@Ynotgo S17 initially wanted to visit Princeton to see the engineering school. The campus is probably the most beautiful college campus I have ever seen. Just gorgeous, but S felt the campus vibe was a poor fit for him. So it came off of his list. He and I both agreed it was a nice campus but we were glad that he saw it when students were there.
Just got an email that has a link to a list of colleges changing their EA/ED programs – has a pretty helpful chart that shows who is doing what type(s) of changes to ED 1/2 & EA 1/2 etc —
https://www.college-kickstart.com/blog/item/early-admission-plan-changes-for-the-class-of-2021?utm_source=newsletter_270&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=college-kickstart-insights-july-2016
Thanks for the insights on Princeton. It’s on the list of particularly good schools for physics and math, which is why DS will likely apply. We don’t know much about it otherwise.
QOTD: @itsgettingreal17 We are going with the following categories for DS, since it makes sense with his school’s Naviance. He is at or above the 75%ile for all places he will apply.
High reach: <10% admitted
Reach: 10-20% admitted
Match: 20-30% admitted
Safety: >30% admitted and seems to admit by the numbers rather than holistically/considering interest
By these definitions, his list is at:
High reach: 8
Reach: 4
Match: 3
Safety: 2
@saillakeerie @Ynotgo , D is with you on visit. No more visit until admissions. The ones we dId are on route to vacation or her FBLA trips.
U Chicago, call me maybe
Northwestern, yes to hunky hockey player tour guide
Duke: yes
UVA: no, no, no
CWRU: yes
CMU: no, too close to home. DH is trying to convince her to say yes
Emory: yes
UA: local presentation…no
For now, we are going to do local presentations and flyins if she gets them.
@mamaedefamilia - Thanks for US History info. DS took practice test this morning and scored 620, but thinks he can do well the some prep. He took Us History in 10th grade. He likes reading history. So Spanish is out, history is in :)) he will tske it in October and he makes NMSF, SAT in November.
@Ynotgo - What are some of the schools that purely go by stats and have decent ranking?
DD17 is considering adding Durham to her UK list but decided if the fact that many of the colleges have a formal dinner, in robes, once or twice a week, to be cool, a la Hogwarts, or dorky.
@paveyourpath – I have not looked at UNC or UVA but both are popular choices at our HS (those athletic recruits again! and some general interest/legacy connection to Virginia).
I believe UNC takes 82% instate and UVA takes 70%. UVA’s OOS legacies are treated as instate residents during the admission process, so they enjoy an admit rate twice that of non-legacy OOS applicants.
Edit: just looked and instate admit rate is not quite twice OOS admit rate. They are refreshingly transparent with their data and anyone interested in applying should follow Dean J’s informative blog posts.
https://avillage.web.virginia.edu/iaas/instreports/studat/hist/admission/first_by_residency.htm
@2muchquan – I wish it were as simple as your ratio: 3 matches = 1 safety. I would then rest more easily!
@paveyourpath, I heard UNC is fair with OOS need based aid. UVA and UNC are considered two of the better need schools for OOS. Michigan is just so so. There are not a lot of flagships that give need aid to OOS. Many give merit as a lure…
@CA1543 – or anyone else…what is EA 2? I thought I had seen every permutation…
I would think that schools where student qualifys for automatic merit would also be admissions safeties.
@srk2017 I am counting UC Santa Cruz at 51% acceptance as a safety for him, because in Naviance there are no rejections anywhere near him and down to about 2000 old SAT.
I am counting Calpoly SLO as a safety for him–and I know it wouldn’t be if he were applying for engineering or many other majors. But, he is applying in physics, which isn’t in as much demand at Calpoly. He probably wouldn’t be able to take CS classes, so it isn’t ideal. Calpoly would be a match according to my 20-30% group, but they admit by MCA score, not essays etc, and his score is high enough for physics.
UCSB and UCSD have acceptance rates >30%, but both are holistic, so I’m counting them as matches. If UCSB gives any preference to locals who have been involved in activities on the UCSB campus, he has that in spades. He looks fine on the Naviance graph. So, I was tempted to think of UCSB as a safety, but he will also be applying to the College of Creative Studies there for his 1st choice major, which is more of a reach.
Since he’s ELC, UC Merced is automatic without applying.
@CT1417 82% could be the magic number rather than 80%. Either way, whatever that number is, my understanding is it is state mandated for the NC state schools. Your edit is spot on for VA. The in-state admit rate is under 50%. I am not sure most people realize that distinction when they visit UNC. When we did our info session, there were 500 people in the room and about 400 were OOS.
@bigpapiofthree That is true, UNC does give alot of need based aid to students. They are, rightfully so, proud of the fact that they use the money they receive from the sale of licensed UNC products to put the money into scholarships and meeting student needs. The thing to keep in mind is that unlike some state schools that offer OOS a 50/50 shot at admittance, the odds are reduced because they can only accept a certain % of OOS and don’t have any leeway on that for freshman year admits. The other thing you will want to look into is UNC has a very specific criteria for determining residency. It’s not the same as what you described in Texas. Not trying to discourage anyone in any way but want to point out that some state schools have no quota on instate vs OOS and everyone has the same chance whereas UNC has the instate vs OOS quota.
I’m almost positive DD17’s mca is high enough for chemistry for SLO to be a safety. It’s her favorite California school by quite a bit too. Although a lot of her work friends this summer are at sdsu so she’s kind of giving that another look. Other work non-friends that she thinks are not so bright are at nau. So off any list.
@CT1417 EA 2 would just be a 2nd application submission deadline. You still find out before those who submit RD but you weren’t quite ready in time to submit the first round of EA. Some kids will apply EA to some schools and then if they don’t get the decision they want, will apply EA2 to others. It’s the same with ED and ED2 accept with EDs being binding. So now you have EA1, EA2, ED1, ED2, RD. Lots of variations which is what is probably drawing most to say they will just apply to all the schools by the first deadline regardless of whether they choose EA, ED or RD. Makes it easier to keep straight.
We visited Scripps last year. It felt like a small, contained college. The buildings were Spanish style and I loved the architecture. It is steeped in tradition. If I remember correctly there were pianos in the common rooms of the dorms. The campus is beautiful and quaint. The have a wonderful co-op coffee house. They have their own pool/workout facility which was quite nice. I really liked it. I felt like it was a wonderfully supportive environment, however, it did not feel removed from the world because you walk outside the boundaries of the college and you are on another, different school, both in architecture and focus. For example, Harvey Mudd is above Scripps, kids are skateboarding by and the buildings are rectangular, concrete, 60s, dare I say modernist? The other Claremont colleges are surrounding the school and the kids free-flow through the common areas and they can eat on any campus. I did not feel like the other college’s students flowed through Scripps proper, because the dorm life is in a different area from the classrooms, but this in no way prevents your daughter from meeting other kids, male or female, if they so desire. Other colleges’ students can take a Scripps’ class, so you may have a student from a different college in your class, but there are core Scripps’ classes that only Scripps’ students take. There was a common newsletter describing the food at each dining hall and the upcoming parties/performances on each college so there are a lot of options. If your daughter wants an all girl’s school with the ability to have a larger social life that includes all sexes on a regular basis, this is definitely an option for her.
I haven’t learned how to add the @name yet, but above was a little info for parent who asked earlier. 
Thanks @paveyourpath – I had never seen EA 2 before!
@Ynotgo I completely agree with you that admissions chances is better based on Naviance data, provided that data is complete and accurate. How did you arrive at your percentages if your S is already above 75%ile stats-wise? Are those mostly schools with very low admissions rates? Did you limit the Naviance data to only those with similar stats?
Naviance is a great tool to determine whether there is any risk of Tufts syndrome at a particular school. I think Tufts syndrome applies to very few schools. Most schools don’t care about their admissions rate or yield rate so long as they fill their seats.
Btw, anyone else having trouble connecting to Naviance today?
@SincererLove Curious about the 3 no for UVA, can you share more? We are studying it to see if it can be a match for D.
I am totally with @CT1417 on the detrimental effect of the Tufts Syndrome.
Using Naviance data points, I would say D’s list would be 40% reach, 35% match and 25% safety. She wanted to limit her # of schools, but if we are chasing competitive merit money, we have to cast a wider net.