Help me find match schools?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! I’m a junior and I’m just starting to seriously get into college searches, and I’m not quite sure how to find match schools. I am getting a little nervous because my parents are pushing me towards the ivies plus MIT and Stanford, and I’d love to attend one but I know those are all reach schools so I need some that are a little more realistic. Budget isn’t really an issue, and I already have guaranteed admission to my state school. I don’t have any preference for location; I’ve looked at schools all over. I want to study physics so does anyone know any good schools that would fit my stats?

Stats:
GPA: 4.1 W 4.0 UW
Rank: 1/67
PSAT: 1480 (Still waiting on SAT scores) 750 Reading/Writing, 730 Math
ACT: 35, English 36, Math 35, Reading 36, Science 31 (planning on retaking)
ACT Writing: 10
AP Classes: Calc AB, Chemistry
Honors: US History
Next year I will be taking AP Calc BC, AP Bio, and AP Lit

ECs:

  • Newspaper/Journalism: I'm the news editor and I've gone to state for news writing and editorial writing
  • Drama Club
  • Band (concert and marching): I play the flute, my band does not audition chairs
  • Cheerleading: I was captain this year, and probably next year as well
  • National Honors Society
  • Speech/Debate
  • Scholastic Bowl: Varsity team as a sophomore, next year's captain
  • Key Club (my school's volunteer group)

Volunteering:

I have probably 100ish hours but not a lot of stuff out of the ordinary (just volunteering at school events, animal shelter, etc).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

2

It would help if we knew what state you are from, and if you live in an urban, suburban, or rural area. Will you be applying for FA? Are you first gen? All of these other factors matter greatly. Keep up the good work!

3

You could look into the excellent physics programs at undergraduate-focused colleges such as Williams, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Colgate, Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Pomona, Reed and Carleton. You’ll note that students from three of these schools were Apker Award (the highest honor in the U.S. for undergraduate research in physics) finalists last year (https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201808/apker.cfm), while others have produced winners in other recent years.

4

I’d suggest Case Western Reserve University (CWRU or “Crew”). Top-notch STEM school, in a nice area of Cleveland, with most of the major cultural institutions a short walk away. Campus is really two campuses (old Case Institute and Western Reserve College, which merged), on either side of Euclid Avenue. It tends to be pretty stats focused in admissions, which is a plus for you, and offers pretty generous merit aid, I’d guess especially for a well-qualified female applicant.

One of my favorites is Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). It has a unique hands-on, project-oriented curriculum, which might be a plus or minus for YOU. You’d want to research that and read about the WPI Plan on the school website. Very nice, and updated, campus–sort of New England steam punk–in a nice neighborhood in Worcester (2nd or 3rd largest city in New England). We thought it had great students and a great vibe. It is also more gender balanced than some other STEM schools, if that is a plus or minus.

Ivies and MIT are great. You are correct they are reaches . . . for everyone. I like this example: a top LAC told us 70% of applicants were fully qualified and school thought would succeed there. It accepted about 14% then (less now), so 4 in 5 applicants that the school thought was fully qualified were denied admission. Assuming that 70% number at Ivies and MIT, which is reasonable, then you can do the math if acceptance rate is 4 or 5%. So no harm in applying to any that appeal to you, but I think it is important to note just how crazy admissions are at the top 30 or so schools.

The great news being you are very well qualified, and can reasonably apply to some of these, AND you’d be a great candidate at many other incredible schools with incredible faculty, staff, and students, that also have far less insane acceptance rates. Truly, I’ve known several Ivy and Stanford and MIT students in recent years. They’re very good students, but I don’t think as a group any stronger than those at my state flagship, which is a highly ranked one.

So I’d recommend CWRU, WPI. I’d also throw in Rochester, which has academics as strong as anywhere. All are mid-size national universities. Another top-notch school in this category is Lehigh; I just know less about it, than those others. If you ever did visit Worcester, also check out Holy Cross–academics also as strong as anywhere, smaller school, but a pretty good size LAC. We did meet one physics professor there, who was terrific. Also I’ll throw in the University of Wisconsin, which is a top state flagship, in a great college town, strong in sciences, major research university, and brings in lots of OOS students, although cost-wise it might be hard to justify the extra cost over your state flagship.

It would be advantage, I think, in admissions to be a female applicant at the STEM schools like Case, WPI, Lehigh, etc. Good luck!

5

Second U Rochester - esp if you are interested in doing research with Physics.

6

Let me add that it would be an advantage to be female not only in terms of admission but also aid, probably, and to different degrees.

7

Thanks for your advice TTG! I’ll be sure to look into those colleges. Your advice is really valuable to me, so I thank you for taking the time to respond.

8

I second WPI. If you are interested in going broad as part of your college experience. WPI is by far, the best STEM school for that. They have 50+ project centers across 6 continents where you can complete One of the projects required in the curriculum. Even better, starting this year, every student gets a $5,000 scholarship to complete one oof the projects. For the class of 2022, the average unweighted GPA was 3.89 with about 42% of the class being female. You would fit right in!

9

If the OP has an interest in faculty mentored research opportunities, she could find a range of colleges at which she would be supported:

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/undergrad-research-programs

10

I’m going to throw out one more school that might be good for you to at least explore: William & Mary. It’s a public mid-size national university (6500 undergrads). Beautiful campus, right adjacent to the Colonial Williamsburg historic district, with lots of restaurants, sandwich shops, coffee shops, etc. very walkable from campus, often just across the street. Fantastic weather! It has a new Integrated Science Center (ISC) with very up-to-date labs. The school offers great research opportunities, in science and other fields as well. For physics, lots of faculty have projects at the nearby (20-25 minute drive) Jefferson Lab, a world-class physics research facility. That provides outstanding opportunities for physics students, really world-class opportunities. (I think your parents would love that!)

https://www.jlab.org/about

I did not originally include W&M for two reasons. One, financial aid is relatively limited for many OOS students, though you could run the NPC, and you said not to consider the financial side. (I do not want to suggest that OOS students, don’t get aid. That’s not true. It is somewhat limited though.) Two, if you are female, OOS female is the toughest admit category, just because of supply and demand. So it would probably still be a reach, though I think a more likely one than an Ivy, but still with an Ivy-type education and environment.

I think all of the schools I recommended would probably, for you, be “low reaches,” though maybe “high matches” depending on your state and other factors. Really at all the schools that people are recommending here the students are absolutely top-notch–very, very high test scores, top grades, challenging high school classes, etc. You will find lots and lots of students at W&M, WPI, etc. with 32+ ACT scores and 1400+ SAT scores.

Good luck!