3.8 - which means a few Bs or a C. Not having an A+ doesn’t impact anything. An A is a 4.
If you take off Haverford and Swat for urbanness (neither is), then you should take off Brown and I’m guessing Union although I don’t know where it is specifically in Schenectady.
It’s too big a reach type list - in the effort you’ll have to put in sense.
As long as you have a SUNY or whatever safety, agreed you’re fine - and I can see you getting into a Connecticut and Union from this list and who knows, maybe more.
All you need is that safety - and then the rest can be whatever you’d like.
Thanks, and yes. I have pretty much All As with A-s sprinkled in. Nothing under that with the exception of very few B+s. I visited Brown and thought it was urban, but I still got a strong campus vibe that I didn’t feel when we visited Tufts. I liked the more rural vibe, but I didn’t dislike the Brown feel at all.
I don’t know if this is standard but my school grades like this:
A - 95-100, 4.0
A- - 90-94, 3.6
B+ - 87-89, 3.3
B - 83-86, 3.0
and so on. Most schools have A+ which is 4.3 which is why my GPA looks relatively low. In general it’s about a 96 average.
Have you visited Swarthmore and Haverford? They are pretty self-contained campuses and are both arboretums, i.e. far from urban. They’re located in suburbs with easy access to Philadelphia, but completely separate from the city.
I haven’t visited either, but if it’s not urban I would still apply. I just like the idea of campus being a hub and majority of kids living on campus at least 3 years, 4 years is ideal.
My family isn’t too well versed in this college stuff, I’m the oldest in my family. My dad only went to CC and state school as he’s an immigrant/refugee and couldn’t afford anything else. My mom went to private school but doesn’t work, her family is also immigrants and she was never really academic.
We have been trying our best to learn but we don’t know the ins and outs
Whatever you decide, you need to do a lot more research on the schools on your list, especially the ones you aren’t visiting. Highly rejective schools value candidates who value them. This comes through in supplemental essays and/or interviews. I would trim your reaches once you’ve spent more time researching the schools on your list.
Many schools don’t look at + and minus. They’ll recalculate but an A = 4 and B = 3 - doesn’t matter plus or minus.
Your grade isn’t low - and many will give you a new GPA.
How about not near by safeties.
If you like a Brown (which has an open curriculum), why not a Rochester which might be a high match.
If you’re willing to go as far as Maine, why not an LAC like an Allegheny or Wooster or Hobart?
Nearby safeties are fine - but if these dreams which aren’t right next door are what you want, and then you say - well the safeties are close to home - I wonder - why aren’t the safeties chosen with the same precision as the reaches vs. - well I’ll just settle for…
If you like Dartmouth, how about an Ithaca or Elon as a safety?
I do think Union and Connecticut are a likely but…
Just make sure you choose the safety with the same level of care as the rest vs. just settling - which is how it comes off as (to me anyway).
I would like to include more safety schools- I’m not willing to go that far though for a safety and neither is my family. Even Union and Colgate being more likely are really far.
It is settling. I want to go for masters and PhD anyway. Undergrad doesn’t matter much. I would rather stay closer to home, work, and be near the top of my class than go to a safety far away, especially if it isn’t what I’m looking for. I’m also going to come in with 2 years worth of credits at a nearby college or state school, so I won’t have to be there long if I don’t want to. This is a pretty common path in my area. One of my cousins graduated from Stonybrook in 2 years and is now starting her masters at Columbia.
Speaking as someone who has attended undergrad and grad school, including grad school at a Top X school, the experience between undergrad and grad school are completely different. The residential college experience that most upper-middle and upper-class families think of in the U.S. only stands true for undergrad. So racing through a nearby safety in order to get to a more selective grad school will not result in having that residential college life experience.
As you are strongly in favor of a school where residents stay on-campus in years 3 and 4, I don’t see you being happy with the race-to-grad school scenario.
I agree with this. Each of these schools will have additional essays that they expect to be customized for them. For argument’s sake, let’s say there are 3 essays per school (and I’ve heard that some on your list have 6). 16 schools times 3 essays each = 48 essays to do, on top of all your regular schoolwork and extracurricular interests. And there may actually be more essays than that. Figure out which of the 16 schools are the best fit for you, and then apply to those.
If you say, what about all those people who talk about applying to 20 schools? I’ll give you a clue: most of the schools aren’t essay-heavy (i.e. they might only require the Common App essay, or the CA essay plus one why us essay), and many (and I’d imagine most) who do apply to all the essay-heavy schools don’t do as good of a job on the essays as if they’d focused on fewer schools. That results in fewer admissions, probably even fewer they would have had by applying to a smaller number of essay-heavy schools.
This list of schools might interest you:
What distance for a safety feels comfortable for you and your family?
It’s not worth it to pay 80k/year and be 5 hours away from home if I’m not in an environment that is very challenging. I don’t see myself being challenged at a school where the average ACT is 30. I didn’t study and got a 35. I just think it’s healthier to be in an environment with that crowd
@AustenNut asked before I could but let me dig deeper.
You are going to a school for four years - so if distance is an issue for you, why does it matter it’s level of selectivity.
Not sure why you need to be within 3 hours - but if you do, then you do - and it shouldn’t matter if it’s an easy to get into school or not. Once you’re on campus - you’re on campus and you’ll have the same opportunities for success at say a Clark at Bard as you will at Bowdoin - if you hustle and have drive.
btw - selectivity doesn’t = better school, etc. Your comment on paying 80/K - going 5 hours to not be challenging - wow - you are so wrong. My son was you - better stats than you - and got his a$$ kicked at a big public state school and my daughter is at a smaller, regional school - 16th of 17th she got into rank wise - and she’s in the library to the umpteenth hour every night. Your “thoughts” are not real world. There are so kids at top schools that aren’t challenged and there are top kids at lesser perceived schools - that are. It’s very school and often major dependent - and your assumptions are far off, very far off.
Then I’m confused - you want to be at a school that has people stay on campus - but you want to be there just two years.
So here’s a piece you are missing - this is from Bowdoin - you’re allowed to bring over 4 credits - which I assume is one class.
Perhaps i’m mis reading so I put in the link.
A lot of schools will accept APs, for example, in lieu of having to take a class again - but not give you actual credit for them - if that makes sense. More for placement.
Once you’re at college, living in a dorm, going to classes, etc. it’s no longer a reach or a safety or whatever. It’s just your college! And if it’s too far to get home for Thanksgiving or winter break for your comfort- it’s too far! Doesn’t matter how hard or easy it was to get admitted- you’re still stuck at an airport or a bus terminal waiting for the snow to clear…
Maybe rethink what you are actually looking for in your college experience. Forget the terminology for now.
And racing through undergrad-- unless you absolutely cannot afford to stay for four years- is not a great strategy for a successful PhD application in astrophysics. You will not have time to develop relationships with researchers, figure out who you want to study with in grad school, etc. that way. So it will be more throwing darts at a board, instead of a carefully thought out strategy.
what’s the hurry? And trust me- if you DO end up majoring in physics, there will be zero slackers in your class. I don’t know where you got the idea that attending a college with kids who got lower scores on their ACT’s means that the students you are sitting next to are dummies- but you are wrong. There will be plenty of challenges for you even at a college which you think is “just a safety school” and trust me- you’ll be working your tail off if you intend to be competitive for a funded doctorate program. They aren’t handing those out as a reward for attendance…
Is it worth $20k? $30k? $40k? Even if a non-reach has a sticker price of $80k, if its admissions rate is above 20%, it will provide you with merit aid, and most likely very significant merit aid.
Additionally, that’s one way you will find a crowd of academic superstars at a school where the average ACT is 30 (which, to be clear, is at the 93rd percentile for students taking the test, a very good result). Schools offer them enough scholarship money that people would rather save the money for another purpose (or don’t have the money to pay for the more expensive schools).
So the question is, would you rather go to a residential school for 3 or 4 years for $x amount of money, even if it’s average ACT score isn’t in the 99th percentile, or would you rather forego a residential college experience altogether and race toward grad school?
I think that’s a question to be explored when I get to it. Right now I think I need to focus on putting my best foot forward for applications. I think many people on this thread have underestimated the level of rigor my high school already provides. I go to a top 100 public school and many of my family friends that have gone to ivies and other top 20s have said college is easy. And that is just scratching the surface. I’m not too concerned with finding more safeties because I don’t think it’s necessary. You can call me privileged, entitled, or naive, but college confidential likes to make things seem a lot more difficult than they are. I have MANY friends who are unhooked and now attend ivies who submitted 31-33 ACT scores. I’m going to have to trust my GC when she says certain schools are safeties. She’s confident I’ll have options and so I don’t think I can worry about the what ifs at the moment.