help me find match schools

College Search & Selection
1

So I’m a sophomore/rising junior and starting to look into colleges more seriously, I’m having a hard time figuring out what schools I should realistically be looking at with my stats.

GRADES:
Band A+
German III A+
Sociology A
Adv. Algebra II A-
English A+
AP Music Theory A
AP Physics B
AP US History A-

JUNIOR YR SCHEDULE:
English
Civics
Economics
Health II
German IV
Adv. Pre Calc
Band
AP Chem
AP Physics II
German American Partnership Program (foreign exchange)

SENIOR YR SCHEDULE
AP Calc
AP Stats
AP Literature & Composition
AP Psych
Street Law
Chem of Life
German V
Band

ECs:
Jazz ensemble
Musical theater
School’s climbing team
Gym’s climbing team
Music honor society (junior/senior year)
Part time job

PSAT: 1350 (sophomore year, no studying)

Intended field of study: chemistry/materials engineering/something along those lines

I’m hoping to stay around New England or at least by the East Coast, and I’d like to be in a city of some sort. I’ve been looking into NYU, UVA, BU, maybe Bates and Tufts as reaches. Is this accurate or am I being too optimistic? Any other suggestions?

2

Are those all your grades? That looks short for two years of HS.

https://www.collegeconfidential.com/schools/search

3

What is your home state? What is your budget? Have you run the NPC on the schools that you are considering?

4

Check out both Carnegie Mellon and Pitt, in Pittsburgh, Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, and URochester. If you like NYC, consider Stevens which is directly across the river with a view of the city and great access. U of Delaware is a smaller flagship with particular strength in chem/chemE/materials. It’s early to sort schools into reach/match/safety but do think about how important an engineering program is to you, as opposed to a LAC with a good chem program but no engineering. Bates seems like an outlier here given no engineering and no city. Unless you can afford full-pay at a private U, affordability will come into play here as well.

5

Will you be in Germany junior year?
Don’t go overboard with APs senior year.

6

No, those are just for this year. And thanks for the link that looks really helpful!

7

Your curriculum rigor is excellent.
So now it’ll come down to 1) your ability to raise those test scores and 2) your parents’ budget.
Do you know our EFC?
Run the NPC on SUNY Buffalo, UVermont, Pitt, VTech, CASE, Union, Clarkson, WPI, RIT, RPI.
What do your parents say (have them it down before you run the NPC together.

8

Good job!

Do not get worked up regarding test score as it is only the PSAT. Check out the suggestions above… In addition to majors, check out how the minors fit into your program.

Do you want to study abroad as part of your college program? How is that done?

Don’t only focus on your “match” data, see if they are up to your interests. See how their program actually operates. There are different systems out there even for the same majors.