<p>A friend’s S has high grades, rank, and test scores. But, since he has few ECs (couple of school clubs, one season sport), no hook nor passion, most top privates and LACs would be a lottery-pick stretch. Fortunately, he has the UC’s as stretch, match and safety. </p>
<p>Any parents with any suggestions on private schools that view that passion-thing or ECs as secondary? I had heard Hopkins was more numbers-focused, but their web site seems to indicate that ECs are important. He seems to prefer a small to mid-sized campus.</p>
<p>What is he interested in studying? Certain schools back east are trying to boost their numbers and may be willing to overlook fewer EC’s in order to get a male from Calif. with top stats. Dickinson is one school that comes to mind as a possibility.</p>
<p>Of course we all know that kid’s majors change numerous times, but he likes the liberal arts concept (which is why his parents are thinking smaller private vs large UC). With regards to major, likely history (euro-Russian?) and/or econ, but also would like to study a different language after 4 yrs of HS Span.)</p>
<p>Dickinson would be a good bet then — they are looking to build both geographic diversity and gender diversity, and, although they’ve made SATs optional, they are also very aggressive about building their rankings so might be swayed by the higher stats. They have very strong language and history programs.</p>
<p>Conn college, Skidmore, Hobart, Bennington, Brandeis, Bard… stop me before I hurt someone. If you can calibrate just how high we can be more helpful. A kid from our neighborhood w/high stats and nothing else got a massive merit award at Brandeis last year. Helps up their average SAT’s, and fencing team be damned…</p>
<p>Think about USC; not small but it has a nice compact campus with about 15,000 undergrads. They are pushing hard to raise their national reputation in part by increasing the SATs scores of their entering classes. If interested you need to cultivate them with visits and contacts with the regional rep.</p>
<p>The answer about JHU (Johns Hopkins University) is “it depends.” Numbers are more important in the College of Engineering, where I work. The College of A&S is not as well known as the LAC’s, but is quite good. He should know though, that the fine arts are not as well represented as at good LAC’s, even though the offerings are restricted to undergrads only.</p>
<p>Blossom: how religously diverse is Brandeis? (I couldn’t find it on their website.)</p>
<p>Tddad: thanks for the SC suggestion; while it maybe too close to home, they are really focusing on cranking up academics – to keep up with football? :)</p>
<p>Wyogal: parent is also a Hopkins grad alum…think that’ll help much?</p>
<p>You say he has “no hook or passion” but has great stats. Does he have a “focus?” i.e., an idea of what he would like to study? Some have said that having an idea of what one hopes to accomplish in college, getting specific as to courses and names of professors one hopes to take classes from (and why) at xyz uni/lac can help an applicant stand out from the pack. </p>
<p>Someone mentioned Grinnell. S’s experience (as an applicant) with them was very positive–they seemed very open to questions, and the type of place where one could discover a “passion” in college. I don’t know if St. Olaf is a possibility (another one S applied to), but they seem to need males, and I’m sure there are other colleges in the same boat (I think someone has mentioned Vassar as another one that needs boys). S keeps telling me that one of the leading experts on knot theory is at St. Olaf (it’s a math thing–I don’t know what it means) which he found attractive.</p>
<p>JHU legacy? I don’t really know…Could be, though, they are very very focused on alumni activities, especially since NYC Mayor Blumberg gave all that money (tens of millions I don’t remember).</p>
<p>I think mstee has hit on something though–It would definitely be worth it to look into LAC’s where boys are URM’s, namely the historic women’s colleges that are now co-ed. 2 that come to mind besides Vassar are Wheaton MA and Connecticut College, but there are many others.</p>
<p>Goucher in Maryland would be another possibility. Some others: Whitman in Washington (they place a huge emphasis on demonstrated writing skills and have a difficult time attracting top students to Walla Walla), St. Olaf (already mentioned - this is one of my favorite LACs), Hendrix College in Arkansas (very liberal school - kind of the Grinnell of Arkansas), Rhodes College in Tenn, University of Puget Sound in Washington, Muhlenberg in Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>The importance of EC’s (and hooks) is more as a balance to weaknesses in other areas, than as a requirement per se. If the grades and scores are good enough then the ECs become less critical, especially if he’s applying one tier down from the top. I’d take a look at Carnegie Melon as well. I don’t have anything but anecdotal evidence, but I believe that they are very numbers driven.</p>
<p>Just out of interest, does he really have no interests outside of academics? Sometimes an “unofficial” interest like travel or collecting can be parlayed into a good essay or at least add another dimension to a flat profile.</p>
<p>When you mentioned ‘how high’ I wasnt’ sure what you meant. If you were asking about stats…3.9 uw, all honors, 7 APs by graduation, and 2-3 outside university courses; no SAT yet, but PSAT >200.</p>
<p>Carolyn: have heard great things about Grinnell and Carleton…would those be on your ying (xx) or yang (xy) list? LOL</p>