Am I aiming too high?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My list thus far:
William and Mary
UVA
Penn
Swarthmore
Harvard
Yale
Princeton</p>

<p>History Major</p>

<p>White male, rural public highschool (>30% go onto non-community college education, Avg SAT~<1000)</p>

<p>Taking all APs and Mult.Var. Calc at U. of Delaware</p>

<p>Rank 2/240 , GPA (~99%)</p>

<p>SAT I: 2340 (800 CR, 800 M, 740 WR)</p>

<p>Subject Tests: 800 US History, 720 Literature, 750+ (shooting for 800) on IIC when I take in January, right now it's an abysmal 690</p>

<p>APs that I've taken (highschool only offers four; I'm taking three this year, one last year): APUSH: 5
But I have 16 credits in college math</p>

<p>Activities (Note: only the important ones. I am a member of Key Club, Honor Society, etc...a bunch of filler): Math League (9-12), Newspaper Staff (Editor-in-Chief), Skateboarding Club (Founder/President; organized several skateboarding competitions and started antismoking campaign)
Comcast Academic Challenge Quiz Bowl (Captain), Debate Club(Vice President), Student Film Society (Vice President), and making a documentary about my town (involves a lot of historical research; should be good since I want to major in history), Science Olympiad, Mentoring Autistic Kids (11-12)</p>

<p>Awards</p>

<p>Academic...
Michael C. Ferguson Scholar (11)
A **** ton of "Highest grade in [insert subject]"
A lot of other generic sh#t, won't waste your time with it</p>

<p>Essays+Recs Solid, English teacher called essay "great piece of work". Stresses how skateboarding taught me to deal with failure+set goals (skateboarding club is only really "quirky" activity and I spend about 10+ hrs a week on it)</p>

<p>I just realized that there a strong possibility that I won't make it into any of these schools. PLEASE give me some safties that are good with History/English, or at least recommend some better match schools.</p>

2

<p>Should apply to a few safties, but if you are in-state you're in at uva and wm. Relatively good chances at the rest.</p>

3

<p>No I'm not in state.</p>

4

<p>(1) really focus your attention on your safer bets-- write great essays, interview, etc. Woo them a little... so you don't get caught by the "Tufts Syndrome."</p>

<p>(2) have at least one total safety. It seems that due to the selectivity, even with your incredible scores, nothing on your list is a safety. A good solid public with Rolling admission (like U Mich) could fill that spot.</p>

5

<p>I agree with SBmom, try UMich or another state school. Maybe even a private like Vanderbilt?</p>

6

<p>You are a very good candidate at all these schools but it is possible that you would not get an immediate acceptance our of this very selective group. So. . .you are not aiming too high, but you are missing a safety. You could add another solid match or two as well.</p>

<p>Fortunately there are dozens of excellent schools with fine history and english departments. Here are just a few</p>

<p>large publics. . .U of Michigan, U of Wisconsin
small LACs. . .Oberlin, Kenyon, Reed, </p>

<p>and for your interests I would definitely consider Johns Hopkins and Wesleyan as well, though they are obviously matches and not safeties.</p>

7

<p>Bump.......................</p>

8

<p>I think you're a very good applicant to any college you apply to. If I were you I would apply to a few schools that are a little easier to get into like Brown, Cornell, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, Michigan, and UNC</p>

9

<p>I don't understand the advice to apply to out-of-state publics as "safeties". Places like UMich, UVa, W&M, UNC, and UCB are among the worst admissions "values" around for out-of-state applicants -- much, much harder than for in-state.</p>

<p>For example, getting into UVa out-of-state for many applicants is almost as hard as getting into Swarthmore (similar median SATs). These large publics often use their out-of-state applicant pool to boost their "stats". An out-of-state applicant has to force himself to totally ignore the overall published stats for the school.</p>

<p>Having said that, I think this applicant has a decent chance of admissions at the publics on the list (very high test scores), but I don't think adding UMich or UCB would necessarily add much "safety" to the list.</p>

10

<p>What state is the OP from? This could help identify an in-state safety. Also, remember that Honor's Programs even at in-state safeties may be excellent and would fit the bill here.</p>

<p>I agree that your statistics are certainly good enough to get you a ticket to the lottery for each of these schools. However, most are reaches for everyone and none are safe bets for OOS students, meaning you have NO matches or safeties on your list. I strongly suggest that you add at least 2 matches and one safe bet to your list. It will help if you can identify which state you come from. Also, whether or not you will require financial aid, as this can change a safety to a match in some cases. Do you have any other requests/must haves for colleges? Location? Specific majors other than history, etc?</p>

11

<p>I'm from Delaware...money is not an issue...a school preferably on the East Coast. I'm also interested in Comp. Sci. but I'm going in as a History major.</p>

12

<p>I would recommend you get your app in to University of Michigan, a rolling admissions school, ASAP. This would be a match school for you. You will probably be eligible for the Honor's Program which is excellent. Other match schools to consider:</p>

<p>Brandeis U
Georgetown
Tufts
Not east coast, but Oberlin is a reachy match though VERY liberal and quirky</p>

<p>Is University of Delaware a safety for you? Other suggestions for safeties out there?</p>

13

<p>U of D is 100% a safety. I'm in state and my SATs are ~500 points higher than the average (old format)...I also have 4.0+ in all the math courses I've taken there.</p>

14

<p>Bummmmmpppp</p>

15

<p>Your grades and scores are awesome.
If you write good essays and somehow if your school has had experience sending students to the colleges you're applying, you should be fine.</p>

16

<p>Haha experience....no. We sent a guy to Duke last year, a girl to Princeton a few years back, someone to MIT a few years ago. No one has gone to Harvard in at least the last fifteen years.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice thus far, guys. I'm looking into Wesleyan.</p>

17

<p>Also, that 2340 is composite. Shouldn't be an issue at HYPswatpenn, but does anyone know what W&M and UVA's policies are (highest in one=2280).</p>

18

<p>They'll be lucky to have you.</p>

19

<p>Just got my handscore back from collegeboard...my Writing went from 740 to 760 (I knew the bastards marked one wrong). So now I have a 2360. Shouldn't make a big difference, but it's pretty cool that I have 2350+ =D</p>