<p>My stats are this:
SAT I: 2280 (800 Math, 740 R, 740 W/8 essay)
SAT II: Math 2: 800; Bio-M:770; Chem:760
I've got pretty good EC's
I'm taking 4 AP's this year: Biology, Calculus AB, Spanish, and Psychology (I haven't taken any before since my school only allows people to take them senior year).</p>
<p>I'm applying to:
Yale
Columbia
Dartmouth
Williams
Colgate
Binghamton
Stony Brook</p>
<p>Does anyone think I should have more safties, and any suggestions of safties that are academically around or a little above Colgate would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>would you be happy if you ended up at one of the suny's? if the answer is no, don't consider them your safeties.
as for colgate - the fact that you are at the high end of their admitted ranges is no guarentee - they had a large increase in applications last year and accepted less than 30% of applicants.<br>
since you dont describe what you want in a school i can't suggest other "safeties." (since such diverse schools as columbia and dartmouth are on your list, its hard to tell what type of school you are looking for)</p>
<p>Mainly trying for ivy league level/one step below and mostly in the northeast. I wouldn't die if I ended up a a SUNY, but I really would rather not.</p>
<p>well by definition, ivy league level or one step below really can't be considered safeties for anyone. :)</p>
<p>a safety should be a school where you think you can be happy and where you think you have a good chance of being accepted AND being able to afford to attend. </p>
<p>there are a lot of great schools out there that just aren't ivy league or considered just below ivy league -- especially these days as competition at the top schools gets tougher and tougher, more schools are getting more selective. what do you want to study? do you want a small school or big school? urban, rural, suburban?</p>
<p>I knew a kid who was valedictorian with high sat's (wouldn't tell me exact numbers, but kept insisting very ivy competitive) - set sights very high, threw in a couple of "safeties" - then was miserable when had to choose between the safeties since that's the only place admitted. because the safeties were chosen just based on, "oh i might as well throw these two in they're supposed to be good safeties" without really looking for safeties that offered the type of program and social environment this kid wanted. (i don't want to get into a discussion of what character flaws might have caused this kid to have such poor luck - it may make current applicants feel better, but the point is even top students need safeties where they'll be happy -- at least after the initial disappointment wears off.)</p>
<p>in looking for a safety, don't just look at ranking. look at a place that has what you want to study and the social culture you want - so that you know if you do end up having to "settle" there, you'll still get what you want. </p>
<p>(by the way, your stats are great -though you don't mention gpa or rank - and hopefully the biggest problem you will have in the spring is choosing which of the great schools that accepted you, you should attend -- but better to be prepared in case that doesn't happen than to be really disappointed because you left yourself without a safety you could live with.) </p>
<p>have you looked at Univ. of Rochester - i know a lot of people applying to ivies consider that as a safety.</p>
<p>I hadn't looked at Rochester, but I definitely will. Thanks. As for the forgotten stats:
GPA: 99.4/100
Rank: 1/55
Also Valedictorian and National Merit Semifinalist.</p>
<p>Oh, and I didn't mean Ivies as safties, I meant as first choice. Hopefully like a 1.5 step or even 2 step below Ivy would be a safety. I hope.</p>
<p>metsfan, if you would like for us to assist you, you need to give us more information. What type of school size-wize? Large, small, medium? What majors are you interested in? Prominent Greek presence or none at all? Frankly, if you are not a URM, athlete, development case or otherwise "hooked", your reading and writing SAT scores are in the ballpark, but not strong for the reach schools on your list. (Look at the decisions threads on the Ivy school boards and review the stats to see how you compare realistically). Are you nationally recognized for something? If so, what?</p>
<p>Give us the above info and we can advise you more intelligently.</p>
<p>Size-wise, I would definitely rather small. Majors, probably something with math, but I'm not sure. I don't really care about frats, since I know I'm not going to join. I definitely don't want to go to a huge party school, though. Quiltguru, you think I should retake the SAT's? I don't know, I'll consider it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't really care about frats, since I know I'm not going to join.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>One of your potential drawbacks as I see it is that your list is very top heavy and you have pretty much said you would not really be happy at Bing or stonybrook.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that Dartmouth has a heavy frat presence even though most events are open to all.</p>
<p>Columbia is big on showing them love. Living in Queens, if you haven't gone to one of the info sessions, sat in on a class, spent the night , it is going to be a bad thing because they straight up ask you about your contact with the school. </p>
<p>There is also a big difference between attending school in Morningside Heights with a Core Ciriculum and attending a school in rural N.H. with distribution requirements. While there is a lot of overlap between Dartmouth and Williams, your list seems to be all over the place (more like looking for a "name brand" rather than what is the best environment for you).</p>
<p>With no discernable hooks, another potenital drawbacks are;</p>
<p>Your list is still top heavy </p>
<p>You are from NYC whic is going to have a really large pool of applicants applying to schools in the NE. </p>
<p>You should not be afraid to cast a wide geographical net as there are schools that would love to have NYers attend (if they can pull us out of the northeast).</p>
<p>if you like colgate (which also has somewhat of a work hard party hard reputation), have you looked at hamilton? a little smaller than colgate, possibly a little bit less selective (not a lot, maybe a little).</p>
<p>davidson, grinnell, Macalester, whitman. I would also suggest you post this question on the parents forum. Carloyn, especially would be able to help you.</p>
<p>Not a safety by any means, but there's a good chance you would get into Rice with your stats. It's only about 3,000 students, no fraternities, but a residential college set-up, and a great academic school.</p>
<p>have you looked at any of the following: vanderbilt, emory, oberlin, kenyon? not really "safeties" but some excellent schools outside of the northeast that you may want to look at to see what else is out there.</p>