Analise

For the Class of 2021 the admit rate at Princeton was 6.4%. I hope nobody is selling this student a bill of goods. That would be cruel. I work in undergraduate admissions.

https://admission.princeton.edu/how-...ion-statistics

zippy the pinhead

I will certainly share that with him. Many thanks!

Analise

You're welcome! It Is very easy to find out admission rates in schools your son has selected or is considering. Use google to get a basic idea and you'll see a link to the undergraduate admissions office that provides the kind of detailed admissions statistical info that I shared with you from Princeton. Good luck!

wrp96

Go Penn!! Now that I've put that in there, I'll give some advice on college tours based on memories of my own college touring days. Don't plan more than two a day. Make sure to include some fun time (as defined by the teenager) in the middle of everything. You've made a good decision only visiting schools that are in session while you are there. For planning purposes, put the most interested in schools at the beginning if you have a choice - by the end of the trip, every school's presentation is going to start to blur together (we joked that all eastern universities had a requirement to have a cemetary in the middle of campus, and by about the 4th day we could almost recite the first few lines of every tour before they even started). In my case, Penn was at the end of a very long college tour trip, and I elected to skip it in order to get to the hotel faster (I was on a bus with 20 teenagers with food poisoning). I ended up having to make a separate trip up to Penn to see it. And yes a mix of inner city, suburban, and less suburban schools is good mix for someone who is still trying to narrow their choices down.

kipper

I've not found getting to JFK from Amtrak to be a pain. It was quite simple and rather painless.

cestmoi123

Which is why I commented on Lehigh in the context of the student's chance of being admitted to Princeton. If the student has a realistic (say 1 in 4 or better) chance of getting into Princeton (i.e. SAT 1550+, GPA 3.9+, good extracurriculars), then that student's probability of getting into Lehigh is very high, and it could make a good safety school.

AMflier

True This

Always have a mix of Reach, Target, and Safety schools.

I was a bit optimistic with my child on what schools he had a chance at. The amazing college counselor at his high school was very realistic about what school fell into each category for him. She pretty much nailed what schools he would be accepted at.

One of his graduating class aimed too high without applying to any safety schools. They had to scramble after being rejected by all of the schools they had applied to.

erik123

Typically it is recommended to see different school types. rural vs suburban vs urban. small vs large. etc. You can do two schools a day if they are in proximity and depending on the tour options. Three if you don't take the tour and only want to get a feel for the place. It sounds like you only selected the most competitive schools - perhaps include a few less selective ones that are still hihgly regraded?

If really interested you might have to do two visits.

zippy the pinhead

That is a good anecdote and I shared it.

I thought the suggestion to have some safe/"plan B" schools was a wise one, so I am having him do some due diligence as we finalize our plans.

Based on the suggestion of one of the responders in this thread, I purchased three books to inform the decision process: " ," the " ," and the " "

He's referring to these to help populate a Google Docs spreadsheet with some facts regarding the various campuses, such as GPA, SAT & ACT ranges, and so forth. Since he's interested in Physics and certain computer-related engineering fields, I'm having him visit the Web site for the relevant campuses to count the number of sections being offered in these various disciplines during the regular term. Back in my (pre-Internet) day, when I was choosing a graduate program, one of my key factors was "program health," which is a fancy way of saying that I laid out the newsprint schedule of classes for each of the schools I was considering-- I'm sure many of us here on the thread are old enough to remember when the schedule of classes came out in a newsprint booklet or equivalent-- and I looked at the number of classes and sections in my area that were being offered at each campus. There was a clear difference, and I chose the campus that appeared to have the greatest amount of vitality, as measured by the volume of classes/sections. In hindsight this was good for me.

We also have a counselor at his school who has been doing this a good long while, and that is a resource we will be trying to utilize as well.

Analise

Great to hear that!

Unfortunately that one student is not alone. This reeks of a college counselor who is probably assigned hundreds of seniors who clearly can't give each student the individual guidance needed to make a smart roster of schools from which to apply. This happens nearly everywhere including at top public schools across the country.

For anyone really interested, there was a state-to-state student to college guidance counselor ratio report done comparing 10 years of guidance counseling. Go to page 2 to see a student to college guidance counselor ratio per state.

That's good to hear.

A substantial majority of Princeton applicants has the above. Lehigh is now much more selective than it was 10, 20, 30 years ago because many who think they have a 25% shot of getting into Princeton are in for a rude awakening and run to schools like Lehigh. Obviously I can't convince you of that but that's ok.

What can drive undergraduate admissions recruiters like myself bonkers is how often parents can make the application process torture for their kids for all kinds of reasons having more to do with the parents than the students.

zippy the pinhead

Come on, you've got to illuminate that with some anecdotes. This thread may be found by searchers in the future, leave something for 'em, but at the same time, I would be very interested to read whatever you care to share.

Analise

All 2 or 3 searches?

Anecdotes — College fairs. I've had a few parents (mothers) question me about professors, specifically about how accessible they are to the parents regarding grading disputes.

At interviews, a few applicants have handed me a 2 page resume duplex print all prepared by someone at mom's or dad's office. The kids are honest; they tell me.

zippy the pinhead

I hope that you seldom, if ever, green-light the admission of applicants with such parents. The faculty at your institution should be routinely treating you to lunch as a tangible thanks for rejecting the snowflakes with the helicopter parents whenever reasonably practical, or even as standard operating procedure.

cestmoi123

This is key. Spreadsheets are great, but a college counselor with a lot of experience and good relationships with admissions directors who knows your child is a hugely valuable resource, both for how to apply, and how to form a realistic strategy for where to apply.

BTW, love the userid! And yes, we are having fun.

MSPeconomist

Student unhappy about grade, to female faculty member (full professor): "I'm going to have my father come in and talk to the professor in charge of this course."

Response: "OK, but perhaps he would like to talk with my mother instead."