Do I have too many "Reach" Schools? I think i do...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>My question is whether I have chosen too many "reach/high reach" schools in my prospective list. I dont want to screw myself admission-wise, so i need your guys help.</p>

<p>First here are my stats:</p>

<p>Student:</p>

<p>User Name: sriharifez
Gender: M
College Class Year: 2008
High School: Public
High School Type: rarely sends grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 0.00
GPA - Weighted: 3.98
Class Rank: top 10%
Class Size: 290</p>

<p>Scores:
(Sat scores are predicted)
SAT I Math: 800
SAT I Critical Reading: 710
SAT I Writing: 740
ACT: 32
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 780
AP Calc AB-5
AP Calc BC-Yet to take
AP Phys C Mech and E&M-Yet to take
AP Gov't-Yet to take</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
AMC 10 2006 1st in state (score : 114)
Wyoming State Math Contest (either first place or second place for five years)
Baseball-Traveling team
Tennis-JV
Swimming-JV and V
Track-JV
Possibly coaching little league this summer.
Summer Research Apprenticeship Program 2006 (a program at the university of wyoming where i studied computational relativity)
Amateur Jeweler</p>

<p>Junior classes(this year):
-AP Gov't
-Chem 1
-Art
-Writers Workshop (sem1) and Survey of Fiction (sem2)
-University classes: Foundations of Geometry (sem1) and Classical Mechanics (sem2)
-Physics 2
-AP Physics C-Mech and EM-Ind. Study
-AP Calculus BC-Ind. Study</p>

<p>Planned Senior Classes:
note: college classes are dual enroll at UWYO.
1-AP English Lit,
2-Chem 2 (ap level class, but not ap in label)
3-college math (maybe multi variable calc)
4-college physics (probably quantum mechanics)
5-college biology (intro to neuroscience)
6-undecided (college and HS schedules clash, so i may not even have 8 periods...)
7-College Lab Session(if required)
8-elective of some sort</p>

<p>Okay here are my prospective schools:
Caltech
MIT (Ha. HA! sure.)
Princeton
Harvard
Brown
Yale
Harvey Mudd
Stanford
Cornell
UCLA
UCSD
UC Berkeley
Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>I believe my only matches are UCLA and SD, and I personally think I might need more.</p>

<p>Your thoughts?</p>

2

<p>If you're from Wisconsin, UCLA and SD are not safe matches, especially not with aid. If fact, aid is unlikely if you are OOS. CMU is a match. So if you don't want to be a full payer at UCSD or go to CMU, add some schools.</p>

3

<p>alot of these stats are "projected"....thus its gonna be tough to tell, usually, things like these don't go as planned.
and I agree with suze...add yer local state school as a safety, because you've got nice stats and have a chance at all of em.</p>

4

<p>um. but my local university is okay, and its a turbo safety cuz i have a auto scholarship there due to my act score (full tuition and board). and i dont want to stay here, wyoming sux.</p>

5

<p>ok well there are a ton of good schools, just right below the Harvard, Yale level. Consider some schools like BC and maybe give Georgetown a shot. I think you have a good chance at some of those schools, and if you continue to do good, I don't see why you shouldn't apply to some reach schools, just to see what happens..</p>

6

<p>What's your UW GPA? Obviously not 0.00. Since you're coming from Wyoming, I think you'll get several offers from the Ivies. Though you should add some matches in case I'm wrong!</p>

7

<p>sriharifez:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA: Slight Reach (out of state)
UCSD: Match (out of state)</p>

8

<p>sriharifez,
You have way too many reaches , and only 1 match. The UC's are as much a reach for an OOS as IVY's are for top students-10% chance. Remember, the Calif state charter requires that they serve primarily Calif students. You need more matches, and a safety or two where you would want to go, if you are not interested in staying in WY.</p>

9

<p>ok thanks. i am now considering possibly georgetown. any other matches i could consider?</p>

10

<p>oh and greennblue, the above iis my uw gpa. my high school doesnt weight the gpa.</p>

11

<p>hemmorhoidal bump...anyone else?</p>

12

<p>Totally off-topic, but as soon as I saw Wyoming I was like "WHO IS THIS PERSON? WHO ARE THEY? DO THEY GO TO MY SCHOOL?"</p>

<p>As if, you know. There weren't other schools in Wyoming, or something, besides mine. <em>loserrrrr</em></p>

13

<p>How do you have a zero GPA??? I'm sure if you do absolutely NOTHING your gpa would at least still be a 1.0 or something</p>

14

<p>i dont its a 3.89</p>

15

<p>Provided that your projections work out pretty well, you are a valid candidate at the reaches. Wyoming will help. You should be in at Cornell, Mudd, and Carnegie Mellon. But, I am worried about your need for financial aid. Applying to publics out of state probably won't be your best strategy. Applying to good private schools that are a notch or two lower, that are known for good aid IS a good strategy.</p>

16

<p>yeah, so as you cann see above, harvard is one of my choices for college. however im only applying cuz my dad wants me to; i really dont want to go there. can you guys think of any alternatives?</p>

17

<p>"ok thanks. i am now considering possibly georgetown. any other matches i could consider?"</p>

<p>Georgetown isn't a guarentee, please keep that in mind.</p>

<p>How about a top public? UMich? UNC? UMD?</p>

18

<p>xenise im kinda scared of doing public schools cuz i would be out of state and that reduces my fin aid chances.</p>

19

<p>Alright, then how about a solid private that would appreciate diversity. Something like a Villanova or a Lafayette, for instance.</p>

20

<p>consider applying to USC[UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIF] - they have lots of scholarship $$ for top students, and their undergraduate engineering program is terrific. If your PSAT sccores qualify you for Nation Merit Finalist you automatically get a 1/2 tuition scholarship.</p>