Help me shorten my list and pick a safety?

College Search & Selection
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<p>@Melissawilliams‌ From what it looks like, you should be fine with this list. IF you wanted to add any extra matches (you’re fine with only one safety, because it’s highly unlike you’ll need it) I’d recommend some of the NESCAC colleges of the Northeast, especially considering your strength in literature. Here they are, ordered by difficulty (top name in each category is hardest, bottom is easiest):</p>

<p>Reach NESCAC:
Amherst
Williams</p>

<p>Match NESCAC (About 40-60%):
Tufts (more like an all around university than a liberal arts college)
Wesleyan
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Bates</p>

<p>Low Match NESCAC (60%-90%):
Hamilton
Colby
Connecticut College
Trinity (pretty much a safety)</p>

<p>These are all good schools, but again, you probably don’t need them. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>I’d second 235423’s suggestion to look at the NESCACs, but for the sake of clarity I’ll add that the percentages s/he listed are his or her assessment of your chances at these schools, not the overall admit rates. These are tough schools to get into but would be good matches for a student with your stats. They also give good need-based aid.</p>

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<p>

This is terrible advice for anybody who is looking at highly selective schools like Harvard. Such a student needs 3 matches and 2 safeties total, and then as many reaches as it is sensible and practical to apply to–I don’t think 8 or 9 is too many. That’s assuming you would like to go to a reach school.</p>

<p>And let’s not forget that OP is a high-stats URM. She simply doesn’t need a lot of matches and safeties, unless she wants to have a lot of choices.</p>

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<p>I completely agree. Actually, nobody needs more than 2 safeties, IF they are true safeties. In many cases, one safety is sufficient - again, if a true safety.</p>

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<p>Thank you everyone! @Hunt‌ @NROTCgrad‌ Would Tulane be a true safety then? Their acceptance rate is kinda low. Meanwhile UMD (while I hate it) is nearly 50%. Doesn’t Wisconsin also have a high rate? </p>

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<p>I don’t think schools like Tulane or Wisconsin can really be considered safeties, even for a very good student. If you live in Maryland, UMD makes a pretty good safety–although my son applied to Pitt as his safety. My daughter also didn’t like UMD, so she applied to St. Mary’s College of Maryland as her safety–it’s small, but you might look at that.</p>

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<p>And I’ve decided to cut Georgetown from the list. They aren’t on Common App and they require more subject tests, and I wouldn’t even want to go there (unless I got rejected from every school but it and UMD). </p>

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<p>You could replace Georgetown with Hopkins, if you want a local option.</p>

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<p>Is Tulane a true safety?</p>

<p>Maybe, but not as safe as UMD.</p>

<p>Tulane upper 25% SAT score is 2150. Yours is 2240 and you are URM. It would be shocking if Tulane did not accept you. Scholarship money is beyond my knowledge. Maybe @fallenchemist can help you here.</p>

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<p>Revised list:</p>

<p>Harvard (SCEA)
Michigan (EA, if rejected I’ll add more)
UVA (EA)
UNC Chapel Hill (EA)
UMD (EA, safety)
Wisconsin (EA, safety)</p>

<p>RD Schools:</p>

<p>Stanford
Yale
Princeton
Penn
Columbia
Brown
Notre Dame</p>

<p>I suppose I’ll just do that. If Harvard and Michigan reject me in December, I’ll add WashU and Tulane. I’m good at churning out essays under time constraints anyway.</p>

<p>It just sucks cuz Maryland and Wisconsin aren’t on the Common App > <</p>

51

<p>Look at Pitt. I think its application was very simple.</p>

52

<p>@Melissawilliams‌ - Just saw the tag note from NROTCgrad. I can help you with Tulane. But first I want to clear something else up. You keep saying you are going to apply to Harvard SCEA (actually they call it REA, Restrictive Early Action) and then you also want to apply to several other schools EA. But Harvard clearly states on their web site

<a href=“First-Year Applicants”>https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply/application-timeline/restrictive-early-action&lt;/a&gt; So you cannot do both. Any comment?</p>

<p>As far as Tulane, like WUSTL they would need to see strong interest. That means either visiting campus or attending a local session held by admissions in the fall (or both), answering the Why Tulane question on their application (Universal App, not Common App) with an answer that shows you really gave it some thought and looked into the school, and possibly even communicating with your admissions rep. To be eligible for Tulane’s full tuition awards you have to apply either EA or SCEA, which again could conflict with your Harvard plans. Applying to Harvard RD, while a tough thing to hear I know, might be the better decision since it gives you so much more flexibility. Anyway, Tulane is not a safety in the sense that if they perceive you are using them as a safety, they will defer you and then most likely wait list you. They want students that really want to be there, and given enrollments over the last 5-6 years and retention rates that have risen, it seems they are getting that and improving the stats of the incoming classes at the same time. But if you convince them you would seriously consider Tulane, then I would say that you would almost certainly get accepted. If that happens you would almost certainly get a lot of merit scholarship money.</p>

<p>You must be close to BWI airport. If so, then there are a lot of cheap Southwest flights as you undoubtedly know. Just randomly picking a future date like October 6, you could do round trip for about $250. You could talk to Tulane about staying overnight, I am not sure if they can help with that cost or not. Visiting campus is best not just for showing interest but for you too. If you could do it and have time to do the tour, meet with your admissions person, sit in on a couple of classes, and check out the surrounding area that would be ideal for you. If not, like I said there are the local sessions.</p>

<p>I would also add at this point that WUSTL does pay for students to visit sometimes. Their admissions office is pretty helpful in this regard and you could talk to them. I am fuzzy on the details. I think they also put you up with another student so there is no hotel cost.</p>

<p>Anyway, let me know about that Harvard REA thing and what you are going to do about it. Depending on your decision, all the advice you have been given could change, since your plans would have to change.</p>

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<p>@fallenchemist Thanks for all of the helpful info about Tulane! I definitely want to visit it and WUSTL now.</p>

<p>About Harvard REA, I recently found out that you can apply to other schools EA. From their website (in the FAQ section): “You may apply Early Action to any public college/university or to foreign universities.” All the colleges I listed as EA are public.</p>

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<p>OP is correct–she can apply early to public (but not private) schools and still apply to Harvard REA. It’s in one of the answers to policy questions on the page linked in #51. Note to anybody else reading this: make sure you are really sure what the early admissions rules are at all the schools where you may be applying. They can vary quite a bit.</p>

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<p>@Melissawilliams‌ - Ah, yes. I knew they allowed for public schools as exceptions and then completely overlooked that your other EA choices were publics. Stupid me. So the big (?) issue is that Tulane is not public and so EA is out, and that means you wouldn’t be eligible for their full tuition scholarship. Also applying EA to Tulane is another way of showing interest, so you wouldn’t have that going for you either. So the most you could get from Tulane in scholarship money would be about half of their total cost of attendance, their Presidential Scholarship. There is no separate application for this, you are automatically considered for it with your regular application (which is free, btw). But you would definitely be a strong candidate for the full tuition scholarship if you change your mind about applying to Harvard REA. Maybe even their full ride Scholarship, the Stamps. There are about 125 academic full tuition scholarships at Tulane, and 5 of those are chosen to be Stamps scholars that covers the rest of the costs plus stipends for research, travel abroad, etc. Just saying.</p>

<p>But I don’t want to get all caught up in that one school, even if it is my alma mater, and my D’s. You have some really great schools on your list and I am confident will get accepted to several of them. FYI, my D is going to Stanford for grad school in the fall. I see it is on your list for RD. Oh, you might want to add Univ. So. Cal. to your list. I think they only have RD, IIRC and it would seem to fit a lot of your criteria.</p>

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<p>

Considering the importance of essays, I am not sure that “churning” is the best approach (even if you are good at it). Instead, consider writing those essays well in advance, and have everything else lined up too; ready to submit on a moment’s notice.</p>

<p>Just keep in mind how hard it is to get into Harvard, and how hard it is to get good OOS financial aid at Michigan. It is entirely possible that you will decide to apply to WUSTL or Tulane.</p>

<p>Also, you might really want to keep a calendar of college deadlines. With so many schools, it is amazing how easily things can slip through the cracks.</p>

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<p>I’d also agree that USC seems like a good match to you. They also offer a good deal of merit scholarships and claim to meet 100% need. </p>

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<p>I nixed Georgetown from my list for the same reasons. Too much work for a school that one might not even want to attend. Also you might as well apply to WUSTL anyways, since again, no supplements so you can submit your application as is, and even if you get into Michigan, you might like WUSTL better. </p>

<p>WUSTL’s merit scholarships: <a href=“http://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships-financial-aid/Freshman-Academic-Scholarship-Fellowship-Programs/Pages/default.aspx”>http://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships-financial-aid/Freshman-Academic-Scholarship-Fellowship-Programs/Pages/default.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also you should still consider applying to Hopkins, their writing supplement isn’t that bad and overlaps with some of your schools. By the way, the “Why X” are the worst questions ever, ugh.</p>

<p>And finally, it looks like you intend to withhold your chemistry subject test score through score choice, but just know that some of the schools on your list don’t practice score choice… although reporting it is all up to the honor code anyways.</p>

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<p>@enigmaticescape I think you’re right about WUSTL. I’ve just gotta demonstrate interest.</p>

<p>Well, since Harvard and most of the schools I’m applying to require only 2, I was just planning to only mention the first two good ones, if that makes sense. I know Yale requires you send in all the scores of all the stuff you’re submitting. I’ve only taken the SAT once, and I took one subject test twice (got the same score), and the other subject test once. Since the school only requires 2 subject tests, do I still have to report the third Bio M score? That would suck.</p>

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<p><a href=“Standardized Testing Requirements & Policies | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions”>Standardized Testing Requirements & Policies | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions;

<p>That should answer your question. This is where the ethical question comes into place: they’ll never know if you don’t submit them, but that’s jut not ethical, eh?</p>