Critique my school list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, I'm in the process of narrowing down and finalizing my college list and I'd really appreciate some feedback. I think applying to 12 or 13 colleges may be too much and I'm looking to cut out a few schools. Right now I feel like I have too many reaches that are too much of an impossibility and I'm not sure if I have an adequate number of safety/match schools.</p>

<p>For a really brief overview of my stats, I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA, 2380 SAT (1600 CR+M), 5s on 3 APs (4 on one), 780 Math II and 760 Bio-M subject tests. I will be taking the Physics SAT next week. ECs don't seem outstanding to me when compared with my peers although I interned at a neuroscience lab over the summer and will probably get a recommendation letter from my PI for select colleges. I go to a public NJ school and I'm looking to major in either engineering (most likely biomedical) or neuroscience/biology. Money is not a major factor and I do not qualify for much need-based aid.</p>

<p>EAing to:
MIT*
Case Western*</p>

<p>RD:
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Columbia*
UPenn
Duke
Northwestern
Carnegie Mellon*
RPI*
Rutgers*</p>

<ul>
<li>denotes schools that I will definitely be applying to. The rest of the schools I feel not as certain about because of a combination of reasons (ie. chances and distance) and I would consider dropping. For example, although I like Harvard, my school does not have a history of sending many students to Harvard and I think I have very little chance of getting in, so I might want to drop it, but I would like to take a shot at that 1% chance.</li>
</ul>

<p>I guess what I'm looking for most is whether or not my reach to safety/match ratio seems adequate or not, and whether or not my list seems like I'm reaching way too high.</p>

<p>Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Don’t drop harvard just because you think you don’t have a good shot of getting in: you are definitely qualified</p>

<p>RPI and Case are matches for you and Rutgers is a safety</p>

3

<p>Seems hard to see you not getting into Rutgers based on your 4.0 GPA and test scores, although it may not be a 100% sure thing due to consideration of subjective things like essay, recommendations, and extracurriculars. Some previous NJ residents have reported getting very large merit scholarships from Rutgers, so you may be able to save your money for expensive medical school if that is your goal.</p>

<p>If you need something that is a 100% sure thing based on your stats (or there is a possibility that money is a bigger problem than your parents are telling you), you can look at the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-8.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-8.html&lt;/a&gt; – presumably you will be admitted if you qualify for the automatic scholarships.</p>

<p>Note that if a university is divided into divisions (e.g. College of Engineering versus College of Arts and Sciences), look into whether changing between them is easy or difficult once you have enrolled (in some cases, one direction is more difficult than the other, due to the popularity of the division versus its capacity). That may affect which division you apply to as a freshman.</p>