Sounds I was wrong about Reach/Match/Safety? I made the list from BigFuture
“On BigFuture, if your SAT Score (or GPA, which we convert to an SAT Score) falls within the 25–75 percentiles for that specific school, we consider it a match. This range marks the middle 50% of admitted students. If your score is under the 25th percentile, we consider it a reach. If it’s above the 75th percentile, we consider it a safety.”
You are clearly a very strong student. As a former math major, I want to congratulate you on how well you have done up to now.
That being said, your “safeties” are not safeties. I would put UT-Austin as a low reach, and while I am not sure about the other two I do not think that they are any better than a match or low reach. I think that your “likely’s” are in fact reaches.
You are a very strong student. You are likely to do well wherever you end up. You need to apply to some actual safeties.
Either McGill or Toronto (or both) would be more likely than the schools on your list. Admissions in Canada tends to be stats based, and your stats are excellent. Wisconsin is very good for math and might be another low reach to consider. Any of these three schools would require a good winter coat (which would be available locally).
Make sure that you apply to at least one and preferably two safeties. These might (or might not) be in your home country.
I am trusting you that you will be fine with the $300,000+ cost for some of these universities over 4 years.
Do not use this Big Future “formula”. Very misleading. You need to look at the actual acceptance rates for your major at each school. Most of your list have less than 20% acceptance rates. Making them reaches. It has nothing to do with you and your stats. It’s just that they receive too many qualified applicants and can not accept them all.
UCSB is not a Safety but a Low Reach. UCSB is test blind so your excellent SAT score will only be used for course placement. With a 27% admit rate for the College of Letters and Sciences where Stats/Math are housed, an average fully weighted UC GPA of 4.4 for admitted students and a 19.7% admit rate overall for International’s, it cannot be considered a Safety school.
Great thanks. So basically I should list schools interested with an acceptance rate higher than, for example, 40% as safety, and schools between 20-40% as match
Not necessarily but you listed the creme de la creme. UIUC isn’t impossible outside a few majors. UT and UNC are very difficult if not in state. Not impossible but difficult. The UCs don’t see your score and some consider, but don’t over weight the score. You can check common data set to see who.
UMD is very strong in math and I believe would be a great large public add. Wisconsin as well. I believe SMU is also known for math. They, in my opinion, could balance your list.
There are many fine math schools. It’s not just percentage acceptance but also stats, who has residency requirements, who favors Intl students like a Rochester, Case Western and for math NYU.
So a supplement of a few more may be good. Your list is fine but a few easier admits too to ensure you have a place to call home.
Overall admission rate does not mean that your chance of admission is that chance.
A safety is a college that is 100% likely to admit you in particular.
Note that many colleges have different admission selectivity for different majors, or for in-state and out-of-state students. For example, University of Texas - Austin automatically admits Texas students in the top 6% of their class, which fills up about three quarters of the class (these students can consider it a safety if they are not applying to a competitive major). All out-of-state (including international) students and Texas students outside of the top 6% compete for the small number of remaining places, so all such students should consider it a reach.
Is it Cal AB or BC? Comp. Sci. Principles or A? For math/stats major, these two 4s, especially for selective schools, may raise doubts.
If you’re in-state student with these stats, UT (math major) would be highly likely; however, it’s different for international students.
You need to find more information on applicants from your local area in recent years, which is more relatable to you than the general admission data for each school.
I’m guessing not based on that - but I also know you can’t just say it but for international you have to prove it - which is why I was asking.
I’ve seen statements like this from the colleges, which is why I asked.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires non-immigrant international students (those on F or J visas) to verify that they will have funds available to pay for their education, living and other expenses.
Continuing students applying for a new I-20 must have documentation on file meeting the requirements. If financial documentation is not on file, students must submit new documentation.
