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% (may seem slightly better since i go to a hard HS, but still not stellar)</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>Any help please :)?</p>

3

<p>Good list if you like publics, and Case might even offer you money.
Chemistry at UW-Madison is tough but well-reputed.</p>

4

<p>Do you know of any other private (or public) schools that I should take a look at?</p>

5

<p>* does my list look balanced as far as reach, match, safeties,etc.?*</p>

<p>We can’t tell what schools are your safeties? We don’t know how much your family will pay. A safety is only a safety if you know FOR SURE that you have all costs covered.</p>

<p>What’s your budget from your parents? If you don’t know, ask them.</p>

6

<p>Sorry mom2collegekids, I guess I didnt specify that. The very most I could go (including room/board) is about 30k after scholarships,etc. My household income is ~200k though so I dont think I will be eligible for any need based financial aid at all.</p>

<p>But money aside, what do you think from an admissions standpoint?</p>

<p>UT, TAMU, Minnesota, and Colorado State (after automatic scholarship) are all affordable for sure.</p>

7

<p>You seem to have matches, and not really reaches…however, with your money limits, reaches might not work out anyway. </p>

<p>*I plan to major in chemistry and either go to vet school or grad school! </p>

<p>If your goal is vet school, try to spend less for undergrad so your parents might help you for vet school. Talk to your parents and find out if they’ll do that.</p>

<p>Are you a NMSF???</p>

<p>*</p>

8

<p>Well, it sounds like Colorado State with automatic scholarship is a safety (presuming they will admit you if they will automatically give you a scholarship that will make it affordable).</p>

<p>UT is probably a reach since it will fill 75% of the class with top 9% rank applicants, while you rank is far below that. (UT and TAMU consider rank, not GPA, so the best schools to game the admissions system are large schools with lots of not-so-good students but enough good students to get them to offer quality college-prep / honors / AP courses.)</p>

<p>Chemistry does not have that good job and career prospects, so pay careful attention to avoiding debt.</p>

9

<p>it sounds like Colorado State with automatic scholarship is a safety</p>

<p>Oh good…what’s the auto scholarship?</p>

10

<p>No I am not NMSF. Yea thats why i am applying to colorado state and TAMU because , although I know i can get in, they have vet schools (and therefore great prevet programs) AND I know i could save money there which we could put towards veterinary school. </p>

<p>At this point, I thought (as far as admissions alone):</p>

<p>My reaches: Case Western, UT
My matches: Minnesota, Wisconsin,TAMU
My safeties: Colorado State, UVermont</p>

<p>Do you think thats about right?</p>

<p>***Yes the auto-admit at UT really hurts me so its a reach but we sent about 70+ kids there last year (and many more admitted) so its definitely not unheard of for people at my school to be admitted with ranks like mine. Fingers crossed :confused: Both my siblings went there, would be quite embarrassing if i couldnt even get in.</p>

11

<p>Oh, for colorado state it is going to be at least $10,000 for automatic. One $1000 award that all students in the honors college get and a $9000 that nonresidents with 29ACT are given.</p>

12

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Awesome…very good safety for a pre-vet major!!</p>

13

<p>Oh most definitely, one of the very top vet schools and my top choice if i were admitted to their vet school. Thank you :), got me thinking alot more about the financial aspect paired with my admission chances.</p>

14

<p>If Vermont is not definitely affordable, it is not a safety. If it is likely affordable, it is a cost match, while if it is unlikely to be affordable, it is a cost reach. If it definitely not affordable, it is out of reach and not worth applying to. (Vermont’s OOS list price is around $47,000 per year.)</p>

<p>Check Wisconsin and CWRU for cost considerations as well.</p>

<p>If you know that you will (not “probably”) get into TAMU and know that you can afford it, it is a safety, not a match. (But is that really the case, since TAMU is like UT in using rank, not GPA?)</p>

15

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Right…unless Vermont would give you big merit, then take that one off. </p>

<p>Look at Miss St. Very good vet school…very good pre-vet…and VERY good merit scholarships…with your stats, you might get a near-free ride.</p>

16

<p>ucbalumnus, about A&M, it is ALOT easier to get in than UT. Ex: A&M, in addition to top 10% rule, also has auto acceptance for anyone with 30 ACT and top 25% and im either in that range or right next to it.</p>

<p>Well i REALLY wanted to apply to CU-Boulder, but i think they only have chemistry BA not BS so i couldnt apply (which is weird if you ask me) and UVM is supposed to be very similar and has a good prevet. I should probably look more into the available scholarships and such. (plus it is on common app)</p>

17

<p>How does BA versus BS matter for you?</p>

<p>I mean, you can get a BS in History from MIT or a BA in Physics from Berkeley, so it is not like the “of Arts” versus “of Science” is necessarily consistent with the subject.</p>

18

<p>For some reason my parents really dont want me to get a BA, maybe to the point where they wouldnt let me if i wanted to . Idk bottom line is i want a BS and i cant get it there :confused:
.</p>

19

<p>In the hard sciences, a BS is usually a bit more rigorous than a BA. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily hold true for all programs. The BS option is safer, so it’s probably not worth debating unless you see a program you really like.</p>

20

<p>Yea, I actually would prefer the more rigorous/focused curriculum anyways. </p>

<p>I think, for now, I am best off comparing any prospective colleges to A&M. Because its an awesome vet school, a financial and (nearly) admissions safety,it would probably make sense just to apply to schools that I might choose over A&M if accepted to both. (i guess with the exception of my for-sure safety, colorado state) </p>

<p>Btw, i have a worst case scenario plan if for some reason i was rejected to all (not CC). I have auto-acceptance to 4 public schools in texas and their deadlines arent until may haha but that would be horrible x.x so hopefully i wont have to resort to that. (but yea ill admit im a little paranoid that i wont get in anywhere even safeties ). I have already sent in my Minnesota application so hopefully I will get my first acceptance from them so I can be a little bit more hopeful :D</p>