@NateandAllisMom – wow, that is a reality check. I just think a lot of the really popular flagships are tough for engineering b/c they have too much demand. Our in-state flagship, NC State, waitlisted a ton of highly qualified kids this year. Though once the pandemic hit, they may have ended up dipping into it – not sure.
Utah might be a good option for your S? I also have family out there and SLC is a cool little city.
@InfiniteWaves In Pittsburgh proper it is Pitt, CMU, Duquesne, Point Park, Chatham and Carlow. Just outside of the the city you have RMU. As you bit further out and not in the city you have W&J, Grove City, Waynesburg, IUP, Allegheny College and quite few other in the I-79 corridor. I have no real sense of art or english programs at any of them. I know that Duquesne does give a decent amount of merit money to compete with the in state tuition of Pitt PSU etc.
Princeton one-ups everyone: test optional plus no SCEA. https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2020/06/princeton-drops-sat-act-test-score-requirement . One deadline, like olden times!
Princeton app added to the list! Ha ha just kidding. But I will say that’s always my first gut reaction when I see a big reach go TO. I bet these schools are going to see a big uptick in apps.
@AlmostThere2018 also eye opening to hear about 400-500 kids in Freshman engineering class. That’s exactly what my son doesn’t want. Weighted GPA is 4.5. You think that would be good enough but then you forget sometimes how many great, smart kiddos are out there. This all has me thinking we need to take a look at our safety list. I feel like the program we are using is too optimistic.
Wow re: Princeton. Wonder if Harvard will get rid of REA. Agree with the uptick in apps, homerdog.
I don’t understand the logic behind no SCEA for Princeton. I get going TO, but why eliminate SCEA?
Levels the playing field more, lifts restrictions, and gives students more time to take standardized tests (which they should try to do even tho so many schools are TO).
I never really understood why schools like HYP have SCEA.
When the Princeton and Yale AO visited our school, they said SCEA does not provide a boost, so what’s the purpose? Does anyone know?
@NateandAllisMom – sometimes it’s large schools with high admit rates that also seem to have policies designed to weed out engineering students. That’s why ‘safety’ is a difficult word in engineering.
Also, there’s a whole thread on CC too about ‘secondary admission’ for engineering. Basically, many places now you take general engineering first year and are not guaranteed to get into your engineering speciality (mechanical, electrical, etc.) after that – though most places will tell you that almost everyone gets their first choice. Some places are more transparent about the process and admit rates than others…
@Aguadecoco - I honestly don’t believe AO’s when they say that SCEA or REA does not provide a boost. I know that recruited athletes and somewhat "hooked’ candidates are encouraged to apply SCEA or REA. I think these schools make you apply b/c they’re really forcing a choice. My D16 was one of the few in her class who did not apply to her college REA, but she did apply SCEA and get in to the first school she was accepted to. The SCEA was great b/c she knew she could go there, and gave her a benchmark to compare all other financial offers. It worked out very well for her/me.
Northwestern just went test optional.
Yeah. Probably didn’t want to be the last to go and was waiting on Harvard and/or Princeton to decide. Lol. I don’t trust them. That’s another school like Vanderbilt and Wash U that prioritize test scores big time. We’ve had kids at our high school with mediocre ECs get into all of those schools…but they had 1560+ or 36.
I think Vandy is going to fall!
Thinking out loud, any more changes in deadlines would need to happen fast or they’ll throw everyone’s plans off. Common App opens in six weeks…
A big reason for EA is to allow the admissions staff to get working on the apps. For Princeton that will be a lot of apps to process between Jan 1st and Ivy Day.
I agree, but will they still lean hard on test scores behind the scenes?
Schools known to prioritize scores (NU, Vandy, WashU… who else?) are probably looking forward to the opportunity TO presents for increasing diversity (and I’ve seen indications elsewhere on the internet of URMs excited about this, sounds like a win-win). For applicants in the score-submitting pool, is the value of a high score the same as usual under TO, or better/worse than usual, as far as offsetting some other piece of the app in the holistic picture? How about for score-submitting URMs?
@evergreen5 My S is an URM, and our school district is an urban minority district. Most of our kids go to Texas Public schools. The only kids applying to top 20 schools or Selective LAC are usually kids in the top 1-2% of the class.
Our schools were able to administer the in school SAT in March and they always administer a school day SAT in October, so I will say that all of our top kids will be in a position to submit a good score.
My D23 is in a writing program through University of Iowa this summer - wish she could have actually been there on campus (and at Prairie Lights) but so glad they are still running her program virtually.