I would like to attend Choate, Deerfield, St. Paul’s, or Hotchkiss this upcoming year. I think it would be a great experience, but I’m not confident I could get into the top 20% of the class to be really competitive for the Ivy League. If I wound up around the median, then what kinds of colleges would I be competitive for? Could I still be competitive for top-tier state schools like Michigan or UVA?
Yes for UVA and UCLA and places like Vanderbilt, Tulane, Wake Forest, and NYU, not sure about Michigan. You should look at the matriculation information for the schools you are interested in. Pretty sure most of the schools publish that information - or at least would provide it to someone interested in applying to the school. From this, if you ignore the top Ivy admits (who may be stellar students, athletes, legacy, or some combination of those three), look at the rest of the schools to see where the largest groups of the rest of the students are going. I suspect you will see some patterns … that each school seems to have “placement” relationships with certain schools, so a number of kids end up going to particular colleges/universities, many of which are highly regarded institutions.
I would be cautious about assuming you will be competitive for UVA or Vanderbilt. These are super GPA focused schools. It really depends on the kind of student you are going in as well. PM me if you have any questions
Also, it would depend a lot on your SAT or ACT scores. Median GPA at BS with ACT of 30 will be a lot different application than median GPA at BS with ACT of 34.
I agree that many middle of the pack BS grads are not getting into UVA or Vanderbilt. Tulane, NYU, Wake Forest, UMich would be likely.
But, that is current and who knows where things will be 4-5 years down the road.
I nominate Vanderbilt and Rice as the two “most improved” in the selectivity/prestige race over the last few decades.
But OP, maybe you should be focused on the excellent education you’ll get at these BS, rather than where you’ll go… You should be able to articulate your opinion, advocate for yourself, write, read and think well, when you graduate from high school. Many people cannot do this when they graduate from college. These are skills that might push you to the top in college. They will definitely be with you throughout your life. Don’t discount them. Though, I do think BS students are at a disadvantage when applying to college due to rampant grade inflation everywhere. It’s too bad. Maybe BS should do what most high schools do, give out a disproportionate number of A’s to be used externally and then give internal real grades so student know what reality is like.
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