<p>GPA: 4.0 uw
Class Rank: 2/122
SAT: 800 CR 750 M 750 W
SATII: 800 USH 780 WH 800 LIT
Varsity Football, Varsity Wrestling, Academic Games, Boy Scouts, Spanish Club, French Club, Lead and Seed
Varsity Football: Captain, Top Sophomore Award, Offensive Lineman of the Year Award
Varsity Wrestling: Guts Award, Most Improved Wrestler Award
Academic Games: National Champion
Boy Scouts: Eagle Scout
Lots of volunteer hours, essay contests, and political science summer programs</p>
<p>There are thousands of schools – obviously you have a chance at most of them based on your stats. Which makes it hard to recommend anything other than ‘random’ schools. If you answer some questions you might get more helpful recommendations:</p>
<ul>
<li>What state do you live in?</li>
<li>Do you have any geographic preference?</li>
<li>What size college do you think you are looking for?</li>
<li>What is your planned major and post-college plans, if you know?</li>
<li>What can you and your family pay for college (how much per year)? Will you be eligible for any need based aid?</li>
<li>Have you done any college visiting yet? Have you spent any time looking at books like the Fiske Guide to Colleges? If so, what did you like and dislike?</li>
<li>Do you expect to play any of your sports in college? Are you good enough to be recruited, or are you looking for a DIII or club experience?</li>
</ul>
<p>I live in PA and I’d like to stay in the eastern US. I’m looking for a private school of any size to major in political science. I’m considering applying to Georgetown, Duke, Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, University of Chicago, Wash U, and American or Penn State for safety</p>
<p>You will make a good politician – you are excellent at not answering the questions that were asked… what is your financial situation?</p>
<p>I would say that is nine reaches, one match (Wash U), and a safety. But Wash U is notorious for rejecting students that they think are using them as a safety or backup school. Go ahead with this plan if you want to have only 1 or 2 choices in the spring, and if you are sure you can afford American no matter what your FA looks like. But you will find that this is not a strategy that anyone out here would advise. You will be a lot happier if you pick a few match schools and another safety, and limit yourself to a smaller number reaches. It sucks to be out here in the spring with only 1-2 acceptances that are schools you really didn’t want to attend, realizing that maybe you weren’t that special in the applicant pool at top schools and/or can’t afford the choices you have. You have to realize that most of the schools on your list accept less than 10% of their applicants, and a lot of the applicant pool has similar stats to your, and either a hook or some kind of exceptional EC accomplishments.</p>
<p>Well, thank you for the help. I laughed so hard at your first line there. My EFC is 0, but I have actually travelled to and visited all of the schools I mentioned except Duke, Vanderbilt, and Wash U. It really isn’t a laundry list of top colleges I’m applying to just because. These schools have some of the nation’s top political science programs, access to the east’s major cities, excellent financial aid, and excellent job placement, along with standout football and wrestling programs. I agree that I do need to look into some more matches and safeties, but these are the schools I have fallen in love with. I realize that I am no competition to a lot of the applicant pools and the chances are slim, but my interest is genuine. </p>
<p>Doesn’t matter that you have great reasons for applying and are genuinely interested – that doesn’t improve your chances. Unless you are a recruited athlete, that can improve your chances. Are you?</p>
<p>Generally it is super easy to find reaches you want to attend. The hard work in the college search is finding matches and safeties that you will also be happy to attend if you don’t get into your top choices. A few other schools you might consider - Tufts, University of Alabama (you would have to look for sure, but I think a full ride or close would be automatic with your stats), George Washington, Haverford, Washington & Lee, </p>
<p>Are you a possible national merit finalist? (What was your PSAT score?).</p>
<p>No, I’m not a recruited athlete. I do have a good personal story that I’m thinking about telling in one of my essays. I’m not a national merit finalist, but I am commended. I’ll definitely look into those schools though. How many safety/match/reach do you suggest applying to?</p>
<p>Since you need good financial aid, I would suggest 10 schools (it gets pretty crazy if you go beyond that, I certainly wouldn’t go for more than 12). I would pick a couple of safeties, with at least one of those guaranteed to meet your financial need based on stats. Here is a thread on that:</p>
<p><a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a> </p>
<p>It is a pretty long thread, but worth picking through since money is very important for you.</p>
<p>Then I would suggest maybe 5 matches and 3-5 reaches. You want to have at least a handful of colleges to pick from where you have been admitted and you get financial aid offers to review. You should run the net price calculators at all the colleges on your list, too. I assume your parents are not divorced, don’t own a small business, and don’t have rental real estate – any of those things will work against you in the financial aid process, and the net price calculators are not very accurate if any of those are true.</p>
<p>Alright, so I read the thread and five that stood out to me for safety/match were Westminster (which I have friends attending), Alabama, Miami of ohio, howard, and LSU. I would also think Penn State would be good for in-state tuition. American, if I get a decent aid package, would also be a good safety because it’s in dc for political science. Princeton and Georgetown are the two reach that I love the most. My parents aren’t any of those things so that shouldn’t screw up efc</p>