good matches/safeties for a weary student?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi all, I'm a rising senior and have been having a difficult time wading through all this college stuff. I would love to go to UChicago, Claremont McKenna, or Georgetown, but of course those are all crapshoots for me. Some stats:</p>

<p>School Type: medium public, top 20 in MA
Prospective Major: econ, polisci, or public policy?
Unweighted GPA: 4.0 (? - not sure, I have all As and one A- so...)
Weighted GPA: 4.15/4.3
Class rank: school doesn't report, but I fluctuate between 2 or 3 out of 208</p>

<p>SAT I: 2150 single sitting (720 CR, 670 W, 760 M)
I expect a ~80 point gain when I retake in Oct.</p>

<p>SAT II:
Chemistry: 780
U.S. History: 700
Math IIC: 800</p>

<p>AP Scores:
Chemistry: 5
APUSH: 5
Statistics: 5</p>

<p>Senior Year: APs in Psych, Calc BC, English Lit, Physics C, and some honors classes</p>

<p>ECs
-school/league math team - promoted captain junior year and heavily involved
-ARML math team - did some intense competitions
-clarinet - I play first chair in concert and jazz band
-club gymnastics - almost 6 years, won state championships in vault and beam in 2011, knee injury kept me out of states this year
-academic team
-MHS - tri-m or music honor society
-internship - I intern for a non-profit math club that publishes a bulletin, MIT-based</p>

<p>Awards
-a sprinkling of school awards, including the Dartmouth Alumni Book Club award (yum!)
-AP Scholar (?) and national merit commended student I think...
-a few math and gymnastics awards (nothing special)</p>

<p>Subjectives:
-I think my essay will be good, but not AH-MAZING; it's about my cultural struggles to assimilate (PM me if you would be willing to offer me some feedback)
-I have a really good rec from my english teacher, probably an 8/10 from my math teacher of 3 years; counselor rec is probably a 7/10</p>

<p>What I'm looking for: academically-driven student body in a small-medium sized university, preferably private and near/in a major city. I like the east and west coast plus Chicago (^.^). I will be heavily dependent upon federal financial aid since my EFC is quite low, but merit scholarships would be awesome too. I would like the benefits of a liberal arts education, but not necessarily in a LAC. </p>

<p>If you have some suggestions, please share...and thank you for reading! :)</p>

2

<p>Some ideas for low cost schools:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Though Emory is relatively weak in econ, its poly sci and public policy programs are both great. Need blind, full need and near a major city. Demonstrated interest is considered important for admissions. Unfortunately it only accepts around 25% of students, but its affiliated LAC which also has the same financial aid policies accepts about 40% of students and you may be qualified for its merit scholarship program [Oxford</a> College - Oxford Scholars](<a href=“http://oxford.emory.edu/admission/application-requirements/oxford-scholars.dot]Oxford”>http://oxford.emory.edu/admission/application-requirements/oxford-scholars.dot)</p>

<p>I’ve read that American University and George Washington practice preferential financial aid practices whereby their best aid goes to their best applicants. </p>

<p>Tulane may be generous or it may not be. Good econ and poly sci in New Orleans. </p>

<p>On the West Coast you may want to consider Occidental, the other LA LAC. Its poly sci program is outstanding and it’s much less competitive than the Claremonts. Similarly, Macalaster has an outstanding political science program and it’s in the Twin Cities area.</p>

<p>Here are some other schools, some super selective, some not, that might fit your criteria:
-Swarthmore
-Amherst
-Bryn Mawr (all female)
-Reed
-Wilamette (literally across the street from the Oregon state capitol)
-Rhodes College
-Brandeis
-Lewis & Clark
-Syracuse (not in a city but good public policy, econ, and poly sci)
-USC
-University of Alabama - Birmingham
-University of Miami</p>

4

<p>Thank you for all the LAC suggestions @whenhen ! I really like GW, Occidental, and Brandeis. </p>

<p>Any other suggestions? Especially research universities as I would like to get into the financial engineering side of economics and public policy.</p>

5

<p>I would suggest the U of Rochester as an economics school. It is quite an academically and research orientated school, as I have been told on these forums. It fits your stats/wishes definitely. I might be biased, since I will attend this fall but I just thought it might be a good option for you!</p>

6

<p>Your stats are very good. I think that you are competitive for all of the schools that you mentioned if you get that 80 point bump. </p>

<p>Apply EA to Chicago and maybe Georgetown. You can also apply EA to UMASS and Northeastern as safeties (there are no additional essays in their supplements, so it’s a no brainer if you do EA to another common app school). </p>

<p>I know this might sound crazy, but depending on your proximity to Boston now, you might want to consider Harvard. They definitely have a soft spot for local students who are near the top of their class. Even if your school doesn’t rank, Harvard expects the top students to apply there so they can rank them themselves. You are definitely competitive for admission with the 80 point bump). </p>

<p>On the match range of things, Brandeis, Tufts, Rochester and GW are all schools that you have a great chance for. Rochester is almost a safety if you visit and interview. It’s very much like a liberal arts college with small graduate programs, but it is a research university. You might consider Rice, though it’s not east/west coast or Chicago. </p>

<p>LACs that come to mind near cities are Swarthmore, Haverford, Wesleyan (near Hartford), Reed and Occidental. </p>

<p>For a better safety than Northeastern, both of my Ds have used University of Wisconsin-Madison. It a great city, about 2.5 hours from Chicago, beautiful campus, tremendous economics department, great honors program. Furthermore, if you apply as soon as applications open in the fall, and your school can send your transcript and recommendations out immediately, you can hear back in October. That’s a pretty nice safety with an easy application to have under your belt and gives you the piece of mind to focus on the reaches and matches. </p>

<p>If your female, Wellesley ought to be near the top of your list. They are probably the baccalaureate origin of more female economics PhDs than any other school. They would be a match for you.</p>

7

<p>You might also consider schools such as Boston College, Villanova and Fordham. You could qualify for significant merit aid at Fordham and possibly even the school’s honors program. In DC you could try GW and/or American where you might also get merit aid.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>“Financial engineering” tends to be math-heavy. Look in the course catalogs for:

  • Intermediate microeconomics courses and econometrics courses with math prerequisites higher than frosh calculus.
  • Advanced mathematical economics courses.
  • Math-heavy finance or financial economics courses.
  • Good math and statistics departments.</p>
9

<p>@ClassicRockerDad - I always thought Harvard’s penchant for local students only comprised of surrounding towns like Newton, Quincy, and Arlington. I’m about less than an hour’s drive away - is that “local” enough?</p>

<p>Also, I feel like my stats are not as competitive as they might seem because I’m Asian and without notoriously high test scores…and from a good public school in the northeast. Sort of an anti-hook. At least I’m not male and don’t play piano! (a joke)</p>

<p>Thank you for all the suggestions everyone.</p>

10

<p>carnegie mellon
rice university actually would be the perfect all around fit, in houston (if you visit you will want to stay.)</p>

11

<p>Holy Cross, Tufts.</p>

12

<p>UPDATE: almost a year later, but I just wanted to thank you all for your suggestions & advice. i got into Georgetown (EA) and UChicago (deferred → admit), so in case any rising seniors are looking at this thread, it is not impossible to get into your dream schools! your essays matter, a lot - let them speak for YOU, not for who you think other people see you as. and always be passionate about whatever you do! </p>

13

<p>Thank you for the update. It’ll be most useful to all readers. :slight_smile:
and
CONGRATULATIONS!!!</p>

<p>Which school are you thinking of, Georgetown or Uchicago?
How’s the financial aid at each?</p>

14

<p>@MYOS1634 yay! I’m glad i can return some of the help that CC has offered me over the years</p>

<p>i love uchicago to death, and will definitely go there if finaid works out (haven’t gotten any aid packets from either school)…however DC is such an awesome location, and the milder weather is definitely a plus. </p>

<p>but if georgetown offers significantly more aid, then that will be the deciding factor come May 1st</p>

15

<p>Congrats! Did your SAT score increase as you suspected?</p>

16

<p>@CT1417 Thanks! and yes, my SAT went from 2150 to 2300, but CR+M only increased by 20 from 1480 to 1500. it was a big surprise, considering i played cookie clicker the entire friday night before the test, but i did study over the summer</p>

17

<p>It sounds like you have terrific choices :slight_smile: Good job on the tests and let us know your financial aid awards since this is an aspect that’ll be very useful to the CC community.</p>

18

<p>FINAL UPDATE:</p>

<p>schools I applied to: (aid only includes gift aid, not loans or work study)</p>

<p>Fordham (NY) - EA, Dean’s Scholarship, ~27k total aid
Northeastern (MA) - EA, Dean’s Scholarship, ~40k (?)
Babson (MA) - EA, Presidential Scholarship, ~53k
URochester (NY) - Priority, Rush Rhees Scholarship, ~51k
Claremont McKenna (CA) - RD, waitlisted
Pomona (CA) - RD, rejected
Georgetown (DC) - EA accepted with ~61k in aid
Harvard (MA) - RD waitlisted, accepted spot
Yale (CT) - RD rejected
Dartmouth (NH) - RD accepted with ~60k aid
Duke (NC) - RD accepted with ~60k in aid
Northwestern (IL) - RD accepted with ~40k in aid
Wash. Univ. in St. Louis (MO) - RD waitlisted
Vanderbilt (TN) - RD waitlisted
UChicago (IL) - EA deferred --> RD accepted with ~64k in aid</p>

<p>attending UChicago <3</p>

<p>it’s been a crazy journey. thank you to everyone in the CC community who’s helped me along! without you guys i don’t think i would’ve made it into the amazing schools that i did. </p>

19

<p>Lol… Wash U, waitlisting a top student again! Congratulations on such great results, you worked hard. Enjoy your time at U of C!</p>

20

<p>Congratulations!
What amazing results!</p>

<p>Can you explain how you made your final choice between Dartmouth, Duke, Northwestern, Georgetown,UChicago, Northeastern, Fordham, and Babson? What came into your decision? The reasoning process is very useful for other students who may read this thread later on.</p>

<p>I still can’t believe the same person would apply to UChicago and Babson, actually :smiley: </p>