good list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>okay, i've made this same thread like 4 times in two different forums and i have yet to really get any responses... so here i go again. i need to start apps so i need to get my final list together.</p>

<p>Korean American at a very well-known and competitive public high school in Northern California. First-generation, first in family to go to college.</p>

<p>SAT IIs:
English: 720
Math 2: 640 (will retake and i'm confident i'll do much better, i'm also going to take the Korean test, too)</p>

<p>ACT:</p>

<p>Eng 36, Essay 10, Math 31, Reading 36, Science 28, Composite 33</p>

<p>GPA: not sure how to calculate but about 3.4???</p>

<p>10th:
English Hon (B, B)
AdvAlgebra aka Algebra II (C, B)
JROTC 3, 4 (A, A)
German 3,4 (B, B)
Vocal Music Beginning aka Choir (A, A)
Health Ed (1st semester - B)
College/Career Planning and Driver Ed (2nd semester - A)</p>

<p>11th:
English AP (B, B)
AP Music Theory (B, A)
Honors US History (B, A)
Physics Hon (B, B)
PreCalc (B, C)
Vocal Music Intermediate (A, A)
Korean 3, 4 (A, B)</p>

<p>taking now:
AP Gov
AP English
Korean Adv
Physiology
AP Calc AB
Vocal Adv</p>

<p>next semester:
AP Gov
AP English
Econ
Physiology
AP Calc AB
Vocal Adv</p>

<p>summer after freshman year, assisstant to anthropology prof at ucsf
summer after sophomore year, took classes at academy of art university
two years working for non-profit poetry organization
spending this summer recording some albums</p>

<p>clubs, etc.: musicians club (co-president one year, member three years), after school music composition class for a year
TA (12th grade)</p>

<p>schools:</p>

<p>UCB
UCLA
UCSD
UCSB
UCSC</p>

<p>American
Carnegie Mellon
Ithaca
NYU</p>

<p>Loyola Marymount
USC
Northwestern</p>

<p>is this a well balanced list? should i cut some, add some, more safeties, more reaches, more matches? any suggestions are welcome. thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your credentials seem very strong. Did you take the SATs? What do you plan to major in? Your list seems to have some reaches/matches/safeties but it depends on your major. Why are you considering eastern schools for your safeties? Shouldn't safeties consist of nearby schools?</p>

3

<p>You will get an adequate number of acceptance letters from your list. However, the list doesn't make much sense to me. I understand having the UC schools on it, but the remainder of your list is scattered. What are you looking for as a school environment? What potential majors?</p>

4

<p>okay, i'll break it down:</p>

<p>i'm looking for schools that offer programs in music recording. basically, if they don't offer at least a minor in it, i have no interest in attending that school. for schools where only a minor is offered (USC and CMU), i will either say my major is undecided or choose international relations/studies.</p>

<p>after that, i got rid of schools that had weak academics (emerson, art schools) or just didn't fit me environment-wise (whittier - too small) and came up with this list. </p>

<p>basically my reason for making this thread was i guess i was worried about having too many reaches (USC, NYU, Northwestern, UCs).</p>

<p>also - i took the sats, but i scored far better on the ACT so i don't plan on putting the SAT score on any of my apps.</p>

5

<p>bumpbumpbumpbump</p>

6

<p>Duquesne
Indiana U Bloomington
Ball State
Malone College
Southwest Texas State</p>

7

<p>Might check out Holy Cross-good school 1 hour from Boston.</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
Why are you considering eastern schools for your safeties? Shouldn't safeties consist of nearby schools?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No. What made you think that? Safeties should be less selective versions of your reaches. If your reaches are all or mostly all out of state, your safeties should be too. If you didn't want to stay in-state for a reach, why would you want to stay there for a safety?</p>

9

<p>Make sure you find a safety that you LOVE. Its fine to put a lot of reaches- I have a ton. But you need to find a good safety that you would actually like to spend four years at, just in case.</p>

<p>A good safety is the most important part of the college list. Put as many reaches as you like after that (as long as you're willing to pay the app fees..)</p>

10

<p>OK, now that you've explained, your list makes sense. If you cannot find any other safeties with music recording programs, maybe you could use Whittier as a safety.</p>