<p>Dad II, as an offbeat suggestion, would your friend consider Tulane?</p>
<p>Regarding matches and safeties, allow me to offer a different view. If a strong and ACCEPTABLE safety is defined, there is no need to apply to a bunch of other safeties and matches. In this case, if the student is prepared to attend his state university and do so HAPPILY (with the approval of his parents) there is no need to add a bunch of schools to “fill” a list. </p>
<p>For some students who are blessed to live in a state that offers a great education at its flagship institution, the value of applying to this safety is enormous as it allows to leave the “necessary” OOS safeties and matches off the list. However, this ONLY works if the state school represents a solution that will satisfy the parents desire for prestige and recognition around the neighborhood. </p>
<p>In this case, if the friend of DadII is PREPARED to attend OSU, he could load up his list with nothing but high reaches and low reaches. The reality is all the schools that fall in between will simply cost time and effort and be rejected as soon as the admission offer hits the mailbox. </p>
<p>My prediction is that, unless the family opens its eyes to the value of LACs. this will end up being a choice between HYPPS and the OSU. Filling the “middle” with great suggestions is an exercise in futility and a waste of our time.</p>
<p>PS Pizzagirl, from what DadII has said about this family, Tulane might as well be located in Siberia. Since they are low-income, they will not rely on merit aid, even one of the substantial offers from Tulane. A school with extremely high admit rates will have ZERO interest to this group of people.</p>
<p>Xiggi is right, with a caveat: Ohio State is fine as the only safety/match for the kid, as long as the family is sure the student will be admitted with the necessary aid. If there is a chance Ohio State might not offer enough dough, there should be other schools on the list.</p>
<p>“My prediction is that, unless the family opens its eyes to the value of LACs. this will end up being a choice between HYPPS and the OSU. Filling the “middle” with great suggestions is an exercise in futility and a waste of our time.”</p>
<p>Well, only Dad II can answer as to whether his friend would consider LAC’s as having enough prestige or whether the friend only sees prestige in HYPPS and the like and if you can’t get into HYPPS, there’s no point in going elsewhere other than OSU.</p>
<p>“PS Pizzagirl, from what DadII has said about this family, Tulane might as well be located in Siberia. Since they are low-income, they will not rely on merit aid, even one of the substantial offers from Tulane. A school with extremely high admit rates will have ZERO interest to this group of people.”</p>
<p>Even if it offers merit money and a decent name?</p>
<p>Our experience: Pomona offered the best need-based aid of all schools. University of Michigan offered no need-based aid, but gave a huge merit award (to an OOS kid.)</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, please note that I am not discounting Tulane as a great school. Actually, one has only to look up the posts of our old friend Concerneddad to understand what the school can offer. And, fwiw, in our neck of the woods, the school has become EXTREMELY popular for students as an alternative to UT-Austin. </p>
<p>What I am suggesting is that the profile of this student would make Tulane a rather poor choice IN THE EYES of the parents. It is safe to speculate that they are establishing the results of DadIIDaughter as the yardstick for … prestige. They think that their son has a BETTER profile than DadIIDaughter who turned down substantial merit and acceptances at OSU, Duke, Vanderbilt, and WUSTL in choosing her current school. </p>
<p>I’d bet a nice Xmas card to DadII if those parents do not WANT a nicer and better bumpersticker than DadIIs. </p>
<p>With their eyes on NEED BASED AID, Tulane will never be on their radar screen.</p>
<p>I think these friends would be happy to have the same bumper sticker as Dad II…with the financial aid package too. I agree…Tulane will NOT meet their “prestige” factor. Neither will U of South Carolina where their student would likely be in the running for a McNair Scholarship AND the award they give NMSF (I think that is an additional sever thousand dollars…and U of South Carolina allows students to “stack” scholarships up to the cost of attendance). If prestige is the number one acid test, and financial aid without loans is the second, then a very highly competitive school with a huge endowment is the only place that will make them happy.</p>
<p>Of course…the student really won’t be able to get the finaid package unless that student gets accepted at the school…first hurdle.</p>
<p>I’m with Jmmom who posted that the list is fine as long as the student would be comfortable attending those safeties on the list…or Ohio State, the flagship U…which (by the way) is an outstanding school.</p>
<p>Here is another school for this student to consider: USC in Los Angeles, which could be considered a “match” with a slight stretch. It gives a a generous merit package to accepted NMF, it is relatively prestigeous, and the weather is not so bad. The business school is very strong, from what I’ve heard.
</p>
<p>I think the list is fine as long as the family understands that the reach schools are just that and that getting a generous package at OOS publics is not going to be easy. There may be specific awards for OOS kids with great stats that the young man could get. Without those, he will most likely not get need met. The same could even be true for his state school if there is not an automatic scholarship for those stats. Few, if any state school guarantee to meet full need, and most kids are gapped who need aid. </p>
<p>One school where the young man would be very competitive for a full ride is Pitt. It would be a safety for admissions and a good strong match for scholarships. Case Western is another possibility.</p>
<p>Sounds like the student had better figure out, fast, where he is applying.<br>
Lots of the scholarship deadlines are now.</p>
<p>I’ve enjoyed reading this thread. Some of you are so witty, as well as smart and pragmatic.</p>
<p>Please stop recommending the small LAC’s to folks who want a snooty school. I’m hoping the LAC’S won’t jump in prestige before D has a chance to apply next year. Pomona is already too well known.</p>
<p>Actually for some of the more generous merit based scholarships (Pogue at UNC-CH, McNair at U of South Carolina, Emory Scholras, etc…) the deadlines have either passed or are Monday). Most of these very generous scholarships require a separate application, and/or priority filing of the admissions application (before November 15). Finalists are then chosen and invited for interviews. I think Dad II’s friend has missed the boat on these types of scholarships if his applications are not already submitted to the schools awarding this type of merit aid.</p>
<p>BUT I think Dad II’s friend is hedging his bets on need based awards at very competitive schools with a “prestige factor” thrown in. </p>
<p>To be honest, I think the family should have considered their priority long before now…is it prestige or finances? Their list of schools suggests prestige. I hope it all works out.</p>
<p>FYI-
Tulane now has a “no loan” policy for families earning under $75K
in addition to all the merit $$ they offer. Tulane’s admit rate was only about $25% last year, but I agree with xiggi-- its probably not “prestigious” enough for dadII’s “friend”… who may be looking at a list for next year…</p>
<p>By the way, according to this thread <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/602141-psat-curve.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/602141-psat-curve.html</a> some schools have alredy received their PSAT scores. So, if the student did well enough to assure they will be a NMSF, then it is certainly likely that this thread is about a HS junior… a “friend” of dadII’s HS jr son…</p>
<p>Jym, as the mother of a student attending Tulane you might have access to more recent data on admission. Unless I missed it --and I am not tracking Tulane very often-- Tulane has not released verifiable data for the 2008 cycle.</p>
<p>The last information from official reports seem to indicate:</p>
<p>PROFILE OF FALL 2007 ADMISSION </p>
<p>Admission Rates
Overall Admission Rate 44% of 16,967 applicants were admitted
Students Enrolled 1,964 (26%) of 7,526 admitted students enrolled
Early Decision
Admission Rate 39% of 207 applicants were admitted </p>
<p>However, we can safely agree that Tulane is a selective school that offers great benefits to the overwhelming majority of US high schoolers. Unfortunately, the benefits lose a lot their face value for applicants who seek the highly prestigious schools and have a low EFC.</p>
<p>Have a happy turkey day!</p>
<p>I think xiggi and others may be right that this family does not want to consider those “middle” schools (I realize we are using this term from their POV - as we are guessing it - not our POV) like Vanderbilt, Tulane, etc. etc.</p>
<p>The question they need to address is this: if the only acceptance that is affordable to them is OSU… will those now-discounted “middle” schools begin to look better to the parents? Because if that happens in April, it will be too late.</p>
<p>The second question is: how do those “middle” schools look to the student in comparison to OSU? Because if they already look better to him than they do to his parents, or they will look better to him if he doesn’t get the desired results from HYPSSM et al… then now is the time to put one or more on his list.</p>
<p>Can’t put my fingers on the numbers presented at the different presentations by Pres. Cowen at the moment, xig, but from what I recall (combined with what I posted elsewhere on CC shortly after he and the admissions folks presented these numbers) they received around 34,000 applications this past year, accepted around 8,000, with a yield of only about 19% (thats where they really need to do their work, IMO).</p>
<p>Unless things have changed in the past two years, the big scholarship at Emory requires a school nomination. A friend of S’s got the nod from his school for it.</p>
<p>If Dad II’s friend’s son is a senior, it really is too late to be thinking about major merit money at T-25s. Hope the state school has a program he likes if the mega reaches don’t come through.</p>
<p>Dad II, did you pass any of the very helpful feedback on to your friend, so that he can compile a list for his son that is thoughtful and reflects the son’s interests and desires, and is simply not just a laundry list of prestigious colleges? You have gotten some really good advice to pass on to your friend.</p>