<p>I am a white male in Florida (probably won't qualify for financial aid as parents overall make pretty well over 100k a year)
Stats: 4.0 UW GPA, 4.65 Weighted
Class Rank 7/537
ACT 33:
Math 33
Eng 33
Reading 33
Writing 31 (Essay 6)</p>
<p>SAT 1990 (retaking saturday but probably won't submit)
Math 600
Reading 660
Writing 700</p>
<p>EC's aren't too impressive (thus some safeties) but:
120-140 service hours
National Honor Society
Mu Alpha Theta
Working 16-20 hours a week as manager for a concession stand
Involvement in many breast cancer events (mom had it)
Department awards at school in US Gov and Physics H
Maybe will join another club or two</p>
<p>Schools (major either applied math w/CS, economics, or business. Not positive yet):
Florida (in-state)
Florida State (in-state)
UNC
Duke
Georgia Tech
Virginia
Michigan
Purdue
Georgia (maybe)
Alabama
UCF (in-state)
UCLA
USC
Stanford
Clemson (maybe)
South Carolina (maybe)</p>
<p>I threw in some reaches, matches, and safeties both academically and financially so I have my options open once decision time comes along. Any suggestions for more schools or simple advice?</p>
<p>You’ll be fine. The common app makes things so easy these days. Just make sure you don’t procrastinate any supplements you have to write. I also live in Florida and will be applying to schools in the fall as well. So here are my expectations just based off the stats you’ve given with no expectation of improvement (you probably will improve):</p>
<p>Florida - You’re in. No doubt.
FSU- You’re in. Probably with the Honors college as well and a nice scholarship.
UNC- Very tough. It’s a reach. I wouldn’t count on it though since they only accept 18% of OOS applicants and it’s extremely competitive.
Duke- See UNC but it’s even harder.
GA Tech- You should get in. Raise your SAT to a 2050 and you’re golden. But things have surprised me in the past so who knows?
VA- See UNC.
Michigan-See UNC
Purdue- Don’t know much about this school. Sorry!
GA- See Purdue.
Alabama- You’re in. No doubt about it.
UCF- See FSU.
UCLA- See UNC.
USC- It’ll be tough. It’s harder to get into than UNC but you being OOS doesn’t hurt you because it’s a private school. I wouldn’t count on it only because it’s a reach for most students.
Stanford- Don’t count on it. Probably not going to happen. I wouldn’t even apply unless you can raise your SAT to at least a 2100 or a 33 ACT. I don’t want to sound mean but it’s just extremely difficult to get into. Like extremely. It’s the hardest school to get into (only beats Harvard by 0.2%ish for that honor).
Clemson- See Purdue
SC- See Purdue</p>
<p>Have you run the net price calculators on each school and shown the results to your parents? You do not want to waste time and application money on schools that you know will not be affordable.</p>
<p>That is a pretty good list. I would imagine that you want to be in the South (from your list) and want a sports culture. I would go with Duke, UNC, and UVA as your reaches. Also, Alabama is known for its generous out-of-state scholarships. If you are looking for another reach, I would add Vanderbilt. I’m not sure you even need to apply to UCF. </p>
<p>That is a nice first list considering your ACT and GPA. However, you should narrow it down a little bit. I think the best way would be to start with the NPC. You are not likely to get merit or need based aids from most of these schools. So from the cost, you can cut down a lot. Second, you may want to look deeper into the program that you want to study. Some programs are much more competitive even within the same university. Also, you will find out how the program from one school differs from other. This would be useful when you write the “why this school” essay. Lastly, you should constrain yourself with a reasonable number of applications so that you can write quality essays. Even if you have a long list, prioritize them so you will work on essays accordingly. Don’t forget that you need to pay for each application, score report, transcript, and/or css profile submission.</p>
<p>Are you planning to take the ACT again? I don’t think you necessarily need to take any reaches off your list, even Stanford, but a couple of them are long shots. That’s OK, though–if you are interested in reaches, I think it’s better to have more rather than fewer. How about Tulane as an option? Virginia Tech, maybe?</p>
<p>If you are able to play at the college level, even Div III, that changes everything. If not, it’s not that big a deal in calculating your chances.</p>
<p>Whoops! Sorry I was skimming and didn’t see your ACT score. I wouldn’t take Stanford off your list if you want to go there. You have the ACT score for it. I would also not send in your SAT scores and just go with your ACT.</p>