THEM, the institution you want to impress, and it therefore follows that it should become important to YOU (even if you don't like the idea, and you are not alone there!).</p>

<p>Also, colleges have found that in general, high scores have some degree of meaningful correlation with performance in college (although grades are more strongly correlated) and that the high scorers are generally very intelligent. That is not to say that all very intelligent students test well, but the adcoms are in effect making a bet on each student, so they want to hedge their bets by looking at ALL academic factors - challenging courses, excellent grades, wonderful references, AND high standardized test scores.</p>

<p>Note: I am not intending to sound like a "meany-head" - it's just that the admissions process will continue to be super-competitive for the next several years, and I assume you want to maximize your chances to get many great acceptances.</p>

<p>ritz, almost all universities have more strict admission standards for international students applying for finaid. For example, Lehigh admits 38% of U.S. applicants, but just 13 internationals out of 300... Even if you will have better SAT, admission to any of the colleges in your list will be kind of lottery... Look for safeties! </p>

<p>And btw, UMich does not give finaid to internationals at all, and I don't think Toronto does.</p>

<p>ok I will continue to look for a safer school and will keep you updated until you tell me that I have found a school that is 100% safe (if you dont mind that is)! I know about my sat. I really do... im working on that at the moment. Eventhough I hate it, i still realize its important and will do my best to get as high as I can.
I really apreciate it!</p>

<p>Toronto and McGill are considered Canada's best universities and are difficult to get into. Take a look at the University of British Columbia - beautiful school in Vancouver, literally on the water, and has some excellent programs. The Canadian schools, even without scholarships, will be significantly less expensive than American schools.</p>

<p>ok so far this is what I have come up with for y ultimate saftey school:</p>

<p>Baylor U- 73% acceptance rate ( im asking if they also give aid to intels but anyways their tuition is affordable)</p>

<p>American U - 53% acceptance and give aid to 107 intels a year</p>

<p>George Mason- my awful sat is actually above the median, 69% admitted, Im inquiring about the intel fin aid though, but either ways its pretty affordable. </p>

<p>Marquette- 67% acceptance, sat within or above midian</p>

<p>Clark University - 62% acceptance but it seems a little small though</p>

<p>Ohio Wesleyan - 74% acceptance, lots of aid to intels (180 per year),old SAT w/i median </p>

<p>I was actually told that UBC was a nice school , but canada is extremly far and im kind of saveing it as a last resort because of how much it would cost to fly and stuff. but UBC could be a good financial safety as they give out scholarships for certain IB diploma scores. </p>

<p>so that's about it till now...what do you think so far? Im probably going to end up choosing only one or two though.
Thanks</p>

<p>ritz_palace, You have got a good list here for safer safeties. Well done.</p>

<p>The only one I'd worry about (as a safety) would be American. While it may look safe, they are likely swamped with international applicants, perhaps with higher stats, and they would only have a limited amount of financial aid, and are not need-blind.</p>

<p>I like your list ritz_. If these were your only acceptances, how would you feel? Which most excite you? Good work.</p>

<p>yey! lol i feel relieved because it seems that I have finallyyyyy found a safety or two, just when I was beg. to think "ou'-ohh". I even like most of them! Well thnx sooooo much for persuading me to find an actual and sure safety. I now realize how imp. it is!!</p>

<p>Hi ritz_palace06,</p>

<p>Ohio Wesleyan's acceptance rate is 68% this year. Got it from the Admissions Office. 74% was 2 years ago. That's the overall rate. About 500 international students apply each year and about 150 get in with significant aid, so the percent for international students is significantly less than it is for their american counterparts. My guess is somewhere in the 30s.</p>