Hey guys I would really appreciate it if you could help me pick a couple safeties to apply to! I’m currently a junior. I would enjoy a school that has strong science programs and/or a strong economics program. I’ve taken a look at most of the UC’s and I was just wondering where else you guys thought would be good places to apply to next year. Thanks so much!
Student Profile:
Grade: 11
GPA: 4.4(W), 3.9 (UW)
SAT: 720 (CR), 610 (M), 770 (WR)- only taken it once, if that matters
Class Rank: 10
Extracurriculars:
Nothing super outstanding, just two presidencies in clubs and an editor position for journalism. Oh and 3 years of track.
Any and all advice would be much appreciated! 
What is your home state? What can your family afford? Is that class rank 10/10 or 10/1000?
You might start with the SuperMatch search tool, located on the left side of this page. The program allows you to weight a wide variety of factors to generate a list of possibilities. Your strong grades will give you lots of choices.
Home state is CA. Family can afford around 30k-40k. Class rank is 10/516.
If you are interested in the UC’s, then UCR/UCSC would be safeties based on your Stats. You might also want to look at some Cal States such as SDSU or CSULB, which are all affordable based on your criteria.
Take a look at some LACs (liberal arts colleges). These schools offer a level of personal attention that you aren’t going to get at the UCs or any large public or private school. All of them are small because they don’t have grad schools (or grad students competing with you for faculty time and attention). Many of them have very strong science and economics depts. Some have merit as well as financial aid. Because of the small class sizes, many students haven’t heard of LACs and don’t look into them, but they are the hidden gems of the US educational system for many students who thrive best in a more personalized environment. They can be urban, rural or suburban schools and each has its own unique personality: There are sure to be several that would be a good fit for you.
Which sciences?
For economics, are you more interested in the pre-professional (business-like) path or the math-heavy pre-PhD path?
You can probably make UCR a guaranteed-admission safety by signing up at http://admissions.ucr.edu/whyucr/ourguarantee during June or July.
@N’s Mom Thanks! Do you have any LAC’s in mind to recommend?
@ucbalumnus I’m looking at anything biology and physics. I really enjoy the pre-professionial economics, the more business-like one. Thanks!
@Gumbymom Any clue on how strong their econ/sciences are at SDSU or CSULB?
Are you planning to retake the SAT to see if you can bring up your math score? Could really help.
@intparent Yes! I plan on retaking in March and hopefully get 700s across the board.
Most economics students are pre-professional, and most economics departments cater to pre-professional students.
Biology tends to be popular and large (and full of pre-meds). However, it also has a lot of specialty areas, so if you have any specific interests within the field, check the faculty rosters and course offerings of each school.
Physics is a less popular major, so some departments may be small with limited offerings.
@ucbalumnus Thanks for the insight!
For LACs that would be matches (or safeties) for your stats, look into Whitman, Lewis&Clark, St Olaf (Economics/management offered), Dickinson (International management offered), Centre, Rhodes