Deciding my college list (safeties?)

<p>Hi, </p>

<p>I am having trouble with my college list and I could really use some help.
I go to an International School outside of America but I am a U.S. citizen.
I am half Korean, half Filipino. (Female)</p>

<p>GPA - 4.14 (ranking either 1 or 2 out of 17)
SAT - 2180 ( 670 R 760 M 750 W Essay: 12) I might retake. Still deciding.
ACT - 31 (35 E 32 R 29 M 26 S Essay: 8)
SATII - Chem 640, Math 2C 670 (going to retake) I am also going to take biology and literature. Thinking about retaking chem. Going to push scores up to mid 700s. </p>

<p>Major - Biochemistry/molecular biology</p>

<p>My school does not offer AP or IB courses as it is very small and has limited resources.
I did take an AP exam on chem through self study..not really looking forward to the results.</p>

<p>As I go to a small school, there are not many extracurricular activities either.
I am in the volleyball team, did volunteer work through habitat of humanity and won several awards for high academics. </p>

<p>Questbridge College Prep Scholar. </p>

<p>I work part time at a local restaurant during the summer and tutor elementary students English twice a week. </p>

<p>As you can see, my stats are not impressive..the only thing I am hanging on to is my writing as I am confident that my essays will be good. </p>

<p>My college list looks like this:</p>

<p>JHU
Yale
Brown
Rice
Vassar
Pomona
University of Rochester
University of Washington
Stony Brook
(Thinking about Case Western Reserve. Is it a good school for science?)</p>

<p>I think I have too many reaches and not enough safeties.
The problem is, I am not sure which safeties I want to go to :/
Does my college list look too..ambitious?
Please give me feedback, I will appreciate it.
Thank you so much (:</p>

<p>case western is an amazing school!
two schools you should look at IMO are Brandeis and Muhlenberg College
more “safe” schools for you maybe schools like Butler University or University of Evansville
p.s. you only have 17 kids in your class?</p>

<p>You have a lot of reaches. I suggest you take a look at the midwestern LACs where you are considered an under-represented minority and which offer generous financial and merit aid. Look at Grinnell, Macalester, Oberlin, Beloit, Hendrix, Lawrence - and check the Common Data Set for each school (Section C) to see how your stats compare to the admitted class. </p>

<p>S attended Grinnell as a biochem major: The sciences at Grinnell are impressive, as are the facilities and the financial/merit aid. He had a great experience.</p>

<p>Thank you for the suggestions, I’ll look into them!
Yeah, my school is very…small. As a result, there aren’t a lot of opportunities. ):</p>

<p>I second hendrix collge! it is a true semi-hidden gem!</p>

<p>If you’re a QB Scholar, does that mean that you’re low income? </p>

<p>If so, then finding safeties will be much harder since most safeties will be unaffordable. most safeties do NOT give much in aid.</p>

<p>It sounds like you’re Out of State for UWashington, therefore you’d be charged the high OOS rate. That school wouldn’t be affordable to a low income OOS student. You have the same problem with Stony.</p>

<p>I don’t see ONE safety on your list. </p>

<p>For a school to be a safety, you have to know FOR SURE that it is affordable. That means you have to know FOR SURE that you’ll be given enough grants, merit scholarships, small fed loans to cover all costs that your family can’t pay for.</p>

<p>A school is NOT a safety if you get accepted, but have no way to pay the costs, right???</p>

<p>You have the additional issue of int’l travel. How much can your family pay?</p>

<p>Yes, I am going to apply to the QB national college match as well although I do not know if I am going to rank any schools. If I get accepted to either UW or Stony, my family would be able to pay as long as we get a little financial aid or scholarships, although it would be pretty tight. Do you have any suggestions of schools with strong science departments that would be considered safeties for me? Thanks (:</p>