Chance Me: ED Yale, Stanford, Amherst, EA UVA? [NV, 3.82 UW, 1560SAT, 35ACT, Anthropology, Sociology or IR,<$100k family income]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Here are the 10 small colleges with the highest per capita research funding from federal sources FY22

#285 US Naval Academy - $10,147,000
#344 Wesleyan University - $5,267,000
#369 Barnard College - $3,378,000
#398 Wellesley College - $2,915,000
#402 Amherst College - $2,862,000
#406 Haverford College - $2,722,000
#412 Occidental College - $2,622,000
#419 (tie) Bucknell College $2,539,000
#419 (tie) Spelman College - $2,539,000
#439 Middlebury College - $2,281,000
https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf24308/table/25

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Based off of our previous discussion, I’ve been looking at LACs like Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Wesleyan that have relatively higher ED acceptance rates! Do you think it’s worth it to give a shot at these schools ED?

My school doesn’t have either Naviance or SCOIR, but from what my teachers have told me, students usually have a 3.8+ GPA and 1500+ to get some level of admission at T20s from my school. I know students from past grades at my school who have similar academic stats to mine who have earned admission to Stanford, so I’m wondering if that makes me qualified within the “ballpark”…

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Kenyon (and I’m sure Grinnell as well) has a very good career development center, and they send out updates every week with internships, research and job openings all over the country (including special opportunities through the “Kenyon connection”/alumni network). So, I wouldn’t necessarily link geographic location with internship opportunities (or lack thereof).

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For particularly notable opportunities in two of these cities, look into Hamilton, which offers term-length programs in New York City and Washington, with associated internships.

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What does “<$100,000” mean in your subject title?

Might I suggest that you change your title to say <$15,000 a year (or I can do this for you).

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Awesome, will take a look! Thanks

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<100k refers to my families approximate income! 15,000 is just usually a number that my family is more comfortable paying per year for school

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Will take a look, thanks!

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I changed your subject. See if it’s OK.

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Thanks! Also, any thoughts on a CMC ED for my application? Just did the NPC and it looks good, and I saw online acceptance rates are around 30% for ED cycle.

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Ohhhh. $15,000

That does change things.

Some schools, like Rice and the Rice investment - you’d get full tuition (assuming family assets aren’t out of range).

You really need to run the NPCs at many schools and apply to W&L for the Johnson, SMU for the Presidential and others where the NPC show you can go for $15k. Again, the Taco Bell award is awesome but may impact your need. You should ask a few schools how it works.

Reno, if you take less expensive food and housing, can make it there with the $8k Presidential. UNLV has a $10k Presidential and if you earn these, could work.

So $15k but $100k in income will be tight. Schools may say you need to spend more and the most generous are likely not realistic. So check the NPCs at Kenyon and Franklin & Marshall, Denison, Miami, Emory, Lafayette, Franklin & Marshall, Oxy of course as it’s on your list, etc. I gave you a list before of meets needs schools. Just know some are need aware. If they show that you need so much, they may reject you for that reason.

If NPCs show higher than $15k and I suspect many meets need schools will, then you have a conundrum.

As an aside, there are schools - not your type but ones like Alabama and Mississippi State where you’d be $20kish or a tad lower for tuition room and board. At Ole Miss, which has the outstanding Croft Imstitute for International Studies, tuition, room and board are $41,200 OOS (not including books, travel). You’d get if I’m read right $28,440 off so you’d be under $15k all in.

Not your kind of school I know but when you have a tight budget you need to trade off. And it’s strong for International Relations.

Hopefully Occidental or others admit you. But what if they don’t or they want far more than you can afford? That’s where the Nevada schools or an Ole Miss can come into play.

Perhaps high merit plus need schools like Beloit and Kalamazoo can work with you but unless they are need blind and meets need and the NPC shows a $$ amount that works for you, $15k will be tough.

So it’s onerous but it would make sense to look at the NPCs if meets need schools one by one.

Just know, the most generous will be the hardest admits. Hence the need for back ups, even if they’re not the dream.

Good luck.

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Don’t forget, the higher rate includes hooked people - questbridge, athletes.

This last year was 202/816. So a tad less than 25%.

But it’s an inflated #.

If you like the school , it is need blind.

I think it’s a better chance than a Stanford or Yale so it seems reasonable reach since the NPC shows ok for you. Please call and walk them through your Taco Bell award before applying.

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Those are all NESCAC colleges which because of their highly competitive sports rivalries (often compared to the Ivy League) are willing to commit tremendous resources towards the recruitment of Division 3 athletes. What that basically boils down to is how reliable those ED rates are when it comes to unhooked applicants (the lion’s share of recruitment takes place during the ED1 and ED2 process.)

Personally, I’m very old-fashioned when it comes to the subject of ED. To me, it begs the question of whether you will be able to visit any of these schools?

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This site will help you compare disparate colleges and universities by general selectivity:

CMC, for example, placed 41st by selectivity when compared nationally. A strategy (if you would like to be strategic) as to where to apply ED can be separate from, but related to, general selectivity.

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If you have a mentor at Brown, ask their opinion. I’ll tag @Catcherinthetoast who has some recent experience re: Brown, and he probably can give you some good advice.

Re: ED…I would suggest you NOT apply to any ED school prior visiting.

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So people from those colleges just travel to do internships in major cities, including East Coast cities. Indeed, as others pointed out, unless your college is literally in the same city as your internship, you are going to need to get a different place to live in that city while doing your internship. Same as people from, say, California colleges who do internships in East Coast cities (and there are plenty of those!), and so on.

If it helps, Grinnell has information about this available:

https://www.grinnell.edu/after-grinnell/graduate-outcomes

As the top locational destinations, they list:

  • Boston, MA
  • Chicago, IL
  • Iowa City, IA
  • Minneapolis & St. Paul, MN
  • New York, NY
  • Washington, DC

The main distinction between Grinnell and a coastal college is that Grinnell is going to send relatively more people to, say, Chicago or the Twin Cities (which are great, by the way), and obviously Iowa City would not be on a coastal college’s list at all.

But the other three cities are the precise three cities you named. Because of course they are. In that sense it is just a matter of relative proportions, but if you want to be among the Grinnell graduates who go to, say, Boston instead of Chicago, then you can be.

Kenyon doesn’t break it down quite the same way, but it actually has a lot more detailed information on this subject. And you will see lots of their graduates are taking employment in coastal cities too:

https://www.kenyon.edu/academics/career-development/after-kenyon/

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My daughter’s internship this summer is in NJ (turned down offers in Boston and NYC), she’s a Clemson student, my niece goes to Richmond, her internship is in NYC, she is a rising senior and just got her offer for after graduation (she lives in the Chicago area).

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Bowdoin unhooked ED is hard. 13% (260/2000) admit rate, take out the hooked and athletes, it is single digits.

Wesleyan unhooked ED has a bit of a bump, but hard to quantify.

Middlebury February start ED for unhooked applicants has a significant bump. We know some who have gone this route.

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Not a fan of ED as an admissions “strategy”. ED is fine if it is your clear favorite (or at least T3 that are close in desirability) and is affordable. The ED bump, if any, varies by school because the numbers are obscured by athletes and other hooks. Where ED logically has a greater bump are schools that are trying to enhance yield, which if you think about it, gives you an idea of their desirability with the general applicant population.

EA is great because it potentially sets a “floor” for your safety and gives you an indication of how strong your application is.

Your GPA and rank make Yale and Stanford severe reaches, although coming from Nevada helps. Maybe you will be the diamond in the rough given your circumstances, so maybe shoot your shot.

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Congratulations on the strong profile you’ve built in high school, and my condolences on the passing of your father.

Below are my guesses as to what your chances might be at the colleges on your list. Please note that low probability doesn’t mean impossibility.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • UNLV, UNR (if they have automatic admission based on certain minimum requirements that you’ve met, then they would be assured)

Likely (60-79%)

  • George Washington: Only if you show demonstrated interest here…they don’t like feeling as though they’re a safety for Georgetown. They don’t meet full need (94% was the last number I saw), so they may not necessarily be as need-aware as a school that says it meets 100% of need. If there is more need-sensitivity, then this should drop down at least one category, too.

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Occidental: It meets 100% of need but is not need-blind, thus I dropped your chances for admission here from a likely to a toss-up.

Lower Probability (20-39%)

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • UVA

  • Amherst

  • Georgetown

  • Williams

  • U. of Southern California

  • Harvard

  • Yale

  • Princeton

  • Stanford

Additionally, I’d advise you to become familiar with the linked list of schools: All 115 Need-Blind Colleges in the US: A Complete Guide (ETA: Please disregard this recommendation. This website listed a number of schools as need-blind that are need-aware.)

These are schools that claim to be need-blind, i.e. schools that will not taken into account the amount of financial aid that you need when making a decision about an application. Additionally, although this list doesn’t include them, it’s also almost all public colleges. ETA: Any information provided by a third party source should be verified with the school’s own publications. There were some surprises on this list, and after verifying at least one of them, there is at least one inaccuracy (if not more than one).

I would suggest targeting schools for which they won’t care that they will need to significantly subsidize the cost of your education because they really want you. Look at schools with higher acceptance rates than the majority of the schools on your list. I’ll post some possible schools to consider a little later.

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