Recently, I have compiled my list of the top 12 schools to which I will likely apply.
REACHES
Duke
UPenn
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
MATCHES
Clemson
UVA
G Tech
Davidson
UNC-CH
SAFETIES
Furman
Wofford
Elon
Do you guys think that I have too many reaches and/or too few safeties? Any other schools that you could suggest?
Stats: live in SC, 4.0 UW, 32 ACT, 1440 SAT (retaking both, expecting 34/1500), around 100K in yearly income, probably majoring in BME
Thanks y’all!
Because you are out of state for UNC and UVA, they are considered reaches.
@twogirls Ok, I just thought that since they are public universities with similar stats to mine, I thought they were matches. Welp, then I really do have a lot of reaches… Can anyone help me with this problem?
Did you ask your parents what they will pay? You can run the net price calculators to see an approximate cost. What kind of school are you looking for?
This list looks light on safeties to me. You can probably get into Forman, Wofford and Elon with those stats, but a safety also needs to be affordable. At your income level, unless one or more of those schools is a meets-need school, theyre probably not affordable. And while UVA, Ga Tech or UNC might be affordable if you are in state at one of them, they are all fairly selective so that your stats do not assure you of admission, even if you are in state at one of them. There was just a thread about a student who was surprised not to get in to GaTech with a 32. So if this were my kids list, I would add an in state school that he was nearly assured of getting into. Good luck!
UVA, UNC and Davidson are reaches.
Your list is reach heavy- you need more matches and safeties. The first thing I would do is sit down with your parents and fill out the net price calculators on each school to see if they can pay for them. A school that meets full need will expect you to pay your EFC.
Next you need to decide what you are looking for in a school. I would add 2-3 more safety schools that may give you merit.
@Jocassee I know people with similar stats to me who got full rides to both Wofford and Furman. Elon, given that it is OOS, I can see me not getting a lot of aid. Even though, yes, they are private, I can get good aid with my stats imo.
@twogirls They are willing to pay around 30-35 K but would be able to pay a bit more if we find a school that would benefit me a lot.
@wustl93 Ok I can definitely see that. One of these schools I have been contemplating is Coastal Carolina. It has a pretty good bio program, apparently has very nice athletics, and is pretty close to my house. Better yet, it’ll probably be free with my stats. I was going to apply there but would only attend if I got into nowhere else.
Ok follow-up question: what sort of schools would be matches and safeties for me, then, since my estimations of where I can and cannot get into seem to be misguided?
@nojotennis What constitutes a match or a safety is subject to some debate. Personally, I think a school is a match if your stats align with the profile of the middle 50% of the students who attend that school. I think it’s a safety if your stats align with the bottom 25% of admitted students at a school. You can find that info by looking at a schools common data set. Exception is if you’re looking at a super selective school (like Top 20 USNWR schools for example or any school with less than 20% or so acceptance rate). Those schools are reaches for everyone. Hope that helps.
Did your friends who got scholarships want BME? That is one of the most competitive majors at any school and one where applicants are often surprised about getting rejected outright or not getting top merit. The competition BME is often higher than the school as a whole if admissions is by major (and it’s not necessarily better if you apply to your major after admissions and prereq courses, except that then you have to change majors or transfer if you don’t get it).
BME majors need more matches and safeties than many other majors.
As for suggestions: U Miami and Tulane. Both would be matches (not safeties), but you would probably have a good shot at merit aid.
@happy1 As for Furman, Wofford, and Elon, Furman and Elon have pre-engineering with a bio concentration while Wofford has one of the better bio programs in SC. No safeties near me with full bioengineering.
@AroundHere One of them was biochem and one of them was neuropsych, so no but not easy majors to get scholarships for. Only two schools have a full BME program: Clemson and SC.
@lalalemma Ok thank you for the suggestions.
Another question: should I take out the high-end privates at the reach end of my list such as UPenn and Duke if schools like Davidson, UVA, and UNC are going to be reaches? Also still taking suggestions for safeties that I could add!
If you really want engineering don’t get sucked into idea of 3+2 that some of small schools float - do you really want to change schools after you’ve been there 3 years?
You are likely in Palmetto Fellow territory. Both Clemson and USC will give you additional scholarship to STEM majors to bring that freshman amount to 10k. That’s a lot of money to walk away from, especially if grad school in future. Take close look at USC Honors and Clemson. At least apply to both early so you can have something in hand while waiting for those other schools.
Check prices. If you do get in Duke, UNC, UVA, Davidson it will likely be without merit money - too many kids with stats equal to yours plus NC and VA both mandate percentage of acceptance be from their own state which can mean OOS kids need higher end stats. Furman may be safety if you are full pay (63K this year)
Add some safeties. Lots of good info on CC about Alabama which seems to have good engineering and easy to determine merit aid.
Have money discussion with parents now. Have them run NPC and see what they have to pay. If you are first child and they are still thinking about costs years back they may really be suprised.