Am I applying to the right colleges?

<p>As in, am I missing any college within a certain range of selectivity to maintain security within my application?</p>

<p>Just a quick rundown: 4.1 weighted. 2060 SAT 1. SAT 2: 800 biology, 760 US History, 670 Math 2. AP Bio (5). AP Us History (5). AP English Language/comp (5). Most rigorous schedule possible at my school. Great extracurricular. Started a debate team at my school. Piano. Community Service. Research. ETC.
First generation College student. In Upward Bound M/S.
My grades are kind of slipping this year. Problems at home. Always problems at home. Good recommendations. My counselor probably said something about it.</p>

<p>Here is my general concept of what's going on.</p>

<p>Reaches: Stanford, Brown, Dartmouth, Rice, Cornell, Harvey Mudd, Johns Hopkins
Matches: UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, Tufts, Macalester
Safeties: UCI, UCSB, Cal Poly SLO</p>

<p>I don't know what I want to do. And yet I do. I just don't want to commit to one thing for the rest of my life. But I have to. So anyhow, I am applying for science majors. Biophysics, or in that general area.</p>

<p>I don't know if I should add some or remove some, or a combination of both. I had Northwestern on there but I removed it. I'm thinking of removing Cornell too. Any ideas?</p>

<p>Your College list is fine. Write solid essays and you are good to go!.</p>

<p>Your list is good, although perhaps a bit ambitious. If you interview with some of those schools, make sure to kind of skate around the number of schools your applying to when (if) the interviewer asks what schools you are applying to. The schools you are applying to are great schools, though! Good luck on your applications!</p>

<p>On a side note, I wouldn’t really consider UCB and Tufts as matches, but that’s just my opinion.</p>

<p>Your probably right on UCB and Tufts not being matches. I do have somewhat of an edge though at UCB, since I am in state. At the very least I have the best chance of getting in there out of my reaches.</p>

<p>But this sounds like I don’t have any match colleges that are private (besides Macalester, but I’m really just applying there because it is free). Are there any privates that are matches, that would give me descent financial aid?</p>

<p>I think Tufts is a match (flip a coin, heads your in, tails your not). Northwestern would be a match also. </p>

<p>There are a lot of private colleges that could be matches that would give you full need
[Colleges</a> That Claim to Meet the Full Financial Needs of Students - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/paying-for-college/2010/02/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-the-full-financial-needs-of-students.html]Colleges”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/paying-for-college/2010/02/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-the-full-financial-needs-of-students.html)</p>

<p>You have very good stats, first gen, etc. I would say that for those schools whose overall admissions rate is higher than say 25% you have at least a 50% chance of getting into. Harvey Mudd, I think is a reach only because your math is a little bit low for that school. Reed would be a great match.</p>

<p>I get the sense several posters on this thread are underestimating how hard some colleges are to get into these days.</p>

<p>Tufts, Berkeley and UCLA are NOT matches with 4.1 weighted and 2060 SAT… they are slight reaches. they would be matches with 4.3 weighted and 2150 SAT, unless OP is URM or has overcome significant obstacles… perhaps the family situation would elevate OP to a match, but I don’t know if the family situation was well described in the apps or not.</p>

<p>I would then have UCSD as a match.</p>

<p>UCSB, UCI, and Cal Poly are 80%, which I suppose you might call a safety.</p>

<p>You are correct that you are missing Private University matches – such as Tulane, Miami, SMU, BU, which would all be match/low reach. You could add NYU, Boston College as low reaches.</p>