Any suggestions for matches for me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey all, I am looking for some "matches" to apply to, as I have figured out what my "reaches" and "safeties" are going to be, more or less. Please offer any suggestions you have. </p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2120 Superscored (740 CR, 670 M, 710 W, 8;10 Essays) - 2 sittings
[</em>] ACT: 34 (35 English, 34 Math, 34 Reading, 33 Science, 8 Essay) - 1 sitting
[li] SAT II: 800 US History; 800 World History</p>[/li]
<p>***I plan on taking 2 more tests: Math II and Latin/Physics/Bio.</p>

<p>[<em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~3.86
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10% (12 of 124)
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Euro (5), Stats (5</em>), USH (5<em>), World (5</em>), English Language (4 or 5*)</p>

<p>***Speculation, but I'll find out in a few weeks :)</p>

<p>[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Chem, AP Latin Vergil, AP Physics C Mechanics, AP US Govt, AP Calc AB, AP English Lit
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Silver Medal National Latin Exam; OMEA Superior rating on solo flute performance
[/ul]
Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): NHS (Vice President), Latin Club (treasurer), Marching Band (section leader 2 years), Latin Tutor, Chess tutor, Academic Team (intramural captain), Concert Band (1st chair)
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: have had 2 jobs and 1 internship (political)
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Probably around 100 hours; so nothing spectacular
[<em>] Summer Activities: Took several courses in German, went to Munich, Germany on exchange program, People to People Student Ambassador conference in Washington DC, summer fellow for Obama's campaign
[</em>] Essays: I am a very good writer; hopefully these are great
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation 1: Great
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation 1: Good
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Good
[</em>] Additional Rec: Good
[li] Interview: hopefully good</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): OH
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: in the Top 15 public schools in OH according to US news ranking; in top 400 in nation, top ~200 for STEM
[</em>] Ethnicity: 1/2 Caucasian, 1/2 asian (Indian); asian surname :(
[<em>] Gender: M
[</em>] Income Bracket: < $50,000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): no "hook", but low income & single parent (father died 14 years ago) might help (?)[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Reaches
Princeton
Columbia
Amherst
University of Chicago
Georgetown SFS</p>

<p>Matches
Carnegie Mellon (almost a reach, if not a reach)</p>

<p>Safeties
Ohio State University Honors
Miami University (Oxford) Honors: Legacy</p>

<p>And yes, I know my SAT I is nothing special, but colleges without score choice will be seeing it.</p>

<p>Also, grades have upward trend: 2 B's freshman year, 1 B sophomore year, all A's junior year.</p>

<p>IMPORTANT: I would like to go to a school in the northeast, old northwest, mid atlantic, or California. Nothing too far in the midwest or south, please.</p>

2

<p>Intended or possible major(s)? Your selection of schools seems somewhat odd in that CMU is best known for CS and engineering, but Amherst is weak in CS and does not have engineering, Chicago does not have engineering, and Georgetown does not have engineering and a CS department specialized in areas that relate to government and politics.</p>

<p>You are probably looking for full-need or generous-merit schools. Most full-need schools other than perhaps your in-state publics are very selective schools; many of the generous-merit schools are in the south (e.g. full ride at Alabama Huntsville). Have you checked the net price calculators at each school?</p>

<p>Some big merit for stats schools are listed here:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Do you expect to be a National Merit Finalist?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>For Universities: University of Rochester, maybe Brandeis, maybe Boston College, Boston University, NYU, maybe Lehigh, Case Western (safety?), Fordham, Northeastern </p>

<p>And for LAC’s: maybe Bates, maybe Colby, maybe Bucknell, Connecticut College, Occidental, Union, Lafayette, Pitzer, Whitman, Skidmore</p>

4

<p>Might look at Holy Cross-very good school with good financial aid. HC has nicecampus 1 hour from Boston.</p>

5

<p>University of Maryland College Park is a great fit. 97% of Undergrads received generous need based financial aids and scholarships. Its a large school with a great engineering program, and it offers magnificent campus life. Its an NCAA Division I school, home to the Maryland Terrapins. The campus is state if the art, with various clubs and sports. It does In fact have a latin club as well, and it also has various fraternities. Dorms are very new, clean, comfortable, and all of the students are welcoming and friendly. It is also in a perfect location, as maryland has a lot to offer. It is among the top academic schools in the nation, and their engineering program is as well. They offer a wide variety of majors as well, just in case anything changes. You’ll love it here, and you’ll fit right in. It is selective in the application process , however, with a fairly low acceptance rate of 44.6%. You should think about touring the campus. Believe me, its worth it.</p>

6

<p>I sometimes wonder about people posting - NYU as a recommendation for a low income family?? </p>

<p>Savvyboo, where did you get your data? Only 61% of need was met for UMCP students and the average award was $10K. That’s not much of a dent in a $41K OOS COA.</p>

<p>OP, you have some good safeties selected. It looks like you’re not really looking at LACs much (Amherst not withstanding). Alabama and UAB are also good options.</p>

7

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<p>I know. However, I’m interested in Business/Economics/Politics, and Tepper is good from what I’ve heard in business (this may be wrong?)</p>

<p>And yes, Financial Aid is very important. I have used the Financial aid estimator at some colleges (mostly the ivy league ones, which seem to be the most generous). So it is important that the school I attend have a large enough endowment to help me out. :)</p>

8

<p>Endowment size isn’t the perfect indicator for FA not withstanding LAC’s vs Universities and endowment per student calculations. Wesleyan gave me equal FA to Vassar but Vassar’s endowment is significantly larger, I think.</p>

9

<p>Run the net price calculators at every school you are considering; do not base your expectations on the extra-generous-with-financial-aid schools.</p>