Help me categorize safeties, matches, reaches

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Can you help me categorize safeties, matches and reaches? Here’s my school list so far (I plan to condense to less than 15):

Harvard and Yale (I know these are high reaches, don’t waste your time with those)
Columbia
UPenn
Brown
Georgetown
NYU
Barnard
Haverford
Bucknell
Lafayette
Brandeis
BU
Tufts
Northeastern
Hofstra (I know this is a safety)

So here’s info about me:

I’m a white Jewish female from Long Island, NY. Literally a dime a dozen. Daughter of Russian immigrants (but not first gen college student). Income level is high. Will not apply for financial aid

My unweighted GPA is a 99, weighted is a 101.
34 ACT (36 R, 36 E, 36 M, 28 S)
1470 new SAT. 750 CR and 720 M (don’t plan to send)
800 SAT 2 U.S history, 770 SAT 2 world history, 700 SAT 2 biology
AP’s: World (5), U.S history (5), English Lang (5), physics 1 (3). Took Spanish and math honors as well.
Senior courses: AP u.s gov, AP calc BC, AP Spanish, AP English literature, AP psychology, Gilder Lehrman historical research class, orchestra
Probably gonna apply to schools as an English or international relations major

EC’s:
I play violin. I’ve been in a lot of youth orchestras, done summer programs, etc. Distinguished as one of the top players in LI but unfortunately I’m not gonna make it to all state.
Drama. I’ve been alternating between cast, crew, and pit orchestra since freshman year.
President and editor in chief of my school’s literary magazine. I’ve also been published in a national publication for teenage poets.
Yearbook writer
Founder and president of my school’s chamber orchestra, I did a lot of community service from that and NHS.
President of English honor society. In NHS and every subject honors society, including music.
Volunteered at LI children’s museum and will volunteer at an organization that my dad is on the board of.
Won a national Spanish exam gold medal 3 years in a row. Won district essay contests in Spanish.
Poetry out loud regional competition participant for 2 years.

My common app essay is lit. I’m pretty sure it’s the best thing I’ve ever written. Hopefully that seals the deal for some schools.
Recommendations should be good. I’m a giant kiss up.
I don’t know what my class rank is, if I had to guess I’ll be salutatorian. Don’t think my GPA is high enough to beat my biggest competition.

Ohmygosh this is long. Sorry about that, I just want to make sure my college list is realistic. Should I add more safeties or matches? Forget about Ivy leagues? Thanks in advance for your time and comments! :smiley:

2

In my opinon, this is where your list falls:
Columbia- reach
UPenn- reach
Brown- reach
Georgetown- reach

(all Ivies are reaches for pretty much everyone)
NYU- match
Barnard- match/low reach
Haverford- low match
Bucknell- match
Lafayette- match
Brandeis- low match/safety
BU- match
Tufts- high match
Northeastern- match ish (don’t really know this school well)
Hofstra- safety

I might switch out a few matches for “guaranteed” safeties, but your list is pretty solid. Solid ACT, great SAT IIs, high GPA and challenging courseload.

3

@yonceonhismouth thank you so much! Would you mind giving examples of guaranteed safeties within New York? I’d prefer to stay away from SUNY’s.

4

Oh, and would Macaulay Honors College be a safety?

5

I think Hobart & William Smith College and Syracuse would be safeties for you. I wouldn’t categore MHC as a safety- it’s pretty selective. Its a match school at least

6

Okay thanks!

7

Reach:
Columbia
UPenn
Brown
Georgetown
NYU (lower)
Barnard (lower)

Match:
Haverford
BU
Tufts

Safety:
Bucknell

Don’t know well:
Lafayette
Brandeis
Northeastern

8

What I don’t get is how NYU is a reach but Haverford is a match, lol

9

Same for Tufts. How is that a match :o

10

What are you looking for in terms of vibe? Haverford is very small, Bucknell is in the middle of nowhere and very Greek, many others are more urban. I’d give a little thought to that as I trimmed the list.

11

@gardenstategal I prefer urban, but I loved Haverford when I visited. Will rethink Bucknell, im not a fan of too much Greek life

12

I love Haverford too! And it has easy access to Philadelphia. Lafayette is not in a major city and also has Greek life.

13

@gardenstategal Haverford would be perfect for me if only it was a little bit bigger. And do you think Lafayette or Bucknell would offer any sort of merit scholarship? That would really be my primary reason applying to schools that aren’t urban.

14

Reach: Columbia, Penn, Brown
Low Reach: Georgetown, Haverford, Tufts
High Match: Northeastern, Barnard, Lafayette, Brandeis, NYU
Match: Boston U, Bucknell

Haverford is part of the Quaker Consortium. It’s quite close to Bryn Mawr and fairly close to Swat and UPenn.

15

@prezbucky thanks!

And yup, that’s what I really liked about Haverford. Will not be applying to the other two in the consortium though

16

Check the threads on those schools to see. I think yes but don’t know for sure.

17

@gardenstategal okay, thanks!

18

Nobody should consider any school a match or safety. Unless they take a large majority of applicants.
Haverford has a very low acceptance rate