Hi everyone, I’m currently a junior. I have a huge list of colleges I want to apply to. I can’t afford to apply to this many colleges, so please suggest schools I should cut because I have no chance of getting in, or I will not fit into the culture at all.
I love -
Exercising and working out
School spirit! (ie going to basketball/football games)
Looonng conversations w my peers about politics, the economy, and be able to just nerd out w them
Being around inspiring and motivated peers who are always trying to create something new
Jus a dash of partying
About me:
Asian female from suburban Wisconsin.
Competitive high school ranked nationally
Intended Major: Pretty undecided, but it’s gonna be a mix of these 3
Economics
Neuroscience
Computer Science
Stats:
35 ACT
4.6 GPA
800 SAT Bio, 800 SAT Math 2
Extracurricular:
Founded a national non-profit to advance girls in technology
Founded an app that seeks to ease political tensions in America
Co-founded an app similar to UberEats, etc…but especially for local businesses, and is pick up only.
Editor-in-chief of school newspaper
Online director for national magazine promoting women in STEM
DECA ICDC Qualifier
Local research at a university
Executive member of a national neuroscience organization
Varsity Track
JV Soccer
Schools I’m considering, and why I’m considering it:
USC (WBB program)
UC Berkeley (CS + Business program)
Northwestern (Great pre-med, CS+X)
Stanford (Great pre-med, business, CS+X, close by family)
Harvard (the people!)
Yale (the school spirit)
Princeton (how multiple minors are encouraged!)
UPenn (Wharton dual degree)
WashU (Close to home)
Notre Dame (Close to home, school spirit)
Vanderbilt (School spirit)
UChicago (Close to home, great international affairs/business program)
UW-Madison (In-state, almost-free)
Dartmouth (Nature and fitness!)
Brown
Cornell
Duke (School spirit!)
CalTech (the people, academics, professors, California)
MIT (the people, the academics, the professors)
Pomona (California)
Columbia (NYC, many opportunities, dual degree with university in France)
Barnard (access to Columbia’s resources, a comodary of women)
Rice (Great pre-med)
Harvey Mudd (insane comp sci)
Carnegie Mellon (so many comp sci opportunities)
Are finances an issue at all? I personally would not pay OOS tuition for Berkeley. If you care about school spirit in terms of sports culture, I’d drop Caltech, and probably Mudd (which I actually think is an amazing school, my D is a graduate, but if you want school spirit around sports, it isn’t a big thing there). MIT and UChicago — also missing that. I don’t see MIT, Caltech, and Mudd as places where you’ll find a lot of people deep into politics and the economy, either.
Your stats are excellent so you should have a choice of schools.
I agree with intparent. Your best fits from your list seem to be: Duke, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Stanford, USC and UW Madison. Boom, there are your 6! Maybe keep another 2 that really intrigue you. I would keep UW Madison if you are happy with it as a “just in case the world blows up” option since these are all Uber competitive schools.
You should find out what your budget is. Then run the NPCs on the schools that you are considering and drop the ones from your list that don’t fit your budget. This probably will mean dropping UC Berkeley.
The University of Wisconsin is a great university. You are in-state with great stats. I would apply there, and then only to a handful of other schools that are near the top of your list in terms of where you might want to be.
I’m not sure why people are saying to drop UC Berkeley. From the looks of her school list, she can afford the OOS costs. It almost looks like you people are saying that $65K isn’t worth it for a elite public school, but $75K is worth it for a not as high-ranking private school?
If you are looking to fit in culture wise as an Asian, well no school will beat Berkeley on your list since the school is almost 50% Asian. No school will beat Berkeley in ranking for CS, it is in the Big 4. And very few schools will top the Haas business school.
This looks like a list pulled from the T20 of the US News list for top national universities (with Pomona, Barnard, and UW Madison sprinkled in).
Your grades and test scores are definitely in line with your list of schools, and your ECs also seem solid, but please realize how reach-heavy your list is. Times have changed, and many of the schools on your list reject impressive students who would have waltzed into these places twenty years ago.
Don’t get me wrong. You’ll get into some of the schools on your list (I would hope!), and I could not imagine UW Madison rejecting you, so if you are okay with your in-state flagship, there’s little risk with a reach-heavy list.
Truth is, you could probably eliminate any schools on your list that you’re not truly crazy about (can one really love every T20 school? I mean, Dartmouth and Brown are polar opposites) and realize that there are other top-notch STEM-y schools like Carnegie Mellon (EDIT: Just saw that it is on your list), U of Rochester, GA Tech, RPI, and others. I have no idea if finances are an issue for your family, but students who are competitive at Ivies and Ivy equivalents often receive full-ride offers from other schools. A lot of the schools on your list do not offer merit. If this is not an issue with your family, then your current list is fine.
@ProfessorPlum168
UCB will cost an out of state student $65K a year. The “not as good” private could cost far less with potential aid/scholarships. The UC system is excellent for in state students but tough to justify for an out of state student because if they are able to get in then they probably have some other excellent and far cheaper options. I told my D not to apply to any of the UC’s because of that and i think she would get in to some of them. She is applying to Cal Poly which is still $40K a year but another great school and $100K is $100K!
@intparent " I don’t see MIT, Caltech, and Mudd as places where you’ll find a lot of people deep into politics and the economy, either" Don’t know about Caltech and Mudd, but MIT’s economics department is exceptionally well regarded. Admittedly - I’m not sure how much that translates into everyday undergrad conversation, but it just seemed an odd comment to me given the quality of academic economics at MIT, so I thought I’d mention that…
Interesting it’s so low, considering MIT is usually ranked at or near the top of graduate economics programs. I have no idea what % of grads those are either tbh.
drop any out of state public school since the out of state tuition isn’t worth it. If you decide you want to be pre-med you want the school with the most grade inflation and drop the deflation schools (CMU, chicago, etc…)
If you are serious about pre-med, you should consider spending less on undergrad so you can borrow less for med school. And agree that many these are hard schools to get the needed GPA for med school.
If money is not a problem you just described University of Michigan… It has all you want. With your stats you might get some money. They do support OOS depending on your needs. Sorry to add to your list.
Of course my family is partial to Berkeley (2018) and Pomona (2020), but ask your college counselor to help you narrow your list. If you have one safety school you’d be thrilled to attend if that’s your only admission, one safety is enough. Then pick maybe 9 more. Good Luck!
The OP said she couldn’t afford to apply to all the schools on her list, so it seems likely that full pay would be a hardship . . . .
I hope she is considering the challenge of writing so many essays, and how difficult most applicants would find it to come up with tailored responses for so many schools, as well as just wanting to reduce the cost of applications.
I suggest grouping the schools into super reaches, reaches, matches, and safeties, and then prune the categories that have a lot of schools. Right now, I know that you have a lot of super reaches: Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cal Tech, Dartmouth, Brown. Others might be in this category, too. The majority of the rest are probably reaches. Pick two or three super reaches and two or three reaches. Madison is either a safety or a match; definitely leave it on your list. If you’d be happy going to Madison, you probably don’t need another safety.
If I were you I would keep Vanderbilt on the list and apply for the Cornelius Vanderbilt scholarship. Very competitive, but I think it is full tuition, leaving money for future grad/professional school if desired.
I would also keep Notre Dame. You are a URM at ND and maybe have a real chance for merit money there too.
And you are so fortunate to have “almost free” UW-Madison as your state flagship choice!
Harvey Mudd, Caltech and MIT would not be good choices for someone who is planning to be pre-med. Those schools are not GPA friendly. I’m with those who think UC Berkeley is not worth it at OOS rates.
Pomona seems to be a good choice for pre-med. I’d keep it. How about adding Scripps?
Make sure to apply by December 1 for USC to qualify for their merit scholarships.
Your stats and ECs are great ! For a high stats student, it is not easy to find matches. Your safety is UW and may get a scholarship.
You could apply to HYPS, as you never know if you get lucky.
Are you applying to direct MD program (NU HPME, Brown PLME etc.) or regular undergrad, If you are leaning towards Premed, then MIT, Caltech, Chicago, HarveyMudd, Berkeley, Cornell, CMU are not good choices, but great for CS.
Run NPC for each college, as they can be very different from your FAFSA EFC.
As another poster advised, make a grouping of High Reach, Low Reach and Match/Safety with 2-3 in each group
Did you visit any of these schools ?
It looks like you need to decide first how important/likely Premed is, and you can drop a lot of these schools…
You will spend a lot of time writing essays, and they are very important for these reach schools.