@warblersrule How else did the literature program differ from the English program? And in what did you major?
Yes, their selectivity worries me. I’ve been told my essays are exceptionally good, I’ve won a national writing award (Scholastic) and a creative writing award at my school, have good extracurriculars, and highish SAT scores (2300 superscore, but unexceptional subject test scores, so we’ll see). My GPA is somewhat below average for these schools but not bad.
I can’t see myself going to UT Austin or anywhere in Texas even though all of my friends are applying there and UH, and many to Rice as well. I know people who were far from the top of their classes (well, top quartile, probably) who got into Oberlin, Reed, and NYU. Is it crazy of me to treat the latter grouping as my safety schools?