^^ So maybe Mount Holyoke should be considered a reach, not based on stats, but based on a declining admit rate. OP is qualified, but when admit rate drops to 36% lots of qualified students are not admitted. There should be a school on the list with a much higher admit rate that student is happy about and prepared to attend. Better safe than sorry next March.
Has Hobart been mentioned yet on this thread? (Sorry if it has). St. Lawrence? Connecticut College? Trinity College?
It really is a crapshoot. One of my kids got in almost nowhere (including one of his safeties) and another got in everywhere (pretty much, including 2 reaches). Had excellent guidance both times. You really cannot know how it will go! Focus on safeties!!
Too far away for the OP, but other good schools we considered were Lewis and Clark, Rhodes and Furman.
Safeties could be her Bard and Sarah Lawrence. I’m concerned for her about price for those two however.
Another safety with excellent academics, in an urban setting, and a consortium school is Simmons. She would definitely get excellent merit aid there. People I know who like MHC and BMC often also like Simmons.
**Expert tip: if your daughter is applying ED someplace, it’s wise to have an EA that’s a slam dunk for her. That way if she misses out on the ED,she will still get an acceptance to a nice school.
Another school that people tend to like if they like MHC and BMC is Earlham. This also could be an EA school. The academics are excellent and they tend to also give good merit. I believe Earlham would be a safety for her. (800 acre campus, really lovely community feel, great academics)
Agnes Scott is also a very nice school – rising in popularity recently – and cross reg at Emory.
Yep, someone sent me the same MHC announcement today. Ugh. The numbers in the announcement imply a 37% overall yield, up from 33% last year. Wonder if the percent of the class admitted through ED is also inching up – that’s the easiest way to boost yield by such a big chunk.
@blue1516 Agree 100%. I’m going to re-open the discussion about Pitt. Really wish she would also consider some CTCL schools that a further afield. Agnes Scott would be great.
Based on our experience this year, I would recommend a full complement of safety schools. This year was tough so maybe next year will ease up but you should probably assume tough is the new norm. I see no reason not to apply EA to all schools. Good luck! I’m a Bryn Mawr alum and will also put in a plug for the mothership. Bryn Mawr provides solid advising from start to finish.
I think the high yield is a worst case scenario - last year MHC over-enrolled because yield jumped from 30% to 33%. Since this year’s target class size is so small by comparison, assuming a massive yield and pulling from the wait list as needed is a reasonable way to guarantee they won’t over-enroll again. I would bet that when the next CDS comes out, the final numbers are less dire. Not that that helps much when our kids are applying before the CDS will be published.
Anyone have suggestions for compassionate but clear wording to D20 about MHC no longer being in the likely pile? She needs to either add some more safeties (all suggestions above are great, thank you!) or change her mind about pursuing track/XC recruitment at MHC. I don’t know how D3 recruitment works there - she would be a solid middle of the pack runner at MHC so wouldn’t get a “slot” from coach but I assume some enthusiastic engagement with the running program would count as EOI? I guess if she EDs that’s already the ultimate EOI!
Given the two EA schools and the gap year plan giving her a second chance to apply, I’m not sure I’d mention it at all. I’m keeping my mouth shut with my own kid, who has only one EA school and is adamantly opposed to a gap year. For my kid, it would just add to the crazy, without providing any clear course of action.
If finances are not a concern, I think ED is a reasonable response, though. Not so much for the admissions boost (because of she’s admitted ED, I think she’d be admitted outright, rather than wait-listed in RD) but for the certainty.
@allyphoe except talking about it now WOULD provide a clear course of action: to research and visit more schools in the safety range. You have to talk about it! Otherwise your kid could be blindsided, or at the least, not understand a change in focus.
@cinnamon1212 Not relevant to the OP, so if you want to discuss more, maybe move over to my thread? (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2062175-which-of-these-schools-is-not-like-the-others-p11.html) 
My kid has a good-enough safety, and there are literally no safer schools that meet her criteria (women’s college, physics major, 4 years of Chinese). If she doesn’t like her choices a year from now, maybe a gap year will look better.
If I were going to suggest my kid do anything, it would be more hoop-jumping. But she’s not really a hoop-jumper, and there would be no certainty attained by the jumping. Also, I think that once the final numbers come in, MHC will end up with lots of wait list movement, and that this year will be an outlier rather than the start of a significant shift in acceptance rates.
@allyphoe your last 3 replies are so helpful on so many dimensions, thank you!! “She’s not really a hoop jumper” is my kid too. I’m going to push a little bit on confirming that SLC or Bard would really make her happy, and then we’ll let it sit. If she sounds a little waffly on those two, then we’ll consider hunting for some more Happy Safeties.
@cinnamon1212 I worry too about the blindsiding. But I think the 2019 stats will reach her in good time through the ether/grapevine.
@Dustyfeathers thanks for the cost concerns. It is what it is, and for better or worse we are willing and able to pay net cost after employer tuition benefit.
Just joining in here- my daughter has similar stats and interested in similar schools. We were bummed as well to hear about MHC’s lower acceptance rate as we had that on our safety list. Surprisingly she loves Smith as well- we didn’t intend to like it actually (we live near both schools and just had a better opinion of MHC until our visit). We had a super tour guide and the info session was wonderful- don’t know if you just hit it on an off day? She loved the idea of the open curriculum and research opportunities. Perhaps a second look?
We are visiting Smith again tomorrow for a 1/2 day admissions event. Don’t know if that will change anything.
My D also really liked UVM. The new STEM buildings are amazing.
We have Stonehill and Wheaton on our list to visit in a few weeks. Both are about a 70% acceptance rate so we are hoping she likes at least one! She has high hopes for Wheaton which is not in a city- but near to Providence and Boston.
We also looked at Conn College which she put on her apply list.
Another safety is UNH for her. Her sister goes there and loves it. Not sure it would be as good a fit as UVM, but we did a physical science tour there and the facilities are awesome.
D did not like Brandeis.
We are looking for physics and astronomy which is not super easy to find.
One suggestion- Clark? Heard great things but no personal knowledge. Would probably be a safety for her.
Sorry if this is so disjointed. Look forward to hearing more about your journey.
@travelfamily – if she likes UVM and UNH she might look at UMaine at Orono. I think of it as the less expensive UVM. Pretty campus, lots of great programs and it has in-state tuition matching scholarships.
@Dustyfeathers I agree! However she has imposed a 3 hour radius from home (Western Ma) as her absolute limit. With her “sweet spot” being an hour and a half away. Her words, not mine! Lol! So, Orono is about 5 hours away or we would take a look. We know someone there that loves it!
@travelfamily It’s too bad about the travel radius also because Agnes Scott has a great astrophysics program. Just sayin’
Yes, that’s another one on MY list, but not hers! ?
My LGBT daughter did an internship in a very cool biology lab at UMass Amherst where the focus was on bees. Recurring theme in this thread! ?
If I might ask, what was off-putting about Brandeis?
@Yaskwhy That is a good question, but I don’t have a good answer! On paper it seemed to have everything she wanted. Our tour was very nice and I thought it had a quirky vibe which is her style. But, she just said it was “eh”for her and she didn’t really know why. I would go on the tour all over again for the chocolate chip cookies they served afterwards! Sometimes I wonder if it’s just a mood they are in that day, or something little they see on campus that turns them off. My older daughter took a school off her list because she thought the carpeting in the dining hall was weird. So… sometimes there just isn’t a good explanation! Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful on that!
I had some time to kill on a train today and tried to find 1-3 additional schools for D20 to consider adding st the safety/likely end of things, that meet her radius of 5-6 hour drive from home (Philly area). I liked: Clark, Goucher, Conn College, Dickinson. Realize those last 2 are more selective than her current likelies (SLC, Bard). Hmmm…
Any thoughts about Clark, anyone? CTCL list, amazing env studies (esp geography), small on-its-way-back city setting, strong focus on practice/impact/real world.