<p>ACT: 32 (33 E, 31 M, 33 R, 32 S)</p>
<p>SAT Subject tests: Taking in fall</p>
<p>GPA UW: 3.77
GPA W: School doesn't calculate, max course load
Class rank: School doesn't rank</p>
<p>Senior year courses:
AP Lit
AP Macro/Micro Econ
AP Calc AB
AP Biology
AP Music Theory
College Arabic
Band</p>
<p>APs so far: AP US History (3), AP Gov (estimating 5), AP Chem (estimating 4)</p>
<p>Community service: ~460 hours (300 Arabic School assistant teacher, 120 tennis assistant coach, 40 scouts)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:</p>
<p>Boy Scouts, will obtain Eagle February 2015
Ran and founded online business, made around $10,000
Leadership conference in 10th grade
Built website to help with transitioning of schools merging in community
Collected tennis supplies for fundraiser and MYP Project
Band since 4th grade
Piano outside of school for 9 years
A-Team in 11th grade
NHS in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade
JV tennis 9th, 10th, and 11th grade (captain in 10th grade)
Varsity tennis 12th grade
History Club 10th, 11th, and 12th grade
Student Leadership 9th grade (treasurer) and 10th grade (representative)
Attended Local Drug Coalition meeting in 9th grade</p>
<p>Hooks: Single parent family? (father died during my sophomore year)</p>
<p>State: Michigan</p>
<p>College list:</p>
<p>University of Michigan (in state)
Michigan State University (in state)
Harvard University
Brown University
Cornell University
University of Pennsylvania (want to apply ED)
Columbia University</p>
<p>Any recommended changes?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>U of Michigan is probably a match or a high match, MSU is a low match/safety, and the rest are reaches.</p>
<p>If I were you I would add more matches to the list and another safety, unless you are sure you’d be happy at MSU.</p>
<p>@prezbucky I would be happy at either MSU or U of M. Also, I do have some more safeties but just figured I wouldn’t post them here (local universities). </p>
<p>What do you think of the other institutions I listed?</p>
<p>All of the others you listed are Ivies, which are reaches for everyone.</p>
<p>I think the 32 is good enough for consideration at the Ivies. 3.77 unweighted is a hair low, but again, probably enough for your app to merit attention.</p>
<p>Write some great essays, interview well, and <em>show interest</em> to heighten your chances.</p>
<p>You are very likely getting into U Mich or MSU, or both… and you’ve said you’d be happy with that.</p>
<p>Here are some more matches for you if you decide you’d like to have a few more high-quality acceptances from which to choose:</p>
<ul>
<li>The rest of the Big Ten except Northwestern (some are better than others, but all are solid)</li>
<li>Boston U</li>
<li>Boston College (high match)</li>
<li>Northeastern</li>
<li>Case Western</li>
<li>U Pitt</li>
<li>Marquette</li>
<li>Syracuse </li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks @prezbucky. I see no reason to spend money on out of state tuition unless I get into an outstanding school like the ones I have on my list, since MSU and U of M are both very good universities. I appreciate your time in finding some other potential colleges for me though!</p>
<p>Sure, NP. Good luck!</p>
<p>I agree with @prezbucky, add some more academically strong mid-sized privates that aren’t as crazy selective as the Ivies. I’d look at JHU, CMU, Duke, BC. </p>
<p>I’m a graduate of UMich and agree it is an outstanding school, but the experience is very different from an east coast private school. Not that one is better than another, but if Penn is your top choice you might add some others with a similar environment/atmosphere.</p>
<p>Are you at all interested in small LACs? Schools like Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Bowdoin would seem to be a good fit. Williams especially likes Eagle Scouts and musicians and has some degree of overlap with Penn culturally. If you are, as you indicate in another thread, Lebanese, your ethnicity will be a plus at these LACs.</p>
<p>Depending on what you’re looking at, Vanderbilt and Rice could also be significantly better than UM (if you’re pre-med, that is). I’m not sure what field you’re interested in, though, so I can’t really say.</p>
<p>^ I have no idea why you would think Vandy or Rice would be “significantly better” for pre-med. That’s just not true.</p>
<p>OP, how much can your mom afford? If you are looking for merit aid those schools are the wrong set to consider (except for possibly MSU).</p>
<p>Lol… it would not be any better, and much more expensive. For a couple of reason:
- Pre-med is all about GPA, your MCAT scores, and getting some experience in a health-care related field with internships or volunteering. In no way do Rice or Vanderbilt come out any stronger in those respects.
- Med school is expensive. It would be foolish to spend money on tuition there and either use up funds that are needed for med school, or (worse) take on a lot of debt as an undergrad and then need to take on more debt for med school.</p>
<p>But @kaarboer, your comment is random anyway… I don’t see where the OP has expressed any interest in med school.</p>
<p>OP, for Michigan your ACT score is good (75th percentile), but your GPA is a little low. Honestly, I think your odds at Harvard, Brown, and Columbia are very, very low. A bit better at Cornell or Penn (your ACT is at the 50% mark for those), but acceptance rates are so low that it may not mean much. </p>
<p>Have you run the net price calculators for any of these schools? This is a key step before applying to make sure your mom can pay what the colleges would expect. You can find them on the college website on the financial aid page. Remember that you can only borrow a total of $27,000 over 4 years of college, and any other borrowing would have to be done by your mom or with a co-signer who agrees to take responsibility for the loans if you don’t pay them back.</p>
<p>@intparent I was simply using it as an example of how a student’s interest might change a recommendation, though I’d argue that Rice with the Texas Medical Center (or whatever it’s called) next door would be a particularly attractive option for a pre-med who could get merit aid.</p>
<p>But, OP, some recommendations depend on where your interests lie (another example: a student interested in creative writing would do themselves a disservice if they didn’t consider Johns Hopkins). Where are your interests (in general; majors do typically change, after all)?</p>
<p>You need to add around 5 more matches and 4 more safeties. For every 2 reach schools, you need 3 matches, and 2 safeties. </p>
<p>OP, how do you have both Cornell and Columbia on your list? Are you aware that those schools couldn’t be more different? </p>
<p>@kaarboer, a student with a 3.7 and an ACT of 32 is unlikely to garner merit at Rice. And you may not be familiar with the U of M Medical Center and the U of M medical school, but they are not slouch institutions. Your bias is showing… I suspect you know very little about Michigan, and are just pushing what you know and assuming it is better. In this case, it isn’t.</p>
<p>I’ll confess, I am from south of the Mason-Dixon. Perhaps my sweet-tea bias is showing ;)) </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why would one need to add matches and safeties in a fixed ratio to reaches?</p>
<p>A student with one 100% certain (admissions and affordability) safety that s/he likes can have any number of other schools on his/her list. The safety can be used to eliminate other schools from the list by eliminating any schools which the student would not choose over the safety.</p>
<p>Some people do like to have multiple safeties; I, for one, had 2.5 (one was a match where I was a double legacy). It gives an extra sense of security. Also, if aid is a consideration, an admissions safety might not be an aid safety.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>An actual safety must be known to be affordable, as well as one which the student knows that s/he will be admitted to.</p>
<p>Perhaps the confusion may be that some people use “safety” to refer to schools which are really low matches for admission, or do not check affordability at, or which have subjective criteria for admissions which are difficult to estimate, rather than schools that they are 100% certain to be admitted to and can afford (e.g. automatic admission and scholarship schools).</p>
<p>I like the idea of ED at Penn. I think Harvard might be too great a stretch. Apply to your for rolling or non-binding early admission to UM and MSU, and Penn ED. I think your list is a little top-heavy right now. You could add an extra match, like Tulane, with non-binding Early Action, and see whether they offer you a scholarship package that would be close to the in-state costs at your public universities. If Penn doesn’t admit you early, you can add one or two more high-reach and reach colleges, without spreading yourself too thin.</p>
<p>@anniebeats - I do have some auto-admit schools that I would go to (local universities). Also, I am considering MSU a safety school, since my stats far exceed their typical student’s.</p>
<p>My mom has already saved for two years worth of tuition for my undergraduate studies. She has told me if I do get into one of these other schools, she will have no problem paying. I am also under the impression that most of the out of state schools on my list will give me financial aid given my situation.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for their advice so far!</p>
<p>@kaarboer - I intend to go into pre-med. I have researched all the colleges I am applying to and they do have great pre-med programs. Sure, there are better ones than U of M or MSU, but nearly all of my cousins are doctors and have attended either MSU or U of M…</p>
<p>I did have JHU on the list, but as I stated I don’t want to to spend money on an out of state university if I can go to MSU or U of M.</p>