I really like Georgia Tech and UVA but I know they are really hard to get into OOS. What are good safeties schools that are like them (especially in terms of size and school spirit). OOS tuition isnt a problem. I have a 3.6 and an estimated 1500ish SAT.
My suggestion is to use the College Board school search. It let’s you customize to find schools with your “must haves” and “wants”, and you can input a “safety” acceptance rate/SAT score as well as tuition. It’s where I found all of my safeties.
Georgia Tech and UVA are very different. What do you like about each?
It may help to get realistic suggestions if you provide a little more info:
Are you currently a Junior? What is your home state? In the search for safeties, some of the best gems are likely in your own backyard.
Estimated or predicted SAT scores aren’t really helpful. When will you actually take the SAT/ACT? Have you taken the PSAT? What score(s) have you gotten on that (and in what grade)?
Is your 3.6 gpa unweighted out of a 4.0? If not, what is the scale?
What’s your class rank?
You mentioned in another thread that you’d be full pay and money is no object. You want a mid-sized school with sports and school spirit. You also mentioned that you like warmer weather as a bonus, and greek life. I agree with @MYOS1634 that if you can supply what you like about Georgia Tech and UVA, along with a little more info, you’d get some great suggestions.
My initial observations: both are fantastic schools but really different. They usually cater to very different interests. For instance, if you want business, UVA is the clear choice, but for engineering or CS, Georgia Tech is much better. My other observation is that your low-ish GPA could result in a rejection from both of them. Sorry. Have no idea what kind of experience, awards, ECs you have that could possibly offset this, but they’d have to be exceptional. Assuming someone has a legitimate shot of OOS acceptance at UVA or Georgia Tech, they’d still be reaches. Matches you could consider for STEM studies might be Virginia Tech, UIUC, Purdue, Tufts, Northeastern (higher match), Rochester, Maryland. Maybe Austin. More toward the safety scale for STEM ( for a candidate if this caliber) would be RPI (high safety), WPI, RIT, Stevens, Texas Tech. For non-STEM matches I’d consider JMU, Pitt, UGA, GW, Villanova, Skidmore, Tufts (higher match), with safeties being UConn, U Del, Marist, Kentucky, Alabama. Bear in mind there is overlap among some of these in terms of STEM/non-STEM. There are also so many others that will be offered up I’m sure. Would help to know what your field of study is.
Im a junior from new jersey. The 3.6 is unweighted. I haven’t formally taken the SAT yet. My school doesnt do class rank. @nomatter
What I like about both Georgia Tech and UVA is their size(they’re public but not 40,000), the weather, strong math and econ departments and lots of school spirit @MYOS1634
Check out Christopher Newport Univ. in Newport News, with liberal arts and cs, electrical engineerin, econ and math look good.
I don’t think Georgia tech is within reach at this point. Do keep it but focus on finding other reaches and matches.
What about Virginia Tech? FSU? NCSU?
@MYOS1634 even though Im not applying for engineering? My parents have made it clear that they wont pay for an out of state school that they dont consider prestigious enough
GTech takes few OOS students, and most have superlative stats.
You need to know how much and what they consider prestigious enough.
Why would or wouldn’t Virginia Tech make the cut, for instance? (It’s the stem flagship for Virginia, like Georgia Tech for Georgia - sure, GTech is more prestigious, but all in all both are seen as extremely desirable and selective.)
Wouldn’t they be interested, say, in merit from FSU?
“My parents have made it clear that they wont pay for an out of state school that they dont consider prestigious enough”
Given your 3.6 unweighted GPA, I would personally be mildly surprised if you were to get into any out of state school that is significantly stronger than Rutgers. Rutgers is very strong. There are very few schools that are significantly stronger.
I am with your parents. I do not see the point in attending a school that is just as good as Rutgers and only two or three times the cost. That is a LOT of money for the luxury of going out of state.
You say you are looking for a safety but your parents wont pay for OOS unless it is prestigious enough? I think you are going to have hard time finding a school you can truly consider a safety that would also be prestigious “enough”.
So going by your criteria of weather, size, school spirit, possible major, and possible prestige have you considered Wake Forest? While definitely not a safety, it does have a bit higher acceptance rate (~30%) than OOS GT (~16%) or UVA (~19%). It is also ranked in the USNWR top 30 national universities.
Apply to Alabama. If you actually score 1500 on the SAT and you pick up your GPA a bit, you should be able to get good merit there. The school spirit at Alabama is off the charts. And Alabama should have enough name recognition to please your parents. Yes, it’s larger than UVA and GT, but as an OOS student, you’re going to have only a lottery chance at those two. At Alabama, you have a great chance at being admitted.
A few more: University of South Carolina - larger than your optimum, but great spirit; Appalachian State U (sizewise, a perfect fit, and great school spirit); Georgia State (in Atlanta like GT, but much easier to get into as an OOS applicant,) WVU; Clemson - A perfect fit for spirit, size, and prestige; UConn; LSU - larger than you want, but great school spirit and name recognition; UCF; VT; UDe.
Arizona; U Houston - One of my son’s classmates just go admitted there with great merit money, making the cost less than in-state.
Seconding Wake, App State, and University of South Carolina. Reiterating FSU.
[UCF is really huge and is having growing pains in terms of space so I’d refer FSU. USF perhaps tooo].
Adding Elon.
Not quite safeties but worth applying to based on your criteria.
If your basis for comparison is Rutgers I’d find all of these different enough (or, for Wake and Elon, better). You can ask your parents whether merit changes something - ie, if you earn a scholarship will they consider more universities than whatever list they currently have?
In addition w what’s your budget? Very very few families can afford anywhere. Cost is the #1 restriction.
I agree with MYOS1634. You can’t squeeze blood from a stone so if your stats are too low for Georgia Tech and your chances of getting into Georgia Tech OOS would be super slim even if you had the sky-high stats, why would the parents consider Virginia Tech insufficiently prestigious? Have they visited? It’s a great school with a powerful and loyal alumni network and the comparative cost, even for OOS students, is manageable. Not so easy to get in to VT for engineering these days anyway.
3.6 is low for Wake
FYI
The average unweighted GPA of entering classes at WPI is 3.9 on a 4 point scale. This is not a safe “safety.” RPI and Stevens are also not likely safeties. Clarkson university might be considered, but the weather is cold…
As an resident, I believe your best bet is Rutgers. Close to home universities do not always receive full respect.
These are all quality Universities with well respected programs.
@MYOS1634 my parents are prepared to pay the full amount of tuition at the sticker price
Stevens isn’t a safety. The average GPA of the most recent accepted freshman class was 3.9. If you get an SAT in the 1500 range you would be competitive with respect to that score, but the 3.6 GPA would be below the average. You could be a match if you get your GPA up to the 3.9 range and get that SAT score. More likely safety candidates in New Jersey would be (public schools) Rutgers (more like a high safety), NJIT, TCNJ, or Rowan. A private safety would be Fairleigh Dickenson. What major are you interested in?
Colgate University (3,000 undergraduates) & the University of Mississippi Honors College (under 17,000 undergraduates) should be considered.
Ole Miss should award a full non-resident tuition scholarship with your GPA & a 1450 plus SAT. Addittional scholarship awards for STEM major & admittance to the Honors College should bring the total COA to under $12,000 per year or less.