My child is an extremely motivated student; works very hard in her classes (she is homeschooled and takes some AP classes online). She is often up very late or wakes at 430 or 5 AM to work on her assignments… She has only taken one AP test–World History–4. She plans to take two more this AP this year (senior). She took the Bio and Chem subject tests and got 660 and 630 respectively. Took the SAT twice with superscore 1370. She also has participated in varsity sports (track) at the public high school throughout her high school career–11 varsity letters and all league twice as well as other honors. My question is, she is clearly does not have the stats for the most competitive schools, but I want to recognize her effort and achievement by applying to a couple of moderately competitive schools. Any recommendations? She would love to run track in college as well but clearly her stats are not up to division 1 schools. What are the great schools for above average but not excelling students?
Any preferences for size, geographic location, majors of interest? Will she need need-based aid or scholarships?
Her SAT score would fall inside the middle 50 for a number of schools for which admission would be moderately competitive, i.e., not a sure thing, but a possibility. In no particular order: U Richmond, Bucknell, Fordham, Skidmore, American, Miami Ohio, LMU, SCU, TCU, and others. (I don’t know which of these have women’s track.) Her SAT is under the average enrolled for BC (division 1, I think?) for class of 2022, but still inside the middle 50 - would be a reach, but not impossible.
Your daughter’s profile falls in a range at which she can consider a range of appealing colleges. As matches and high matches, she might qualify for schools such as Connecticut College, the University of Richmond, St. Lawrence, Denison.
Is your daughter a senior now? Is she applying for fall of 2019? If so, has she submitted some applications already? I’m asking, because a lot of deadlines will have passed (or very soon will) save for the schools with rolling admissions.
I’m new to posting here on CC, but here’s my two cents-- Personally, I’d implore you to not look at the college search in terms of ‘what’s the most competitive school she can get into’ and focus on helping her find a true fit for her as a person and a student (and athlete). I think there’s always a little more danger in taking stats, and trying to align it to deservedness to some ‘tier’ of school. First, what qualifies a school as being at X level of competitiveness varies wildly. Also, it might matter based on what areas of study she might be interested in. For example, a school might be moderately competitive for business majors, but no so for STEM. Even more important, I’d steer clear of pure prestige seeking. While being able to raise an eyebrow or two (and that would probably be max in a lifetime) by saying, “I got into Competitive U,” it will be cold comfort if she gets in, but doesn’t really want to be there, and/or it doesn’t meet her holistic needs.
My son is a junior, and we’re knee-deep in the middle of finding “fit” himself. I recently posted a thread asking for ideas from the awesome community here, and we got a lot of absolutely tantalizing food for thought, including some answers and directions for questions that I didn’t even think to ask, or know that I needed to. I got great advice about financial aid nuances, situational assessments (about athletic recruiting, and gap year activities), and recommendations. Of course, we got the requested schools to consider that we hadn’t looked at, thought of, or even knew existed. The focus of the search is about where he will thrive, not what his stats may have earned. This, because his stats and his athletic abilities could get him into a lot of schools (of varying levels of competitiveness), but he would definitely not be happy at them all, or even most of them. I’d suggest looking for where she would love to be, where she will thrive, where she have the opportunities that matter to her (not to US News, or Princeton Review, or whatever other yard stick that measures prestige or ‘competitiveness’). Make sure that it’s somewhere where you can afford to send her, and somewhere that will value her, and her unique qualities.
Much luck to your daughter!
Also is she full pay-or needing aid. If full pay she will be competitive for schools she might not be if asking for aid. I agree with points above about the competitive nature of schools-go for characteristics of the school she wants not for ratings. What are her speeds in track, etc?
Is your daughter a senior now? Seems kind of late to be asking for more schools. Which schools has she applied to already?
What is your annual budget for college?
There are literally HUNDREDS of schools you could consider. Without knowing your budget, geographic regions, academic interests & size preferences – it’s simply impossible to advise. But you’ve come to the right place - a lot of experts on this site, so give us more information and get ready to get lots of ideas.
“There are literally HUNDREDS of schools you could consider”
This was exactly my reaction.
OP, what is your home state and your budget? Does your daughter have some idea regarding what she might want to major in? Does she have a preference for small schools or large schools?
Beware looking this year that as a pp mentioned, many application deadlines have passed or are very near closing, so look at that first. I seem to think Union College and Washington & Jefferson were possibilities for a late applying student last year. I’m sure there are others as there are also rolling decision schools - just look at deadlines first before falling in love with a school.
Unfortunately, if you aren’t full pay, many merit scholarship deadlines have also ended already - sooner than app deadlines.
To better offer suggestions, location, type of school (large, small, etc), and desired field of study (science, humanities, etc) would be super helpful. There are colleges that fit her stats all over. Her scores are quite good. It’s ok if they aren’t tippy top. Many students where I work would be thrilled to have them.