| Thanks, l_g. Sounds like your list is sensible. (Note disclaimer in previous message about not having access to the info that the adcoms will have.) Another factor, too, is the "competition" from within your school. A parent from a prep school comparable to yours (and I know there are few, but this was one of them) told me yesterday that 51 kids from the senior class had applied to Middlebury. My guess is that many of them were highly qualified. I don't know how many of that group Middlebury admitted, but I can assure you that it wasn't remotely close to 51.
This could be all prep-school grapevine hearsay. Those figures may not be accurate, but they're probably in the ballpark. The key point is that, although admission officials will typically say that applicants aren't competing with their own high school classmates, that's not exactly the straight scoop.
So, depending on how many (dozens of) others from your school have similar lists and how strong those others are, your odds could go up ... or down ... at your target colleges.
I still think you should add Smith. Assuming there are no skeletons in your closet, Smith sounds like a "Safe" choice for you. And, if finances are a concern, you might want to aim for some of the big merit scholarships at schools like Emory, BC, and BU. |