<p>Slipper, I don't disagree with you, but what's wrong with the list of 10? It includes Oberlin, Vassar, Chicago, W&M and Michigan - all "match" schools. Then I have 3 big reaches and 2 big safeties (I'll say it's 11, not 10 and keep IU). Keep in mind that EA, Chicago has a 50% admission rate.</p>
<p>Do you think I have a significant enough chance to get in to Chicago RD that I should use the SCEA for Stanford? This is something I've been wondering about.</p>
<p>Just a brief caveat concerning Chicago. </p>
<p>You have a strong record but it's not a sure thing. Chicago accepted 38% EA this year, and 36% overall. They now have a yield of 40%, which puts them about 100 students over their targetted goal. O'Neill has already said that they plan to accept considerably fewer students next year.</p>
<p>That sucks.</p>
<p>I really like Chicago and was sort of banking on it as more of a match than a reach, given the statistics for the last couple of years.</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>I'd take Indiana over MSU.</p>
<p>acceptance rate for uchicago for class of 2009: 40.29% (3,642 out of 9,039) <a href="http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=377%5B/url%5D">http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=377</a></p>
<p>not too bad considering that grinnell's is lower at 36.6%
<a href="http://www.grinnell.edu/admission/classprofile/%5B/url%5D">http://www.grinnell.edu/admission/classprofile/</a></p>
<p>and we're talking about the same calibre of students.
median act for uchicago is 28-32 so ~30 while grinnell's - 31</p>
<p>all in all i think you have a good chance, i'd say a 'match'.</p>
<p>yeah definitely, indiana over msu but for a non-resident it's not 100% safety, so in this case i'd say msu as a safety(if you have to pick just one).</p>
<p>Collegeprep, that's reassuring. Thanks.</p>
<p>Why Indiana over MSU?? Just out of curiosity. It seems to me like MSU is much more of an academic focus.</p>
<p>buddy....U of Chicago has one of the most selective pools in the country</p>
<p>i was lookin at a book today</p>
<p>the AVERAGE enrolled student</p>
<p>has a 720 Verbal, and 708 Math</p>
<p>which as high as any IVY League, including Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown</p>
<p>just b/c they accept 40 percent, means nothing</p>
<p>in fact, chicago is VERY selective.....</p>
<p>if u have anything below a 700 on both math and verbal....ur prob gettin rejected from chicago....good luck</p>
<p>Hmmm, thanks for the help...I have a 740 on writing and a 720 on reading. I'm working on the math. You sure are encouraging, though.</p>
<p>not saying uchicago isnt selective but that it's not stanford selective.
like i said it's closer in selectivity to grinnell than say stanford.</p>
<p>SCEA doesn't help that much, but given your honest chances at Stanford at 5% tops, I'd say do anything you can to get into Chicago, its a reach not a match.</p>
<p>I Think you need to lower the safeties (If you like MSU more than IU, dump IU) and the Reaches (honestly Stanford is out of Reach unless you boost your SAT BIGTIME). At least keep Grinnell, you want to have choices and I have been to both Oberlin and Grinnell and you couldn;t pay me to attend Oberlin but I liked Grinnell.</p>
<p>plz....grinell, is not that selective...</p>
<p>i would say U of Chicago is at least as selective as cornell or northwestern, and definetely more selecitve than JHU (35 percent acceptance rate)</p>
<p>I agree bball (on the Chicago on par with Cornell and NU). The point with Renin is that she has HUGE reaches as her reaches and EASY safeties. By cutting one Safety (IU) and one unrealistic reach (Stanford), all of a sudden you have two extra spots to focus on realistic reaches like Wesleyan and Bowdoin.</p>
<p>"I agree bball (on the Chicago on par with Cornell and NU). The point with Renin is that she has HUGE reaches as her reaches and EASY safeties. By cutting one Safety (IU) and one unrealistic reach (Stanford), all of a sudden you have two extra spots to focus on realistic reaches like Wesleyan and Bowdoin."</p>
<p>OK, this makes a lot of sense. (BTW, I'm male, and my name is "Ren", and I'm "in" Detroit LOL). I also just want to point out that my 3.7 is unweighted, and I go to a private school with zero grade inflation, and top schools know this. 3.7 is about the average GPA of an admitted student to a university like JHU, CMU, Cornell, Northwestern, NYU, Dartmouth etc - really top schools but not quite HYP. We had 3 kids get into Harvard this year, with GPA's of 3.0, 3.6, and 4.2. </p>
<p>I may be willing to replace MSU with Indiana. But I really want to apply to Stanford. I spent a month there last summer with EPGY; it's a very special school to me. I know that realistically I won't be accepted there (no one in my class last year got in this year), but I sort of feel obligated to apply there. It doesn't have to count towards the ten, though.</p>
<p>Bowdoin - do you really think this is a realistic reach, and a similar environment to, say, Brown?</p>
<p>Also - why Grinnell but not Oberlin?</p>
<p>Ren is right about not using Michigan as a sure thing. I worked with a brilliant young guy who lived his entire life in Michigan who went to Carnegie Mellon 5 years ago because he couldn't get into U of M.</p>
<p>I'm very familiar with both Michigan State and Indiana (live near the former, did a semester of grad school at the latter). They are very similar, right down to the scenic creek flowing through the huge campuses. It's almost a choice between red brick or limestone buildings. The main difference in student bodies that I've seen is that I.U. is sort of like one gigantic liberal arts college--they don't have schools of engineering, agriculture, or medicine, and the music school is very prominent. So it's probably more intellectual than MSU (in the sense that you could major in sociology or history and have public discussions about such topics without having engineers laughing at you for wasting your life). Also, IU gets the cream of the crop of the business and liberal arts students in the state, whereas U of Michigan skims a lot of the cream off the top in Michigan and MSU gets some cream, but not as much, regardless of what Quincy says.</p>
<p>Just curious, Slipper, what did you not like about Oberlin? The whole neo-Hippie thing?</p>
<p>Also, are those "Selectivity ranks" in US News at all accurate?</p>
<p>Okay, that changes things a bit. IF a 3.7 is good for your school (it was at mine), I think Chicago is very much a possibility but I think you honestly should also consider Northwestern. Sure its more Jocky, but there's a much larger "Brown" contingent there too and a huge art scene. I guess you can dial it up a notch in terms of reaches, although if I were you I would ED Brown since it will be VERY tough RD. </p>
<p>Bowdoin is a very realistic reach and you should apply. I would look at Pomona too, I think you'll love it and its a reach but within grasp.</p>
<p>As for Dartmouth, its actually less jocky than many of the schools on your list and its very liberal (for some reason its 80s rep lingers - its actually now more diverse and liberal than half the Ivies). Its a LAC hybrid that I think you would love, but I also think it might be too much of a reach.</p>
<p>As for Oberlin, I thought its town was BORING (Ohio boring is ten times worse than New England boring - since New England boring comes with beautiful nature, the campus old and the social scene was too extreme (I am very liberal but I felt like it was too much).</p>
<p>Ever consider Carlton?</p>
<p>Good call tourguide.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about duplicates and would think that you should focus more on having three or four similar schools of the style you would like, so you would be pleased with getting into any of them. The idea is not to cover the full spectrum, but what specifically fits you. Based on the other schools you seem to like and your parameters, would think that Tufts should be on your list.</p>