To be clear, I think you’ll probably be admitted to at least two of the schools on the list (Union & Conn College), as I’d call those likelies for you. If your guidance counselor has recent (post-Covid) data showing that those would still be safeties for someone from your school with your profile, then I would trust your GC. As for the rest of the list, I agree with you that
You could apply to all of the schools listed and I wouldn’t be surprised if you got into any one of them. You are a highly qualified candidate, there is no doubt about that. But, when schools are accepting 10% or fewer of their applicants, and the vast majority of their candidates are highly qualified, it’s a gamble. Odds are, yes, you should get in to some of them. But there are cases every year of individuals with super strong profiles who only end up with waitlists/rejections and are “stuck” going to their safety that they don’t want to attend. And if you spread yourself too thin on writing the essays, then the quality won’t be as high as it would have been otherwise, which will decrease your chances for admission. If you have stellar candidate #1 with a thoughtful essay that is really geared towards a particular school and stellar candidate #2 with something vague and/or rushed, candidate #1 is likely going to get the call every time.
When you said, “I also have some nearby safeties” but then talk about rushing through them in 2-years, it sounds as though you wouldn’t be happy at those safeties. That’s the point that I think people on CC are talking about. Nobody is saying that you need to replace Brown with Small Nearby College. I AM suggesting that you replace Nearby-Safety-You-Want-to-Race-Through with a safety that you’d be content to spend 4 years at. Because to me, a safety needs to meet three conditions: 1) it’s extremely likely to admit you, 2) it’s extremely likely to be affordable, and 3) you would be happy to attend for 4 years. Right now, I don’t think your safeties meet condition #3.
Not quite sure why you came on the website. People are giving you guidance based on what you are saying and yet you are critical or unbelieving of the guidance.
It’s a great idea to work with your GC - that’s person #1.
31s get into Ivy but not many - one just needs to see the stats to know that’s not true.
If your major is physics, you will have plenty of rigor and smart kids - don’t worry about that.
And frankly, you likely can’t combine close to home and top rated any better than SB in that major.
Op, best of luck. You clearly don’t want help or advice. So I wish you well. If you find slackers in physics who are successful getting into a funded doctorate program, please come back and tell us which university admitted them. Lots of posters would love to know about that school!
I (gently) suggest you consider this sentence from the very beginning of your original post and rethink your approach to all of this. Folks who have been doing this for years are giving you very, very good advice. Exceptionally good.
There is a thread here, maybe someone has the link to it, about someone with excellent stats, etc, who received NO acceptances. Read that and sit with it for a bit. You are not the only “specific type of student” we have seen. Give our advice a chance.
My daughter’s valedictorian applied to 16 of the top 20 - had a 4.6 (like 10 or 11 APs), a 36 and was 0 for 20.
She got into NYU full pay and is at UTK.
Too many students chase a name and not fit. I’m not an expert but for example, I’ve read enough on here that Colby does not equal Bates does not equal Bowdoin - from how the campuses are. I assume a student can like all three - but all three probably don’t fit any student equally, if that makes sense.
Here’s an interesting chart from Brown - 60% of admitted students had a 35 ACT.
Sorry, OP. I think people were under the impression you were still asking for advice. But I didn’t see a single question in your last ten replies. And that’s fine.
I’m afraid that you’ve mixed up Skidmore with either Union or Colgate. Skidmore does not have fraternities or sororities. From everything I’ve heard and read, Greek life is popular at Dartmouth, Colgate, and Union. Hamilton has a small, low-key Greek system.
I think it would be quite helpful to seek out current students at the schools on your list. Many admission office websites have a section with student ambassadors whom applicants can email with questions. Often the ambassadors’ profiles include their major and where they’re from so that applicants can reach out to someone who shares some of their interests and/or backgrounds. Here’s a link to Haverford’s page (which still includes recent graduates, but should be updated in September) Student Fellows | Admission | Haverford College
@lilyesh just want to comment that at the very selective schools you are applying to, grades and scores may need to meet a benchmark, but after that admission may be based more on things like EC’s, “character,” “overcoming challenges” and other soft “holistic” factors.
Your school probably has a great track record and it seems you trust your guidance counselor, yet you came on here saying you feel “a little lost.”
There are enough east coast schools so you can certainly limit yourself geographically, though apparently your family can afford flights home.
I think you honestly have too many schools. Have you visited any of them? It really makes sense to get the list down so you can do quality applications without undue stress. Can you get it down to 8-10 schools? T
Do you want truly rural? That could be a filter. Just comparing Williams and Amherst reveals significant differences. Amherst is in a busier area (the campus is discrete within it) with a consortium of 4 other colleges. Williams is in a quieter town though close to MassMOCA in North Adams.
There must be criteria that can serve as a filter, but actually visiting could help you a lot.
To update this, I was rejected from Williams ED. I haven’t heard from any other schools yet besides Stony Brook U, which I got into with merit aid. I applied RD but already heard back 1/24 which I thought was strange, I’ll hear if I get into the honors program by March. It’s far from my #1, but it’s good to know I got into a good school. It’s one of the best schools for physics in the country which is good. I don’t see myself thriving socially but I’m glad I have an acceptance! I get the rest of my decisions around March.
I’m not counting it though. Money isn’t a factor for us as my parents are willing to pay 100% tuition for any school, but it’s still nice that I could get a great college education for 25k/year(if i board, probably would)
I also added F&M as another safer school. To be honest, I think my list of schools was good in the end, because SBU is honestly a really fantastic choice for my major anyway- that if I don’t get into a top choice reach- I will probably be fine. Especially if I get into the Honors College, since it’s kind of a liberal arts vibe.
My school in general is not doing super well with admissions relative to last year. So far we only have 1 kid committed to Ivy and another to MIT, but around 10 kids got into UMich. I hope I get good news in the next few months. (graduating class ~120)
My 18 or so schools is conservative compared to the rest of the top 20% of my grade- most kids applied to 25ish, with a couple well into the 30s.
