Since the common app and uc app open up in a few days, I decided to finalize my college list. I’ve done tons of research on a variety of schools. In addition, I considered many factors including the strength of the biology program (I want to go on a pre-med track), weather ( hate the EXTREME cold), party culture (don’t want), school size, student to faculty ratio, neighborhood ( don’t want a bad one), religious affiliation, diversity, financial aid, stressfulness (i don’t want an infamous stressful school like MIT), and overall culture. I just wanted to get ya’ll 2 cents about my school list. I know what you are thinking, “THAT’S WAY TOO MANY SCHOOLS”…i know. I didn’t want to apply to a lot, but my parents are overestimating my abilities and forcing me to apply to a lot lol.
Stats
4.26 GPA W (9-11)
3.86 GPA UW (9-11)
4.42 gpa W (10-11)
3.9 gpa UW (10-11)
10 AP Courses
33 ACT, 800 Math, 770 Biology
Clubs and Organization
President of Three Very Big Clubs
Member of NHS and CSF
Hospital Volunteering
700 hours community Serves
Internships
Immunology Biomedical Research Internship
Cancer Biomedical Research Internship
Awards
AP Scholar with Distinction
National Honor
California Scholar
Honor Roll
Hook
Profoundly Deaf Since Birth (My essay is essentially about how deafness shaped my experiences and my motivation to pursue neuroscience)
Schools
Reach
Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Duke
U Penn
Brown
Wash U
Columbia
Match
UCB
UCLA
Michigan Ann Arbor
Washington University
Safety
UCI
UCSD
Put UCLA/UCB in the Reach category. With less than 20% acceptance rates, these are not a Match school even with having competitive GPA and test scores.
UCI looks like Match-Low Match and UCSD is a Match school. Neither are safeties since UC’s are unpredictable.
I would look at UCSC and UCR as solid safety schools for a CA resident.
UMich is also a reach with your stat from OOS. Your GPA is around the admission average and ACT is within the mid 50. Their OOS admission rate is around 20%. In other words, your list is mostly reaches.
Unless your research is groundbreaking I think you should concentrate on more schools in the US NEWS 20-50 range. Take a good look at the US News list and pick a few schools that are similar to the ones you list as reaches. Explore them online and find some matches that you love. There aren’t really many matches on your list. Pick one (or 2) of harvard-yale-stanford-penn-columbia-brown. Keep WashU, Duke. Keep your matches. Add more UC’s. Then find some additional realistic matches that you love. Focus on those apps first! This is my advise. I think you’d be foolish to apply to 8 super reaches before you have completed really strong, well thought out applications and essays to more realistic schools.
Your record is absolutely impressive, but a problem is that acceptance rates of 20% and below mean “automatic reach for everyone”.
What’s your UC GPA?
Considering UC’s all use the same app, include UCSC. Or apply to ucr’s special pre health track right away, I think you can do it this summer.
Add a private safety (Lewis and Clark? UPugetSound?)
Right now your list is too risky
Can you afford all these? Have you run the NPC and discussed costs with your parents?
Why doesn’t your list include Bowdoin, Bates, Pomona, Davidson, and Whitman? Whitman would be a low match and Davidson a high match. They would be more hospitable to a premed than UC’s.
(Basically, the premed track in California is a bloodbath, especially the UC’s, because there are so many talented premeds and so few med school spots in California, so the weeding is ferocious.)
@ElmTree Can I just say how awesome & accomplished you are despite the disability! Regardless of which school you get into, they will be blessed to have you!
I should have added that your resume and accomplishments are really fantastic. We all just want you to have choices that you are thrilled with next spring! And I personally hope that you get accepted into all of your schools including your super reaches.
I think you should add another match or two, to be safe – your list comprises mostly reaches and low reaches. For you, matches are probably schools ranked about 30-70 in the USNews National U ranking and, oh, 25-75 in the National LAC ranking.
Also, the mid UCs aren’t safeties. For a UC safety you’re looking at Merced or Riverside, probably. You might consider adding your favorite CSU as an additional safety, assuming it isn’t Cal Poly (which is not a safety).
I agree that you need more matches and fewer huge reaches. Perhaps USC? Emory? Rice? Tulane?
You mostly have research universities on your list…how do you feel about LACs inside or outside of a consortium? If you’re female, you might want to look at women’s colleges. Do you have any clear favorites? If so, and if $$ isn’t a big concern, consider applying ED.
Adding UCs as safeties requires no effort – just checking the box and writing the check.
One of the things I would look into are accommodations. Do you sign? If so, will the school provide ASL interpreters? Might you need a notetaker or can you get access to professors’ class notes if your hearing loss causes you to miss some of the material? You’ll need a school with strong Disabled Student Services to advocate for you.
@LoveTheBard USC has a social culture I don’t like, Emory is religiously affiliated, and Rice does not offer FA for my status 
@LoveTheBard Also, I don’t really like LACs colleges. In terms of accommodation, I don’t need much except just preferential seating and extra time on test. All the schools I’ve researched have the accommodations i need.
Emory is not religiously affiliated (at some point it was founded in relation to a religion, like Harvard, Yale, or Penn, and is as religious as those nowadays.)
Rice offers need based aid as well as merit aid. Do you mean their NPC indicates you wouldn’t be eligible for aid there?
@MYOS1634 Yeah the NPC shows I’m not eligible for aid.
I’m thinking along the lines of @LoveTheBard
There is a huge program for the deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology and a solid ASL program at University of Rochester. Either might be a good choice for a school with the capability to assist a deaf student. UR is more known for premeds, RIT has a specific division just for the deaf so you’d have community of fellow students with similar challenges.
http://www.ntid.rit.edu/
Rice does offer some merit aid in addition to their financial aid, so I wouldn’t discount it entirely. The University of Rochester is a great suggestion (but for the weather); it also offers merit aid and has a BSMD program.
I can appreciate your not being overly keen on the USC vibe (my daughter wasn’t either).
I would not totally rule out the Claremont Colleges - the consortium provides both the advantages of a small school and those of a larger university.
Emory, like many schools, was founded as a religious institution (in Emory’s case, Methodist), but is no longer affiliated with the church. In fact, it has a very large Jewish population.
@LoveTheBard I really want to go to Rice, but my parents won’t be willing to pay full tuition, which is understandable. I ran the NPC, and it said I’m not eligible for FA. I doubt I’ll get merit aid.
You say you don’t want a stressful school, but you have Columbia, Harvard, and Penn on your list, which are known to be competitive. Also, can I ask why you don’t like LACs? I’m just curious, no judgement here 
Tbh, your stats will get your foot in the door at any school; you just need a killer essay to ensure you get past the threshold.
@latinvibes Yeah I took Columbia off the list lol. I also took Duke out, because it is know to be very rigorous and competitive. All the prestigious university are stressful generally. There are only a select few that are known to be EXTREMELY competitive at the end of a spectrum ( Cornell, MIT, Cal Tech, Chicago, JHU etc.). Harvard, although competitive, has a nice close deaf community that really attracts me. LACs places more emphasis on liberal arts, which I ABSOLUTLY hate. Anything history or humanities bores the hell out of me.
^ actually, most of the colleges you listed have similar requirements to LACs.
Strictly speaking the liberal arts include the arts, humanities, science, math, and social science. They don’t include engineering, nursing, education, or Business… Although many LACs include one of those. LACs all have a “personality” and are undergraduate-focused with discussion-based classes rather than lecture-based classes. The amount of general education classes is unrelated to their status as a regional or national university or LAC.
For instance, Amherst and Hamilton have no gen ed requirements BTW so if you want to avoid humanities and social sciences you can (although an ability to read, write, and speak well at the professional level -not HS level- is a must-have… and these colleges expect you to have enough intellectual curiosity to be interested in classes outside your major.)
You should take a harder look at LACs as a bio major. There are some really good choices. You are going to have to take some humanities courses anywhere; that is the nature of college education in the US. You get smaller class sizes and more direct access to profs at a LAC. With no grad students, profs usually work more directly with undergrads and rely more on them to help with their research.