Good safety schools to choose.

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a current high school junior. A few stats: 1500 SAT, 4.3 GPA. My area of interest is definitely in the Humanities, something with international relations or political science or something of the sort.

Some background. I am a military kid, so I move around a lot, I have lived in Korea, Japan, Okinawa, the US (I live in Kansas right now). I am half Asian, half white.

SKILLS
Play 5 instruments: piano, cello, flute, piccolo, gayageum (Korea traditional harp)
Black belt 3rd degree in Taekwondo
Black Belt 2nd degree in Hapkido

VOLUNTEER AND WORK EXPERIENCE
Flute Teacher (2018 – Present)
• Give young children in the community beginner-level flute lessons
Tutor (2015 – Present)
• Volunteer to help elementary and middle school students with their math, english, social studies, and science
Youth Court Volunteer (2018-Present)
• Acting as a lawyer, judge, or jury member at the local courthouse, handling cases of truant youth and giving them a chance to receive a lesser punishment and no trip to actual court
Project Skip Volunteer (2018- Present)
• Volunteer at a local courthouse, giving truant youth a second chance at high school without having to face severe consequences for their actions and providing support as a student support officer (SSO).
Conductor Assistant (2017 – Present)
• Volunteer with a local youth orchestra conductor with admin requirements and assist the younger musicians
Flutist, Church Choir (2012 - Present)
• Volunteer time and music skills by serving as a flutist in local church choirs
Assistant Instructor (2017 – Present)
• Volunteer as a teacher in a Korean Learning Institute, helping young children learn to speak, read, and write the Korean language
Special Needs Volunteer (2018 – Present)
• Volunteer with a local church and their programs to support children and their families with special needs (SOAR)
Junior Taekwondo Instructor / Assistant Master (2015 – Present)
• Volunteer time after school, on weekends, and over the summer to teach Taekwondo to young children
Captain of International Martial Arts Demonstration Team (2015-2017)
• Volunteer time after school, on weekends, to help plan and lead a competitive Demonstration Team
Teacher Assistant (2013 – Present)
• Volunteer at the local elementary and middle schools to assist teachers with admin requirements and instructional activities for their students

High School Clubs (2016 – Present)
• Plan, hold leadership, and volunteer time with several clubs in high school (National Honor Society, National English Honor Society, Model United Nations, Leo Club, RhoKappa, Student Council, UNICEF, Academic World Quest, Academic Decathlon, Tri-Music Honor Society, Categories) and conduct community support projects through them

LEADERSHIP
President of Freshman Class Student Council (2016-2017)
Treasurer of Tri-Music Honor Society (2016-2017)
Treasurer of Orchestra Board (2017- present)
Project Leader for book Drive for National English Honor Society (2017-2018)
Project leader for hospital music performances for Tri-Music Honor Society (2017- present)
Treasurer of National English Honor Society (2018- present)
Project Leader for Fundraising for National English Honor Society
• Proposed and currently in charge of fundraising for a non-profit organization (Teaching North Koreans Reading) (2018-present)
Captain and Founder of Academic World Quest team (2018- present)
Founder and Secretary General of Model United Nations
• Currently starting this club and taking a leadership position in organizing to ensure its success

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Honor Roll (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Selected For Prestigious Robotics Program called STEMinar in the University of Tsukuba (2016)
Volunteer of the Year Award (2016, 2017, 2018)
Gold Volunteer Award (2017)
Junior Leadership Award (2018, 2019)
Lettered in Community Service (2018, 2019)
Lettered in Orchestra (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Kansas Eastern District Honors Band (2017)
Section Leader, Metropolitan Conservatory Orchestra (2018-Present)
Section Leader, Korean Learning Institute Symphony (2017-Present)
Section Leader, School Symphonic Orchestra (2016-Present)
Far East Honors Orchestra (2016-2017)
Far East Honors Band (2016-2017
Korean Music Educators Association, Platinum Medal for Flute Solo (2014-2017)
3rd Degree Black Belt Taekwondo
2nd Degree Black Belt Hap-ki-do
Individual Gold Medals at multiple Taekwondo Competitions (2013-2017)
Taekwondo Demonstration Team Gold Medals at multiple international competitions (2014-2017)

PREDICTED FUTURE AWARDS
If I stay on the current path I am on, I am most likely going to get AP scholar, perhaps national merit, Kansas scholar.

AP CLASSES
Junior year, 5 AP classes (us history, calculus AB, biology, English Language, Macroeconomics). Sophmore, AP European history, AP Physics 1. (got a 5 in euro, didn’t test for physics) Freshman year AP world history. (got a 4) Next year 6 APs planned (AP Calc BC, AP stats, AP Gov, AP psychology, AP Microeconomics, AP Human Geography).

SUMMER PLANS
I have secured an internship at a non-profit organization in the area and plan to continue volunteering through my summer

So this my full on resume and explanation of my current high school career, and I’ve heard people tell me the rule that you should have 2 reach, 4 match, and 2 safety. With the match school having an SAT score and GPA avg that matches your own. The problem is my SAT and GPA match with the likes of the top 20’s and those are definately not safety schools.

My two reach would be columbia, yale (maybe georgetown). 4 match I’m not quite sure, UVA, William and Mary, American Uni? Safety?

I’m just a bit lost. Any and all responses would be so helpful, thanks!

2

Unweighted GPA? Weighted GPA is meaningless to others who do not know the weighting system.

Cost constraints? A safety must be affordable as well as a certain admit.

Actually, the minimum number of colleges is one safety that you like (including having the desired academic majors and offerings), will be admitted to (including to your major if there are restrictions on admission to major), and will be able to afford.

Beyond at least one safety, you can add any number of other colleges to your list, although you may find an effective limit to be the cost and time of applying.

Note that if a college is only affordable if you earn a merit scholarship, reach/match/likely/safety assessment must be based on the scholarship (competitive scholarships should generally be seen as reaches), regardless of how likely you will be admitted.

3

If you are a dependent of a parent who is in active duty military service, you may have some provisions regarding in-state residency for tuition purposes described at https://www.military.com/paycheck-chronicles/2015/11/12/in-state-tuition-rules-for-military-families .

4

UVA and William and Mary are very tough admits OOS. They are not easy admits even for high stat instate kids.

5

Congratulations on your hard work and success!

Your match list is a good one for your record and interests. All are exceptionally strong in your areas of interest. They are not locks in terms of admissions. I’d say especially UVA, not because you aren’t qualified, you are. As one of the more highly ranked EA schools, it just gets a sea of EA applications including many from out of state. But you are a strong candidate. American and W&M are also very competitive.

I’d add Dickinson College and Holy Cross as probably still matches but maybe more likely ones, depending on your recs, financial situation, etc. etc. Both are also exceptionally strong in your area of interest. Dickinson is a beautiful little LAC with great students. It is small and in a small town, if that appeals or not to you. (I note your reach schools are all urban.) Holy Cross is in Worcester, MA, a pretty large city and an hour or so by commuter train to Boston. Academics at HC are as strong as anywhere. Neither are safeties.

For safeties, you want a school you’ll also love, not settle for, and you can afford. I’d suggest looking for a school in a place you’d love (region or city) with a 40% acceptance rate and pick that, if the school feels like a fit to you. For example, University of Seattle if you love Seattle.

Good luck!

6

Due to your stats, the definitions of reach/match/safety change: they’d be more in terms of acceptance rate, where 25% and below is a reach, 30-35% is a match, and 40-50% is a safety.
Run the NPC on all of them. Don’t confuse academic safety and financial safety - getting in is pointless if you can’t afford the school that admitted you.
After running the NPC on a few universities, talk with your parents to see what they can afford from income and savings (no parents loans - you’ll have 5.5k in loans yourself).

In terms of reaches, I’d add Middlebury, Tufts. For a strong match, Macalester.

Express interest starting now (fill out the request info form, click on the materials they send you) for Dickinson and American, apply EA, and they should be safeties. Add Kansas U and its honors college, apply this summer when the app opens, and you’re sure to have a college to go to Fall 2020. With these done and locked, you are free to apply to very selective matches and reaches without worry.

7

More Humanities colleges
Matches : Kenyon, Denison
Reach: Hamilton

8

Have you spoken with your parents about how they expect you to pay for your education? Will you have access to your GI parent’s GI Bill money?

Sit down with your parents and their favorite adult beverages and a box of very soft tissues, and run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of all of the places on your list. Many parents are shocked by the numbers that result from the NPCs (hence the beverages and tissues). When you and your parents have recovered a bit from this activity, and have come up with a notion of what really could be considered affordable, let us know, and let the folks in the Financial Aid Forum know so that you can get help with meeting your affordability standard.

There used to be a thread at the top of the Financial Aid Forum specifically on the topic of automatic merit-based scholarships, but I can’t find it today. Someone else might be able to locate it. Here is an old thread that does include automatic scholarships from several years ago. Many have been eliminated or have changed, but it is worth your time to check these out. Any automatic full-ride that you qualify for that is at a place you’d be happy to attend if everything else goes wrong in your admission and aid cycle, would be a true safety for you. So see if any of them look good enough to you. http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

9

Great advice above, especially regarding running the NPCs, if cost is an issue, and it is for the vast majority of students. A safety is not a safety if a student can’t afford it. Yale, which meets full financial need, might very well be less expensive than some of these other truly outstanding schools that have higher acceptance rates.

Macalester is a great suggestion–urban LAC, very strong in your areas of interest. Strong international culture. Disappointed in myself that I did not include that. Still would probably say a match (and I totally agree with the acceptance rates above as a measure of determining match/safety for you.)

I also like Denison as an outstanding safety, and the University of Kansas suggestion. I’d think you’d get merit aid at Denison. Lawrence is a great college town.

10

If you make National Merit then may as well consider the schools that give Nmf scholarships as safeties, U Nebraska, U Oklahoma, U Kentucky, etc. etc. And add U Chicago to your reach list.

11

If the efc at a meets full need school is too much for your family. The Ivies , the top Catholic schools and other elites will all be too expensive. Generally they do not offer merit. Some have highly competitive post admission scholarships. But they are usually a way for some schools to compete for the Harvard cross admit they want to attend. It’s not something to count on in reality.

If this is your situation - look for the best schools and the best merit combinations with your super strong profile. You can google these options.

If your NPC or EFC are reasonable, the meet full need should be your high match and reach options across the board. They will be the best price and best options for you. But all really competitive. So no safeties or straight matches there.

And of course your instate flagship universities. And other great public’s that offer merit, google those too.

Or big time scholarships like the Jefferson at UVA. But they are more elusive than a unicorn so don’t count on it. But they are there.

So start with a realistic financial appraisal and then back into dozens of choices. And let the games begin!!!

12

If the NPC is financially reasonable for your family, look at GWU as a semi-safety (a likely). The acceptance rate is higher than American (41%), your SAT is comfortably above their 75th percentile, and they are strong in political science, international affairs, and international relations.

However, it’s a pricey school, so if the NPC does not show that it will be a financial safety as well, it would not be a likely/safety for you.

13

I believe Ohio State would be another good option for a likely/safety (more of a safety than GW). It’s strong in poli sci, less expensive than some, so more likely to be a financial safety (run the NPC, though), your SAT is above the 75th percentile, and it has a regular acceptance rate of 48% and an early action (non-binding) acceptance rate of 62%.

University of Wisconsin is another school with a strong poli sci department and a higher acceptance rate (higher than OSU’s for regular action), that should be a safety for you if the NPC shows it would be a financial safety.

You could add Northwestern to your reaches - very strong in poli sci, your academics are a good match (at this level a lot of matches are also reaches), meets need without loans (but run the NPC to see what it determines your family’s need as).

14

One of your safeties should be your State U or a State college.