College List Help

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! I was looking for help on narrowing down my college list. I was looking to apply to about 10 schools (2-3 reach, 6 match, and 2 safety schools).

GPA: 3.85 unweighted, 4.25 weighted
Heavily invested in varsity sports and state music orchestras (California)
500+ community service hours from 3 volunteer trips over 3 years
Volunteer at hospital, shadowed orthopedic surgeon, interned with cardio surgeon
Interest in STEM fields, particularly medicine
ACT: 32 (30 english, 36 math, 32 reading, 30 science) in one sitting
SAT Math 2: 800
SAT Chemistry: 720

In a college, i need:
a sports and school spirited vibe, cannot bear hot weather, prefer cities and lively college towns

Colleges in mind (need to narrow down to 10-11)
Reach: Duke, Brown, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, UPenn, Bowdoin, Northwestern, Cornell, Wash U, Tufts, Williams College
Match: University of Michigan, University of Virginia, Boston College, USC, Northeastern, NYU, Davidson College, Hamilton College, Emory, Notre Dame, Vassar
Safety: U Washington, Boston University, Wake Forest, U Wisconsin, George Washington University, American, Brandeis

Feel free to post input or advice! Thanks!

2

Also, I tutored in math and taught english in korea. 10 on act essay and 12 AP and honors classes

3

Good list but some categories are not correct. You are out of state for Michigan and UVA, so they are reaches. You are at the bottom of the middle 50% in the ACT for Notre Dame so that’s a reach. Georgetown is a match more or less.

I would not call Wake, Brandeis or BU safety schools.

4

@BatesParents2019 thanks for the input. this is a rough draft so i’ll make the changes. and i did not think of that! How much does out of state count for for schools like Michigan and UVA?

5

Huge and if you need financial aid even more huge.

6

thanks! and any advice on how I should narrow down my list on the basis of my likelihood of getting in?

7

What is your home state?

8

california

9

if interested in medicine, might look at Holy Cross in Massachusetts. HC has fantastic pre-med program, nice campus and great school spirit.

10

@par72 how serious is its religious affiliation?

11

about as serious as Notre Dame, but with slightly less diversity because Notre Dame is more well-known. But it’s not like a BYU.

12

@hannah2016 I don’t know where to start!!!

13

I’m having a hard time figuring out how you got to this list as many of the schools don’t seem to meet your criteria. Williams and Davidson are no where near cities. You have a mix of LACs and giant state Us and everything in between. There isn’t even ‘cold weather’ consistency. Culturally, you have an eclectic mix - artsy Vassar, preppy Williams etc…and some schools are urban (no campus at all) and others have isolated rural campuses. It can’t have anything to do with being pre-med since all these schools will prepare you equally well in that respect.

Can you clarify?

14

cannot bear hot weather => cross out Davidson, Vanderbilt, Wash U, Duke, UVA, Wake Forest, GWU if it’s that important to you

Bowdoin, Williams, Notre Dame, Davidson, Hamilton, Vassar, are neither in a college town nor a city.

Will you need financial aid? Merit aid? How much can your parents afford and is it different from the EFC?
Have you run the NPCs and discussed costs with your parents?

Reach: Duke, Vanderbilt, UPenn, Brown, Georgetown, Bowdoin, Northwestern, Cornell, Wash U, Tufts, Williams College, University of Michigan, University of Virginia,Notre Dame => add one by one once you’re done with the rest.

Match: Boston College, USC, Northeastern, NYU, Davidson College, Hamilton College, Emory, Vassar, George Washington University, Wake Forest,Brandeis

Safety: U Washington, Boston University, U Wisconsin, American.

You could add Penn State (and try for Schreyer), or Pitt, UMinnesota Twin Cities, UMass Amherst.

15

@n’s mom I am a bit indecisive about the setting of college. I come from an affluent school in California on the coast line (hence the preference to colder weather), about 2 hours south of San Francisco. In terms of city or not, I am open to either but instead of saying that I prefer cities, I meant to say that I would like to be in a setting where there are things to do. Doesn’t have to be huge but just can’t be boring. And if it helps, when I went on my college tour, I loved the vibe in schools like USC and Duke around sports season and could not bear the atmosphere of schools like MIT and Princeton (they seemed too focused on academics and the tour guides were pretentious) in my opinion and experience

@MYOS1634 Thanks! we will need some aid but not sure on specific numbers. And I am a bit unsure about the financial aid and scholarship process. Am I correct in saying that public schools do not offer any need based aid to out of state students?

16

And also any more suggestions for more safety schools? These really help btw thank you all!

17

Holy Cross is a Jesuit school like Georgetown and Boston College.Gtown would probanly be the most liberal followed by Holy Cross and after HC, Boston College. ND is not Jesuit and is perhaps the most conservative of the top4 Catholic schools. HC seeks diversity and meets 100% demonstrated financial need. The Holy Cross medical alumni network includes a Nobel Prize winner, the current President of the AMA. and one of the top doctor at the NIH.

18

@par72 so if I am not catholic at all, what colleges should i rule out (from Holy Cross, Georgetown, ND, and BC)?

19

If you’re not Catholic, but are conservative Christian, you’d be fine at all. If you’re an agnostic/atheist, G’town is the only one that would feel comfortable. You’d have to visit all 4 to decide. For instance how do you feel about learning aboutbpeople’s faith traditions, does it sound interesting to you as long a it’s not dogma ?How would you feel about crucifixes in classrooms?

20

I was essentially agnostic while at Holy Cross, and it was a non-issue. I’m sure the same could be said of BC. I agree the spectrum of less religious to more goes from Georgetown to HC to BC. But these are Jesuit schools open to those of all faiths (or none).