UCs do not use recommendations (except that some applicants to UCB are invited to send optional recommendations) and do not require transcripts on application. Applicants self-report their high school records and planned and in-progress course work on the application. The final transcripts are required after matriculation, but every university-bound student will need one final transcript sent to a university regardless of which university they attend.
So would a UC application count as 0 applications for the purpose of your high school?
The same could apply to any other university that does not require recommendations or transcripts on application.
These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).
one question is whether IB courses count as 3 honors courses (because of 3 Higher Level IB), or 6 because they have been taken in junior and senior year
UC applications county as 1
British Common applications (6) count as 1
one argument the school presents for capping applications to 10 schools is to prevent the best students from monopolizing acceptance tu the best universities, which do count how many admits they issue to a particular high school in a given year.
Thatâs not a good reason (I know you have little control over it). An alternative could be to just limit highly rejective apps, but not limit apps to schools with higher admit rates (which are far less likely to cap by hs/country).
In the US the policies that limit apps tend to be an equity issue too, as students who are merit hunting often must apply to more than 10 schools because merit aid awards can be highly variable and impossible to know in advance at some schools. Some US schools with app limits will allow students in this situation to send more apps, but some wonât.
And where is the line? Many full pay families on paper canât afford full pay and/or would be very interested in maximizing merit $. Perhaps all the students from your kidsâ school who are looking to study overseas are full pay though, so not an issue for that school and its students.
Could you argue that your child may add universities where others donât apply (you could give examples such as UVermont, which is topnotch for Environmental Science yet easier to get into than most reaches; not sure how popular UWashington Seattle is at your school, or whether LACs such as St Olaf would have a lot of applications from mid-ranked students.)
Sounds like your HS is confident everyone will be admitted somewhere and thus thereâs no need to plan for safeties (or that one UC will be a safety, which may or may not be the right strategy depending on what type of environment the child wants!)
Reach: Washington St Louis, Wesleyan, UCSD, UCSB College of L&S, University of Washington St Louis
Match: Franklin & Marshall, Toronto
Safety: UBC, McGill, Loyola Marymount
SoâŠthis is the current list of possible places for applications. Am I correct that you are asking how to whittle your stretch and reach schools (not sure there is a differenceâŠthey are ALL reaches)?
On thingâŠyou have âWashington St. Louisâ and âUniversity of Washington St. Louisâ in your reach list. Do you mean âWashington University St. Louisâ. Or what.
The F&M throws me off - just rarely hear about in context with the others.
Swimming also throws me off - some are D1, some D3. Are we swimming ?
While I might (or might not) agree that LMU is a safety, there were some kids with a similar gpa, high test, lots of APs rejected or WL this year. Surprised me. Clearly surprised those who wrote in about it. So - not sure even they can be labeled a safety. That said I helped a young man last year - mid 3s, little rigor, 30 ACTâŠwas headed to Depauw and he got in and now attends LMU. So one never knows.
Thanks for all your comments, couple clarifications:
The purpose of the thread is âmatch meâ & seeks advice to thoughtfully shrink it to UCs (UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSD, UCSB, UCSC) + 5 stretch/reach + 2 match (Toronto, Franklin & Marshall)+ 2 safeties (McGill, Loyola Marymount). The advice is mostly sought for the stretch/reach schools, since there are many and only 5 allowed within the cap
The discussion about the 10 school cap should be taken to a different thread. it is simply her high school policy, and we have to live with it.
D is seeking to be recruited as a D3 swimmer, but as stated we assign a 30% probability to that outcome. Her list is assembled in case she isnât recruited, and therefore includes schools with swimming programs in both D1 and D3
The list includes Washington University St Louis, which was listed twice by mistake
UCSC most likely but add Merced for assurance. And/or UCR.
The reaches are reaches.
Iâd say Loyola Marymount is a likely, not a safety. Too many rejections this year with better stats (including WL). F&M more likely due to full pay but at best a match. But itâs not an easy admit.
RPI - because if full pay better odds. But a match not safety.
The four languages probably does help a lot. But do you want to take a chance ?
Iâd personally add a safety. An international with no test is too hard to evaluate (for me).
There are many reputable flagships that would be a safety.
I donât think this poster is looking to add schools. I think they want to pare down the list. They already have match and safety schools.
Here is my suggestion about the reach/stretch schools. I would pick 3 on the east coast, 3 on the west coast and 1 or two in the middle. With the UCs counting as one application, and the Canadian schools counting as one application, this should be possible.
Have your daughter make a list of her top criteria, and see which schools come closest to meeting most of the boxes on her list.
Since she has a 10 school limitâŠyou really need to start eliminating some of these options. SoâŠI hate to put it this wayâŠlook for the reasons she would NOT want to attend.
@tsbna44: RPI was removed from the list following comments/advice
@thumper1: there is no need to apply a geographical selection such as the suggested 3 west +1 Midwest +3 Northeast. if the best recommendations for stretch/reach are all in the northeast, thatâs completely fine
There are a total of 4 Safety & Match applications on the list (2 Canadian applications each count for 1) + UCs count for 1 = 5
That leaves 5 stretch/reach schools:
any advice appreciated to reduce the current number (even to 7-8) stretch/reach schools is much appreciated
having D prioritizing the list is an obvious first step, and summer visits may help further eliminate some names (bear in mind that she has never been on a university campus, but will spend the whole summer on one and one week visiting others)
I understand the parameters to be followed are those of the school but are you sure McGill&UT count as one? Because (unlike CommonApp) they require separate transcripts/recs to be sent.
To prioritize:
how important is Greek life to her 1° to join 2° not to be bothered with/by?
(I assume Greek life matters to a certain extent due to F&M)
is she bothered by excessive consumption of beer? hard alcohol? weed?
does she enjoy spending Saturday afternoon in a stadium watching football? what about basketball? Or does she find the thought uncouth?
does she want as many small (under 20), interactive classes as possible?
is learning, to her, something done for its own sake, or is it something to be accumulated to get âcertifiedâ and get a job?
does she envision herself working towards a PHD?
how important is economic diversity to her? ethnic diversity?
As stated, 2 match (Toronto / Franklin & Marshall) + 2 safeties (McGill / Loyola Marymount) + UCs = 5
Greek life: D24 doesnât know what it is, has never experienced it.
Alcohol: sheâs had beer, wine, and some harder alcohol in limited amounts for several years. not interested in drugs (for now).
Sports: Even if not recruited, she remains an athlete, as a walk-on and/or a keen spectator of sports
Small classes: they are a great, but she would also appreciate the diversity and breath of classes at a large school like Berkeley. Importantly, Environmental Science is a very broad field and weâre carefully researching the depth of each program. some smaller colleges offer the degree, but much more limited tenured faculty / breath of courses
Environnemental Science: D24 is passionate about the field and wants to pursue that passion in both college and future work. Of course, college learning isnât restricted to one particular field, particularly since environmental science is really cross-department in nature. Cannot tell with certainty whether sheâll want to pursue a PhD. However, one preference maybe to remove very hard academic schools like Chicago, John Hopkins
Diversity: D24 has lived and grown up in diversity, and expects that to continue in college. She ruled out attending college in the South
This is my opinion onlyâŠand really could go a couple of ways. Chicago, Carnegie Mellon and WashU are outliersâŠbeing in the Midwest. If she wants to be closer to each coastâŠyou could eliminate those three.
Colby, Middlebury, Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Colby, Dartmouth all in the very northeast, and rural. Pick two.
Seems like CA schools are big on the list. SoâŠkeeping in addition to the CA publics (one application count), pick one or two from amongst Stanford, Pomona, Claremont (Iâm assuming you mean Claremont McKenna).
Then you have Swat, HOPKINS, Brown, Barnard left. Again. Pick two.
On the list above, you have three safety schools. If they are all definitely sure admission, affordable and your daughter likes them, pick only two.