<p>The “How low should go?” question is hard. I think if your child’s stats would be in the top 25%, you are very safe. I have heard of some schools which are tired of having their selectivity ranking drop because of their frequent use as safeties which waitlist kids to see if they are really interested, but I suspect that is rare.</p>
<p>At what point you think that, despite the attraction of merit aid, a school is too “low” for your hcild depends on your finances, your child and your reaction to the school. For example, how would you weigh scholarship $ vs. future resume prestige? Or being in an honors program vs. a bigger name school? Does your child do best they are a top/better than average/average/below average student?</p>
<p>Ideally, you only want safeties you would be happy to have your child attend, but that is not as easy for kids with less than stellar stats.</p>
<p>With Naviance, do not pay too much attention to average stats–they can be thrown off by high scoring kids with no intention of attending or lowscoring kids getting in through hooks (granted there should only be a few MD kids with hooks for C of C). Focus on those with stats similar to your child, hoping there are enough that they are not skewed by hooked kids.</p>
<p>I agree on the averages - they can be very skewed by a few high stat kids. Towson is an example of this - there are many applicants with 4.0 and above wgpas and 1300 SATs. But as long as S2 is above the average and his little red circle is surrounded by green squares - I guess we are in good shape!</p>
<p>I also agree with your point about over-qualified kids sometimes being WL because the school believes they are being used solely as a safety. My thought there is to visit - show demonstrated interest - so they know we are genuinely interested in the school. I think the smaller the school - the more important this becomes.</p>
<p>Re “how low is too low”- I think it’s potentially problematic at a small school, much less problematic at a big school. The range of academic ability, interests, commitment to EC’s, etc. at a large residential university will be very broad. Even if your kid is in the top 20% stats wise, it would be hard to run out of classes, clubs, performances, debates, galleries, other events, which make life stimulating and fun.</p>
<p>As to the posting about Elon and American University, a “B” average in high school will not get you accepted at either of these schools. At Elon 3.70 or better and at American 3.80 or better with solid SAT or ACT scores plus strong EC’s s needed. American’s admitted student ratio dropped 10% to 43% and that trend is likely to continue. Huge numbers of applicants to both schools including over 18,000 to American are making these schools more competitive than ever.</p>
<p>Just to clear up the uncertainty on the Tulane app (posts 1636 and 1637), they do send a personal app to high achieving students, it is free (personal app or regular) and has been for at least a decade, and as long as you mark it EA (no obligations to attend or to hold back applying to other schools) they will usually get you an answer in a few weeks. I have seen apps submitted the first week in October get answered within 10 days! With the acceptance comes the offer of a merit scholarship and an invitation to the Honors Program, if the application warrants either.</p>
<p>My two D’s applied last year and for EACH SAT test you send it costs 9.50. ACT costs 9.00. Since many schools D2 applied to required either ACT with writing or SAT plus one or two SAT II’s, we opted to send only the ACT scores since all those fees quickly add up. (together, they applied to just over 20 schools)</p>
<p>They never took advantage of sending scores free, since you’d have to chose to do that before you took the test and knew how well you had done. If you have a definite safety school in mind, you might as well take advantage of the free score reports. It shouldn’t be too risky.</p>
<p>Also, have them (and the transcripts) sent early. By December the schools are receiving giant bags of mail every day and it can take 2 - 3 weeks to sort out the score reports and assign them to the correct student. Some schools lose score reports for weeks or months. Schools will not look at your child’s file until it is complete and your child could miss out on acceptance or on more merit money if their file is looked at later.</p>
<p>rockvillemom - I have had the same thoughts on safeties. How low do you go? Personally, I think when we get to the point of looking at Naviance and realize your child is much stronger academically then the majority admitted, then it might be too low. You also have to know your kid. My D would not be happy attending a school like that. She needs to be challenged and surrounded by high achieving kids, it makes her work that much harder. </p>
<p>Danielle2400 - Maybe a true “B” student wouldn’t get admitted to Elon or American. However, Rockvillemom (who started this thread) defined her B student as a kid who gets B’s in Honors classes and A’s in non honors classes. In our HS (our kids go to the same large, high achieving HS), those honors classes get weighted an extra point. So on a WGPA scale it is possible for the B student as defined by Rockvillemom to have a 4.0 WGPA.</p>
<p>Per our Naviance, it looks like Elon places a high importance on SAT scores, with the GPA secondary. If you had over 1250 out of 1600 and a WGPA of 3.3 or above, you got in. AU on the other hand places a higher importance on the GPA, but if you had a WGPA of 3.7 or above it looks like you were in. So in these situations, both schools could work for a B student. Certainly, not as a safety, but either a match or reach.</p>
<p>fallenchemist - thanks for the clarification on Tulane. that is exactly the process that D1 went through in 08. unfortunately for us the acceptance (and very generous financial aid) came after she had applied ED elsewhere.</p>
<p>I recall reading on CC that Elon recalculates GPAs for its applicants. They really seemed overly generous in the manner in which they recalculated, and this tends to pull up the GPA average. I would not let the gpa scare me, but it is smart to be realistic and make sure that safeties are on that college list.</p>
<p>Anecdotally, my son was accepted to a reach school. His standardized test scores were below midrange and I doubt that the college was familiar with my son’s hs. He also was offered a modest merit scholarship to attend. Bottom line, one just does not know what will happen. BTW, my son did turn down this school. It just is not a good academic fit for him.</p>
<p>fallenchemist - is there anything specific a student has to do to get this app to Tulane. D is interested in applying to Tulane - but we won’t be able to visit. Should she indicate her interest somehow?</p>
<p>Although we are not jewish, this thread has some really valuable information. Thanks everyone.</p>
<p>Fallen knows more about Tulane, but, in general, many college websites have a place where you can sign up for periodic emails and it might help if you emailed the admissions office, expressed your regret at not being able to visit and asked if a rep would be visiting your HS this Fall. Often college websites give you the email address for the rep for your geographic area.</p>
<p>Also re Tulane - just sign up on their website to be on the mailing list - that will probably do it. My recollection is that the link for the personal app comes by e-mail - so do provide your e-mail address when you fill out the info request form. Worst case - I bet if you called admissions and said specifically that you were interested - they would go a head and e-mail you the link.</p>
<p>Re Elon and AU for B students - I think both are doable for B students towards the higher end of the range and with decent test scores. I also think that ED makes a huge difference at both schools - if you are a B student and love one of these schools - ED may be your best option, particularly if FA is not an issue.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info on Tulane. I did suggest to D last night that she email the admission counselor for our state there and ask about the priority/personal app. It’s on her to-do list for today - we’ll see how that goes!</p>
<p>Just want to say that this is not always true. D was accepted at American - 3.6 WGPA, 26 ACT and no subject tests. She visited, expressed interest with an email to the admissions counselor for our area, applied in October (but not ED). She had strong EC’s, but not a lot of leadership and was probably one of a zillion white girls applying from Long Island. They liked something about her. She came close to going (was one of her top choices) but, in the end, we didn’t think it was worth the cost (= lotsa loans).</p>
<p>Never say never. You just don’t know. If it’s a school you are really interested in, I say to go for it!</p>
<p>cale92008 - yes - Arizona would be a great choice for a Jewish student who wanted to be in the western part of the country at a larger university. Their undergraduate Jewish population is about 3000 students - which is about 10% of the total undergrad population. They seem to have a very active Hillel.</p>
Hi arisamp - If she applies EA and attends some local event by Tulane (they usually have a get together for prospective students at a hotel or similar venue), that will help. Are you in the Boston area, near Providence, or on the other side of Mass? Tulane is very active and has tons of alums in those areas. Getting the app in by early October marked EA and attending an info session is about all you can do if you cannot visit. The info sessions are actually generally well received, it is a pretty good presentation.</p>