<p>I'm a rising high school senior, and after doing research/campus visits etc, I've come up with a list of colleges that I would like to apply to and eventually attend. The problem is that applying to 16 different colleges is kind of a lot, and I wouldn't mind some ideas of which colleges out of the following would be the best for me. I'm not going to post stats because this isn't a "chance me" thread; I go to a difficult, atypical, math and science-focused high school that provides data which I have used to chance myself. I'm interested in both medicine and finance, and once I get to college I'll have to choose between the two. Career goals are either to become a surgeon or end up in private equity. I also love the German language and am thinking about either minoring in it or pursuing a double major.</p>
<p>I hate to use the word "safety" because excluding UIUC, I believe I'd be happy at all of the schools below. Also, I'm definitely applying to WashU, Northwestern, Rice, and USC.</p>
<p>Reaches/Probably get rejected at:</p>
<p>Columbia
MIT
Stanford</p>
<p>Decent shots/Hopefully get into a couple
Amherst
Claremont McKenna
Duke
Emory
Georgetown
Northwestern
Rice
Vanderbilt
WashU</p>
<p>"Safeties"/In
BU
NYU
UIUC -- being from Illinois, my school makes every applicant apply here.
USC</p>
<p>Might look at Holy Cross-near Boston. HC has great pre-med, strong alumni network and is need blind for financial aid (same as Duke and Ivies). Holy Cross is smaller version of Georgetown but easier to get into.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins has a great pre med program and you can minor in Entrepreneurship & Management (largest minor) or in Financial Economics (for careers in finance).</p>
<p>Emory also has a great pre med program and you can get a BBA from Goizueta School.</p>
<p>Cornell has a decent pre med/bio program and undergraduate business program (applied economics)</p>
I don’t think you have a proper grasp of what a safety is. A safety is still a school that you would be happy to attend; it’s simply a nearly certain bet for admissions and affordability. If one would not be happy to attend one’s safety, it is not a safety at all. Stick around CC for a few cycles and each year you will see several highly qualified people only get into their safeties and then complain about them.</p>
<p>USC has become increasingly selective and is arguably a safety for no one. NYU is slightly better but still more in the category of a (safe) match for strong applicants. Boston U can legitimately be a safety.</p>
<p>
That’s 5 schools. I would add either NYU or Boston U for another safe match or safety, bringing the total to 6. </p>
<p>8 is a good number of colleges. I would add Stanford and Duke to your list of 6, as they are arguably the best for those interests except for Columbia and/or MIT and have qualities in common with your other colleges.</p>