Good safety for me? (I've got fairly good stats)

College Search & Selection
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<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT I: M760 V750</p>

<p>SAT Math IIc: 800
Physics: 800
Literature: 730</p>

<p>GPA: I'm not sure, but it'll be around 3.6 unweighed I estimate.</p>

<p>ECs: not very impressive, usually about 9h per week, not sure. They're also concentrated around this fall, and ive had very few ecs junior year bc I was medically impaired during that time.</p>

<p>Whats a good safety for physics or possibly some computer science?</p>

<p>I'd preffer it to be on the east coast but anything will do.</p>

<p>Any thoughts?</p>

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<p>University of Rochester</p>

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<p>Wisconsin, Madison........</p>

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<p>Penn State U Park, U of Illinois</p>

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<p>U of Rochester</p>

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<p>Carnegie Mellon?</p>

<p>Or play-against-type and select a strong LAC with a desire to beef up the number of students in science departments. Your stats make you very competitive at top-20 ranked LACs. (Obviously these are not true safeties due to the selectivity of these schools.)</p>

<p>Lafayette is another idea that would be a safety, as would other LACs in that general renking ballpark.</p>

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<p>Oh I forgot to mention, I need need blind financial aid. MY family won't be able to contribute much.</p>

<p>Also, what's an LAC? I'm too busy with my stanford app to dig up information, and from my experience it's not that easy to find info on college stuff on your own (took me a week to find out everything about EA, ED EASC, etc.).</p>

<p>Any others?</p>

<p>I'll give U of Rochester a thought.</p>

<p>What about Rutgers and NYU? How are they for Physics or Computers/Programming? Those were my original safety ideas...</p>

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<p>LAC = liberal arts college
I wouldn't consider NYU a safety.</p>

<p>re finances - even though you may know that your parents can only contribute a certain amount, it doesn't mean that the colleges will agree. You need to really get an understanding of what colleges will likely think your parents will be able to contribute. there are financial calculators on-line (i know collegeboard.com has it; i think there is one here on CC also) - there are two types of calculations - one based on the FAFSA and one based on the Profile (FAFSA effects whether you can get subsidized loans and some other things gov't is involved in; Profile is a second financial aid filing many colleges use to formulate what they will give in institutional financial aid). go to one of these calculators and try to figure out what the colleges will think your parents will be able to contribute -- be prepared to be shocked at how much they think that number is compared to what you and your family think is a reasonable amount!!!! it'll be scary, but it is important information for you to have - because even if a school is need blind and claims to meet 100% of need - they mean "need" as they define it, not as your family defines it. </p>

<p>you may then want to consider state schools - even ones in other states may be cheaper at out of state rates than a private college. (though don't assume you won't be able to afford a private college - especially ones that also give merit aid - check out this thread on schools known for good merit aid: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=52133)%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=52133)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

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<p>other schools to look at-
Univ of Pittsburgh - i think i heard they have good comp sci, though I don't have any firsthand knowledge.
Brandeis - about 1/4 of freshmen get merit aid, including a fair number of full scholarships, don't know about their physics dept per se, but a couple of their profs were recently honored (<a href="http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news%5fitem%5fid=104255&show%5frelease%5fdate=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news%5fitem%5fid=104255&show%5frelease%5fdate=1&lt;/a&gt;) don't know what that means in terms of the dept, but thought i'd pass it on.
SUNY Stonybrook - known for strength in sciences in general, don't know specifically about physics or comp sci there. SUNY schools are a real bargain even for out of staters.</p>

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<p>Colgate, Holy Cross, and Bucknell.</p>

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<p>Definitely the University of Michigan. You may even get into the honors program too, which means you should be giving it some pretty serious consideration beyond a "safety".</p>

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<p>My bud's son got a full ride at SUNY-Stonybrook.</p>

<p>Many other schools also give merit aid - U of Pitt for one.</p>

<p>Lots of the Florida publics give great merit aid.</p>

<p>You need matches and safties. NYU is a match, I think. </p>

<p>beprepn</p>

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<p>Hey another thing guys, I never too the new SAT. Do any of these schools require it?</p>

<p>I just checked Rutgers and NYU and turns out they do require it so I'm not sure what to do now.</p>

<p>It'd mean a lot if, when suggesting colleges, you point out if they require the new SAT or ACT with writing. If you're not sure, don't go outta your way to check, I'll check myself.</p>

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<p>U Mich
U Wisconsin
Penn St.
Brandeis
U Maryland</p>

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<p>U of Hawaii's physics dept. is great!</p>

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<p>I've heard penn st. doesn't give adequate financial aid. Is this true?</p>

<p>Also, can someone explain to me Univeristy Illanois Urbana Champaign's deadlines? It very unclear. Also, any other suggestions are welcome. I still don't have a final list.</p>

<p>Edit: Also, which part of U of Hawaii shold I apply to? Which campus, school, whatever is best?</p>