Adding or Removing to College List?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, im making my college list right now and ive started adding schools based on % acceptances (around 20-30-40). i have a couple for each level, Reach, Target and Safety, but i dont know if i should add more target schools or go the other direction and maybe try more reach schools.
My high SAT I was a 2150, SATII Chem 740, Math 800, BioE 730 and Chinese 800. My UC gpa is a 4.36 and unweighted is 4.00. I am ranked one in my high school with all A's. I want to major in Biology and for now, i think ill be going to med school
At first, i had my eyes set on UCs since i didnt think about leaving california (im a california resident) but after talking to a counselor, he advised that i apply to private schools, since my parents make around 60,000 and ill be able to get some need-based scholarship.
With my scores and grades, what do you think about my list? Should i bump some schools up the list (being harder to get into)? It would be great if you can recommend some schools that i should consider putting in my categories. Or if i should remove any schools. Also, what other private schools do you think i might have a shot at that would give me need-based financial aid?</p>

<p>Reach:
Washington University in St. Louis
Johns Hopkins University
Target:
UC Berkeley
UC LA</p>

<p>Safety:
UC SD
UC Davis
UC Irvine</p>

<p>Thanks! :)</p>

2

<p>Practically all the top private schools will give you pretty good need-based financial aid. You really won’t know the differences until you get the package. It seems like you put WUSTL and JHU because of their medical schools. That’s fine, but I don’t think that going to undergrad with great medical schools is such a huge boost that you should forget about other things, such as size, location, etc.</p>

3

<p>

</p>

<p>Be advised that selecting schools due to acceptance rates is not a good way to measure a school’s selectivity. This is always a good example: UChicago’s acceptance rate is relatively high, and yet, it is EXTREMELY competitive to get in. The applicant pool is self-selecting.</p>

<p>Anyway, as the above poster asked… what are you looking in for a school? Schools such as Duke and Penn are great for pre-med students and give lots of aid, but some schools are for certain types of people.</p>