<p>HImom, video games are an important part of life for teenage boys. Don't fault him too much for that if he's getting the work done.</p>
<p>Mrs.P:</p>
<p>Since Curmudgeon is out listening to his D's val speech, I'll tell you that I was among CC posters who said he was not reaching high enough. His D ended up applying to Yale and getting in! In the end, she opted not to attend. But had other factors (including money) not been a consideration, she could have attended this super-reach school.
It does not hurt to have a reach school or two on one's list. It might be the one that the student ends up attending. But it should not be both financially out of reach and the dream school. That combination can be fatal.</p>
<p>marite, I didn't know that about Curmudgeon because I haven't read all the older threads here. </p>
<p>Next question, should the dream school be a match or a safety?</p>
<p>Why should there be such a thing as a "dream school"? It's a school, isn't it? Are there "dream" nursery schools? "Dream" high schools? </p>
<p>"Dream" summer camps I think I can get my head around. "Nightmare" schools, too. ;)</p>
<p>"Reach" is simply a category of difficulty in getting in. It says absolutely nothing about a child's "dreams", hopes, career aspirations, particular needs, or even where s/he is most likely to be happy, or learn most/best.</p>
<p>If you simply made a chart of the median family income at each school, and plotted it against "rankings", or "difficulty of getting in", or "comparative revealed preference", you'd find that the charts (with some significant exceptions, such as the tech schools - MIT, Cooper Union, etc.) look strikingly similar. So what exactly is there to dream about, and what does it tell us about the quality and character of our dreams? (see "worshipping false gods".)</p>
<p>Mrs.P; don't discount the fact that boys grow up tremendously between the ages of 17 and 20. A school which is nirvana to your kid right now may be stifling by the end of Freshman year of college. Perhaps your GC just wants your son to imagine himself in several different types of environments.</p>
<p>If your son has exhibited late-bloomer tendencies during adolesence, a college which feels comfortable and attractive now may just not have enough challenge (academic, social, artistic, etc.) once he gets there.</p>
<p>I am a senior in high school who is homeschooled. Based on test scores alone, I am in the bottom 50% of students admitted to my reach school, the school I will be attending in the fall: the University of Chicago. </p>
<p>My scores did not dissuade me in any way from applying, as it is the one and only school I would like to attend; I consider myself a hard worker who loves to study and learn, and, like the stereotypical UChicago student, I very much lack a social life. The U. of C. seems like the perfect "fit" for me, as I live in Hyde Park and think I know what I am in for.</p>
<p>This past summer, I took a notoriously difficult course through the University, taught by a just as tough professor. I worked like crazy to keep up with the rest of the students, who were mainly grad students from the University fulfilling a requirement. In the end, I earned an 'A' - and I was invited to audit the intermediate sequence during this school year, which I am doing.</p>
<p>I think that, if one puts one's nose to the grindstone, it is feasible to tackle difficult subjects at a "reach" school. Despite the fact that my SAT scores are lower than half of the class, I hope my work ethic will help me keep up with them.</p>
<p>Well, there are some students who have "dreamed" of attending College X since they were in elementary school. Usually, College X is a super-reach--and often financially out of reach (but parents do not always disclose this in time). </p>
<p>For some, however, the dream school is a "safety." And that is fine and better for peace of mind than a super-reach school. And yet, it can cause its own mini trauma, as witness Wolfpiper who is having qualms about attending U Montana which is a perfect fit for her interests save that she thinks her stats are higher than those of the majority of students there.</p>
<p>Anyway, both my Ss had several schools they would have been happy to attend. One agonized between several down to the wire; the other had a clearer sense of what his #1 choice was but would have been fine with all the other schools on his list.</p>
<p>MrsP: the reason I understand your point is because I have a D who pushed and applied to many super reaches including several Ivies. She had very modest SAT's, no SATII's over a level 3, was not in the top 10% ranking, and is a white female from suburbia. She did have a fairly strong music EC. Mainly, she just has a lot of self confidence and determination and she is a female interested in the sciences. Of course, she was rejected by the Ivies and several much less selective colleges. She was accepted and is attending a fairly elite school where she is well within the bottom 25%. As Mini says, even at the elite schools, some kids have to be in the bottom half. My D was lucky enough to get what she wanted, but in general I would not recommend being in her situation.</p>
<p>mini - You out did yourself with your dream school post. It's great. :)</p>
<p>My take on a "reach" school - we skip them because they're too expensive. That's pretty much that.</p>
<p>Funny, we were at an orchestra event the other day and the concertmistress was introduced (she had played a truly magnifcent concerto). It went like this, "She got accepted at Harvard and Princeton, but will be attending Wake Forrest." Hmmm.</p>
<p>"Well, there are some students who have "dreamed" of attending College X since they were in elementary school."</p>
<p>Yeah, yeah, yeah. I dreamed of Dartmouth when I was a kid. That's 'cause it was in New Hampshire, and I had lost the piece for New Hampshire in my jigsaw puzzle of the 50 states, and I wondered what they grew there. Then I discovered that their color was green and I was SOLD (though I didn't know how to pronounce the "mouth" part.)</p>
<p>I also liked Bradley. I think they played against Oscar Robertson's school. I liked that I could find Cincinnati and Iowa and San Francisco on a map (that dates me ;)). But I thought Bradley must be special because where it was located was such a secret! (Still is....sortta like Hogwarts :))</p>
<p>I think there are nightmare schools. My D had at least one: a State school in the middle of nowhere, with a horrible climate, plenty of lazy students, very modest academics and nothing to do, but drinking.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <blockquote> <blockquote> <p>If your son has exhibited late-bloomer tendencies during adolesence, a college which feels comfortable and attractive now may just not have enough challenge (academic, social, artistic, etc.) once he gets there.</p> </blockquote> </blockquote> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Blossom, how can you anticipate that far into the future?</p>
<p>edad, did the strong music EC help her with admission to the elite school? My son also has a strong EC that he's been doing for some time. The GC didn't think it would help, although I've read otherwise here.</p>
<p>Mini:</p>
<p>Not all dreams are worth turning into realities. And some are chimeras and delusions.</p>
<p>MrsP, my daughter's list was made up of safety schools and 2 match schools.
Then she saw a counselor who told her to apply to a couple of reach schools.</p>
<p>My daughter came home and said, "why"? I like the schools on my list. She ended up applying to one reach school (I'm not counting the UCs where you just check a box). While she was waiting to see if she was accepted into her reach school, she found out she was accepted to her favorite school, a match school. </p>
<p>She had an interview with a person connected with her reach school. After the interview she sent the interviewer a thank you note. The note said thank you very much for your time. Your school is my second choice. </p>
<p>She was waitlisted. :)</p>
<p>"Not all dreams are worth turning into realities. And some are chimeras and delusions."</p>
<p>I know - that's why I didn't go to DartMOUTH. But I went to the next best thing, and then won a graduate fellowship to another school I didn't know how to pronounce. ;)</p>
<p>Dstark:</p>
<p>Your story is a classic case of Tufts syndrome at work! It does not matter that the "Tufts" was a reach; the WL was an acknowledgment that the school was only your D's #2 choice.</p>
<p>Marite, yes. I don't blame the school. I wouldn't have taken her either.</p>
<p>"the WL was an acknowledgment that the school was only your D's #2 choice."</p>
<p>May have been nothing of the sort. There is no necessary evidence that anyone in the admissions office ever even looked at it.</p>
<p>" I don't blame the school. I wouldn't have taken her either."</p>
<p>Looking back at it, I wouldn't have taken myself either. They must have been scraping the bottom of the waiting list barrel that year.</p>
<p>Mini:</p>
<p>If she got on the WL, somebody in the adm office must have looked at the app, no?</p>