<p>@bookaddiiict - OK, that’s good that the 3.89 is UW. That is a very strong GPA. You just need to make sure your guidance counselor at your high school makes it clear that 3 AP’s was the most rigorous schedule they allow. Top colleges put a lot of weight on rigorous schedules, but they don’t hold it against you if your school either doesn’t offer AP courses or restricts the number available to you.</p>
<p>So your SAT is going to hurt you slightly with the schools on your list that are the most super selective. That seems ridiculous since 2130 is a great score, but these schools are so competitive and they get a lot of applications from students that have 2200+, which a lot of these schools claim is a kind of magic number. What I mean is that they have been quoted as saying that a student with 2200-2250 is, in their eyes, not really different than a student with 2400 or 2380. So I think at Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, and University of Pennsylvania it is a crapshoot at best. Probably a bit less than that. Perhaps at UPenn you have a slightly better chance than at the others. It looks like last year their average SAT was in the 2210-2220 range and their admit rate was about 12.2%, which is still quite low but over twice as high as Stanford, for example. Columbia had similar SAT scores in their freshman class as UPenn but only admitted 7% of applicants, and Princeton had higher SAT scores with at least a 2250 average (probably higher) and an admit rate of 7.5%. So I think you can see why these schools are long shots for anyone, and slightly longer for you. Will being an AA female help? Perhaps some, but how much is very hard to say.</p>
<p>As for your others, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UMass Amherst , UConn, and University of Texas are , of course, all publics. I don’t know Montclair State well but I assume it is on your list because it is your local public. Maybe that is your ultimate safety but I really cannot see you even considering that school. Academically it is nowhere close to your other choices. As for the others, I think your chances of getting in are quite reasonable, especially at UMass and UConn. You are perfectly qualified for the others as well, but they are very popular state schools even with OOS students like yourself, and so slots available are hard to predict since they mostly are composed of in state students. Texas most famously has to accept students in the top 8% or 10% of their high school class, or whatever the current number is. At least that is what I have heard.</p>
<p>Finally that leaves USC, Boston University, Brandeis, GWU, Northeastern, Northwestern, NYU, and Tufts. Again, you have the credentials for all these schools, with Northwestern being the most selective of the group. USC has gotten much tougher lately as well. But you qualify, by stats at least, for all of them. Northwestern, however, has virtually no merit aid, so affordability will be completely dependent on how they evaluate your need. You can use their net price calculator to get at least a glimpse of what to expect, should you get in. I don’t know the merit aid available at all the other schools, but I know at least most of them have it available. You probably have to apply separately for big scholarships at those schools, however. Some schools like U Miami (FL) and Tulane have large merit scholarships they award without separate applications when you are accepted, and then have separate applications for their full tuition awards. Your list is already large, but that is something you might want to consider.</p>
<p>So the bottom line is you have a nice mix of safeties, matches and reach schools, with the reaches definitely being reaches. If you could truly be happy at any one of those schools, then I have no trouble predicting you will get accepted to several of them. The trick will be affordability. You really want to focus on schools that are known to be generous with financial aid (that is NOT!! NYU btw), and/or that have large merit scholarships you can try for. That’s my take on your applications, anyway.</p>