Son, interested in STEM, physics.
GPA 4.4, ACT 36, SAT 1540
Trying to find good target schools. About 20% acceptance rate.
What is his unweighted GPA? And what state do you live in?
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Are there budget constraints?
Some targets could be Rochester, Lehigh, Bucknell, CWRU, many state flagships have strong physics.
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What kind of vibe is he looking for? Large school or small? Athletics or not? Any part of the country particularly interesting for him?
With those grades and GPA, there are a lot of schools that would be targets for him, so how would you like to narrow the field?
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3.88
New Jersey
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Not too big, mid size or smaller, close to bigger city, strong STEM.
He’s a good test taker. Is he likely to qualify for NMSF?
Northwestern ticks all these boxes- 20% acceptance rate in Early Decision. (Only 7% in RD though).
Case Western if he’s OK with a smaller city (27% acceptance rate but students need to demonstrate interest).
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You’ll find some strong STEM schools in the NY and New England area - look at RPI (Rensselaer Polytech) and WPI (Worcester Polytech) - both are STEM schools that are on the larger side of small, and on the outskirts of small cities; both should give your son good merit aid. On the other side of New York, University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology also have good STEM/physics and should be matches with merit. If you want something broader than those, then maybe Lehigh (not much of a city) or Case Western (Cleveland, nice small city) - both have solid STEM programs and more liberal arts offerings also. They should also be in the small-medium range. Case Western gives good merit (but need to show demonstrated interest); Lehigh, not so much on the merit side.
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PSAT 1440, not good enough to be the finalist I think.
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University of Colorado is an unexpected top pick for physics. They will give him lots of merit and it’s an excellent department. My niece chose to stay in Boulder rather than attend any of the other highly ranked schools for her PhD. She got excellent advising and was well situated when applying for grad school.
It will be a more of a likely then target. But it’s great to build your list from likely.
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A target isn’t necessarily a 20% school and why does acceptance rate matter.
U of Arizona, as an example, is top 10 in physics (in some rank) and it’s a safety for all. And he could be in an Honors College for smaller classes. Tucson is a mid size city.
You should find the right school for your child, not one based on an acceptance rate.
What is your budget? If low, do you qualify for need aid.
Does he have weather concerns or constraints.
Rice would be a reach - but possible
Rochester (target) and RPI (likely) were previously mentioned.
Emory a reach but with Oxford College, has a better chance. But Oxford is rural, about 30-40 miles from the city.
Pitt would be a safety. Anyone can take Honors classes even if not in Honors (at least in past years)
RIT would be safety and Colorado School of Mines a likely/target.
Budget matters, a 20% school is not necessarily a target for this student and is, frankly, at least IMHO, acceptance rate is no reason to choose a school.
I hope you come back with more including budget.
Best of luck.
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I agree with all, and we have picked reach schools and safe ones, but somehow the target ones we are struggling with. 20% is just as an indicator without having a better one. There are so many schools to consider, hard to pick “the one”.
Not qualified for aid only merit.
Do you have a budget.
So you are full pay.
For example, at U of Alabama your student is $20K a year with $28K automerit. Now he doesn’t want big and wants to be in city so sub in UAH - Alabama Huntsville - surrounded by Aerospace companies and lots of jobs.
At U of Rochester, it might be $89,000 or $60,000 (with merit).
Rice might be $86,000 - merit unlikely.
So what a great profile gets you is flexibility in budget:
If you went for $20K vs. $90K, you’re saying $280K over four years.
Or $30K vs. $90K, $240K
$40K vs. 90K, $200K
Does that matter to you? Why physics (vs. engineering) - what’s the goal after - is it more school?
Your student could potentially get turned down to every 20% he applies to - is the point. Or he might get in but their Physics program may not be great.
Hence I’m saying find the right school. And know what your budget is - I was full pay but had a $50K budget.
Yours may be full pay - and that’s ok. We just need to know to help because I’m not going to mention Tufts - if I know you don’t want to pay $90K, etc.
But maybe I’d mention Brandeis because they have merit - and would be a bit easier in (target).
As for picking the one - you figure out your criteria - and then you go visit - that’s truly the only way to know.
So many have schools on their lists - and they visit - and they came off. Happened to my kid (we saw a pattern, nothing isolated) and there’s a whole thread here about college visits - people visit schools they hope to like but you find just as many who ended up not liking them as liking them - and that’s why you go on visits - to see.
So make sure you make time to go visit campuses. Kids often differ in real life from what they thought in their mind.
Good luck.
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Schools with a 20% acceptance rate are a reach and not a target, imo. This would be true for almost everybody.
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Agreed that schools with 20 percent and lower acceptance rate are a reach for all. But in terms of what OP is getting at I think he’s close…for a top student a school an acceptance rate above about 25 - 30 percent can be a target if
- Your class rank is in the top 10 percent
- Your test scores are in the 25th-75th percentile for accepted students at the school
- You completed the most rigorous curriculum available to you (or close to it)
I don’t think OP gave us a rank and the 3.88 gpa while great could be near the top of the class or not.
In any case I agree that if you’re looking for targets you probably want to look at schools with an overall acceptance rate of at least 25-30 percent. Any lower and it’s still a reach even if you are high stats
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Small schools: Wesleyan, Carleton, Colgate, Oberlin, Kenyon, Denison, Bates, Vassar
Medium: Wake Forest, Villanova, Richmond
I agree 20% acceptance rates are more going to be reaches barring HS-specific information to the contrary.
Anyway, I will just add another vote for Rochester. Very good Physics department, not as reachy as academic peers in more popular locations, robust merit.
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All reaches with the exception of Denison, Kenyon, and Oberlin in my opinion.
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