It is a truth of college admissions that students are turned away every year from schools for which they are highly qualified. We prepare for that by carefully crafting a list that includes only schools that your student would genuinely be happy to attend, so that every yes is a reason to celebrate.
The decision was made to list schools because this is a process in which the outcome matters. Please understand, though, that the colleges I suggest are appropriate for your student because they are a fit for your student's academic accomplishments and goals and because the campus has attributes that suit their deeper preferences. I do not mean to feed any admission fevers. On the contrary, I hope it heartens my students to know how many wonderful, varied outcomes are possible.
700+ essays on average every season. My students have been admitted to:
Amherst+, Arizona State, Auburn, Boston College+, Boston University+, Boulder+, Brown+, Bucknell+, Butler, Cal Poly SLO+, Carleton, Chicago, Claremont McKenna, Clemson, Colgate, Colorado State, UC Davis+*, Davidson, Duke+, Emerson, Emory+, Fordham+, George Washington+, Gonzaga+, Grove City+, Harvard, Indiana+, Johns Hopkins, Kentucky, Lipscomb, Long Beach+, Loyola Marymount, Loyola Chicago, Macalaster, Marist, Miami of Ohio+, Michigan+, Michigan State+, MIddlebury, Minnesota, Montana State, Mount Saint Mary's, Northeastern+, Northwestern+, Notre Dame, NYU+, Ohio State+, Oklahoma, Oregon+, Penn+, Penn State+, Pepperdine+, Pitt+, Pitzer+, Pomona+, Providence, Purdue+, Rice, Rose Hulman, Santa Clara+, SDSU+, Seton Hall, SMU+, St. Louis University, Stanford+, Stevens Institute+, Syracuse, Texas+, TCU+, Tulane+, UC Berkeley+, UCLA+, UC Davis+, UCI+, UC Santa Cruz+, UC San Diego+, UC Santa Barbara+, USC+, USD+, USF+, Utah+, UoP, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Vermont+, Virginia+, Wake Forest+, WashU+, Wesleyan, Westmont, Wisconsin+, William and Mary+, Yale
This is a partial list as not every student has reported every outcome to me yet and there are waitlist offers that may yet materialize. Schools with multiple acceptances are shown with a + which may help you identify those that are both popular and welcoming. Any school with an asterisk indicates that at least one admitted student benefited from either coach support as an athlete or academic support from a professor.
It is also true that each of my students has been told no. It is important to recognize that in admissions today strong academics are required but are not sufficient. And the truth is that students who would have in the past been reliably admitted to highly selective schools cannot count on being admitted to any highly selective schools. At the school they do choose to attend they will be surrounded by other students just like them: high-achieving, motivated, ambitious, wise, and ready to contribute. I like to remind students to recognize their power in this process and focus on what they can control: making good decisions, pursuing interests deeply, and applying broadly and strategically.