Are my safeties actually safeties? And how much of a reach are my reach schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics
Asian, female, MA, US citizen, I live in a relatively wealthy town and the students do relatively well, it’s not a competitive school (it’s no Lexington), but people tend to care quite a lot about grades. As for school history, every year a handful go to t20s

Intended Major(s)
Computer science; data science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.8 (not given by school, calculated online)
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.41/4.0
  • Class Rank: n/a
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1570 superscore (1550 + 1510)

Coursework
Freshman:
Creative writing; Honors English; Honors French; Honors Geometry; Global Awareness; Graphic Novels; Intro to Animation; Honors Physics; Wellness

Sophomore:
Honors Chemistry; Honors English; Health; Honors PreCalc; APCSP (5); Wellness; AP US Gov (5)

Junior:
AP Calc AB (5); AP Chemistry (5); APUSH (4); Honors Bio; Honors English; Honors French; Game design; Yoga

Senior:
AP Physics C; AP Stats; AP French (Having some trouble in this class, I’m expecting the best grade I’ll end with is a B if I’m lucky); AP Lit; Yoga

Awards
Junior Book Award
(High) Honor roll
National merit commended scholar
AP scholar with distinction

Extracurriculars
2 years volunteering to tutor a kid in China (Oct 2020 - September 2022)
Math club for 4 years, Treasurer as a Senior

Essays/LORs/Other
I have LOR from 2 teachers who seem to really like me, one was my precalculus teacher in 10th grade and the math team advisor; the other was my junior biology teacher who I have a good relationship with and I did well in her class.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Combined, parents make more than 100k, I think they have close to 80k saved for tuition

Schools
Safeties

  • UMass Amherst
  • WPI
  • Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Mount Holyoke

Targets

  • RPI
  • Case Western (legacy)
  • Brandeis
  • Vassar

Reach

  • Cornell University
  • Tufts University
  • Wellesley College
  • Wesleyan
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My daughter has a somewhat similar profile and goal, and does not consider UMass to be a safety for CS. It’s in her Target pile, and a hard target at that. She’s already applied EA, which seems to be the best bet.

Her safety was Pitt, which was her first acceptance; it might be worth consideration.

Her Early Decision choice is in your Reach list, so it sounds like there is parallel thinking there.

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For sure UMass Amherst is NOT a safety, even for stellar applicants. Computer Science is one of the more selective majors at UMass. I think you have a good chance and would place it between target/reach. Being in-state for Massachusetts if you think you could thrive at a large school and finances are a consideration, apply EA and be sure to tour to get a feel for the school and the area. Best of luck!

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Thank you for your feedback :slight_smile:

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I’m applying ED to Cornell and EA for Umass.

I don’t have much hope for Cornell obv, I can’t even compare to other kids who’ve accomplished so much more than I have, but I’m hoping I get lucky haha

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Regarding your LAC choices in relation to your academic interests, you may want to consider those with a data science major.

Particularly majors notwithstanding, Wesleyan from your list offers a noteworthy quantitative analysis center.

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You’re welcome! My Daughter just graduated UMass and has moved on to Law School in Boston. Tons of super bright kids there. Any general questions about the school or area I’m glad to help!

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Since you can apply to multiple schools EA, consider doing so if possible given the time constraints. I did a quick search and there are a few more schools on your list that offer EA.

WPI EA1 November 1, EA2 (who knew?!) January 15
RPI EA December 1
Case Western EA November 1

ETA:
Also, it looks like your other 3 reaches offer ED2, which you might want to consider as a backup if Cornell doesn’t work out.

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One more thing. You do mention budget constraints, so you might want to run the NPC for each of the schools on your current list. Considering real affordability for each might shift how you’ve categorized them, and could even change your early application strategy.

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Just based on the categories and nothing else, I like your list.

Perhaps UMASS is a bit off although I suspect you get in - but I believe you will get into multiple schools (albeit maybe less than half).

If you have concern, then add another - it appears to be all Northeast schools - so a SUNY or UNH or UCONN type school but I think you’ll be fine as is.

But it’s hard to tell budget - they have $80K saved - but where will the rest come from? Do they earn enough each year to cover - an RIT or WPI, etc. out of cash flow. You could find safeties and likely within budget - but would have to go out of region - for example, a Miami of Ohio might work (with added $$ each year from your family on top of savings) or you can go for $80K total - but would have to go South.

You need to discuss how your parents plan to pay - over the $80K - and if they have it from cash flow, you’re all good. If they don’t, you might, depending on the net price calculators, need to revamp and / or add some - that might be uncomfortable for you (out of the area - although a U Maine/URI might get you there with merit).

Good luck.

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Hi, thank you! My parents have told me not to worry about finances as they can cover more than 80k of the costs, and I plan on taking loans with their help. A lot of the colleges on my list are ones that my parents picked for me and we’ve agreed that the early action/decision results will determine if I need to change up my list.

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That’s great - but you can only borrow $27K and they’d have to cosign more and why would you take debt when you don’t need to, especially in CS.

In any case, you have some additional triggers I’d pull now to ensure you max merit money (often, when it’s gone, it’s gone) - because if you wait, you’ll be able to get in at your cost - but it will be schools like Bama, Mississippi State, WVU and more - and they are clearly out of your desired geographic area.

Bottom line is a school list should be built based on budget first and foremost and I’m not sure that was done here. Have they run the Net Price Calculator for schools like Cornell, Tufts, etc. - because they have no merit aid and are over $80K for one year. If you don’t qualify for need based aid, how will they pay? That’s why many, who have income like yours, end up taking these type schools off the list - because they’re not affordable and if they’re not affordable then there’s no point in applying when you can apply to others that will be. So they may be affordable - but you need to run the net price calculator for each to determine if they are - or rather your parents need to.

In other words, if you know you’re unlikely to hit budget and unless you have need as determined by the schools on your list - you will 100% be way over budget -assuming that budget is just $20K a year) - at which only a school like Alabama and Alabama Huntsville - both fine - will hit but you already know you’re not interested in that part of the country - then you should attack other possibilities - like Maine or URI now - because later, since they don’t have auto merit, they might be out of money.

Debt is not your friend - especially when you don’t need it or need much of it (hence the government limits you to about $27K including only $5500 the first year).

Good luck to you.

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I just want to reiterate what other people have said about asking your parents to run the net price calculators at the schools you are applying to. My husband was saying the same thing your parents are saying about how we would “find the money“ for whatever school my son was interested in and got into. However, based on advice here, we ran the net price calculators. My husband was shocked when our initial estimates for the values we put into the net price calculator spat back that we would be expected to provide $50-$60,000 per year. And, when we went back more carefully and put in the information, some of them came out at over $70,000 per year. we cannot “find” that amount of money per year.

If your parents are like my husband and I, they are thinking about college like it was 30 years ago when they went to school, and financing college is very different now. I would hate for you to be disappointed that you end up not being able to afford the school you want to go to, and have missed the opportunity to apply to schools you could afford.

Maybe they will run the net price calculators and say it is all good! But please ask them to do that.

ETA: for all my recommendation to run the net price calculators, ignore the WPI net price calculator. It is terrible, and far off from what your actual net cost is likely to be, and the financial aid office knows it. It significantly underestimates your actual net price.

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Another comment: with a GPA of 3.8, Mt Holyoke would be a target, not a safety, as would be WPI and RIT for CS/Information Science. Vassar would be a lowish reach, not a target.

In general, as a woman, you will have a better chance in CS at most places. However, this will not be true for any LAC like Vassar, which do not accept by major, and also tend to have far more women applying than men (of course, that is not relevant for MHC)

In any case, you’ve done well, and the only thing that your list is still missing is a college which you would be happy to attend, is affordable, and to which you are certain to be accepted.

Good luck!

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Finances and budget should be a top factor in choosing a school. Sounds like your parents can pay $20k per year, and you can take $27k in total over the 4 years of undergrad. Will you qualify for need based aid?

Have you run Cornell’s Net price calculator? Please do that so you get a cost estimate, and can see how much need based aid you will get. (You should run NPCs at all your schools).

Any loans above the student loan each year will be on your parents either directly or as a co-signer.

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One last comment and I’ll stop - many parents (not saying yours) have investment accounts or 529 plans - and what may have seemed reasonable three months ago may not be looking reasonable today as many people are down, 10, 20, 30% or more.

So there’s that part of it too- in fact, I am not going to use my 529 right now because it’s gotten too low. Fortunately, I have the ability to pay outside of it but not everyone does.

So your first year, with a loan, you have $25,500 - unless your parents have more to add or want to take out an expensive loan on their own - so the question is, where can you go to school for $25.5K.

That’s why everyone is saying - do the NPC.

Cornell lists their total cost at $82,552. Don’t forget, they have no merit aid.

So if the NPC shows you are full pay and you have $25,500, where will you get the other $57,552? And that’s one year - and without inflation - i.e. their costs will go up each year.

Hopefully in this case you have need - but many families find out they don’t…or they have minimal need.

So it’s important to do that very soon - so you don’t miss on other opportunities should you need them.

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A safety is a school that is highly likely to accept you, that is affordable, and that you would be happy to attend. Unless you’ve run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) at all of your safeties, none of them are a safety for you based upon your family’s budget (and demand for CS at U. Mass - Amherst). I would recommend adding U. Mass - Lowell or a different in-state public as a possible safety.

Also, make sure that your safety is a school you would like to attend. For instance, there’s been a recent thread of a student with good stats whose only acceptance her family was willing for her to attend was her in-state flagship. She’s miserable and wants to transfer. Make sure that any school you apply to is one you would be happy to remain enrolled at for four years.

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First of all, a big hurray for your parents. It’s not often that one finds families willing to look beyond the “HYPMS or state college” binary. Secondly, by all means, run the NPC for all your choices, but TBH, I think there is a Greek chorus on CC that tends to be very discouraging of northeastern colleges because of their lack of merit-based aid. But studies have shown that in this country you have to be pretty wealthy not to qualify for some kind of tuition discount whether it be in the form of a merit-based scholarship or a need-based grant. I would be absolutely shocked if at the end of the day, Cornell, Wesleyan, Wellesley, or Tufts charged a two wage-earner family of four making $100Ka year much more in tuition than UMass would.

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Qualifying for “some aid“ is a lot different than qualifying for significant aid. Cornell is pretty stingy with aid, from everything I have read. OP did not say that her family made $100,000 per year, but that they made “over $100,000 per year.” That could be anything! We are a family that has six members and makes “over $100,000 per year“ and the schools expect us to pay somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000 per year.

FWIW, we also live in Massachusetts, and my son is only applying to schools in Massachusetts. There are schools here, some that I have learned about on CC, that can provide a more affordable cost than others.

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Also, nearly 40% of the thread’s posts are now focused on the importance of running the NPCs. Mine being one- though I would not have posted thusly had I known of the subsequent deluge.

Perhaps we can try to respect posters enough to lay off after, what, maybe 3 exhortations to run the NPC? These are bright kids and parents, after all.

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