Good reach/match/safety schools?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm an upcoming African American male whose going to be senior in high school. I live in a single-parent household with my mother in Southern California (Los Angeles), and I'm not really sure where I stand in terms of colleges and my "criteria", so if you could help me out, it'd be much appreciated.</p>

<p>My "criteria":
- I'm looking for a 'bigger' college, if you will. Hopefully at the very least around 8k undergrads.
- I'm looking for a college with a name. I plan to major in finance and would like to have internships and recruitment when I graduate.
- I'm looking for a college that combines prestige with a social scene and athletics. A good example would be USC (~16k undergrads, good athletics, great location, very prestigious, everyone knows of the "Trojans")
- I'm looking for a school that's not surrounded by rural area. I'd like to be somewhere in the vicinity of a major city.
- Geographical location doesn't matter to me, but if you provide me with schools in the South, give me a way to convince my mom to even let me apply.
- Depending on the school, weather isn't much of a factor to me, but I'd (to some extent) like to be in the warm rather than the cold.</p>

<p>Dream Schools:
USC
UPenn (Wharton is a dream)
UVA
UT Austin
Boston College
UC Berkeley
UMich
Notre Dame</p>

<p>Stats:
- Cumulative GPA: 3.5 (RL issues freshman and sophomore year; I'll elaborate on my applications. Junior year GPA: 3.8) Senior year GPA will hopefully be a 3.8-4.2.
- ACT: 30
- 4 honors courses and 1 AP course - all math classes; taking Honors Precalculus and AP Statistics for senior year. I've taken Public Speaking and Spanish III at my local Community College and earned A's in both; taking Introduction to Business this summer.
- I plan to start an organization for lung cancer patients who don't receive the right treatment due to not having medical insurance (in memory of my aunt).
- I've been a professional actor with an agent since I was 5 1/2 months old. Since then I've established a pretty long resume and been in numerous TV shows, commercials, billboards, print ads, etc.
- I'm in NHS and CSF.
- Will have great essays and recommendations (I hope).
- If it helps to create any sort of diversity, I will major in Finance and minor in Acting.</p>

<p>I think that's about it. Any suggestions for good reaches/matches/safeties?</p>

2

<p>You have a VERY good chance at Notre Dame, but it is in the middle of nowhere but is an amazing school.</p>

<p>You also have a good chance at BC which is in a much better location, but doesn’t have as much pull in the finance industry.</p>

<p>I don’t know too much about Wharton, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if you were accepeted but then again, I am not really that familiar with the school so that is just a guess.</p>

<p>I would also apply for UCLA and Cal-Berkeley which are very good in finance -especially Haas at Cal- and you ahve a decent shot of getting in.</p>

3

<p>With a school as prestigious as Notre Dame, I wouldn’t mind being in the middle of nowhere. Haha.</p>

<p>And Berkeley is already on that list, but I’ll throw UCLA on there.</p>

4

<p>Any other suggestions?
I have no idea about safety schools. It seems like the schools I’m interested in are all reaches.</p>

5

<p>UNC-Chapel Hill matches pretty much all of your criteria, but it would likely be a reach. I would also look at UGA and UF.</p>

6

<p>UNC would be another that I’m interested in, but I’ve heard that it’s one of the hardest public universities to get into. I’ll keep it as a reach, though.</p>

<p>No matches or safeties?</p>

7

<p>UF and UGA would probably be matches, but they are in the south so you would have to convince your parents that they are worth the ap fee!</p>

8

<p>I probably should have added in the first post that I’m super interested in a school that offers good financial aid (living in a single-parent home).</p>

9

<p>Boston College is easily doable for you…</p>

10

<p>Even with a 3.5 cumulative GPA?
That seems like my one major downfall.</p>

11

<p>I still think you have a very good chance of getting into BC with the rest of your stats. It is a solid match, I’d say you ahve a 60-70% chance of getting in. They have fairly good aid too.</p>

12

<p>Boston college is not that selective i got in as a transfer student and had a lower cumulative GPA and lower SAT’s.</p>

13

<p>So I can consider BC as a match I guess. Sounds good.</p>

<p>How are my chances at the top business schools? (ie. UPenn, UC Berkeley, UVA, UMich, UT Austin, etc.)</p>

14

<p>Forgot to add that I’ve been part of a church youth group since I was about 3… if that counts.</p>

15

<p>BC is def a match. Everything else is a reach because those are state schools and its just that much harder.</p>

16

<p>I know UT Austin only accepts about 5% from OOS, so I understand my chances aren’t great there.
What about UC Berkeley? I’m from SoCal.</p>

17

<p>Any other suggestions? :/</p>

18

<p>NYU Stern, if you’re set on business, it’s a great school for internships and something like 95% of seniors graduate with a job already.</p>

<p>BUT, you shouldn’t just decide based on name (which you seemed to mention a lot).</p>

19

<p>Not really a fan of NYU’s campus (or lack thereof), but the school itself is in a very good location and has very good name recognition.</p>

<p>Not sure if I should apply or not. I’m really looking for the college experience.</p>

20

<p>Is that 3.5 GPA weighted? I read it that way based on your comment about potentially making a 4.2 your senior year. What is the unweighted?</p>

<p>Can your parent afford to send you to NYU? They are notorious for gapping financial aid.</p>

<p>What about some of the other UCs? People from OOS are always trying to attend the UCs and you are only interested in UCB (which is a major reach).</p>