<p>We took a quite opposite approach applying to several safeties and matches as well as two ivies. My d DD was sort of superstitious about the reach schools and once the application was sent would not even talk about them. We went on to visit the matches, and she picked the one she liked best, with the mindset that this is the school she would attend. Then, on the afternoon of April First, the fat envelope was delivered. This changed every thing and she is now signed up for her #1 reach school. The point I wanted to make is she did find a really good match school that she really liked. She felt somewhat sad in sending her non-attend letter to her match school. I think she would have been happy at the match school.
On a side note: The Val of my D s HS with 1600 SAT was rejected from the ivy she was accepted to.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So…with this kid’s stats, what are the “sure bets” that would offer a challenging, stimulating education for someone with this level of intellectual horsepower?</p>
<p>(I’m particularly interested in EC).</p>
<p>Look in to honor’s programs in school’s that are a teir lower than the 1400-1500 schools. There are some very good state school honor’s programs.</p>
<p>Anything in the LAC category?</p>
<p>kate, D is not far removed from those stats (GPA and rank better,tests slightly lower so far) and we have thought that East Coast schools that would fit the “good bet” acceptance (not necessarily FA) would be Hamilton, Colgate, Connecticut,Colby, Bates and since he is a He-Vassar. I’m sure there are others but these seem to all be pretty exciting schools, to me at least. You don’t have to drop very far statistically to get to much more realistic admissions schools than HYPSDMC.</p>
<p>Thanks, cmudge. I was sure you’d have done the research.</p>
<p>SRMom3 – I think your approach would place undue emphasis on the SAT. I do NOT think that most colleges use SAT as the primary factor for admission – it’s probably more of a disqualifier than qualifier. That is, at hypothetical IvyU, the ad come won’t even look at SAT’s below 1300 unless the kid is an athlete, URM, legacy, or development case – but for their purposes, a 1350 is the same as 1550 – once the threshhold is met, they are looking at grades, class rank, course work, recommendations, etc.</p>
<p>I think the whole point of looking at the average or the middle 50 % is to see whether the applicant is in the ball park – and if not, you can save the application fee unless the applicant has a very strong hook. I am looking closely at SAT figures this time around – because that is my daughter’s weakest area. So I’m taking a pessimistic point of view – concentrating on weaknesses to determine which colleges she is NOT likely to get into. If she is in range - then we’ll look to other factors. </p>
<p>As colleges become more selective, SATs become less & less relevant to the ultimate decision, except for their use as a preliminary method to weed candidates out.</p>
<p>Kate, I just saw carolyn’s post on another thread about her daughter saying it’s only 400 days until she graduates high school :eek: I must start obsessing more efficiently or I’m not going to make it. Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to fill a five-gallon bucket with a leaky thimble.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I did look back at my lists and I think you can add Trinity to that group I mentioned above.</p>
<p>calmom:</p>
<p>I concur that the SAT won’t get you in, but it can keep you out. My theory is that it is always better to be above the mean in the app pool on the tests, bcos you don’t want the adcom to be thinking: if I admit this person, our published (average) data goes down…</p>
<p>OK, I know UW isn’t one of the elite publics, but it’s still a very quality school. And this kid didn’t apply to any LAC-like/small schools save maybe Dartmouth. So let me pose a question: Is there anyway you could justify giving up in-state tuition at a very good school (and I know he probably got 2400 w/Distinction & UW Honors if he applied) for a 40k/year education at anything above the top elites (which he applied to). Even the top out of state publics are at least 25k. I mean, is it worth him going to a school that’s just a little better (say Michigan or another “match school”) for that much money?</p>