Help Me Categorize My List Into Reach, Match, Safety!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! I'm a junior, and I have a currently [quite long] list of schools I'm looking at. I'd appreciate help categorizing them as Reach, Match, and Safety (and for anyone who likes those complicated ranking like low-match, high-reach, that's good too.) THIS ISN'T A CHANCE THREAD. Well, not really. I just want an outside opinion of which are matches and reaches, I just want to make sure that I'm not over or under estimating myself.</p>

<p>So, here are my stats (recently updated):</p>

<hr>

<p>Female, not URM or first-generation
Competitive public high school (So. CA)
Junior year abroad in France (well-respected and competitive program)
Will probably be applying RD to all schools to compare FA packages</p>

<p>GPA W: 4.15
GPA UW: 3.7
Taken all honors possible each year
School doesn't rank, probably in at least the top 20%, but not sure
My graduating class is around 990 students</p>

<p>Projected Senior Year:
AP Calculus AB, AP US History, AP Government (Comparative), Economics, Chemistry, Women's Literature, AP Art History, French class at a local CC</p>

<p>SAT - 2140
CR - 730
M - 670
W - 740 (10 on essay)
Subject test to be taken in May/June: Literature, Math 2, French</p>

<p>Awards:
- Le Grand Concours French Contest - 5th in CA / 6th in the nation
- National Honor Society
- California Scholarship Federation
- French Honor Society
- Haha, random but cool...pending Guinness World Record for largest collection of panda items</p>

<p>Main ECs:
- Speech & Debate - since sophomore year (tried out for freshman year and didn't make it, then tried again and made it), competitive in various speech events as well as Parliamentary Debate in which I have trophied
- Volunteer at local hospital - two hours a week, around 50 hours earned so far, but I will continue and probably have around 100 or more
- Writing Editor for yearbook - junior year
- School newspaper staff - junior year
- French Club - involved in various activities, trips, and the French Honor Society
- Horseback riding - two hours a week for over two years, have also attended horseback riding camp
- Summer Institute for The Gifted summer program at UC Berkeley
- Hope to be involved in the seniors-only service club at my school, but it has a competitive interview process. We'll see.
- Applying for a job at a day camp this summer</p>

<p>Passion / Study Abroad:
My passion is the French language and culture. This is best expressed through my decision to study abroad in France my junior year. I am with a well-respected program that places Americans in host families and a French-speaking school. I am taking all of my classes in French with the exception of English and Math, and am performing well with an upward trend. I'm hoping that my international experience will set me apart from other applicants.</p>

<p>I will be integrating my passion for France into my essays, which should be good since I am a good writer.</p>

<p>I will be visiting the majority of schools on my list this summer, and plan to interview on-campus or with alumni interviews whenever the school offers it.</p>

<hr>

<p>Can you help me catagorize my list into Reach, Match and Safety? The schools I'm looking at are:</p>

<p>American U, Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Brown, Colby, College of W&M, Dartmouth, Davidson, Grinnell, Kenyon, Lewis & Clark, Macalester, Oberlin, Pitzer, Pomona, Rice, Swarthmore, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, Vassar, and Wesleyan</p>

<p>Thank you so much for reading all this/your help!</p>

2

<p>Before i categorize your list, do you do Speech and Debate through NFL??? I’m a PFer, and i’m always excited to meet other Forensicators…</p>

<p>And your Safeties would prob be Lewis and Clark, maybe Macalaster…your stats aren’t high enough for any of them to be complete safeties…</p>

<p>Matches: Berekley, Oberlin, Pitzer, Vassar and Weselyan</p>

<p>Reaches… all the rest minus Pomona and Rice, i dont know enough about them to say anything</p>

3

<p>Yeah, it’s through NFL. I mostly do OPP (my speech last year was pretty bad though, haha) and Impromptu, but I love Parli with all my heart. My Parli partner rocks.</p>

<p>You say “forensicators?” Wow that’s long…we always say “speechies,” hahaha.</p>

<p>Oooh, you think Vassar and Wes are matches? Cool.</p>

4

<p>I’d say American is definitely a safety</p>

5

<p>Yeah, I was definitely looking at AU as a safety. Thanks for the input.</p>

<p>(Bump in disguise!)</p>

6

<p>Bump…(sorry!)</p>

7

<p>Rice, UC Berkley seem to be reaches. I dont know enough about the other ones to give any input…</p>

8

<p>pomona = reach</p>

9

<p>American U - pretty safe
Amherst - mid reach
Bates - match
Bowdoin - low reach
Brown - high reach
Colby - match
College of W&M - not sure
Dartmouth - high reach
Davidson - high match
Grinnell - high match
Kenyon - match
Lewis & Clark - safety?
Macalester - match
Oberlin - low reach
Pitzer unsure
Pomona - high reach
Rice - unsure
Swarthmore - mid reach
UC Berkeley - unsure
UCLA - unsure
UCSD - unsure
Vassar - low reach
Wesleyan - low reach</p>

10

<p>smartalic, thank you so much! That was exactly what I needed. Awesome awesome.</p>

11

<p>Best I can do: </p>

<p>American U - “high” safety
Amherst - mid reach
Bates - match
Bowdoin - low reach
Brown - high reach
Colby - match
College of W&M - pretty safe
Dartmouth - high reach
Davidson - high match
Grinnell - high match
Kenyon - match
Lewis & Clark - don’t know
Macalester - match
Oberlin - low reach
Pitzer-don’t know
Pomona - reach
Rice - reach
Swarthmore - mid reach
UC Berkeley - don’t know
UCLA - low-mid reach
UCSD - don’t know
Vassar - high match/low reach
Wesleyan - high match/low reach</p>

<p>Good Luck! :)</p>

12

<p>OK, I’ll give a try at those I know and follow, which is Top 30, UCs, and privates near LA:</p>

<p>Amherst - big reach
Bowdoin - reach
Brown - big reach
College of W&M - match/reach
Dartmouth - big reach
Pitzer match/reach
Pomona - big reach
Rice - big reach
Swarthmore - big reach
UC Berkeley - match/reach (I’ll explain below)
UCLA - match/reach
UCSD - match reach… closer to match… depends of in you’ve had big life hurdles… 1st gen, single parent home, etc.
Vassar - match/reach
Wesleyan - reach </p>

<p>OK, my reasoning. 4.15 weighted is very good but 3.7 in a large public school doesn’t look so hot … but in which classes? Is that a UC GPA? As you know UC does not count 9th grade work. Top 20% sticks out unfavorably … Most of the schools I list above are Top 30 National Universities or Top 10 Liberal Arts colleges. They take tippy top students as a rule. The schools take students ranging from top 0.5% (Pomona, Brown, Amherst, Swarthmore) of graduating class to around top 10% (Pitzer, W&M)).</p>

<p>ECs: solid, nice. I don’t know if horseback riding hurts or helps… depending on your reader. It could paint you as being from a rich snobby family, or it could imply you’re likely to pay full boat to an expensive LAC and the adcom will like that since financial aid resource will be tough to divide next year. Or it could mean neither. I’d leave it out though. Remember adcoms by and large work long hours for little pay, and aren’t too partial to spoiled kids. So avoid anything in your app that could be interpreted as spoiled-ish.</p>

<p>France: this will help a lot with the schools that take a lot of time reading your app, so I think Pitzer, Wesleyan, Bowdoin fare well with this decision you’ve made. It makes you more interesting, which adds to the student mix. It hurts bigtime with UCB, UCLA and UCSD. these schools put a huge emphasis on junior year rigor… they like to see 2-4 AP classes junior year if your school offers them. You have inadvertently (or not?) opted out of the first real academically rigourous competition (other than oratory) you’ve encounterd! Just plain opted out. You might have done fantastically in your first real academic competition, but we’ll never know in time for college decisions as far as UCs are concerned (UCs only look at sophomore and junior work).</p>

<p>You seem like a very interesting person. UCs don’t care much about that unless you are also top 5% (UCSD) or top 2% (UCLA & UCB). UCSD uses a formula… if you were single parent home, lousy high school, first generation college, those extra points actually are worth about .2 -.3 in GPA points…</p>

<p>Oh, and bon chance.</p>

13

<p>Sorry, forgot to contextualize my meaning of reach, big reach, etc.</p>

<p>big reach: <15% chance
reach: <40%
Match: 50-60% chance</p>

<p>Now is where the fun begins… if you apply to 7 big reaches, does that mean ithat as a GROUP, ONE of them will likely accept you? I’ve seen lots of discussion about topics related to these chances threads, but really don’t know the answer. And admissions is so unpredictable. YOu could be accepted to a big reach and rejected by a match… go figure.</p>

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<p>I don’t entirely agree with DunninLA (although s/he’s probably right about the UCs which I’m not familiar with). I don’t think 3.7 is a particularly low GPA, especially considering the OP doesn’t really know her rank which would definitely make a difference. it’s within the middle 50% for Vassar, American, Kenyon, Lewis and Clark, Oberlin, and Pitzer. possibly more since not all schools report high school GPAs. so I wouldn’t consider those schools reaches, and her SATs are pretty strong for almost all of those schools. though I’d say Vassar is a high match, and Wesleyan too probably. I don’t know that much about some of these, but most of the rest are probably reaches–especially Brown/Dartmouth, Amherst/Swarthmore/Pomona, and Berkley/UCLA.</p>

<p>edit: after reading DunninA’s caveat, I agree a little more. you would probably have the best chances at places that are more holistic with reviewing your application (even if they have low admittance rates).</p>

15

<p>I’ll take a gander at the privates (can’t speak to UC admissions). No low/high qualifier = mid. I tend to lean conservative, which IMHO is safer than leaning too far on the other side.</p>

<p>American - safety
Amherst - high reach
Bates - match
Bowdoin - reach
Brown - high reach
Colby - high match
W&M - low reach (OOS enrollment cap)
Dartmouth - high reach
Davidson - low reach (some geographic boost)
Grinnell - match
Kenyon - low match
L&C - high safety
Macalester - low match
Oberlin - high match
Pitzer - low reach (no geographic diversity boost)
Pomona - high reach (VERY hard for non-URM California girls)
Rice - reach
Swarthmore - high reach
Vassar - reach
Wesleyan - reach</p>

<p>I don’t really know how much to weight your junior year in France, but I figure it mostly cancels out with the lack of proven AP classes/scores; it will also help you more at LACs than at the UCs or other large universities.</p>

16

<p>Thanks everyone. The insight about UC admissions is very helpful. I did realize that they review less holistically, so they will probably care less about accomplishments and more about APs APs and more APs! Luckily, I’m leaning more towards LACs with the holistic application review process because I prefer the small school size. </p>

<p>Although, since when was 3.7 UW low? I know it’s not amazing, but also consider that that’s including a semester of six courses taken in another language.</p>

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<p>Raelah, 3.7 is fantastic! It’s all in context, right? Some of the tippy top schools you listed can fill an entire entering class with students who have never seen a B in their lives… so the only reason to accept less is for some other qualities that are compelling – I don’t mean one or two Bs throughtout high school, but a 3.7 means one B for every two As… that’s a lot of Bs. Imagine what life at a competitive college would be like when almost all of the students have never gotten Bs. That’s a tough spot to be in, and not really a great fit as far as self esteem goes.</p>