<p>^^(early acceptances)</p>
<p>Especially when the early acceptances contain offers of merit money. 
āThey want me!ā</p>
<p>mathmom - when my Dās GC made up her preliminary list, she labeled some of the schools as safeties, and didnāt label the match/reach schools at all, so you may be right.</p>
<p>Quick questionā¦
Iāve just learned that my daughterās gc does not meet with college-bound students until fall of their senior year. Iām wondering what the ānormā is for other schoolsā¦
It seems to me that NOW is the time to get started, so Iām wondering if I should request a meeting.
What do you think?</p>
<p>Our GC just listed all the other schools as match/reach. I think there was a section of match/match, but mathson didnāt end up applying to any of them as he liked his safeties better.</p>
<p>bettzke, our gc started meeting with small groups of kids about three months ago. DH and I had a lot of questions (since S is an athlete), so we requested a meeting with him even before that. It was helpful just to get started!</p>
<p>We also went over the top and hired a college consultant. Some of my friends who have gone through this said itās not worth it, but heās already helped us think about what kind of schools to look at and making sure S is the one doing a lot of the legwork. I donāt think weāll use him for S2, but Iām glad heās there for us now!</p>
<p>Iām not sure there is just one start date for our GCs and the college counselor, who work in tandem. Theyāve had various workshops the last few months and the GC has been meeting with some of the kids about their transcripts, as it relates to college applications.</p>
<p>Just somehow, my S (and I) have gotten a little ahead of the curve. (Some friends might say, āSo what else is new with you?ā) GC has already worked out the kinks in the transcript. By virtue of my Sās summer program requiring a reference letter from a teacher, his calculus teacher is now ahead of the game with his letter. He even gave S an extra copy and asked him to hold it until the fall, so he can make needed adjustment to it such as, we hope, for the summer engineering program.</p>
<p>Lotās of hard work to come for S, like deciding on that list of colleges and summer work on those essays!</p>
<p>T minus 365 and counting, class of 2010. Let the games begin!</p>
<p>I agree that in the very selective area, it is hard to differentiate between match and reach. Besides the stats and the links above (which I didnāt reread but have read previously) I think data from oneās own school is a good indicator. D has a few on her list where there are high rates of acceptances from her school and her stats put her close to the upper right quadrant. Even if these schools have a 30% or so acceptance, I wonāt call them safeties, maybe low match. But I would be happy if she has one decent acceptance in the bag early although she doesnāt see the value in this :eek:</p>
<p>Back to a point on the mid-50% ranges and DougBetsyās comments. I have noticed the ranges do not corrolate to equivalent scores when SAT/ACTs are converted. Ie, an ACT score may be in the range, but if converted to an SAT equiv, it is below the range. So like DB, my Dās ACT score puts her in a much better place in the charts than if it were converted to an SAT. One more thing to ponder.</p>
<p>D hasnāt mentioned much about acceptance stuff at her school, she had a few good friends who graduated last year who she was much closer with during the decision periods. This year there seem to be more EDs.</p>
<p>bettzke, welcome! Our formal process with the GCs started last month but they were willing to meet with students/families before that. If you would like to meet, no harm in asking.</p>
<p>I think itās a good idea to meet in the spring. Our school encourages parents to set up spring meetings. Iām waiting for the SAT results from the March test, but will meet with our GC sometime after Spring Break. We will have another meeting in the fall. My recollection is that she puts together a preliminary list, the parent gives them their filled out questionnaire and they discuss which teachers would be best for recommendations. The kids already met with the counselor in February and we have a big college night tomorrow.</p>
<p>Good morning. Iāve been offline for over a day, but itās good to grab a cup of coffee and get caught up on CC, especially with so much RD activity on the boards these days. </p>
<p>Bettzke-The main college-related conference w/ the gc at our school, where the parent is encouraged to sit in, is during the spring of junior year. D had her junior conference, as itās called, about a month ago. Although, to be honest, ācollege guidanceā (i.e., search and selection) in our school, due to the pupil load of each of the gcās, really falls to the student and his/her family.</p>
<p>Good luck to anyone taking the ACT test this weekend. After the December sitting, D decided not to bother with the ACT again(mainly due to the science section), but sheās starting to get in some SAT subject test prep for the May sitting. Fortunately, one of her tests, US History, coincides with AP review going on this month.</p>
<p>vicarious parent-I know, itās hard to believe that one year from now, our kids are going to be the ones contemplating their admissions decisions! My D also was closer with more kids who graduated back in '08, but she does have a couple of friends waiting on ivy RD outcomes today. One thing that she did mention to meāno doubt a sign of the economic timesāthat this year even more high achieving kids are pursuing the selective public honors college, or honors college w/in a public university, route.</p>
<p>Keilexandra-best of luck with the TASP interview.</p>
<p>DD and I have been working on her list - wanted to see what everyone thought. </p>
<p>She is top 10% of her class with a 4.3 GPA (weighted) with a schedule that the GC has already indicated will be most rigorous. She will be taking ACT for the first time this Saturday so unknown test scores at this point. ECs - Has won several writing awards, Soccer, Track, CSF (California Honor Society), focus on youth sports and conditioning with community service.</p>
<p>In general, she is looking for a LAC - leans towards a suburban or rural environment but is reconsidering that factor. Plans to major in English but is not locked in on that.</p>
<p>The list - in roughly descending order of reachiness (not by preference as she has not and may not visit many of these):</p>
<p>Pomona
Boston College
Colby College
Scripps
Whitman College
Mount Holyoke
Smith
U. of Puget Sound
Univ of San Diego
Hampshire College
Wheaton
Willamette Univ
Lewis and Clark
Linfield College
Seattle University
Seattle Pacific</p>
<p>Thoughts? Others to consider?</p>
<p>scualum- I only know the west coast, but looking at the schools already on your list, I would add Occidental.</p>
<p>scualum:</p>
<p>If sheās interested in writing as a subset of that potential English major, I can point you to links on CC showing school ranks in that area, if you havenāt already come across it. It sounds like she should be a strong candidate, once she gets that puzzle piece of the test score nailed down (weāre in the same boat, waiting on SAT results out April 7, two days before Sās birthday so weāre hoping for an early present for him, even if itās one he will have given himself.)</p>
<p>scualum - I wonder how many kids have both Wheaton and Hampshire on their lists. A very interesting list, for sure. I think that once you have your Dās ACT scores, youāll have a better idea about schools you might want to add/delete. Some schools that come to mind are Colgate and Hamilton in NY, and since she has Hampshire on her list, perhaps Bard and/or Skidmore?</p>
<p>scualum-Good list w/ a nice mix of selectivity. If Iām not mistaken, her school choices seem to be mainly on the west or east coast states. If sheās open to the midwest, and sheās interested in majoring in English, she may want to consider Kenyon, Carleton, Knox(as a safety) and Grinnell. Also, since sheās looking into Scripps and Mt. Holyoke, she might want to consider Bryn Mawr (suburban location). I might also add Barnard (great English program)but, of course, thatās an urban campus. Also, on the safety side, maybe Goucher? Also,Hobart & William Smith: They have a creative writing scholarship, great merit aid, plus a number of their students tend to be active in IM or club sports.</p>
<p>ETA: I noticed that there are all private schools on your list. Perhaps she might want to look into a smaller state college? Iām not familiar with the west coast, but maybe a small public like St. Maryās of Maryland, as an exampleā¦?</p>
<p>FAP:</p>
<p>Love to have the links if you wouldā¦ writing is very much an interest of hersā¦</p>
<p>Thank you all for the suggestions - it is an eclectic list - but it is her list so that makes sense - Iāll pass on the suggestionsā¦</p>
<p>scualum, has she considered Johns Hopkins? I know itās not a LAC, but itās a smaller university, although itās obviously not suburban or rural. But it has a superb creative writing program: a good friend of Dās is in that program (called The Writing Seminars) and absolutely loves it. Most people think of JHU as a science school, but itās also excellent in the humanities. (H is an alum, and went nowhere near a science or math class for four years. He had some amazing professors, and is still close to one of them, whom we visit whenever weāre in the area.)</p>
<p>Hereās a link: [About</a> The Writing Seminars](<a href=āhttp://writingseminars.jhu.edu/about.html]Aboutā>http://writingseminars.jhu.edu/about.html)</p>
<p>Booklady:</p>
<p>I donāt think she has considered John Hopkins - we live on the West Coast so the east coast schools are somewhat of a mystery to us - the ones that made her list are mostly in the Boston area. Thanks - Iāll add it to her list to investigate (after Saturday)ā¦</p>
<p>scualum, thatās a great list. Have you and your D thought about Bates or Bowdoin? Especially Bowdoin is in a wonderful town (Brunswick) that is right off of campus.</p>
<p>My sisterās list, tentatively:</p>
<p>Columbia
Brown
Dartmouth (I think sheād be miserable, but there are so many siblings here, there has to be some sort of admissions advantage)
Williams
Middlebury
Colgate?
Hamilton?
Wellesley? (They offered me $3,000 in aid to Dartmouthās $25,000, but it could be worth another try)
Barnard
Macalester (I received very generous aid here)
Bryn Mawr?</p>
<p>Obviously she needs safeties. Mine were Bryn Mawr and Macalester, which seems breathtakingly reckless in retrospect, but it worked in the end. She is a foreign citizen with considerable financial need, so public universities are off the table. Iām not sure what to suggest.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Truer words were never spoken.</p>