So I’ve spent this fall searching for colleges, and researching how to select colleges. I’ve read that a school is a match if you fall into their test score ranges and GPA.I’m a senior, have a 4.0 unweighted, and a 34 composite ACT. I’m a varsity captain, play violin, take lots of AP’s and honors classes that are offered at my school.
When I see admission statistics for top schools such as the ivies, I fall into their ranges. However, given that these schools have such low acceptance rates, I feel that it isn’t safe to think I have a (relatively) good chance of being accepted.
If I am correct, what sort of schools can I consider as matches? (I’m interested in majoring in chemistry/biology, possibly pre-med or some new field)
As a rule, highly selective colleges cannot be considered matches, as wholly qualified candidates get rejected. I think the line is usually drawn along either 25% or 30% as the acceptance rate below which every school is considered a reach for everyone.
Usually schools with acceptance rates between 30 and 50 serve as matches for student of your caliber, from what I’ve seen.
I don’t think acceptance rates define a “match” at this level. Put another way, “match” and “reach” are irrelevant when you are within Ivy range. It’s a match for many and a reach for the same group. The real question is not whether you have a shot but whether you want to go to a given school.
I would not consider any of the hyper-competitve schools as matches because a match school indicates that you have at least around a 50% chance of acceptance. Even with perfect stats, no unhooked applicant can assume that at the very top schools as there are more highly qualified applicants than there are spots available.
A top school may be a match on paper but is never a match. My D got into all of her schools except for Vandy, where she was wait listed despite being a solid match on paper.
The whole “match/reach/safety” paradigm doesn’t work for kids like you – not only because all the matches are reaches but also because some excellent schools that arguably should be safeties for you may defer, waitlist, or reject you to protect their yield (because they don’t want to be treated as safeties) unless you do ED.
So what do you do to make sure you’ve got someplace you’d be happy to go where you’re fairly certain of admission? There are at least two strategies and which you choose may depend on finances (and/or how good your flagship state school is). The “I need $$” strategy involves applying to in-state publics that work for you and to privates and OOS publics that give merit aid. The “I have $$” strategy is to apply to OOS publics that are excellent places to study what you want to study and also to apply to their more general Honors programs (which will give you immediate access to a smaller cohort of students who are into/good at academics, and often to smaller sections or priority registration as well).
My DC is a likely bio major who falls in the “has $$” camp and who has no good in-state public option. We thought programs at Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, USC, University of Washington-Seattle, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and McGill (in Montreal) all looked promising given her specific interests (academic and extra-curricular). In researching OOS publics, you should pay a bit of attention to budget cuts, restricted majors, and the possibilities of significant tuition increases in OOS tuition. Elite publics can be safer (in the sense of more predictable) than elite privates because legal restrictions, policy decisions, and/or resource constraints often make the admissions process more stats-driven. At the extreme end of the spectrum, McGill doesn’t want to see essays or letters of rec. So there’s less subjectivity, but if you’re OOS or an international student there may be different admissions standards than for applicants who are residents.
Others on CC can steer you to lists of schools with merit aid if that’s your preferred route. USC is the only school on DC’s list that falls into that category, I think.
Note that some public school and some merit aid deadlines are earlier than Jan 1st (e.g. Nov 15-Dec 1) and they often require more or different paperwork than the Common App. Deadlines for Wisconsin and McGill are a little later IIRC (Feb 1 and Jan 15?), which gives you the opportunity of applying only if you still need a safety after results are in from the EA/ED round. Michigan has an EA option (due imminently) that doesn’t violate SCEA restrictions so that’s another potential strategy for minimizing how many safeties you need (i.e. If you’re accepted to UM during EA, then apply only to schools you’d prefer – so more reaches, fewer safeties).
Top schools can be a match if you can both understand and see what they are looking for in the students they admit.
However, those qualities go far beyond a simple list of stats on paper which confound some people as it is and we won’t even talk about evaluating ECs, essays and personality.
I live in Washington and am definitely applying to University of Washington(Seattle), though I’m not very impressed by their interdisciplinary honors program. I can’t really afford to pay out of state tuition, but what private schools should I consider?
One should define “match” and “top school”. But assuming one is referring to the top 20 research universities, the top 5 public universities (for OOS applicants) and the top 20 LACs, then no, there aren’t any matches. Those should all be considered reaches…to varying degrees.
@Sarnello I hear from a lot of instate parents that they “can’t afford” UW tuition and that various privates can be less costly if the kid has some above-average things going for him.
That having been said, don’t 'jack the thread; start your own for this topic.
Re UW–Seattle. The lure there for DC was a new-this-year option that would allow freshman to be directly admitted to the neurobio program. I mention that in case your bio/chem/premed interests align and you hadn’t noticed this change. To apply as a freshman, all you have to do is check a box on the regular app. Gives you a year’s headstart in the major (core coursework as a sophomore rather than a junior) and a small cohort with lots of access to faculty. So it serves some of the honors program functions but only within the context of a particular (broad/interdisciplinary) specialization.
Re private schools offering aid. Check out USC. As the UCs face budget cuts, money seems to be pouring into USC and USC is hoping to become SoCal’s Stanford equivalent. One aspect of that effort is attracting high-stats undergrads with merit aid. Deadline is Dec 1.
If you want to stay within the region, your stats might yield merit offers at private colleges like Puget Sound (also has good music program), Willamette, and Whitman. Have you run any net price calculators to determine your family’s expected contribution? Have your parents given you a budget of what they are willing to pay?
You should check the financials for your dream reach schools as well. If there’s no chance that your family can afford the EFC, there is no sense in applying.
For unhooked candidates, there are about a dozen schools which are always “reaches for everybody.”
There are some very competitive schools not in this dozen which some like the OP could call a match/high-match.
For example (just using NY schools for illustration purposes):
Columbia would be in the “reach for everybody” (including the OP) category.
Cornell is probably a match/high-match for the OP.
NYU is a “solid match” for the OP
Most programs at Syracuse would be a safety for the OP.
Don’t confuse “match” with “good fit.” Columbia might be a really good fit for a highly able student, but it’s still not a match in terms of likelihood of admissions, because it rejects many qualified students for whom it would be a good fit.