Hello! I’m a rising senior in high school and I just wanted your opinions on whether my college list is balanced or not.
Background:
Asian Female
Unweighted GPA: 4.0/4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.8/5.0
Have taken 5 APs so far and will take 3-4 more senior year
SAT: 1480 (Retake in august)
Good Ecs but nothing super amazing (highest position in two clubs, 150 volunteer hours, I have two STEM ECs- waksman club and I write science articles for a website)
Working on essays
Recs from 1 math teacher, 1 science teacher (to compensate for my fewer STEM Ecs and these are the teachers I’ve connected with the most)
My list (I added the majors I’m applying to too):
REACHES
Wellesley College
Boston University (biochem)
Northeastern (pharmacy)
Tufts (school of engineering)
TARGETS
UMD (chem or biomed engineering)
Stevens Institute of Tech (chem or biomed engineering)
RPI (chem or biomed engineering)
UPitt (pre-pharmacy)
LIKELY
Rutgers (pharm school, school of engineering, school of arts and sciences, ik pharm is competitive, but I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t get in + I’m in state (NJ))
Rowan University (engineering)
Drexel (Still deciding on major)
I am not EDing to any college, but I am applying UMD EA and Northeastern EA. I am also applying early to UPitt in around September to be considered for the Pharmacy Guarantee. My STEM classes’ grades are strong, but I’m worried that since I don’t have that many science Ecs, I won’t get into many of my schools under the desired major.
I have more Ecs, like marching band, etc. just didn’t list them on the original post.
I think you do have a well balanced list. Kudos!
It seems like a strange mix of majors and schools though. What are your looking for?
Also, while this is a great list in terms of balanced acceptances, do you need to worry about cost?
Sit down with your parents and run the Net Price Calculator for all the schools on your list. Make sure they are affordable.
Wellesley is not a school that comes to mind for your potential intended majors and Northeastern is expensive.
If OOS publics are within your budget, you may want to consider Purdue - very strong for both pharmacy and engineering but you’ll need to pick which program you apply to.
very balanced list. your reaches are also attainable with your grades. good luck
Your list is pretty balanced, in fact I think BU and NE are matches, so maybe you want to another reach or two - I don’t know what else you’re looking for in a college, but consider Cornell, CMU, Penn. good luck!
Budget is the question that comes to mind.
What state are you from? What can you afford to pay without taking on debt?
We are not from New Jersey. However, I have worked with and studied with (in graduate school) many graduates from Rutgers. They have consistently made Rutgers look very good. With your stats and being in-state it looks to me that it should be a safety (your guidance counselor would have a better sense than I do).
With this as a solid very good safety, you are already in great shape.
Mostly the NPCs are reliable as long as your parents are not divorced or separated and do not own a farm, small business, or rental property. Assuming that this is true, if the NPCs show “Wellesley, RPI, BU, NU, Rutgers, Rowan, UPitt” as affordable for you, then most likely these will be.
Putting this together I think that you have a very good list. It also sounds like you are doing very well.
I would probably first make sure that you have done a good job on the applications to the schools that look to be affordable (definitely including Rutgers and Wellesley) before working on the applications to schools that the NPCs show as less likely to be affordable.