Good Range of Universities?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My Stats: </p>

<p>SAT Scores: 2170/2400 or 1400/1600 Essay 10 [700+ each section]
SAT II Scores: 800 Math IIC, 700 Bio M (will re-take in October)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.54 Weighted
3.88 Unweighted</p>

<p>Rank: Top 5%-10%. We are actually "unranked" though.</p>

<p>EC's: Very involved in multiple activities. This includes like various science fairs, robotics [very time-consuming...], music competitions, student council, volunteering, etc.
Recs: Will be great, having a professor at Carnegie Mellon write a rec.
Essays: Should be good.
Awards: Regional awards in science, robotics, music, school awards, Rensselaer Medal. Predict National Merit Commended only... I sent National Merit stuff to Northwestern & USC.
Leadership: Music- concertmaster, robotics- captain, secretary, student council -representative, school clubs-officer, and other school-related activities.
AP Scores: 4's and 5's on 6 AP Exams = AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>NOT an URM.
Go to a Private School.
Middle-class, won't ask for a lot of financial aid.
Will send supplement for music.
Legacy: CMU, MIT, UC Berkeley</p>

<p>Schools of Interest: </p>

<p>Northwestern University [ED]
University of Pennsylvania [CAS]
Stanford University
Carnegie Mellon University [MCS] [EA? Should I?]
Johns Hopkins University
Cornell University [CALS]
University Chicago [EA]
UC Berkeley
University of Southern California
UCLA
UCSD
New York University [CAS Economics]
UCI
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute </p>

<p>I'm still contemplating these universities: </p>

<p>Tufts
Vanderbilt or Emory
Middlebury [IPE major appeals to me]
Boston College
University of Notre Dame
WUSTL </p>

<p>Any advice as to where I should apply? =/ I don't want too many HIGH REACH schools on my list, so should I filter this list out some more? I kind of need more MATCH schools.</p>

2

<p>What will your major be?</p>

3

<p>Economics and either biology or statistics</p>

<p>Depending on the university, I might apply for information systems.</p>

4

<p>I wouldn't recommend retaking Bio.. instead try to find an SAT II you think you would do better at.</p>

5

<p>I assume you're in CA? If so, I'd say Berkeley/UCLA are matches, UCSD a safe match, and UCI a safety. You have a nice range of schools, though I'd recommend shooting for 6-8, at most 10.</p>

6

<p>Really? Doesn't a low score in Biology not allow me to declare a major in it though? </p>

<p>Would you recommend the Literature SAT II or Chemistry SAT II?</p>

7

<p>You have a lot of high reach schools. Neither MIT or Berkeley count legacy.</p>

<p>Your SATs are significantly below average for top schools. So is your rank. Without a hook that makes admission highly unlikely at ivies and that caliber school. You're upper middle class if you don't need much aid. If you go to a competitive HS where lots of kids apply to these schools and live in an overrepresented state it just continues to get harder.</p>

8

<p>I think your list is fine. You have a good mix of reach/match/safety schools.</p>

9

<p>I know that Berkeley doesn't count legacy, but MIT does. It's not worth much, but it still counts minimally. </p>

<p>SAT's are significantly below average? Last time I checked, ~1400 was the average for my match schools. I know Stanford, UPenn, and Cornell are reaches, but does that make my list THAT top heavy? My school doesn't rank btw. And top 5% is significantly BELOW average? What are you serious?</p>

10

<p>that's quite a list you have there. i don't understand how people can go for so many.</p>

11

<p>Lol Sailhour, you have a crazy good background so you don't need a lot of schools. 12 or so schools makes sense to me in this day and age.</p>

12

<p>Without a hook you need to be at about the 75% at top schools for a real shot. Being in the 50% works for athletes and legacies. SATs for the unhooked exceed 1500 and class rank is one or two for ivy admits. Read the CDS closely for each school.</p>

13

<p>^^ uh, then who are at the 25%?</p>

14

<p>What??? I'm applying to TWO ivies. Both of which are not TOP, except maybe for Penn. I've seen people with 2050 get into Cornell. I think you're exaggerating.</p>

15

<p>aquamarinee-
Your SATs are near the midpoint for Cornell CAS, if that is any help.</p>

16

<p>Of course you can declare a major in Bio!!
However.. I would recommend that you shouldn't be so narrow-minded about what you want to do... if you do well in Bio in college (or got 5 on the AP).. major in it. Otherwise, find something else!!</p>

<p>I don't know how well you'd do on Chem or Lit.. but since you got 800 on IIC.. I am going to bet that you would do pretty well on Chem.. since a lot of the questions are math-oriented.</p>

<p>Also I've seen people with less than 1400 get into all of the schools on your list.. but that doesn't mean it isn't hard to get in. </p>

<p>Also I'm not sure if you have the 'Ivy mentality' or not.. but the most difficult school to get into on your list is NOT an Ivy.. many non-Ivies such as MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Duke, Amherst, Pomona, and Harvey Mudd beat most of the Ivies in terms of important factors such as SAT averages.</p>

<p>Good luck next year!</p>

17

<p>Stanford is probably the hardest to get into on my list, even though I'm from CA. I'll definitely try to not be so narrow-minded xD I'm still considering economics as a major as well. Hopefully I'll be okay declaring that major, since I got a 5 on the AP. Anyhow, thanks for the information! Hopefully I'll get into atleast one of my higher matches, but who knows these days. Hahaha.</p>

18

<p>One more question...</p>

<p>What aspect of my application should I emphasize? [Science-related activities? Definitely not my scores...]</p>