Balanced list?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m wondering if this list has a good amount of reach, target, and safety schools for me:

Columbia
Cornell?
USC
UCLA
UCSD
UCSB
Cal Poly
Northeastern
University of Washington Seattle
Pitt?
U Portland?

My stats, etc:
SAT: 1540, 770m/770rw
ACT: 35: 36sci/36r/36w/32m
I’m taking the SAT II for Bio and Math II
GPA: 4.5 W, 4.0 UW, several AP’s w/ 4s and 5s

Extracurriculars:
4 years school volleyball, 3 years club volleyball, school varsity captain senior year
Some minor club involvement, summer jobs for the past 2 years

Awards:
NMSF, probably finalist

I’m planning on majoring in bioengineering or civil engineering but I’m not dead-set on it

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!!

2

Are any of these financial safeties?

3

Any interest in continuing to play volleyball? Assuming you’re not a recruited D-I athlete, you may want to consider academically elite Division-III schools, many of which you would likely be able to walk-on to the volleyball team. These schools emphasize the “scholar” portion of being a scholar-athlete.

Examples: Pomona, Scripps, Wellesley, Smith. Also MIT, though they dominate the NEWMAC conference so being a walk-on may not be realistic.

Good luck!

4

Very good list I’d say. (This is assuming you’re not from California; however, if you are then UCLA is a target)

REACHES: Columbia, Cornell, UCLA
TARGETS: USC, UCSD, UCSB, Northeastern, Washington
LIKELIES: Cal poly, uportland, pitt

If you want my opinion, apply to Columbia ED and Northeastern EA

5

I am from California so Cal Poly is fairly inexpensive for me. Also, Northeastern and USC offer partial scholarships for National Merit Finalists, which would help with the cost as well