<p>Yay - finally. Here’s a few - if you don’t have Naviance and want me to look one up - just let me know.</p>
<p>College of Charleston - we had 16 apply, 8 were accepted - but no one is attending. Average WGPA was a 3.85 and av. SAT was a 1200. 26 for ACT. So, I feel pretty good about S2’s chances here.</p>
<p>Elon worries me. 20 applied, 8 were accepted and 4 are attending. Looking at the graph - test scores seem to matter more than GPA - which is unusual. Over a 1250 SAT - you looked good. What was startling was that high GPA/low SAT kids did not get in - say a 4.2 or 4.3 wgpa with an 1150 - not looking so hot. But a lower GPA - say a 3.3 or a 3.4 - with a 1250+ SAT was generally accepted. Elon may be more of a reach for S2 than I previously thought.</p>
<p>James Madison looked good - 41 applied, 28 accepted, 5 going. 3.92 wgpa and 1180 SAT averages.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most interesting trend to me was the surge in applications for York College - up from 1 or 2 per year to 13 in 2010! Does anyone know why York is suddenly hot? I have read a lot about it lately and it looks good in many ways - only about 100 Jewish kids though. Anyway, 11 of the 13 were accepted and 2 will attend. Av. WGPA was 3.4 and 1020 was the av SAT and 22 ACT - so certainly this could work as a safety school.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg - 11 applied, 5 accepted - but no one is going. Av. wgpa was 3.94 and 1230 was the av SAT - so S2 has a shot here.</p>
<p>Ithaca - has been on and off are list - but I was interested to see a jump in applications - from 4 in 2009 to 12 in 2010. Of the 12 who applied, 9 were accepted and 1 will attend. Av. wgpa was 3.85; av. SAT was 1190 and av. ACT was 26. So, this would certainly fit S2 well from an admissions standpoint - although he maintains he is not applying to schools in NY. We’ll see.</p>
<p>Another one that I found interesting was Gettysburg - we had 5 apply - all 5 were accepted - no one is going. The av wgpa was a 4.0 and the av SAT was 1250. I think S2 has a shot here - although I’m not sure about the fit. I’m guessing kids are either using it as a safety school or are turned off by the cost.</p>
<p>Regarding earthquake - I most certainly heard and felt it! I woke up to a loud boom and then felt the house shudder. I thought a truck drove into my house! Looked out the window, didn’t see a truck sticking out of the house and went back to bed, thinking I had dreamt it. DH thought that there was an explosion at the quarry (we are about a mile from a quarry). </p>
<p>Naviance - so excited to see numbers are up…am about to go look up some stuff. Rockvillemom interesting that so few are attending the schools you looked up, I want to see the numbers of students attending UMDCP, UMBC and Towson. I think the majority of the class of 2010 are attending those schools.</p>
<p>mdmom - I think you are right about the majority staying in-state. That was one of the reasons for my starting this thread way back in…was it just May? Anyway - I realized that S2’s college list was going to be very different from most of the students at our hs - who are either staying in-state or heading to large universities - Penn State and so forth. I saw this pattern with S1 as well - all of his friends are at UMDCP or large universities - Penn State, Indiana, Wisconsin, etc. None of his friends applied to any of the schools he applied to as far as I know. Small/medium sized schools just don’t seem to be that popular coming out of our large hs - which I guess is a good thing for S2 - less competition.</p>
<p>A surge for a particular college is often related to a Guidance counselor, private consultant, SAT tutor or influential kid/parent talking it up, or a visit to the school by an admissions person. In this era of intense college marketing, targeted mailings of “priority” free applications may also be involved.</p>
<p>I noted that in all your examples except Elon the % of those accepted attending is very low. To me, this suggests that kids at your HS apply to a lot of schools or that these are popular safeties–and that a kid applying ED 1 or 2 would be very attractive to colleges to boost the yield. It also reminds me of Elon’s surging popularity, hwich I find remarkable for a nonIvy or sports school.</p>
<p>I’ll have to ask the GC about York - I had never heard of that school prior to a few weeks ago. Hoping we will fit it in for a visit at some point. And I agree about some of these schools - Gettysburg for example - being used as a safety. S1 used Elon as a safety - which is how we became acquainted with the school. At this moment - Elon seems close to perfect in my mind - I like the size, the location, the climate, the price tag, the majors offered, the number of Jewish students and the active Hillel, etc. I also like their focus on student engagement - internships, community service, etc. We are planning to visit in November. If S2 really likes it - applying ED would not be out of the question. But - I’m not pushing it - I really want that to be his call.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Rutgers announced today that IN-STATE kids will pay $23,465 for tuition and room and board–so UMCP, Towson, JMU and York, here they come!</p>
<p>Absolutely. That’s why I think it is fine to have more expensive schools on your list - as long as you do have some financial safeties on there as well. You never know how the merit aid or even need-based aid will play out until you apply and see what you get. I think it is important to be clear with your kids that they will not be able to attend college A unless they get significant aid - but there’s no harm in applying and seeing what happens.</p>
<p>I believe many guidance counselors, especially in affluent communities, assume parents only care about the prestige totem pole, and do not point out that aiming slightly below can yield big merit aid savings.</p>
<p>RM: those Elon numbers go along with what I had uncovered a couple of days ago (priority on SAT/ACT); were those applications all EA or can’t you distinguish?..any ED? do you have an ACT chart for the acceptances as well as the SAT?</p>
<p>glad to hear all is ok after the earthquake…</p>
<p>On Elon - prior to the 2010 data - there were 5 ED apps and all were acceptances. In 2010, there was a low testing ED app - 3.8 wgpa and 20 ACT - this student was denied. </p>
<p>Looking at ACT scores - there is a really clear line between a 27 and a 28. With a 27 - looking iffy - regardless of GPA. All the applicants with at least a 28 were accepted. Going back to the SAT graph - there were quite a few apps with SAT scores in the 1100 - 1150 range - these were mostly deferred if they were EA or WL if they were RD. One of the problems with the graphs is that some of the info is missing - for example - there are EA data points that just show as deferred - they never came back to report if they ultimately were accepted - or WL - you can’t really tell in some of the cases what happened later. But, looking at the graph - it seems pretty clear to me that unless you have at least a 1250 SAT or at least a 28 ACT - Elon could go either way. </p>
<p>This does surprise me - most schools tell you in the info session that 3 years worth of grades are more important than one Saturday morning. I will certainly inquire about this when we attend the info session in November. I know this info is no surprise to you - why do you think they are putting so much emphasis on test scores?</p>
<p>Head to the Midwest. Also, explore [Colleges</a> That Change Lives | Changing Lives, One Student at a Time](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.com%5DColleges”>http://www.ctcl.com)</p>
<p>RM: I think they put slightly more emphasis on test scores because they cannot possibly standardize the GPA’s coming out of all the high schools they are seeing applications from; their admissions office is not that big…for them a “B” average is a “B” average and then they weight…the diff between a 2.9, 3.0, 3.3, etc seems inconsequential in the process…</p>
<p>I also think that their policy of dropping + and - in their GPA calculations may skew what you are looking at; for them, a “B” is a “B” so a kid with a lot of + may not get that advantage…</p>
<p>Not a surprise, though, that a 20 ACT would be denied at any GPA level…and not surprised that the EA apps are touch and go; it is the most competitive admissions cycle for them (explained to us during our visit)…apparently the admit rate for EA and RD was down around 30-40% last year…</p>
<p>I think that what is more revealing for us is that they look for a reason to admit; if a kid does perform well on a Sat morning but may have a slightly lower GPA, the essays etc may push the kid into the admit pile…but, given that they superscore everything, they may expect a little higher standardized test score (and your naviance kind of reflects that)…no idea how that affects the kid who performs well on a certain test date (or whether they expect them to try and get the scores higher still?)</p>
<p>I can’t imagine, though, that a kid who is a solid “C” student would have a decent chance even with a higher ACT score; it looks like most of these admits are in the “B” range of all shapes and sizes which makes sense…</p>
<p>Do you agree with this assessment?</p>
<p>We also have no idea about FA; are all these kids full pay? if not, one never knows…Elon is not need blind</p>
<p>I’ve recently heard that Allegheny in PA is a good place for Jewish students–Know one boy who is a rising senior who has had a good 3 years there, know 2 more going this fall.</p>
<p>As far as Elon goes, I think that the emphasis on test scores arises from the fact that Elon is making a determined effort to raise its academic profile, and the higher test scores sort of advertise its rise in the rankings.</p>
<p>So, I asked our GC why the sudden interest in York - and she gave me a few examples of really good press they have had lately - as well as the attractive low price tag. I have attached a link summarizing some of these reviews/accomplishments.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how Rutgers instate is that much more than U of M. How on earth do you estimate costs if they raise tuition every year? Is there a cap? A solid B student finds it very hard to get into Rutgers New Brunswick, especially from an affluent big high school.</p>