College List Input?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! I am a rising senior and am in the process of creating a list of colleges to apply to. I have selected 9 that I am attracted to for various reasons (campus, academics, prestige, location, student body, etc.). </p>

<p>Please comment on whether:
a) The colleges are grouped correctly as safeties, matches, reaches.
b) My list is reasonably balanced.
c) There are any other schools that I may like, or if my current schools don't 'fit' what I'm looking for.</p>

<p>Stats</p>

<ul>
<li> Indian female; Charlottesville, Virginia (Singaporean Citizen)</li>
<li> Family income ~ $50,000</li>
<li> Public High School (Class size: 463)</li>
<li> Major: English (Premed) OR Biology (Premed)</li>
</ul>

<p>GPA (UW): 4.00
Rank: Top 5%</p>

<p>SAT I: (750M/800CR/800W) = 2350
SAT II’s: Pending
All AP Scores: 5</p>

<p>Activities</p>

<p>CARE Club (Cultural Awareness, Co-President)
Choir (9th: Women’s Ensemble, 10th, 11th, 12th: Take Note!)
Peer Mediator Program
Poetry Out Loud (School Winner)
Recreational Tennis
SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions, President)</p>

<p>Awards/Honors</p>

<p>9th Grade - Best Algebra II Student
Best Writer
Honor Roll (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th) </p>

<p>Math Honor Society
English Honor Society
Science Honor Society
History Honor Society
Spanish Honor Society
Tri-M Honor Society
National Honor Society</p>

<p>National Merit Finalist
Qualifier for AIME
AP Scholar with Distinction
National AP Scholar
Carson Scholar's Fund Scholarship</p>

<p>District Choir (SSA, SATB)
All-State Choir
Honors Choir</p>

<p>Community Service</p>

<p>Key Club (10th, 11th, 12th)
Virginia Discovery Museum (2 hours/week; 10th, 11th, 12th)
UVA Hospital (Summer 2009, 2010, 2011)
UVA Psychology Department</p>

<p>Courseload</p>

<p>9th Grade</p>

<p>Hon Algebra II
Hon English 9
Hon Biology
Hon World History
Adv Spanish II
Women’s Ensemble
Health I
PE I</p>

<p>Summer</p>

<p>Health II</p>

<p>10th Grade</p>

<p>Hon Math Analysis
Hon English 10
Hon Chemistry
Hon Physics
AP World History
Adv Spanish III
Take Note!</p>

<p>11th Grade</p>

<p>AP Calculus AB
AP English Language
AP Physics
Leadership
AP US History
AP Spanish Language
Take Note!</p>

<p>Summer</p>

<p>PE II</p>

<p>12th Grade</p>

<p>AP Calculus BC
AP English Literature
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP US Government
AP Spanish Literature
Take Note!</p>

<p>More Info.</p>

<p>My stats (GPA, SAT's) are excellent. My EC's... not so much. They are very cookie-cutter and may seem like resume padding, lol. However, I only participated in activities that genuinely interested me. </p>

<p>Student body size doesn't matter to me. I do prefer suburban to rural or urban, but location is not a deal breaker. Beautiful campuses and high quality academics are high on my priority list, and prestige is moderately important as well. I have not had the opportunity to visit any of the schools on my list, so additional information would be welcome. Thank you!</p>

<p>List</p>

<p>High Reach</p>

<p>Harvard
Stanford</p>

<p>Reach</p>

<p>Cornell (1st Choice)
Harvey Mudd
Swarthmore
Williams</p>

<p>Match</p>

<p>Boston College
UVA</p>

<p>Safety</p>

<p>Pepperdine</p>

<p>Your help is greatly appreciated. Also please comment if applying Cornell ED is advisable or not. Thank you! :D</p>

2

<p>I think you have good chances at all your reaches considering that they’re all top-notch schools. Your stats are great, and your ECs are ones that you care about and have leadership positions in, which will definitely come across in your apps. Also, if you’re in-state, you have a great chance at UVA. Just make sure you get good teacher/counselor recs. I don’t know much about Boston College or Pepperdine though; sorry. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Thank you for your reply. Would you perhaps know how Cornell weighs numerical stats vs. EC’s?</p>

4

<p>^Depends heavily on which college in cornell you apply to, for arts and sciences, steller numerical stats and decent ecs are probably better , for say hotel, decent numerical stats and steller hospitallity related ecs would be better. Which college in Cornell are you applying to? I’m guessing arts and sciences since you want or major in english or bio. </p>

<p>That said your stats amazing and your ecs while a bit cookie cutter as you put it, are certainly decent. I would be fairly surprised if you didn’t get into Cornell, although at any top school their is no guarantee.</p>

5

<p>High Reach - looks good. You have as much a shot as the next person!</p>

<p>Harvard
Stanford</p>

<p>Reach </p>

<p>Cornell (1st Choice) -
Harvey Mudd - Are you sure? It’s very math-oriented, and I couldn’t imagine being an English major there. Plus, there is no real grade inflation, which made one of my premed friends very wary.
Swarthmore
Williams</p>

<p>Match - consider adding another? Perhaps William & Mary?</p>

<p>Boston College
UVA</p>

<p>Safety </p>

<p>Pepperdine- Are you okay with the religious atmosphere there? I love it personally, but it’s not for everybody. Although when we visited I remember that they had a fantastic pre-med program with tons of support. </p>

<p>One thing to add… is that if size isn’t a worry for you, I would very seriously look at the Virginia State schools.</p>

6

<p>How about Wake Forest, Tufts, Rochester, and Davidson? If you have in-state status in Virginia, looks like you’d be sure to get in at least one of UVa and William and Mary.</p>

7

<p>Thank you for the input! Hmm… I will certainly reconsider Harvey Mudd, as GPA is definitely important for med school. As for William & Mary, I’m afraid that it didn’t feel like a fit for me when I visited, though it is a very good school.</p>

<p>CurrySpice - Yes, I loved the atmosphere, etc. at Pepperdine when I visited. And by Virginia State Schools, do you mean JMU and the like?</p>

<p>TourGuide446 - Thank you for your suggestions! I will look into these schools.</p>

8

<p>That looks like a good, well-thought out list to me. I will echoe what others have said about Harvey Mudd–what about replacing it with one of the other Claremont schools (Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, or Scripps)? </p>

<p>On Boston College–judging from students from my school who have been admitted there, your stats seem to be above the average for that particular school.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

9

<p>elven_hobbit - Yes, I think I will replace Harvey Mudd with Pomona. What other colleges would you recommend as matches then, if my stats are above average for Boston College? Thanks!</p>

10

<p>Wellesley-If you’re cool with the all-female thing, I’d definitely check it out. It has a beautiful campus in a suburban area as well as good academics.</p>

<p>Wesleyan-Again, suburban setting with good academics. From what I hear, it’s a nice campus. It supposedly leans heavily to the left politics-wise, so if you aren’t comfortable with that, then it may not be a great option.</p>

<p>According to the Collegeboard website, BC and Wesleyan have 27% acceptance rates, and Wellesley has a 36% (not sure what year the data’s from). So even though your stats are higher than the average for all three of these schools, I would consider them high matches. Especially since next year will be the peak application pool, admissions processes at most colleges will be a little random (plus there’s always the problem of Tufts syndrome, although I don’t know if any of these colleges practice that).</p>

11

<p>elven_hobbit - I’m not cool with the all-female thing, so Wellesley is out of the question, lol. Wesleyan seems intriguing; I will definitely check it out. Again thank you for all the useful info.!</p>

12

<p>just wondering, how do you know that you’re a national merit finalist?</p>

13

<p>Harvey Mudd, as others have mentioned, doesn’t seem to make much sense for you. Pomona would be a logical reach, and Scripps would make good sense as a safe match. At the latter, you would have a very good shot at a 1/2 tuition merit scholarship. I know women’s colleges are off your radar, but the Claremont consortium puts Scripps in a somewhat unique category, so I mention it anyway. Pay a visit if you make it back to CA.</p>

<p>Pepperdine should not be relied on as a safety, even though your numbers are high. They can be unpredictable in admissions, and I’m told that church involvement can be a make-or-break factor. I had strong enough stats to count it as a safety (plus strong EC’s + a religious HS), and was rejected, despite showing a great deal of interest. I knew multiple other students who experienced the same. Just a caution.</p>

<p>You’re obviously an excellent student, but in case luck evades you, you might consider looking for one more match. Probably not imperative, but might allow you more flexibility come next spring. That said, I’m unfamiliar with both BC and UVA, so I can’t really gauge your chances there…maybe you’re already playing things safer than I’m realizing.</p>

<p>Best of luck :)</p>

14

<p>BC’s admissions are hard to predict. They get so many applications that even some really top-notch applicants get rejected. But still it would be pretty surprising if the OP didn’t get in there.</p>

15

<p>Student615 - I didn’t know Pepperdine’s admissions are so unpredictable. Thanks for telling me! :D</p>

16

<p>Wait, we’re encouraging her to replace Harvey Mudd because they don’t have grade inflation? That’s awful! You can get a good GPA when you go to Mudd, you just have to work hard. Also, med schools are familiar with the culture of different colleges and they will be familiar with the fact that a school like Mudd does not have grade inflation. However, I would agree that as an English major wannabe you may not want to go to such a math/science oriented school (unless you really like math science).</p>

<p>(By the way, grade inflation is generally considered to be BAD thing to grad schools and such).</p>

<p>I wouldn’t say BC was a match for anyone – maybe more like a matchy-reach. Their admissions have gotten competitive in the last couple of years and getting in can be difficult. I’d bump Pepperdine to match status.</p>

17

<p>No…overall, we’re encouraging her to replace Harvey Mudd because it doesn’t sound like a logical fit for her. No potential English major, unless (s)he is very, very sure that (s)he’ll be comfortable pursuing Mudd’s core + a technical major or minor (in addition to the English degree), needs to have Mudd on his/her list, wonderful place that it is. </p>

<p>For someone specifically hoping for a beautiful campus, also an odd choice (could be overlooked, of course, if it fit academically). I don’t think Mudd is ugly, as many seem to, but attractive in the sense of other schools on the OP’s list, it is not.</p>

<p>The OP has shown dedication to some excellent EC’s, but a prominent math/science commitment is not really among them. That’s no pre-req for admission, but it would be a tip-off to adcoms that she might not realize what she’s getting into. </p>

<p>To top it off, the OP is pre-med, and there have been multiple threads re: “Pre-med at Mudd?” Yes, people do it, and yes, some of them have fantastic experiences doing so. I can’t speak firsthand, but I’ve read the threads, and it’s not a highly recommended path. Having been a Claremont student myself, I never knew one pre-med Mudder. Though they certainly exist, my guess is that the OP liked the Claremont set-up, interpreted it loosely as “certain majors/types/interests go with certain schools,” thought “biology, pre-med, research” and then came to the logical conclusion of Mudd. Easy, easy mental path to follow! (OP, excuse me if I’m misinterpreting your thoughts.)</p>

<p>Grade inflation/deflation is one among quite a number of far less controversial reasons that Mudd–and I’ll say it again, wonderful place that it is!–just seems out of place on this student’s list. She could do it, and be happy/successful doing it, but at face value–which is all we can judge–would it really make sense? Not so much.</p>

<p>I say this as a former Claremont student and as a former MIT-applicant-turned-philosophy-major ;)</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>You described my thought process perfectly. :slight_smile: In hindsight, I realize that it was a tad illogical. After researching a little more about Pomona, it’s clear that it’s a much better fit for me than Harvey Mudd. Question: Is it a disadvantage for me to be an English major if I want to go premed? Thanks!</p>

<p>juillet - I’m sorry if my post conveyed that I was only reconsidering Harvey Mudd because of the grade deflation aspect. Grade deflation is a negative, but it would not be sufficient reason for me to reject a school if I loved everything else. And yes, after another poster alerted me to the fact that Pepperdine has unpredictable admissions, I will be promoting it to match status. Thank you!</p>

19

<p>As far as med school admissions go, I don’t know anything about them. But in general, I knew a few Claremont pre-med students who had non-bio majors…it’s certainly doable. A friend at Pomona was history/pre-med, and one at Scripps was foreign languages/pre-med. On top of that, the former spent one semester and the latter spent a year abroad. </p>

<p>I’m sure that if your question doesn’t get answered here, it’s come up in the pre-med/med school forums :)</p>

20

<p>Thanks! I will certainly look at the threads in the pre-med forum.</p>