<p>So here are my academic stats:</p>
<p>-VERY highly ranked STEM HS in CA
-20th Percentile (due to high competition)
-3.65 UW GPA, 4.3 W GPA
-3.98 UC W GPA
-2280 SAT (800/800/680)
-Many AP/IB classes
-Dramatic Upward Grade Trend
-Many ECs that I won't bother to list, but only one is really 'outstanding'
-Over 2.5k hours volunteering
-Will be applying as either CS engineering or business/finance
-I plan on being either an investment banker or computer scientist/programmer (have taken AP/ IB courses, very good at it)</p>
<p>Schools I plan on applying to:</p>
<p>Stanford
NYU
USC
UCLA
UC Berkeley
UMich
UT @ A
UCSB
UCSD
UCD or UCI
Boston Coll
Babson
Ohio State
Cambridge
C Mellon or Cornell</p>
<ul>
<li>or means I'll only chose one of those.</li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks, any colleges I should add / remove? (I know Stanford is a crazy reach, but figured that a set of apps isn't complete without one :P)</p>
<p>*sorry for spelling errors, I am using a phone</p>
<p>A few things…</p>
<p>1) No matter what your HS tells you, it is likely not nearly as highly thought of as they think (maybe, but it seems like everyone out here thinks their HS is one of the top schools in the state/country/world). May hold more weight in CA
2) Make sure you apply to the right school. UT is the Texas Longhorns it is in Austin. UTA is the University of Texas at Arlington, not the same place and Longhorn types don’t like being called UTA (or UT @ A)…it is just UT
3) Not sure about finances, but your stats could get you some money. Recommend a safety school that is affordable unless your family is truly wealthy or very poor.
4) When you say Cambridge, which one do you mean? England, Business School, Harvard/MIT, Junior College?
5) If you are going to reach, why not Cal Tech or MIT?
6) Michigan, Texas and Ohio State can be tougher than they look for OOS.</p>
<p>1) my HS was ranked #3 in world by US News for STEM
2) yeah I meant Texas at Austin, sorry
3) I will qualify for need based aid, but definitively trying to same as much as possible. If it came down to a great school or 20k more a year or a backup, I would pay the money though
4) England
5) CalTech has socially awkward written all over it on CP and it just is not at all my atmosphere. I’m really outgoing and love to be at parties and around fun people. MIT just doesn’t have the same appeal to me as Stanford. Plus Stanford has a history at my school to accept a few outliers while MIT has not accepted anyone below 4.75 in 22 years
6) I don’t expect Mich/Texas to be auto accepts but I have a connection at Ohio and can say with substantiated confidence that acceptance is likely</p>
<p>Thank you for the reply :)</p>
<ul>
<li>in the US</li>
<li>for 20k</li>
</ul>
<p>(Sorry again, on a phone, hard to proof)</p>
<p>Stanford: Reach.
NYU: Safety.
USC: Safety.
UCLA: Reach.
UC Berkeley: Reach.
UMich: Reach.
UT @ A: Match.
UCSB: Match.
UCSD: Match.
UCD or UCI: Safeties.
Boston Coll: Match.
Babson: Safety, maybe a match because of business.
Ohio State: Safety.
Cambridge: Regarded as one of the toughest schools in the world.
C Mellon or Cornell: Both tough schools, personally I have a bias towards Cornell but both I’d say are slight reaches, not impossible.</p>
<p>Also I am thinking about adding some of these to the list:</p>
<p>Notre D
UPenn
UChicago
Georgia Tech
Harvey m
Vanderbilt
Rice
NWestern</p>
<p>Any opinions? I know these are mostly reaches, so I want to make a balanced list of colleges (safety, match, reach) but keep it under 16 apps while still feeling like I am applying to all my dreamy schools. Ugh what tough decisions :(</p>
<p>UCLA and UCB are both gonna be near impossible if your weighted UC GPA is 3.98. UCs tend to be very number heavy and your gpa is way below the averages (4.3 and 4.2)</p>
<p>Yeah I figured those were both reaches</p>
<p>*but for the record those 2 use uncapped UC W GPA, and my uncapped is just over 4.25. It’s just that since I would apply as an impacted major it would be even higher than the whole school averages</p>
<p>Those are alot of schools to apply to. Do you have a specific criteria? It’s crazy expensive to apply to colleges, especially if you’re applying for financial aid. (which would mean at least 100 dollars per app) Have you found what you are looking for in a college? They seem pretty scattered.</p>
<p>In addition, I would move NYU to match if you were going for business (which is why I am assuming you are applying to babson?) Personally imo, dream schools should not take up such a significant amount of your list, especially if aid is an issue. How will you pay for over 15 apps?</p>
<p>I will get waivers for all CA publics and 6 privates I believe. The only issue I see with so many is the essays would take a ton of time :/. And yeah location (I prefer city of at least medium - large size), reputation, and top employers upon graduation are very important to me. I also like a social and fun campus vibe, which most seem to have.</p>
<p>It seems like the best locations are CA and the East Coast for both business and CS. 
but yet Notre D and others still have nice programs 
so hard to decide because I see the different advantages of each school </p>
<p>How can your capped be 3.98 and uncapped be 4.25? The averages 4.2 and 4.3 are capped UC gpas, not uncapped.</p>
<p>Capped means that a maximum of 8 extra points are added for AP/IB courses, while uncapped does not limit the extra points. The 2 UC schools that use the uncapped UC GPA instead of the capped UC GPA are UCLA and UCB only. </p>
<p>Saw you are considering Harvey Mudd. You can take classes at Claremont McKenna, and with it’s strengths in economics and finance you have an opportunity to do CS and business?
Look also at Olin College and Babson in MA.</p>
<p>Wow I’m liking Olin! Thanks!</p>