Do I have a balanced list of colleges?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>College List:
1. UT Austin
2. Texas A&M
3. Case Western Reserve
4. U Minnesota- Twin Cities
5. Wisconsin- Madison
6. U Vermont
7. Colorado State</p>

<p>Quick Stats:
School: large (650 in senior class) competitive public school in houston area (many APs, 40 national merit finalists last year,etc)</p>

<p>ACT: 33 composite, 34 english, 34 math, 30 reading, 30 science, 8 essay (ugh)</p>

<p>UW GPA: about 3.5 (not reported)
W GPA (on 6.0 scale): 4.987</p>

<p>Rank: 25-30% </p>

<p>AP Test: calc AB=5, english lang and comp =5, world history= 3</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: Track team, cross country team,academic decathlon, P of local charity club, peer tutor program, over 150 volunteer hours, NHS, japanese NHS, interact, 6month job during junior year</p>

<p>Senior Schedule: Compsci II AP, Chem II AP, Stats AP, decathlon honors, Economics, english, cross country (1st semester), also calc BC (only second semester since i took calc AB junior year)</p>

<p>OTHER INFO:</p>

<p>I did relatively poorly freshman year (which really impacted my gpa/rank) because I didn't turn alot of things in and was a stupid punk, made mainly Bs with barely any honors courses. I have had a huge increase in difficulty of my courses, my grades (last year all As and almost all honors/AP), and my involvement in extracurriculars. I plan to major in chemistry and either go to vet school or grad school! </p>

<p>I already have asked 3 teachers that will write me GREAT letters of rec.</p>

<p>SO... does my list look balanced as far as reach, match, safeties,etc.? Any last minute suggestions or advice?</p>

2

<p>Do you have any cost constraints?</p>

<p>If you do, go to each school’s web site and put “cost of attendance” and “financial aid estimator” to get an idea of what each school will cost you. Note that many public schools do not give much (or any) aid to out of state students.</p>

<p>Classify each school on the basis of cost as follows:</p>

<ol>
<li> Out of reach: no possibility of being able to afford attending.</li>
<li> Reach: small possibility of being able to afford attending (e.g. too expensive, but there is a reach chance of a large merit scholarship that will make it affordable).</li>
<li> Match: likely, but not certain, affordability.</li>
<li> Safety: certain affordability.</li>
</ol>

<p>Do not bother applying to out of reach schools, and reclassify your reach, match, and safety lists on the basis of whichever the higher category is. For example, admissions safety + cost reach = overall reach; admissions match + cost safety = overall match. You need at least one school that you like that is safety in both categories.</p>

<p>Admissions-wise, Texas public schools consider rank instead of GPA.</p>

3

<p>Because of my parents income (~200k), I dont think i will be eligible for any financial aid. At the same time, i simply can’t afford a school that is 35-55k after scholarships,loans,etc. And yes, i realize alot of public OOS schools dont give great aid to begin with. These are my schools as far as affordability:</p>

<p>–Safety; affordable with sticker price: UT Austin, TAMU, UMinnesota</p>

<p>–Match; affordable b/c of scholarship eligibility: U Vermont, Colorado State</p>

<p>–Financial Reach (my stats=/=scholarships): Case Western, UW Madison</p>

<p>As far as admissions go, do you think i have a good balance or am i lacking reaches,safeties,etc?</p>

4

<p>UT Austin is probably an admissions reach if your rank is only 25-30%. They expect that automatic admission of the top 9% will fill 75% of the Texas resident freshman class for fall 2012: [Automatic</a> Admission | Be a Longhorn](<a href=“http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/after-you-apply/automatic-admission]Automatic”>http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/after-you-apply/automatic-admission) .</p>

<p>Not sure about TAMU or Minnesota; if you find that neither is a safety for admissions, you need to find a school that you like that is safety for both admissions and cost.</p>

<p>If you need a safety, consider Alabama as a safety if your stats can get you the full tuition Presidential Scholarship there: [Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)</p>

5

<p>As far as UT goes, because of the high school i go to, is very possible but still a low reach. TAMU is a safety (im either automatic or very close to it ), and minnesota is a dead center match. thanks for the link! So TAMU is basically my admissions/financial safety.</p>