Finalized College List Advice/Recommendations

College Search & Selection
1

I know there’s been a few of these here, but the common app opens in a few days and it’s about time for me to truly finalize my college list. Main factors in what I’m looking for are a strong government/poli sic program, very good alumni network, less than 10K undergrads preferred but not a deal breaker, financial aid, and a really unified, happy student body.

Statistics:

3.81 GPA UW (9-11)
3.89 GPA UW (10-11)
9 AP Courses
1490 SAT (770 Reading 720 Math)
730 Literature Subject Test, 700 US History, 690 Spanish

Extracurriculars
President and Founder of my school’s Young Democrats Club
Officer in English Honors Society and French Honors Society
Two years of varsity cross country and winter track
Volunteered to coach local 5th/6th grade basketball team for the past 3 years
Freshman and Sophomore Class Council

Work Experience
Fellowship under Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign for 4 months
Accumulated nearly 400 service hours under aforementioned campaign

Awards
Accepted and Attended Virginia’s Residential Governor’s School for Humanities
AP Scholar with Distinction
French Honors Society for 3 years
English Honors Society for 2 years
5x Scholar Athlete Award
Scholastic Varsity Letter (Honor Roll)

Key Details:
Bilingual, fluent in spanish. Ethnicity is half black and half Hispanic. Mother is a graduate from Boston College. Virginia Resident. Essay Writing is one of my more noticeable skills (dad is head of an english department), so under the assumption I will have a slight edge against an identical candidate.

Schools:

Reach:
UPenn
Brown
Duke
Georgetown

On Target/Match
Michigan
UVA
William and Mary
University of Southern California

Safety Schools
George Washington
Virginia Tech
Case Western Reserve
Boston College? (Debatable Match Schol vs Safety, since I have legacy I hesitantly put it in Safety Schools)

Main Questions

How do I match up with my match schools? Reaches and safeties?
Specifically, UVA and William and Mary?
Open to applying to more matches/safeties, any recommendations?
Any and other recommendations/advice would be greatly appreciated!

2

My D, who is starting at UVa in a few weeks, had a very similar profile: 3.91 UW 9-11, 1470 SAT, 11 APs, applied to 12 schools including 6 of those on your list. She is not a minority, though, which probably makes some difference.

She didn’t get into Penn or Georgetown, though I think you have a decent shot at getting into one or two of your reaches. As they are clear reaches, I’m sure you understand you might not get into any. But any of them would be great.

I think you have a very good shot at getting into one or both of UVa and W&M, and the financial aid is likely to be reasonably good for in state. For Michigan, you should make sure it would be affordable for you OOS. (Many state schools aren’t.) My D did get into USC for Spring Admission only (which I think is not a good deal for those on financial aid, by the way.) But at a 16% acceptance rate, you really have to think of USC as a low reach.

You will very likely get into Virginia Tech. But it may not be that good for what you want to do, and even though it only costs about $23,000, financial aid isn’t necessarily that good if you need it. It does score very high on happy, unified student body, though. I don’t think GW, Case Western, or BC can really be considered safeties. And GW might not provide enough financial aid if you do get in, One possibility that is not really a safety either is American, which is good for what you want to do, and at least promises to meet full demonstrated need.

I do think it would be good to add one other school that is a safety in terms of good at what you’re interested in, likely to be affordable, and where your scores and grades are clearly above the 75% mark.

3

You should add Occidental (‘campaign’ semester) and Dickinson (emphasize trilingual: French, Spanish, English) for matches; because some campaigns are based in ny, check out Fordham Honors and NYU (both high matches); top colleges in Iowa and Ohio may be worth checking out wrt 2018 and 2020; Macalester, Middlebury, Tufts would be extra reaches. U Maryland (likely Honors) and American (likely Honors) would be safeties as long as you apply early (non binding) and express interest.

4

George Washington
Case Western Reserve
Boston College?

None of these are safety schools for you or anyone.

5

With UVA, William and Mary and VA Tech as your instate schools, you are fortunate. Matches would include Dickinson, Denison (take a look at Lugar program). GW and American are the schools kids often look at as alternatives to Georgetown, but they are not safeties for anyone. Michigan is not a match for any OOS student, it is a reach, as is USC. Case looks for strong demonstrated interest and is not a safety.

Most students’ safeties will be their in state schools, provided their stats are in the top 1/4 (as a practical matter, being in the top 1/2 may be enough, but to my risk averse mind, there is still some risk of deferral if a student is not in the top 1/4).