This forum has been really helpful for my son and me. I am hoping to get advice on some safety schools to put on his list. He plans to apply to 7-8 schools – 1 reach, 4 targets, 2-3 safeties. He will work hard to have great applications and show interest in the reach and target schools. There is no time to visit most of the ones he is considering for safety schools. First, is this general plan a good one in terms of numbers and allocation of difficulty? Second, he visited UGA and liked it as a safety, but only if he gets into the honors college and some merit aid. I have heard wildly differing things about UGA’s admissions. Any advice on how to improve chances with honors admission and merit aid at UGA?
@middling here’s a pretty good indicator of where he stands https://honors.uga.edu/p_s/first-year_profile_this_year.html
Tentative academic interests?
He is interested in economics and environmental science/sustainability (different school name program differently and sometimes it’s just a minor). Deep commitment to both in ECs and internships.
The UGA honors link was great. Any idea of they superscore Eng and Math? He has a 35 superscored.
They do superscore and you are required to submit writing with it.
http://ugaadmissions.blogspot.com/2011/11/uga-and-act.html?m=1
Based on your son’s interests and ACT score, he should be able to find academically appropriate match and reach schools, as well as safer admits, from within the top 20 or so in this analysis: https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html. Note that the faculties of Vassar, Hamilton, Wesleyan and Williams tend to have an interest in environmental economics: https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.env.html. Middlebury and Colby would represent other top schools for your son’s combined interests.
Point of clarification on #5: UGA does superscore, but has stopped requiring the writing. Look at the comments below on the link @collegemom9 so helpfully provided. They required the writing as of 2011 when that piece was written, but have since re-thought requiring the writing. They still superscore!
It’s very hard to help you craft a list without knowing your son’s stats for admissions purposes, and you family ability to pay for financial purposes.
The above thread of yours indicates a 35 ACT and 4.1 GPA which is terrific. That you are looking for merit aid leads me to believe that you don’t qualify for need aid. So…you do need to consider what you CAN paynoer year in the equation.
I would suggest that your son apply to University of Alabama as soon as the application goes live…which should be soon. He should be eligible for a great merit award there.
UGA is NOTBa safety school if your son will consider it only with merit money and Honors college.
As @thumper1 said above, what you are able and willing to pay is a crucial element in that school list. It’s a waste of time to apply to schools that offer no merit money, for example, if you do not qualify for Fin aid and you have a limit on what you’ll pay. The money isn’t going to magically appear. Also, even at schools that do have scholarships, the criteria to get substantial money, can make them lottery tickets if you need that discount even if your student looks like a solid admit with his stats.
Also, certain schools are suspicious of being used as safeties by high stat kids and do use demonstrated interest in their admissions decisions. I’ve seen a lot of shock and stress when kids who had great stats were deferred or rejected by schools that they considered safeties.
Yes, superscore both ACT and SAT, no essay required for either. Here is the recent information straight from the website https://www.admissions.uga.edu/prospective-students/first-year/new-sat-info
@middling your son needs to build his list from the bottom…up. That means…pick those “safety” schools first…and show some interest to the ones that want that. Otherwise your son could be NOT accepted at a safety school that looks good stats wise…because the school just doesn’t think he will attend and wants to protect yield. @cptofthehouse is absolutely correct. Don’t ignore those safety schools.
I’m perplexed about his UGA thing. Are you instate for Georgia? Is he eligible for Hope or Zell Miller? Why is the honors college a deal breaker if he otherwise likes UGA?
If you could provide some insight about the following, folks here will be able to provide more targeted suggestions.
Does he have preferences regarding size/location/school spirit/sports/Greek life, campus culture, etc.?
Prospective major(s)
Stats - both weighted and unweighted GPA, course rigor (AP/IB/honors), test scores, extracurriculars
Budget - it sounds like you will be full pay and are seeking merit. Do you have a budget limit that you are willing to share?
Here is what the OP wrote on a different thread…
I think the one reach, two-three safeties, and the rest matches is a good approach!
The issue is categorizing that for a high stats student. You need to look at the overall acceptance rates, not GPA/score ranges when sorting the list.
As noted by others, UGA isn’t a safety if he will only go if he’s accepted to honors with merit.
If you need merit money to make college affordable, look at U Alabama, as thumper1 suggested. Also U South Carolina and Arizona.
FWIW, my D saw the highest merit awards at our instate, non flagship, schools.
With the 35 ACT and a 4.1 GPA, I think you can expand the possible list with 2-3 more reaches, although ultimately applying to 7-10 schools is very sensible. UGA has early action and it looks like 10-15% of accepted students automatically qualify for the honors program. Your son should definitely plan on doing that, and common wisdom is that getting your app’s (including apps for merit aid) in early is to your benefit. In addition, he should pick an additional target and reach school to apply early. I am assuming UGA without honors is a safety and with honors is a target. Even the super reachy schools that have REA, almost all make an exception for EA at public schools (and rolling admissions in general), so your choices would not be limited by the EA application to UGA. Depending on where the early action results fall, you would then shift your list to include more or less reachy schools.
On aid, is merit aid a preference or is it a must because of strict limits you are willing/can pay? If it is the latter case, as suggested above, you need to run NPC’s to see if a school is even fiscally realistic. The higher you go up in the selectivity food chain, the less likely there is much or any merit aid, although need based aid often becomes more generous, especially in the ratio of grants to loans.