You keep fighting everyone. Again the message here is make sure you have a safety. While we don’t believe you have a chance at a reach, no one is saying don’t apply.
You keep looking for an angle. Why?
Not only are your grades your grades but you are not near the top of your class. Whereas most top schools are 95% top 10% of the class, you are not even on the fringes.
No one is saying you are not bright, ambitious, and talented. There are thousands of colleges, mostly great that will welcome you.
There are thousands of colleges you can excel at. And short of living in Florida, no one (employer wise) will care if you go to UF, Ohio State or MTSU.
I don’t see you getting into NYU, but your odds are better especially as a full pay. But why do you want to go there? Are you just going up the US News ranking. Should we look at Rochester, BC, and keep going one by one.
Find the tangible. What do you want in a college? What will make you happy day by day ? Size, location, sports/no sports? Greek, no greek.
You continue to live in a state of denial.
Truth is we are amateur admissions counselors. You think you are qualified ? Apply. We simply are warning you to include options that you are assured of getting into, would be comfortable at, and can and are willing to afford. The previous person listed Penn State which has an alumni as strong as you’ll find. Purdue another strong likely. UVM has really happy students as does Va Tech. I don’t know anyone who assumes these as lesser or safe schools.
You are really overthinking this.
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The good news: if it is a HS Cornell is familiar with, they’ll be able to put your grades in some context.
The bad news: kids from your school who’ve gotten into Cornell (or worse, who are applying this year from your grade) probably had much better grades than you and/or are hooked.
You keep seeking a loophole and there isn’t one. There will be 20,000+ applicants to Cornell with better or equal numbers and resumes. Crush your essays and give it a shot, but be realistic (and have the rest of your apps reflect that).
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What about me being a URM?
What IS your URM status? Polynesian? Maybe someone else can answer but I’m not sure that is URM.
Here is My opinion….URM status sometimes helps when the standardized test scores are lower. But does URM status make up for a lower GPA? Maybe…but not at a supposed T 60 high school. But maybe it will help a little.
But really, all these side shows don’t matter. The point everyone is making…apply to the reach schools you want to apply to (you could get accepted if your application package speaks to the adcoms), but also broaden your list. Apply to sure thing schools, and also potential matches (places where you have decent but not sure admission potential).
Cast a broad net.
And forget about prestige…in my opinion.
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Do you think I have a chance for University of Washington? I like their campus and the location
Possible. Probably 1 in 2, perhaps 2 in 3 (depends on what major you apply for and whether your transcript indicztes 4.37). Would be a target, in between UF and FSU, up to a likely.
Music and economics are in Arts &Sciences, so easy possible switch, however internal transfers (to Foster) cannot be taken for granted and can be almost impossible some years.
All in all, find 2 like it, then go for your reach list.
You need to ensure a positive outcome so finding solid matches would be most important first.
Everyone is calling my list a long reach, can you give me an approximate chance? Like 1/10?
Can I just shotgun those universities?
You can do whatever you want to do with college admissions. As mentioned above…you have one probable sure thing in that list…and a bunch of more reachy schools.
Just make sure you have TWO probable admissions…because if it comes to that, it’s nice to have choices.
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Yes, absolutely.
But before that, you need several targets/likelies and safeties, 3-5 of the former and 2 of the latter.
Once that’s done, go for it. Just keep your odds in mind. We wish you all the best but hope you don’t forget matches and safeties, because reaches (especially reaches for everyone) are completely unpredictable.
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I have a few thoughts reading this thread.
First of all, I think that you need to spend a lot of effort looking at safeties. You need to make sure that you apply to at least one and preferably two universities that you WILL get accepted to, that you can afford, and that you would be happy attending. “Be happy attending” applies many things, including a good program in your intended major. I think that you probably need match schools also.
If you want a good chance to get admitted to a “top 30” university, then I think that you need to understand the differences between the top 30 universities, and know which ones would be a good match for you. If someone from, lets say Cornell asks “why do you want to attend Cornell”, then you should have a good answer if you want them to admit you. Any “good answer” will show that you understand the university.
I do not like the idea of applying to a major that you do not intend to stay with. I do understand that many top universities (Harvard, MIT, Stanford come to mind) do not admit by major. At MIT you can pick your major at the end of your freshman year. However, trying to outsmart the admissions staff at a top university seems like a dangerous game – they have been doing this for a lot longer than you have. If you apply as a music major to a school that has a poor music program but a great business program, if they ask “why?” you might not want to be answering “because my intent is to switch to business”.
You should check how difficult it is to change majors in the UK schools before you apply to them.
Also, I hope that your dad is going well. I do understand that there is a huge range in terms of how treatment for cancer goes over the years.
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If people say in this thread that UF/FSU are low reach/matches, aren’t CMU/NYU low reaches/matches, since private colleges are more holistic?
Please read this thread. Read all of it. It’s old, but is a must read. And this kid had exemplary stats….but no sure things on his first application list.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/t/no-acceptances-one-kids-story-a-year-later/
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I give you credit for keeping your eye on the prize!
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FSU similar ranked schools with similar chance for you are Penn State and Pitt
NYU while ranked similar to UF, NYU had just over 100,000 applicants and admitted 13000. UF had 52000 applications and admitted 14500
UF half the applicants and admits slightly more students than NYU
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NYU’s acceptance rate might be a bit inflated just like Columbia because people want to go to NYC
Even at colleges with more holistic or subjective admissions, high school record is still typically the most important factor. Also, the reason that the most selective colleges consider subjective criteria more is because they have so many applicants who have top-end stats, which are basically necessary, but not sufficient, for admission. Without top-end stats (like your GPA and class rank), your chances at the most selective colleges would be lower than typical.
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Several “holistic” schools we visited had AOs that said they were asked if there was a fire in the admissions office and they could only grab one item from each applicant to make their decisions what they would take. Each one said it was the transcript because it gave the big picture of an applicant’s history - what they did in the classroom for 3.5 years - as opposed to the snapshot of a test score or a biased LOR.
@prestige123 I agree with those who said you keep looking for loopholes to justify your opinion and desired outcome. Unfortunately, facts are facts. You posted asking for help and several people are trying to help but you need to listen to what you are being told.
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Columbia Admissions once said the easiest way to cull the files is to cut the “why” essays that are basically “Ivy League+NYC”.
NYU definitely uses the attraction toward NYC and will shuffle any halfway decent applicant to one of their many programs, including Liberal Studies etc… but most students who want NYC are better off attending a cheaper college and interning there or, even better, finding a job there once they’ve graduated, can go to bars and clubs, and can afford most interesting opportunities in the city. NYU is the biggest culprit of high student debt and their professional outcomes can be disappointing outside of Stern (for instance, in another thread, salaries for engineers were listed, we had to guess which universities had what salary, and whereas most clustered around 75-85k there was one outlier at 54k, which turned out to be NYU.) In your case, being full pay will help, but if you get into Steinhardt, LSP or Gallatin, will your parents be interested in spending 75k for a likely lower annual salary? (Steinhardt is great for music, not so much for econ…) If you want Stern, apply to STERN. If you want Economics, apply to CAS for whatever major.
Read about both NYU and UF – NYU’s selectivity is quite unlike UF’s. At UF, the fact you’re from Florida AND from a pipeline school helps, even if odds are even wrt your admission. Apply to NYU but be clear with yourself (and ask your parents) whether they’re willing to pay for a college other than Stern or CAS.
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Are my extracurriculars too generic?