My board is boring. 
UNM 98%
Texas Tech 1%
GF Wildcard %1
Mine is also boring.
UTD 99%
MIT 0.25% (combining low likelihood of admission with low probability of S accepting such an offer)
Wildcard 0.75%
@ShrimpBurrito - It looks like McGill has moved up as a close second to UBC, for your D, undoubtedly due to the summer program she is doing this summer. At this point, your top 3 schools (UBC, McGill, Toronto) are probably similar in ranking to the ranking in our own house (though it’s probably really a toss-up between all three of the “big 3” Canadian schools). I’m surprised your D wouldn’t be looking at UCLA, too, in SoCal, if you’re thinking of that region. We have a preference in our house for UCLA, as being a good academic school and also in a nice neighborhood in West L.A. (it’s also in-state for us, and so the economics would be compelling). Our top 4 thus would be UBC, McGill, Toronto and UCLA–pretty similar to yours. We’ll see how it goes. We are visiting McGill in August and then UBC will be on the itinerary for later. Cheers.
Just when I thought S18 already had a carefully balanced list of reaches, matches and safeties totally figured out … Along comes a beautiful brochure from U Rochester - probably the 10th or so marketing piece I’ve seen come through the mail or email for S from U Rochester this year, none of which seemed to spark any interest - and now S wants to consider U Rochester. [Sigh]. I had hoped we were past the list formation stage and onto the application stage. So jealous of those of you who already know with 90+ percent certainty where your children are headed next year!
Because of merit chase and special program wildcards, only way to do this is to assume we hit the lottery. Completely impossible, won’t happen, but since it is kind of fun to imagine I will give it a shot!
Centre (assuming Brown Fellow or Lincoln Scholar full ride, both long shots) 40%
Kentucky (assuming full ride, Lewis honors acceptance) 30%
Louisville (NMF full ride, honors college, Guaranteed Entrance to Medical School program acceptance) 15%
Cincinnnati (Cincinnatus full ride, honors college, medical studies major, and BS/MD program acceptance) 13%
Alabama (NMF scholarship, honors college and Randall Research Scholars acceptance) 2%
It feels so unpredictable at this point, since Louisville and Alabama may be the only guaranteed merit in the mix. Centre could fall like a rock. Kentucky will still be in the mix. Ugh!
@gclsports, I have a friend whose D attends URochester and who is having a fantastic experience there. Great school.
^^^Yes^^^
Even though D wants big and urban, we did a campus tour at Rochester while we were in the area. We were both shocked by how much we liked it. Students are nerdy but cool and fun. Campus is peaceful and pretty, but not over-the-top indulgent. They struck just the right tone for us: professional and confident without being arrogant, with a little quirky humor thrown in. And man, they know how to give an info session!
Hi @GoldenState99
Although we used to live in CA, we no longer have that in-state tuition thingie, putting UCLA out of reach financially. D’s a likely NMSF, so if she were accepted to USC, it would (probably) be half tuition. If she got lucky and landed a full tuition scholarship there (I know, catching a unicorn), it could be a serious contender. She’s spent time on campus, but not as a prospective student. She’ll go in October with H for the official tour.
D is still in Montreal, so I’m making pretty big guesses on this big board. The board will likely change once she’s home and has been fully debriefed. She did ask yesterday when she had to make a final decision, so it just may come down to the wire!
Yes, becoming familiar with McGill and Montreal does seem to be making it more attractive to her, but we talked before she left about how McGill will have an unfair advantage because of this summer program. That aside, she has a long-time friend, who now lives in another state, who may be going to McGill. They would love to be reunited in college. It could come down to money, should she get a major entrance scholarship to McGill or UBC. Or it may come down to what she wants to major in, as she’s said she’d major in Linguistics if she went to McGill, since that’s their stronger program, and Cognitive Systems at UBC, since that’s their stronger program. Toronto seems to be falling away, as the “it’s hard to connect with people” mantra she keeps hearing is very concerning to her. She’s also thinking the urban-ness of Toronto may be too overwhelming. At least in Montreal you can hike up Mont Royal to escape it.
This is assuming she’s accepted to all three, of course.
Keep us posted on the August McGill visit!
Can you believe Common App opens a week from Tuesday? EEK!.
That’s my D-Day
Infrequent poster . . .
We should do like the football boards do. USCe = South Carolina. USCw = Southern Cal. I can’t follow which USC we’re talking about!
DD is interested in Int’l Relations. Does USCe have a Japanese program? That’s her main interest, but looking to double major in something else. USCw is her fave, but she only has a 32 ACT so not sure she’ll get in.
I was thinking along the same lines, because I was confused. But how about USCar and USCal? I can’t follow “e” and “w.” My D will be applying to USCal, but not USCar.
e = East
w = West
It’s just what I’m used to seeing online.
Common app doesn’t bother me, never needed it for any schools, nor CSS profile. I think that’s still the case with DS.
Wow! I had never heard of common app til a few months ago at a UW Seattle (UWw for Anteater) tour and now find that every school except UC and CSU’s that we’re looking at requires it. Can’t avoid it but happy it’s there. I’m just giving S til then before he has to totally focus on college process.
It’s possible (not likely, but possible) that I could have a kid at USCw and another at USCe. That wouldn’t be confusing. No, not at all. :((
@ShrimpBurrito great info on Rochester. We have not visited the campus and I’m pretty sure my daughter would have a melt down if I sheduled her one more tour…but I’ve been so intrigued about Rochester and your post makes it even more so.
@MACmiracle UAB has a vibrant outdoor club, and there are some really good mountain biking trails nearby. IMO It’s not as pretty here as the northeast, but there are open spaces and hills.
@labegg thanks, and yes, getting good info on USCarolina We toured Auburn in June. It was a pretty campus, more compact than I thought it would be. We were invited to a War Eagle day. It was very “vanilla” and we didn’t go inside any buildings on the tour. I found that odd. The dorms were very nice, the suite style we liked. It was one of those tours where we really didn’t see what might have wowed my son. So I don’t know what type of tour you signed up for, but you may want to reach out to departments that you are interested in. They were big on their traditions and stories about the history of the school. I’m not impressed by that stuff, since it tells me nothing about how my son will like the school. I think those cutesy things grow on you later. Maybe it was a failure on my part.
We are touring URochester in a couple weeks, I can report back. Also RIT, MIT, Northeastern, RPI and Case.
Big Board Odds as of today:
UChicago: 10% - Assuming he applies ED, that’s probably pretty close to his admission chance… he isn’t convinced he’ll go ED… but it is his top choice right now.
Florida: 65% - NMF Full Ride - this is just too good an offer
UPenn: 5% - has surpassed CalTech, but he’s still on the fence. He likely won’t apply to both.
Florida Tech: 5% - would require several others to fall through and/or a full ride offer
USF/UCF: 5% - the true safeties. Pick your poison.
Dark Horse: 10% - I’ve been trying to find some good “matches” that grab his attention and that would be a better than even shot at getting in with his scores, etc. So far nothing has jumped out at him, but I’m guessing there’s one out there and he’ll fall in love. This could also possibly be a Swarthmore or something that was previously on the list that makes a return too.
If he gets through 6 or 7 applications, I’d be happy and impressed. He’s probably going to try to get away with something more like 3. 