Has your mom run the NPCs for the schools on this list? Have they been found to be affordable (especially your far reaches, as there’s no chance for merit aid)?
Additionally, if your UW GPA is 3.3 and weighted is 3.7, then that is very different than a 3.7 UW GPA.
Can you share what aspects drew you to these schools and/or away from some of the schools that were listed on your mom’s thread? That might help with suggestions.
If your GPA is a 3.3UW and a 3.7W, then these are my guesses as to your chances for admission:
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Likely (60-79%)
SUNY New Paltz
SUNY Purchase (but closer to extremely likely than toss-up)
U. of Vermont (leaning closer to a toss-up)
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Clark
Hunter
UMass – Amherst (but if this school is not affordable at sticker price minus any federal financial aid, like a Pell grant, then I would remove it)
Lower Probability (20-39%)
American (leaning closer to a toss-up than low probability…but with a lot of demonstrated interest would move into the toss-up category)
Connecticut College
George Washington
Low Probability (less than 20%)
Binghamton
Lehigh
Lafayette
Very Low Probability (less than 5%)
Tufts
UPenn
Cornell
Wesleyan
Vassar
BU
With respect to the SUNYs, I used this chart in addition to IPEDS data to inform my guesses. I do not know whether SUNYs are using weighted or unweighted GPAs in this chart, but I assumed that a 3.3 translates to an 87-89 and a 3.7 is a 90-92 (based off this College Board document ) AND that all the SUNYs calculate GPA the same way.
My last post may have been a bit dispiriting. I will say that your school counselors are likely best placed to chance you. You can ask them what admissions have been like for students like you over the last couple of years. If your school has Naviance or Scoir or similar, use that to help make guesses as to your chances at particular institutions. Nobody on this board (apart from your mom) knows the degree of rigor at the school and how your school is viewed by college admissions offices.
That said, below are some additional schools, most (but not all) of which were also mentioned on your mom’s thread. I focused on schools in the likelier categories, as that is where your list was thinnest. I would strongly urge you to have at least one, and preferably two, schools that are extremely likely to accept you, be affordable for your family, and that you would be happy to attend for four years.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Siena (NY): About 3500 undergrads and not far from Albany and all those political possibilities. And those NY Times-Siena polls that we hear so much about, especially during political campaign seasons? Yep, it’s this Siena. It’s a Catholic school, but I suspect it’s on the liberal, social justice side of Catholicism. You can read about its mission & values.
Suffolk (MA): About 4400 undergrads and just a couple blocks from the Massachusetts legislature
SUNY Oneonta: About 4900 undergrads
U. of Hartford (CT): About 4k undergrads and located in the Connecticut state capital
Likely (60-79%)
Hampshire (MA): About 500 undergrads in Amherst and can cross-register at UMass, Amherst, and Mount Holyoke & Smith.
Ithaca: About 4600 undergrads and students are allowed to cross-register at Cornell
Muhlenberg (PA ): About 2k undergrads
Purchase: About 3100 undergrads (on the higher end of this category)
SUNY New Paltz: About 6100 undergrads
The College of New Jersey: About 7k undergrads, just a few miles from the New Jersey legislature
U. at Albany: About 12k undergrads
Wheaton (MA): About 1700 undergrads
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Bard (NY): About 2300 undergrads
Sarah Lawrence (NY): About 1500 undergrads
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Low Probability (less than 20%)
The average gpa at TCNJ is 3.66 and act 27. It was my son’s top choice so he ED’d with a 3.4 30 act. It has a 64% acceptance rate.
Thank you. This is helpful. It’s tough because my GPA is low because of a bad sophomore year. Covid caused me to miss a lot of school. I have been getting nearly straight As since in classes with high rigor. When I had parent conferences this past marking period my honors English teacher, not knowing my current GPA or test scores, recommended to my mom that I attend an Ivy. My APUSH teacher, also not knowing my stats, said I should apply to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins. My principal has called me one of his top students of all time and already wrote a recommendation for me which got me into two competitive programs. I know I can handle the rigor of a top school. I am just not a great standardized test taker and had one not great year. I suppose starting out somewhere else and possibly transferring is also an option, but I want to shoot my shot and hope one of my schools sees that special something in me.
And this is 100% fine as long as you have that affordable and surely admissible school on your list. That’s Purchase from above.
Some schools may take into account your situation; some not. There’s no way to know.
But - again - back to point one - what is your budget and are schools of interest affordable to meet the budget.
Until you run the net price calculator, you have no idea. Many kids can’t apply to schools they desire because what their family is able to spend differs from what the schools says they can afford.
You noted you’re applying for financial aid - but applying and receiving are not one in the same.
If Johns Hopkins says you are full pay, nearly $400K, can you afford it?
These are the questions to answer first.
I agree with the other later sho suggested have your counselor write about how COVID affected your grades.
If you want to incorporate it into a broader essay about how your moxie, drive and smarts help you push through setbacks, go ahead.
Definitely run the NPC on each college -each calculates differently so you have to do it for each and every college you’re considering. Even SUNYs may end up having different net costs for you!
That being said, colleges like JHU etc. Are very generous and offer scholarships even to families that make 200 or even 250k a year. If your mom makes 75k or less it could be a full ride if admitted, if 150k it could be cheaper than a SUNY, so don’t let the sticker price scare you from applying. Run the NPCs and make sure each college on your list is affordable.
Purchase, New Paltz, perhaps another SUNY with an artsy-ish feel or even Geneseo since your situation is particular?
I agree that you could handle the rigor of a top schools and thrive there. That said, there are a lot of students in the same situation who don’t end up attending “top schools” due to not getting in, finances, or a combo of the two factors.
The year I graduated high school, one of our top students (NMF, Presidential Scholar) got into Princeton but attended our state’s public liberal arts college (admit rate 78%) due to a sudden change in family finances. He is now a diplomat. Another top student was rejected at Dartmouth (had great academics but unhooked) so ended up at a school with an admit rate ~60%. She is now the vice president of a Big 10 university.
Yes, shoot your shot! But know that there are many schools where you can be challenged and where you can thrive.
Thank you. We started to do this, one by one, and it is eye opening. Tufts and Lehigh - we can swing what the NPC says. Both came out sub-$32K. Looks like U Mass Amherst is not affordable and now off the list. We will check each one and evaluate.
I didn’t look up the average GPA, but I did look at TCNJ’s test distribution. As less than half of students submitted a test and her SAT would be in the top 50th percentile of those submitted, I made my guess and kept her chance as the same as for admissions.
Nobody here is saying you can’t handle the rigor of a “top” school. You may also be underestimating the rigor that can be found at a number of the schools I listed. Their admissions rates may not be as low as an Ivy or Johns Hopkins, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have amazing students, dedicated professors, and a quality education.
If you have an upward trajectory in your grades, a lot of schools will note that. Additionally, a comment from your school counselor about your sophomore year may help. And note that none of the categories labeled above were “Impossible”. It was just my guess as to your odds of getting in, not whether you’d be able to thrive at the institution.
I read some advice that was directed to parents who were selecting a school for their kids (K-12). In many areas of the country, families are only willing to send their kids to the top-rated schools, certain that schools that don’t have a high rating won’t be good enough for their kids. That means that there are schools that end up very segregated, both racially and socioeconomically. An organization had a pledge that asked families to visit at least two schools that they would normally have written off and to come up with at least two positive things about them and to share that with at least two others, in order to help change the narrative about the “not-good-enough” schools.
When parents ended up touring the schools, they were frequently very pleasantly surprised by what they saw actually going on in the schools. Because the schools didn’t have a certain cachet they had formed mental images about what the schools were like, but the reality ofen didn’t match those mental images. This wasn’t universally true, but it was often true.
The job for EVERY applicant in the college search is to find those schools that are extremely likely admits, extremely likely to be affordable, and where one would be happy to attend for four years. Oftentimes, that means that students might need to find the hidden gems that don’t get the same levels of attention as the Big Names. Just because it’s not a Big Name does not mean that it’s not a good school.
So when you are looking for your sure thing schools, look at their special programs, or what the application process is for the honors program and what that looks like. Look at their residential learning communities or interesting clubs or faculty whose research looks interesting that you might be able to work with. Maybe it’s the ability to intern for lobbyists or state legislators, or maybe it’s the attention and opportunities given to students they think might be good candidates for postgraduate fellowships like Rhodes or Fulbrights. And, sure things are likely to be among the most generous in doling out merit aid, because you’re likely in the top 25% of their applicant pool, meaning that they may be more likely to fit into the budget and/or to leave extra money for graduate school or a down payment on a house, or something else.
And then in the spring of your senior year, you’ll look at your options. Maybe you’ll have some acceptances from a low probability (or very low probability) school. You will hopefully have acceptances from extremely likely schools and probably likely schools as well. And you can see where the best fit for you will be. It might be a low probability school, but it could be an extremely likely admit. The odds of admission does not necessarily correlate to how great of a fit the school will be for you.
DS ended his junior year with a 3.9UW/4.3W. Not sure yet how that will translate to an overall bump in his GPA, but super proud of him, especially with juggling all of his ECs and a paid internship. His senior year classes will again include the max APs his schools allows so fingers crossed there are schools on his list that see that the harder his course load, the better his grades!
Congrats @catthekid07 on finishing the year so well, and thanks for the update @tjd0829!
How’s the college list shaping up?
List is top heavy unless grades go up to over a 3.7 uw. I would do some more research on Lehigh, not sure that’s a fit. It’s a pretty Greek vibe. American isn’t an easy admit, you will need to tour and do every webinar offered. And email counselor. But it should be a cultural fit. Look at Wheaton Mass for a safety that gives great merit. Great location.
Thank YOU for all of your suggestions. It’s still fairly top heavy, but I’m letting him take his shot. It’s about 1/3 reach, 1/3 hard target-target, 1/3 safety. He may be applying ED1 to one of his reaches and a few EA to see what happens before we finalize the rest of the list.
All three made the list! We have a tour scheduled for American this summer.
From your original list, which 1/3 are safeties - because i’m not seeing 1/3 safety. I see one safety, one likely, and one …ehhhh…slight reach…below. And you have a very long list - 1/3 would be many.
Safety
• SUNY Purchase
• University of Vermont
• American
Basing it off a 3.3 and 1290 - and wouldn’t change that if it’s now a 3.4 and 1290.
Current safeties on the list: SUNY Purchase, U of Delaware, Wheaton (MA), Muhlenberg, and a few CUNYs.
There are 21 schools on the list and we have 7 reaches, 7 target/toss-ups, 7 safeties. That seems like a long list to me, but a bunch don’t require supplements (including quite a few of the reaches) so I think they will be able to manage.
I wanted to add another likely SUNY, but they think most are too far (they want schools within 5 hours by train/car from NYC).
Ok. I was just looking at the list in post 1. That you have two, if affordable and they’d love to attend, is what matters. The list needn’t be even across 7x7x7 but it’s fine that it is.
Hopefully you can get to them (at least by committal time) as some are tiny and some big so they will be a different experience.
Good luck.
Any reason why you ned seven sure things? Usually two are enough…so there is a choice to be made if those are the only acceptances. Why seven?
