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<p>Why do you not want her to apply SCEA? What does she think about Yale?</p>
<p>I immediately thought of Chicago also. Then I thought of Vassar. Oh well just seconding others…</p>
<p>TCNJ is another instate safety for her, and depending on what she’s looking for, may be a better fit than Rutgers. TCNJ does have more selective admissions than Rutgers, and is much smaller. I’ve heard very good things about it for pre-med. Merit aid is available, and as an instate public would be cheap anyway.</p>
<p>U. Maryland is a popular OOS public in my part of NJ. It would be easy to fit in a visit with the DC schools - Georgetown, GW, American, in order of selectivity. Also Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>I also recommend to consider looking outside the northeast. My S is another happy WashU student. And U. Chicago seems to be a good choice, and as mentioned, offers EA. </p>
<p>Vassar and Tufts also come to mind.</p>
<p>My son went to the University of Maryland and had a very good experience there.</p>
<p>It’s big (Penn State size), but it has a lot of honors and special interest programs for freshmen and sophomores that make the huge campus seem smaller. It’s also within easy reach of Washington, DC, which is a big plus for many students. And there are LOTS of out-of-staters from New York and New Jersey, so your daughter would probably feel at home. There are also quite a lot of really good students. Maryland goes out of its way to attract top in-state students by offering large merit scholarships.</p>
<p>But if your daughter decides to consider Maryland, make sure she visits – and not just the campus, but the area around it. The campus is lovely. The surrounding area, though, is not the nicest. For some prospective applicants, this is a deal breaker.</p>
<p>On a more positive note, do you happen to be Jewish? The University of Maryland is known for its active Jewish community. It’s a very popular choice among Jewish students.</p>
<p>OP - you said your daughter is going to a top notch private school in NJ, wouldn’t they have very good college counseling? I am surprise they haven’t help your daughter come up with a solid list already. D1 certainly received very good counseling when she was in high school, that’s what you pay for when you go to a top prep school.</p>
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<p>Even for the elite schools, these scores, for these subjects, aren’t mixed!</p>
<p>Is “city” a common factor? Has she even looked at any schools, like Williams that are, for the most part, rural? Should definitely try to make a visit to Williams or Oberlin if that type of school is even being considered.</p>
<p>Maybe Amherst, which at least has the 5 colleges and slightly larger college towns like Amherst and Northampton, would be a better choice. </p>
<p>Wesleyan is neither urban nor rural…but is a great place for social science and a good place for premed.</p>
<p>Agree with those suggesting U of Chicago (based on what you’ve been able to tell us about her thoughts on “fit”… as well as liking Columbia a lot.) Case Western is another midwestern urban school, and might be more of a target/saftey.</p>
<p>Georgetown and Johns Hopkins are other northeastern urban possibilities for the intellectually minded…but not safeties.</p>
<p>Didn’t notice if money is an issue. If not…NYU and BU might be safeties. Pitt Honors would be another urban that would be a safety…and would likely offer $$. Brandeis, mentioned earlier on the thread, is an LAC that would likely be a safety.</p>
<p>^Quibble Brandeis is a small(ish) research university not an LAC. +/-3300 undergrads and +/-2200 graduate students.</p>
<p>You mentioned Reed and Pomona. They are very different schools in terms of atmosphere, and Pomona is much more selective, especially with test scores.</p>
<p>What Oldfort said in Post 25. </p>
<p>Enlist the help of the college counseling department at your daughter’s prep school. They know colleges and they know (or certainly should know) your kid.</p>
<p>OP here. I really appreciate the suggestions - there are some ideas that had not occurred to us. Brainstorming is a good idea, I think, when it comes to this whole enterprise.</p>
<p>oldfort and wnb - of course, DD has discussed this with her gc. As with many high school juniors, the whole spring was ridiculously busy and her final test scores, as with many of her peers, came in last month in June. Also, her final grades for the year and the plans for this important summer. So all the pieces of the application aren’t really in place until the eleventh hour. That is how it was for my older one and it is turning out to be that way with my younger one.</p>
<p>Her gc is wonderful and suggested a very wide net a few months back. The most recent take was that the net can be at a somewhat higher ranking level given the strong test scores and grades. We are scheduled to discuss all this next month. But I am anticipating a crazy August and want to start thinking through the college visits and especially any early action strategy now.</p>
<p>FWIW, private high schools tend to offer up more individualized college counseling. That has been our experience. But to imagine that you are paying the tuition explicitly for that service is quite naive. We have invested in private high school for the education itself and the parents I know with kids at DD’s school seem to have the same attitude. It is very much a joint effort between student, gc, parents and supportive friends who together figure out this whole thing.</p>
<p>Oldfort, perhaps your kids simply implemented a plan set forth by their GC. That is not the culture of the school my DD attends. It is an ongoing dialogue, sometimes lasting all the way into the following summer after senior year with navigating wait lists.</p>
<p>Would that it could be so cut and dried. I guess it is for some legacy kids though.</p>
<p>My sister-in-law is still miffed at her son’s very, very well known DC prep school for their less than optimal college counseling. She felt it was better for those with big bucks and the superstars of the class. My nephew had stellar test scores, but a more mixed GPA. (Very good, but not perfect.) She found out about Rice from her dentist not the school. They gave my nephew a fabulous scholarship (which she needed), and gave him research opportunities from day one. He spent two summers with an internship in the lab which produced what my dh called “the paper of the century”, and his name is on that paper. He got great grad school offers and recently won some other fellowship based partly on his undergrad work. Rice was never on the high school radar.</p>
<p>You might also look at UVa and its Jefferson Scholars program. Perhaps your daughter’s school would nominate her if it participates in the program and she expresses interest. And William and Mary may fit as well; I think it has a little merit money for OOS.</p>
<p>My daughter thought early that she wanted a small school, but changed her mind somewhere in the process. She has top stats plus is a NMS. She ended up at Pitt with a nice scholarship. She likes being in the city.</p>
<p>Rice is a great school. Terrific size, attention to students, resources, selective without being absurdly so. Plus Texas seems to have a good job market to launch oneself following undergraduate work. Wish it were closer but I’m tempted to fly my DD out to Texas in August and then maybe over to CA to see some schools there. </p>
<p>That is where we’re at as it comes down to the wire . . . not wanting to make too many assumptions and overlook some gems.</p>
<p>I have a feeling DD is maturing a lot this summer and may not even be quite so rigid about staying geographically close. This juncture in their lives is so much about evolving and maturing and changing . . . it’s a moving target, really.</p>
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sewhappy - I believe your daughter is at the school both of my kids attended (before we moved), I am very familiar with the kind of service they provide. If it´s the same school, D1 was on the committe in selecting the head GC at the school, and from what I know he is excellent.</p>
<p>The other thing we considered as far as distance from home was airport accessibility. We looked for schools that were about a two-hour flight and where Southwest flew because Baltimore is a SW hub.</p>
<p>Quibble acknowledged!</p>
<p>From Brandeis’ own branding on Google…seems they want to be both!</p>
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<p>sewhappy…the VAST majority of college students go to college within a three hour drive of their homes. The reality is…once the student is THERE, it doesn’t matter how close or far they are if they are living on campus. We THOUGHT we would see our son who was only 2hours away…but in reality, we saw DD who was in college 3000 miles away more.</p>
<p>If your daughter wants to stay closer to home…for whatever reason…let her. There is plenty of time in her life to go far from home. She has to be happy and comfortable where she is…and if having you nearby is important to her…let that happen.</p>
<p>Gotta ask…why would you have her live at home if she attends Rutgers? Let her live ON campus.</p>
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<p>If she wanted to then by all means. I guess I wouldn’t see the need for the expense given that it is 20 minutes from our home. Maybe she would join a sorority and live there. </p>
<p>Confess that I’m in extreme empty nester dread at the moment.</p>
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<p>Yes, this is a good question. </p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, my son went to the University of Maryland. What I did not mention is that (at times of day when the traffic is light), we live 40 minutes from the University of Maryland campus. </p>
<p>He could have commuted, and in fact he knows people from our community who did commute. But he preferred to live on campus, and my husband and I strongly encouraged this. We saw no reason to deny him the opportunity to live on campus and be fully engaged in college life just because he chose a college close to home.</p>
<p>A lot of other University of Maryland families agree with us. A huge proportion of the student body comes from either the DC or Baltimore metro areas and could drive to the campus in an hour or less. Theoretically, all these kids could commute, but most live on campus (or in off-campus housing in the surrounding community).</p>
<p>Edited to add: I’m not sure that the savings of having a kid live at home is all that great. The commuter student needs a car. The student living on campus doesn’t. That makes a big difference.</p>
<p>Mentioned already but I’m putting in another bump for McGill. Price is right and it has most of what your looking for. Would be a safety.</p>