After D got denied by her ED school yesterday, she finally started worrying that perhaps her list is kind of short and top-heavy. Her dad and I have felt this all along, but she has a pretty solid safety and a match that we feel is close to a safety, too. Her dad and I had thought that, if all the more selective schools deny her, perhaps having a choice among safeties might be better, mostly for morale, because honestly, the safety school would be a fine place and she’d probably wind up loving it.
Is it late to add a few? Should we even bother? She was so picky that it was hard to craft her list of six (now five). She ruled out a few great choices for reasons like “too small”, “ugly campus”, “too Greek/sporty/preppy”.
She’s a full IB diploma student with an UW GPA of around 95, W 103, old SAT 1930. White suburban female from NY, no special hooks or anything. Here’s the list at present, in order of preference, not selectivity:
Macalester
Kenyon
Dickinson
Muhlenberg
Grinnell
Is it a bad idea to risk being “locked in” to one safety? The thing is, she really liked the school a lot when we visited, it’s just been diminished in her mind after she built up the other schools, especially the one that just rejected her. Is it too stressful to suddenly have to rush out more apps? And does it send the message of, “Emergency! Your ED school said no, so now we have to worry about all the others!” Which is exactly how SHE felt after receiving the rejection.
If Macalester is now her 1st choice, has she considered ED2?
She could add more schools that she would be admitted to, but if she has no desire to attend they aren’t going to give her much choices so why bother. Has she ruled out schools like St. Lawrence, Goucher, Beloit maybe Wooster or St. Mary’s?
NY has some good and small state schools from Geneseo to ESF (Environmental Science and Forestry). It’s not too late to include one. What is her major interest?
Geneseo is a nice safety school. Lovely campus, nice atmosphere, cute town. Muhlenberg is the safety? I think you need a true safety, and Geneseo fits the bill. Clark would be another good safety. It’s not too late, however Clark likes to see interest, so she should add herself to the email list and maybe contact a rep to ask about an interview. Clark isn’t sporty, has no, or very little Greek life, is a bit quirky, definitely falls in with Macalester and Grinnell. Wondering why she didn’t apply EA to Dickinson. Dickinson is not a safety. Muhlenberg probably is, but I would add one more, to be sure.
If Mac is her next favorite school, then perhaps ED2 there. Has the EA deadline at Dickinson passed? At least that is a February notification, could give her some breathing room if she had an acceptance. Even so, I’d consider Dickinson a match, not safety – definitely need to show interest, request interview if hasn’t already interviewed etc.
Similar schools to consider, if not already rejected from her list, would be Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke, St Lawrence on the east coast, though, I just went to read through some of your old posts, and see that she is not interested in women’s colleges. Bryn Mawr – with BiCo cooperation with Haverford – might still be worth a look.
Also see you did not have a good experience at Wooster and she does not like trimester, so my Wooster and Kalamazoo suggestions won’t help. I can’t remember if you visited Denison and it came off the list – if not, consider adding Denison, it has a lot of overlap with Dickinson, plus diverse student body, strong music programs (and amazing music building in the works), and pretty accessible from Columbus airport.
This is the only real issue I see. Can you talk up the safety school at all? Remind her of what she liked about it? She needs to just forget the ED school and any comparisons with the other colleges.
I agree that at present Muhlenberg is probably the closest thing to a safety on her list and that switching to ED2 at Macalester would maximize her chances there. Her SAT puts her into the 25-50% of admitted students at Mac.
Additional safeties - I will echo some suggestions made here - Clark, Beloit, St. Lawrence would be worth a look. I remember she said she didn’t like Wooster - do you remember why and is it negotiable? I can tell you more about it if you like. I also PMed you with additional info about Oberlin, but that is going to be about as competitive as Mac for admission. Oberlin does state very clearly that GPA is the most important and test scores are less heavily weighted but it would be more of a low reach than a safety, IMO. The application is not onerous - it’s Common App plus 250 words of “why Oberlin?” and IIRC there was no application fee. But for what it’s worth, it supplanted Vassar in my daughter’s estimation after our visit.
I have heard nice things about Lawrence, in Canton NY. Some of the CTCL schools in PA like Susquehanna and Ursinus might be worth a peek.
Has she considered St. Olaf? My D is not religious but she found much to like there, including their strong music and study abroad programs. No Greek life and minimal partying. Denison (Granville, OH) might be a safety/match but leans more towards the preppy/sporty (but not entirely). Town is cute.
My D sounds much like your D in her tastes. She strongly considered and/or applied to every school on your D’s list and has applications pending at Mac, Oberlin, Dickinson, St. Olaf, Wooster, and Case Western. She applied to two public safeties as well. PM me if you have questions.
No, It is not too late to add more schools to the list, just have to do your research and act quickly, assuming January 1 application deadlines.
My son did not submit any applications other than his ED one until after he received his notice of deferral. But he had the list already defined (one safety school was added, and we visited, after he had submitted his ED app).
Some suitable safety schools might have later deadlines, too, giving you a bit of leeway.
Before doing any work on applications, she should find out whether the high school would be able to do their part in meeting the deadlines. If the high school’s deadline for submitting requests for transcripts and recommendations for schools with January 1 application deadlines has already passed, she can’t add more schools unless the high school can make an exception to the rules.
I second the St Olaf recommendation, as long as she doesn’t mind the MN winters. Her “too Greek/sporty/preppy” comments make her sound very similar to a friend of my D, who is thriving at St Olaf. She is a very liberal Christian and wouldn’t have been happy at a strongly religious school.
My son is at Oberlin, another school that might fit the bill. It has a lower acceptance rate than the other schools on her list, but it’s worth a shot.
She actually did apply EA to Dickinson, and showed a ton of interest. We visited on the first day of classes, did the tour, info session and interview. She interviewed with her regional admissions representative, and a month later when he was visiting a private high school in our area, she arranged to have coffee with him. We also attended an event for prospective students at the house of an alumnus a month after that.
The Mac application was already sent, does anybody know if you can ask them to change RD to ED II? I’m not sure my daughter will want to do that, but the deadline isn’t until January 15 so it’s definitely a thought that has popped into my head.
Yes, Muhlenberg is the safety. My question is mostly about whether it’s a bad idea to have just the one safety, or if it’s a worse idea to act like she needs to scramble around to add schools just because her ED school didn’t accept her.
Some of the schools mentioned were ruled out for various reasons, and others are ones we have considered if she were to go ahead and add some schools. I really appreciate all the input.
I would add a safety for peace of mind. Muhlenberg is probably a very good bet, but I’m a worrier, and knowing that they admit so heavily from the ED round would worry me for an RD candidate who is so demographically similar to the applicant pool and has no hooks.
My kids only had one safety. We worked hard talking up the college so that it felt less like “last licks” and more like a really, really attractive option “just in case”.
I don’t think there is any harm in adding a few schools. But if the GC agrees that Muhlenberg is a rock solid safety and you know you can afford it, I’d be working hard to shift the dialogue a bit at home (for one, stop calling it a safety school.) Nomenclature really makes a difference- it’s not a safety school, it’s a college which she is going to love and which will love her back big time.
I am amazed how popular M has become in my neck of the woods over the last decade. The kids I know who are there and have gone there really love it. Artsy without being pretentious; accepting and warm student body without feeling like you are in a group therapy session and not a college. A good place to be both academic and musical (or academic and sporty/athletic, or academic and something else) without feeling like your social and EC opportunities have to be confined to one little box. Lots to do that doesn’t involve drinking. Solid academics but not cut-throat.
I think your D looks good for Dickinson and Muhlenberg, because her gpa and rigor is so good, but can also understand the anxiety and the thought that it is a good idea to add to the list. Since she liked Vassar, has she thought about Bard or Sarah Lawrence or even Bennington? Agree with the other posters that Clark or St Olaf could be good options. She may also like Conn College, though that would not be a safety.
@zoosermom I thank you for your reply, but it’s exactly what I don’t understand about this process! It makes me feel that it is impossible to call any school a safety. My daughters GPA and test scores are well above average for Muhlenberg(CR and W above the 75th %ile, M within the middle 50th). We attended the info session, toured, and interviewed. She is in the most rigorous program in her high school, has decent ECs (8 years of an instrument and orchestras both in and out of school, some volunteer work, summer job), decent essay, probably glowing recs (teachers love her) etc., and I still have to worry that she won’t get in?
And yes, I have definitely been reminding her about how much she liked Muhlenberg. She did crack a smile when I reminded her how close it is to Dorney park, ha ha.
What is her SAT breakdown? I’d add another safety or low match if it were my kid. You are correct that it is good to have choices. Have you looked Wooster or St. Lawrence? How about Mount Holyoke; if she hasn’t visited and pooh-pooh’s women’s colleges, I’d encourage her to apply & visit if she gets in – students and parents often change their opinion once they step on campus. How about St. Mary’s College of Maryland? (Not religious, public university with LAC look & feel).
You are correct that it is good to have choices. Remind her that she is not committing by just applying (except ED), and she can visit her final choices again for accepted student days before deciding.
She should sign up right away for admissions emails wherever she decides to add to at least show a little interest.
My daughter loved, loved, loved Muhlenberg and applied RD in her year. I think she was a little higher stats than your D, although also a full IB diploma candidate. She did, however, have a little something extra that Muhlenberg loved. The school was very generous to her. Your D is probably a sure bet. But I’m a massive worrier, that’s just how I’m wired, and Muhlenberg admits heavily from RD and then grants (or did) housing preference to ED students, which would have driven my daughter crazy. I think your D will probably have more than one excellent choice when the decisions are out. I just have very low risk tolerance for important things.
I second the suggestion of checking out Ursinus College in PA, a CTCL schools in a Philadelphia suburb, very similar to Muhlenberg. My oldest D applied to Muhlenberg, Dickinson, and Ursinus several years ago, liking the “feel” of all of them. Also, as a nice bonus, Ursinus recently rolled out a new “Gateway Scholarship” program, which offers $30 K per year to applicants meeting certain minimum HS curriculum requirements, along with at least a 28 ACT or 1260 SAT, reading and math, info here:
I think it’s tough to get to the end of the day and not have a choice, no matter how much you love your safety. For that reason alone I would want to have more than one. I told my daughter she needed at least 2 safeties because I wanted her to be able to choose her school, not have it be the only one standing. (It ended up not being a problem for her as her list, with which she was very satisfied, ended up being 3 safeties and 2 low matches).
Yes, she should contact the rep by email and CC the ad office, asking for her app to be switiched to ED2. It shouldn’t be a problem.
Good point, make sure the counseling office sends things before Xmas break.
Also agree that while she will probably get into Muhlenberg, it’s very comforting to have choices. I strongly encourage her adding one more good bet (maybe good idea to not call it a safety:-)
My D definitley felt better about having choices. You have had excellent suggestions for a school to add.
