Advice, comments, suggestions to my college list

<p>I've been working hard at improving my SAT I scores, and so far I've been getting around a 1400 between math and verbal, and I'm shooting for about a 650+ on the writing portion. SAT II scores for Chem, Physics, and Math 2: 760, 650, 630 (I'll definitely retake Math 2, but I think I'll take a different SAT II rather than physics). I'm in the top 5% of my class with 'average' EC's.</p>

<p>I just want to know if my list is balanced and if anyone has any suggestions as to what I should do. I'll consider everyone's opinion!! I'm an Asian male from Philadelphia, and I plan on attending school on the East coast (don't quite mind going too far down South either).</p>

<p>College List
Penn (I think I'll ED here)
Cornell
Johns Hopkins
Emory
Carnegie Mellon
Vanderbilt
University of Michigan
Lehigh University
PSU</p>

<p>I've tried to list them in order of my chances at each one (least to greatest), but I feel that I may have more reaches than matches/safeties. Does anyone have any suggestions? I hope it's not too late for me to really change my list (I'm a rising senior). Thanks!!</p>

<p>If science/engineering is your goal, the list looks good except for Emory. I don't think Emory has engineering. Penn State would be a safety. You should have more reaches than safeties.</p>

<p>Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, my main interest is in science, and I didn't think Emory was such a great selection, but I'm afraid my list might not be long enough, so I put it under consideration. How many safeties should I have? I feel that I have a great shot at Lehigh, so I'm thinking it's more of a safe match (I may be completely wrong). </p>

<p>College list
College List
Penn (I think I'll ED here)
Cornell
Johns Hopkins
Carnegie Mellon
Vanderbilt
University of Michigan
Lehigh University
PSU</p>

<p>Also, did I do a good job listing these in order? Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks so far.</p>

<p>P.S.- Does it help me at Penn if three of my cousins (two from one side of the family and one from another) have attended Penn and my aunt works there?</p>

<p>Emory has an awesome biology program, as well as great resources in the biomedical sciences, but I'm not sure about the other sciences. I'm kind of surprised Duke isn't on your list-with Vanderbilt, Emory, Johns Hopkins, and Penn (to a lesser extent) being similar schools.</p>

<p>PSU & Lehigh are certainly safeties. Penn State might SHAFT YOU on financial aid, they're known to do that. I know a kid who paid less to go to Colgate than he would have paid to go to PSU...How lame?!</p>

<p>I feel a little intimidated by Duke. I understand it's an excellent school, but I don't think how well I would do on the admissions. I understand Penn, Hopkins, and others on my list are at a similar level as Duke, but I don't want to fill my list with nothing but future rejections :( I'm not too concerned about financial aid, so if PSU does not give a lot or any, I won't be too disappointed. However, I understand Vanderbilt likes having New England (especially Asian) kids at their school. Is there a possibility that I can get any merit-based scholarship?</p>

<p>Also, I understand this isn't a chances thread, but what are my realistic chances at Penn? I know my SAT II scores are on the low side, and my SAT I's are not even at the school's average. However, are the top SAT scores occupied by Wharton attendees? Are they not included?
I visited Penn today and I fell in love with the campus. Before the tour, I sincerely thought, "This school's too close to home.. I'll never feel comfortable here", but as soon as I saw the campus, I completely forgot that I was in Philadelphia! Has anyone had similar thoughts about the campus? Anyway, yeah, so what are my realistic chances at the College at Penn (ED)?</p>

<p>I have 3 friends at Wharton. They all have scores in the bottom third of the avg. Penn scoreband. I wouldn't necessarily assume that the Wharton kids are the top decile. Wharton is much more difficult to get into than regular ol' Penn, but ECs & business experience (owning your own, working at a high level, internships, etc) is more important to them- so the SATs aren't really that different than the rest of the university. I'd say you have a decent chance at Penn ED (by no means a match), but nothing's for certain.</p>

<p>Thanks for your input czechitout.
If anyone has noticed, I moved a part of this to the "Chances" thread if anyone wants to take a gander, you're more than welcome to! Any additional advice about Penn would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>By the way, I was thinking about Penn's essay-- "if your life was a book of 300 pages, what would the 217th page be, etc.?"
Do they want an answer that pertains mostly to career success? I was thinking about having a family, etc. (I'm sorry if this sounds cliche, but it seems like everything I think of is very cliche).</p>

<p>That sort of prompt just begs for a cliche response. However, if you answer just to sound un-cliche, you'll probably come off sounding fake and pretenious. UVA has "what is your favorite word and why"...Talk about begging for a lame answer! Good luck with your essay :)</p>

<p>Ahh.... I understand they put a lot of emphasis on the essay, so one of my main concerns is the fact that my essays will be nothing more than mediocre and with nothing more than mediocre (or sub-mediocre) scores, I'll get rejected :( I want to be a good writer, and I've been brainstorming, but it feels like my essay is nothing but doomed to be a lame piece of lame!</p>