I’m a senior and really not sure what to do about college. I go to high school in England and I decided, probably too late, that I wanted to go to college in the US (I’m a permanent resident, but my dad’s english). I made the mistake of not applying to any backups and had to rush my applications slightly so I ended up being rejected from all 8 Ivy Leagues and 2 other what I now know to be called ‘reach’ schools. My UK applications were more successful and I’ve been accepted to UCL (University College London) to study Economics with a year abroad.
For many reasons including the curricular freedom, school spirit and campus life etc, I still really want to go to college in the US, so I think I’m going to defer my place at UCL and apply to some US schools for the class of 2020. I know that applying to the same schools twice really makes much it harder, so I’m applying to less than half of those that rejected me. I’m trying to put together a list of schools to apply to that would be nearly/equivalent to UCL if I got good grades. I’d really like to do an MBA at one of the Ivies or Stanford, so I want to go somewhere where I’d have a chance at this.
This is a rough idea:
Already applied to but want to again:
Upenn (Wharton)
Stanford
Harvard
Duke
Cornell ------- all extreme reaches I know
New schools:
University of Southern California
Vanderbilt
University of Virginia
Then University of Florida (in state tuition) as backup
I’m strongly considering:
Arizona State - Barrett Honors College
Tulane
Georgetown
Wash U in St Louis
UNC Chapel Hill
UT Austin
UCLA/Berkeley
My academic stats are good enough to give me a chance at getting into any of these schools, but I would need substantial financial aid or a scholarship. All of these schools do have financial aid and/or scholarship opportunities, although some of the state schools have little for non-residents.
Basically I want to go to school in the US but don’t want to feel like I’ve thrown all my job prospects and chances of doing an MBA at an ivy by not going to UCL. I would really appreciate advice, but would rather not be told to just go to UCL… I gotta follow my heart as well as my head. Thanks!