<p>Stats:
GPA: 3.97 out of 4.3 max w/ an upward trend. Junior year: always over 4.0. even our val only has less than 4.2, so keep that in mind.
Courseload: The most demanding, at a rigorous boarding school (not exactly Exeter, but definitely not easy)
Rank: not reported by school, but definitely top 20%, maybe top 10% out of 550 students
Scores: 2290 SAT I (800V, 760M, 730W), 800 SAT II World History, 5 AP World
ECs: I'd prefer not to share my ECs, but know that they aren't that great. Just assume that it won't hurt or help my chances at these schools.
Socioeconomics: Affluent Asian Male that goes to a boarding school. Enough money to be full-pay at all of the schools below.</p>
<p>If I missed anything, just tell me!</p>
<p>BTW, no, I do not intend to apply to every single one of these schools. I'm still a junior, and I'm still narrowing down my list. That said, if you have any suggestions on colleges that I should add or remove would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Self-estimated Chances (you can just list w/e u think diff)</p>
<p>Amherst: Reach
Bates: Safety,
Bowdoin: Match
Brandeis: Safety
Brown: Reach, not sure about applying
UC Berkeley: Match
UC Irvine: Safety
UC LA: Low Match
UC SD: Safety/Low Match
Carleton: Match?
U Chicago: Match?
Claremont McKenna: Match?
Colby: Safety
Colgate: Low Match?, Tretter alum for BA + MAT
Dartmouth: Reach
Davidson: Reach??, asian
Grinnell: Reach??
Hamilton: Reach?, moscoso
Haverford: Match??
Macalester: Safety???
McGill: Match?, numbers oriented
Oberlin: Match?
Pomona: Reach
Princeton: Reach
Reed: Low Match?
Rice: High Match?
Swarthmore: Reach
Vassar: Low Match???
Washington and Lee: Reach??, low asian pop, lots of history majors
Wesleyan: Reach?, Hankison alum for master's
Williams: Reach
Yale: Reach</p>
<p>Bowdoin- Low to Medium Reach
Bates- Low Match
Brandeis- Medium Match
UC Berkeley- Medium to High Reach, depends on in/out state
UCLA- High Match-Low Reach
Carlton- High Match
UChicago- Lowish Reach (Don’t let acceptance rate fool you, it’s largely self-selective)
Claremont McKenna- Low Reach, Again, more selective than ppl think
Colby- Low match
Colgate- Mediumish match</p>
<p>I don’t know about Davidson, Grinnell, Hamilton, Macalester, Oberlin or W & Lee</p>
<p>Haverford- High Match
Reed- Medium Match
McGill- High match</p>
<p>These were just the corrections that I thought fit, I might be a little off on the schools I’m less familiar with but, overall, you definitely underestimated quite a few schools.</p>
<p>Safety schools are schools you know you can get into. The safeties you listed, Bates, Brandeis, UC irvine, UC SD, Colby, and Macalester are all well regarded ranked schools. You don’t have a guarentee into any of these schools, therefore they are not safeties.</p>
<p>Amherst: Reach
Bates: match
Bowdoin: low reach
Brandeis: match
Brown: Reach
UC Berkeley: Reach
UC Irvine: High match
UC LA: High match
UC SD: match
Carleton: Reach
U Chicago: Reach
Claremont McKenna: reach
Colby: high match
Colgate: Low match
Dartmouth: Reach
Davidson: Reach
Grinnell: Reach
Hamilton: high match
Haverford: Reach
Macalester: Match
McGill: Don’t know about McGill
Oberlin: Match
Pomona: Reach
Princeton: Reach
Reed: I say in
Rice: Reach
Swarthmore: Reach
Vassar: Low Reach
Washington and Lee: Reach
Wesleyan: Reach
Williams: Reach
Yale: Reach</p>
<p>Reed would be a match (meaning 50/50). Essay is very important, and interview is important (i.e., a safety for no one). Mediocre ECs hurt, but full-pay can help, especially in these unsettled times. I’m surprised how people can answer for so many schools! I can keep up with two at the most.</p>
<p>I know that I’m applying to good schools, but I was just going by my school’s naviance stats. Every school that doesn’t have a “?” next to it, and is a “safety”, my stats are a lot higher. I know GPA+SAT I scores aren’t everything, but since my ECs should be about as good as everyone else’s, and I know I take either harder classes or at least the same difficulty, that I stood a pretty good chance.</p>
<p>I looked at both your opinions, and I tend to agree with your assessments, but for example, with UC Irvine (i’m instate, btw) I have a good 200+/2400 SAT score above the highest SAT I score rejected, and +.3 w/ GPA. If I’m pretty far above those, I would have thought it would be a safety or at least low match, rather than high match.</p>
<p>P.S.
Anyone have any suggestions on safety schools?</p>
<p>I don’t know what that user is talking about - the way he phrased it, you need to apply to a community college or Devry for it to qualify as a safety school. </p>
<p>Just apply to a bunch of reach/match school ED. If at least one of them comes back with an early acceptance, safety school problem solved. If they all come back with either rejections or deferrals, then you might want to think about throwing in a Cal State.</p>
<p>But, honestly, with your SAT score and GPA, that shouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>edit: one quick note: when comparing your GPA to the school average, remember to normalize because your school has an A+ scale (4.3) while most don’t.</p>
<p>“Just apply to a bunch of reach/match school ED.”</p>
<p>Only one ED app is allowed. A decent HS counselor won’t let you do this, and if colleges find out, your HS can be banned for a while. You can apply to any number of schools EA, in case that’s what you mean.</p>
<p>What do you care about?
Where would you like to spend your college years?
Where, given different college’s culture, do you think you’d be a good fit?</p>
<p>Try to take some time to think about these sorts of things now - It will help you whittle down your list and, eventually, to decide where to apply. And it will help you write the applications and make your decision about where to go.</p>
<p>@momfromme: I think you misunderstand. This is just a preliminary list, that is sure to change as I eliminate schools and add ones. </p>
<p>@G.P.Burdell: Actually, using Naviance, I’m comparing my GPA to that earned by others at my school so the GPA issue shouldn’t be much of a problem. I’m well aware of the differences between various GPAs.</p>
<p>@tetrisfan: Is it? I thought I was doing a pretty good job actually… >_<. Besides the UCs (I’m in-state, so I will be applying to many of them just because it’s all one app) and a few Ivies (either w/ good history programs or smaller and undergrad focused, or both), the list is mostly LACs, and even within there, I was going for the more intellectual schools.</p>