Hello! I have been looking at school all summer and I would like some feedback to see if I am doing this right. I am a rising senior from a moderately affluent but diverse suburb of Milwaukee. I have a 3.92 GPA unweighted, 32 ACT, decently solid extracurriculars with a few leadership positions. Right now these are may list of schools in no particular order:
University of Minnesota
Loyola Chicago
Northwestern
University of Pennsylvania
Boston University
Boston College
University of Pittsburgh
Georgetown
George Washington University
Tufts?
Northeastern?
Duke?
Case Western?
I guess what I’m looking for is advice as to if this is a good list. I’d like to make it smaller.
Cost. I dont see anything here that is going to offer you much of in the way of scholarship, and you said affluent so be prepared to pay retail at most of these schools. I believe you get reciprocity at U of M, so at 28K thats about the cheapest. If you want more affordable schools consider Wisconsin public or a place like Northern Illinois (for scholarships).
Major ? You want to make sure all the schools at least offer what you are pursuing, and have programs you are interested in.
Penn, Gtown and Northwestern are most selective admits. These will be a lot more work for you, so think about that carefully before you decide to pursue. Your GPA and ACT alone wont get you in, and you may need to take subject tests, get recomendations, write more essays, etc.
You could stand to add a safety or two more. You have a fair number of match schools. Seconding the above post, though a few do offer scholarships - do apply as needed for those and investigate.
Most of these colleges are reaches due to selectivity (acceptance rates and stats odbthe admitted.)
Loyola Chicago seems like the only college on your list that’s an academic safety, and it doesn’t meet need, so you must run the NPC to make sure it’s affordable.
Case Western is a decent match but run the NPC as our stats may not warrant enough merit aid depending on How much your parents can afford. Same thing for UMN.
You need to find two schools with 45-60% acceptance rates (Illinois Wesleyan, U Wisconsin, Iowa State, Earlham, Hendrix…) as well as two-three schools with 30-40% acceptance rates (St Olaf, Macalester, Grinnell, and, if you want tech schools, rpi…) .
If you’re from Milwaukee, why isn’t the University of Wisconsin on your list? You do get reciprocity with Minnesota, but maybe apply to both?
Northwestern, Penn, Georgetown, and Duke are all the top/reachy schools. Tufts, Boston College, Boston University, Pittsburgh, GWU, and Case Western are in the middle-ish. If you want to cut down your list, why not choose two of the elite colleges and about 3 of the middle-ish colleges?
Northwestern, Penn, Duke, Georgetown are unlikely (that’s just reality). Pick a couple as hail mary’s, but focus on the ones you have a better chance at. Also, the less selective ones are more likely to have merit aid.