Alright, so I have around 12 colleges on my list so far.
I am a rising senior at a very competitive public high school.
My ACT was a 30 (I am taking it again soon), and my GPA is a 3.6 UW. I took 2 APs my sophomore year, 4 my junior year, and I will be taking another 4 during my senior year.
My extracurriculars include internships, clubs in which I have gotten state and national awards, and acceptance into competitive academic and volunteering programs. I am also in the National German Honor Society, and I will be in Beta Club this year. I will also graduate as an honor graduate.
My question is that I only have about 3 “safe” colleges on my list, and the rest are reach colleges, so should I have more “safe” colleges. Also, is a list of 12 colleges too many to be applying to? Most of my friends are applying to around 8-10 colleges.
So, the colleges that I have on my list are UGA, GA State, Boston University, UVA (reach), Emory (reach), UNC at Chapell Hill (reach), NYU (reach), University of Chicago (reach), Georgetown (MAJOR reach but it is my dream school so I just want to apply), Amherst College (reach), and UC Berkley.
I think I am being too ambitious given my grades but there is a lot more that I have not included on this list in terms of extracurriculars and the rigor of my classes and my school. Sorry this is really long lol.
I think the only safe ones on your list would be the GA schools. BU is a match, but not a sure thing, NYU is probably the same. The rest are reaches are high reaches
Hello, I am a rising senior as well, and I would like to give you some feedback based on what I have heard regarding qualifications and college admissions. Personally I do not think there is such a thing as being too ambitious, and like many have said, you never know if you will get in if you do not apply. I’m not sure I can give you feedback on which schools you are likely to get in without knowing what specific extracurriculars you participate in. Based on your GPA and test scores, I can’t say you have the best chance of getting in at these schools since places like UChicago, UC Berkeley, Emory, and Georgetown typically take in students with higher grades and test scores, but you do have a chance. Also, about applying to 12 schools, it depends on the person and how well they can manage their time. I have a friend who plans to apply to over 25 schools, but she is very good at managing her time and does not get stressed out too easily. I myself am applying to about 15. I think you should definitely keep your college list the way it is, and perhaps add a few more safety schools. Good luck!
I chose these colleges based off the major that I am interested in, the area, financial aid, the area that they are located in, and advice given by my counselor. I did not choose them because of prestige.
Based on your info I assume you’re a GA resident? And if you chose colleges based off of fjnaical aid UC Berkeley should be imediately crossed off. As an oos student there is no financial aid so including traveling you will needs to come up with 60k and you can only borrow 5500 your first year. Unless you have the money Cal is unaffordable.
If you share some of your most important criteria (merit v need finaid, region preferences and esp subject interest) there are a lot of people here who can give you some great ideas.
@atl4444
Do you have any hooks at all? For GTown you need three SAT2 subject tests. What are those scores?
Gstate- Safety
UGA-Low Match/Safety
BU- High Match/Low Reach
NYU- Reach
UVA- Reach
Emory- High Reach
Georgetown-High Reach
UNC-High Reach
Amherst- Very High Reach
UCB- Very High Reach
U Chicago- Out of Reach
My predictions change if you have any hooks. You have time to improve your ACT score. Did you take the SAT, it might be better for you? You need one more safety school, Two more Match schools, and maybe a low reach that you like and your list would be completed. If you need merit dollars you should probably remove UCB, NYU, Amherst, truthfully even Georgetown as they will likely not be generous.
The problem is that there are a zillion competitive college prep high schools out there. And every one of them has a whole list of kids in the top 5%.
In a country with something like 3,000 colleges, I don’t see the appeal of a list that’s heavy with reaches.
Here’s what I’m suggesting both to my own kids and to those in my SAT classes: Apply to schools you would be happy to attend, ones that you’re largely likely to get into, ones you can afford, ones that have your major, ones that are within a comfortable distance.
If Georgetown is a MAJOR REACH, then it’s only your dream school in the sense that being young and rich and thin are my dreams… fun to think about, but probably unattainable. Why torture yourself applying to a school that you yourself say you probably won’t get into?
Do your homework, find schools you would be happy to attend, and build a list of schools that will largely be attainable. There’s no point in having a list that’s likely to be mostly rejections-- that’s got to be brutal to the self esteem, particularly for bright kids. And if it really means your list has only 3 realistic applications, what’s the point?
@bjkmom You’re right, I am probably going to take out most of those reach schools and add more schools that I have a better chance of getting into (I will still keep Georgetown though, it’ll bother me if I don’t at least apply–kind of like how a lot of my friends applied to Harvard because it was their dream school, even if they had a low chance of getting accepted.)
@VANDEMORY1342 I don’t need merit dollars. I did take 2 SAT Subject Tests, they were Biology (750) and World History (720). I am taking the US History Subject Test on June 3rd. On the topic of hooks, I am not entirely, sure. My parents were immigrants, and I am the first in my family to go to college in the US. My grades were also horrible freshman year (they were mainly Bs) but my grades during my sophomore and junior year were mainly As. I also did a TON of extracurriculars during my junior year and succeeded in them, whereas I did not participate in extracurriculars during my freshman year because I was shy and doubted myself (I got over that this year.) Other than that, I’m not sure what qualifies as a hook, my school hasn’t really discussed this with us yet and I only just started to seriously look into colleges this summer.
@atl4444 Yes big the first to go to college is a hook. A fairly big one actually. Make sure one of your supplimental essays is about your second generation status and your different perspective because of it. It will show diversity. What is your ethnicity?
Gstate- Safety
UGA-Low Match/Safety
BU- High Match
NYU- Low Reach
UVA- Low Reach/Reach
Emory- Reach/ High Reach
Georgetown-Reach/High Reach
UNC-High Reach
Amherst- High Reach
UCB- Very High Reach
U Chicago- Out of Reach
Ok so I updated my predictions.Good Luck.