Chance me & suggest safeties please?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am applying to (and would appreciate being chanced for):
Cornell
UC Berkeley
UC Davis
University of Michigan
(I know these are all reach schools and don’t expect to get into any of them, which is why I need more safeties.)

My safeties so far are Miami University Ohio and University of Illinois, but I would appreciate some other suggestions.

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1560 (780 M/780 ERW/18 Essay) (1 attempt)
ACT (breakdown): 35 (36E, 34M, 34R, 35S, 8/12 Essay) (1 attempt)
SAT II: 750 Literature, retaking Biology
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.638
Weighted GPA: 4.564
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): My school doesn’t rank, but probably around top 30%
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4), Euro (4), Physics 1 (3), Physics 2 (3), Calc AB (4), Lang/Comp (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, AP Environmental, AP English Lit., AP Macro/Gov, AP Statistics, AP German, Orchestra
Major Awards: AP Scholar w/ Distinction

Subjective:
Extracurriculars:
Varsity lacrosse (11, 12)
Science Olympiad (9, 10, 11, 12, co-captain 12)
Speech (11, 12)
WYSE (10, 11, 12)
Scholastic Bowl (9, 10)
Pit Orchestra in school musical (11, possibly 12)
Violin (since age 8)

Job/Work Experience:
Camp Counselor (12)

Volunteer/Community service:
Hospital Volunteer (11,12)

Essays:
Not finished yet, but my personal statement will probably be about my sense of mixed-race Asian identity or my experiences working as a camp counselor or something I haven’t thought of yet. It will be of passable quality. I’m more worried about my stats.

Recommendations:
They will probably be good. Not likely to make a significant positive or negative impact on my application.

Other:
Intended Major: Biology/Plant Science
State: Illinois
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian/White
Gender: F
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Thanks! :slight_smile:

2

Can you afford all of these schools?
OOS at public schools will be very expensive.

3

It depends. Not all very realistic but I’m applying for a lot of scholarships and should qualify for merit at Miami if I get in. I’m honestly not too worried because it’s not likely I’ll even get in at many OOS schools.

4

The best financial aid comes from the colleges themselves, so run the NPC on each.
What’s your budget?
I agree Miami OH is a safety academically and you should be competitive for the full tuition scholarship. It’s very likely to be cheaper than UIUC due to Illinois’ budget woes, so I’d add Iowa State or UMinnesota to those two for financial reasons.
Look at McGill since they have a good plant science program, they’re prestigious, and you’ll be admitted on stats alone.
UCB and UCD will be 60k a year. No financial aid whatsoever for OOS applicants. If you don’t have the money, they’re out.

5

Add Wisconsin to the list too. You may be eligible to the instate tuition exchange for that. UMN-TC is also a good choice as suggested above. UIUC does not offer good financial aids, so you may need to cast a wider net. For UMich, your GPA is rather low although you have great scores. If your family income is less than $90k and is admitted, UMich may even end up cheaper than UIUC. Do try their NPC.

6

For the above poster, UW Madison is only doing in state partnership with Minnesota. But I do agree that Wisco will be a Match to a Safety. The only reason I’m hesistant on Safety is because you’re Oos

7

You have excellent test scores, though your GPA might hurt you a bit at your reach schools. In your favor, however, is what strikes me as an intriguing mixture of interests: There aren’t too many Asian-American females who study German and play lacrosse applying to plant science programs these days. You have the raw material for a very interesting admissions essay.

Costs aside, I’d say that you have a strong chance at UCD, even with your out-of-state status. I further think that applying ED to Cornell would be an option well worth considering for you.

8

Thanks for the advice! I’ll look into those schools.