I am trying to build a college list and am not sure where to look next. I am a white male from NJ at a competitive large public high school. I know my scores and extracurriculars are good, but how good are they really? What are some safeties that I can start to look at? Am I looking too high? How much is it damaging me that I have not taken any AP’s? I am taking 3 next year to try to help compensate (Calc BC, Micro, Environmental Science).
So far I have:
Swarthmore (#1)
TCNJ (strong interest as safety)
Georgetown
BC
Wesleyan
Amherst
Brown
Harvard/Princeton/Yale all reaches (but how big of a reach?)
Here are my key stats:
SAT (not likely to submit): 1520 (720 Read/Write, 800 Math)
PSAT: 1490 (so likely NMS something)
ACT: 35C (35W, 36M, 33R, 35S)
GPA: 4.17W, 3.97UW
SAT II: Taking Math II in May
Extracurriculars:
3 Season athlete (cross country, track) - decently good, would continue if D3 school most likely
NHS
4 years student government
Leadership club Junior/senior year
Worked 200 hours at Church/Catholic School after sophomore, junior years
Any recommendations for where to look next? Disregard price for a moment. Thanks for any suggestions.
What are you looking for in a school? Location, size, core/open curriculum, social and academic atmosphere, etc.? What do you think you might major in?
Did your school offer APs in soph and junior year? Will your counselor be able to check the box that you took the most rigorous course load your school offers? If not, the Ivies and Swat will be very tough for you to get into.
For match/safeties maybe look at GW, Trinity, F&M
Location would be trying to stay northeast unless big scholarship. Anything below 10,000ish size wise. I want small but do not care how small.
Not really a preference on core/open curriculum yet. I am still undecided so I want to explore a variety of subjects anyway.
I want a focused academic school as I consider myself a really focused student. Any school that puts learning first is preferential to me (this turned me off on Villanova and on to Swarthmore)
Major is definitely undecided between a variety of topics. Definitely not engineering or pure science though. Am certainly more interested in the humanities (poly sci/journalism), possibly business/economics.
School offers many APs. Definitely a big regret. I have progressively gotten harder classes (3 honors, 1 AP weighted college level business class junior year) though.
When you say disregard price, does that mean you can afford any school? If not, I urge you to look at price right away as you need to be looking at affordable options.
Super reach:
Brown
JHU
U Penn
Columbia
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Reach
Georgetown
Carnegie Mellon (ED would improve chances quite a bit)
Tufts (ED would improve chances quite a bit)
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Target ish
Brandeis
Lehigh (ED has pretty high acceptance rate, this school parties a lot so not sure if academically focused)
colby
colgate
Hamilton
Haverford
Vassar
Wesleyan
Target
George Washington (11k undergrad enrollment, but close to what you wanted)
Bates
safety
fordham
not sure where to put american U as they have a habit of rejecting high stat kids.
Other than BC and TCNJ, you only have reaches on your list right now. For matches, check out Brandeis, William and Mary, Lafayette, U Richmond, Franklin and Marshall, Skidmore, Dickinson, and Connecticut College
A good strategy for matches might be to look at the common data sets for liberal arts colleges that get more applications from females. It would give you an edge. Also, keep in mind that there are schools that would love to have students with your ACT score. Look for colleges where your scores are above the 75th percentile. I think lack of rigor might hurt at the most competitive schools, but it might not matter at all the other great schools out there. Maybe look at places like Skidmore, Bates, Colby, Bucknell, Kenyon, Oberlin etc.
Thank you for all the help. I will look into all suggestions.
Do you think taking SAT again to try and improve the reading score is necessary? I have a great opportunity to improve on a super score and have only taken twice?
Same with ACT. Only took once without studying. Should I take again to try and get 36? Would that greatly boost my chances at elite schools?
On the price, I cannot really afford ANY school, however if the school is good enough I would be fine graduating with only the little amount of debt I would incur. Basically I do not want to spend a ton on undergrad if the school isn’t good enough to be worth it for me to take out loans.
@collegeadm99 Definitely don’t retake the SAT or ACT. Trust me, a 36 will not give you any more chances than a 35 will give you. That 1 point is literally irrelevant.
What are some boundaries you want to set, characteristics of a college that would definitely turn you off? Are you okay if a school has a work hard, play hard culture or would you prefer a college that is solely academic/intellectually focused? Do you want a more STEM focused school, more pre-professional, or more liberal artsy?
@collegeadm99 if you are a low income student, then the ivies and top LACs will provide you with good financial aid so you would only need to take out a small amount in loans, or you might even not need to take out loans at all, depending on your family income.
A work hard, play hard culture is fine with me. I want to be able to have a good time while getting an extremely rigorous education.
A pre-professional or liberal arts is preferred, I do not see myself doing any STEM majors.
I have a lower income, but with a large sum of money saved. Not sure how that would affect aid. But that is part of why I am attracted to those types of schools since they would allow small debt.
UPenn sounds like a good fit for you. It has that play hard, work hard culture and a lot of its student body is very pre-professional. It also gives good aid, and its distribution requirements will allow you to explore different areas. The only thing that doesn’t fit with what you said is its size: it has around 10,000 undergrads. Of course, it would be a very high reach.