Help me slim down lengthy list

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My GC said I’m borderline just about everywhere so I’m going to be applying to a lot of schools (12-20), most of them reaches. I need your help determining which reaches are realistic and which schools I should eliminate from my list. I know this is a very lengthy post, but please help me out.</p>

<p>First off, I’m taking an extremely difficult schedule senior year & with my school’s messed-up GPA system I can get all B’s and put myself back into the top 25%, and if I manage 4 or 5 A’s I might be able to go into the top 10%.</p>

<p>I go to one of the best schools in the midwest, and my class rank is something like 175 out of 620. My school is consistently ranked among the top 200 schools in the country, so it’s outrageously competitive.</p>

<p>I’m a white male.</p>

<p>Freshman Year: Top 15%, Weighted GPA 5.4 out of 6.0 (3.8?)
Sophomore Year: Top 25%, Weighted GPA 5.1 out of 6.0 (3.6?)
Junior Year: Top 35%, Weighted GPA 4.9 out of 6.0 (3.4?)</p>

<p>SAT: 2060 (740 Verbal, 680 Writing, 640 Math)</p>

<p>ACT: 31</p>

<p>I will be taking the SAT subject tests soon, and I will probably take the SAT one more time. I’ve only taken it once so far.</p>

<p>EC’s:</p>

<p>Editor on an award-winning newspaper
Volunteer Work
Library Page</p>

<p>I may be joining other clubs this year.</p>

<p>AP’s:</p>

<p>US History: 5
European History: 4
Microeconomics: 4
English Language & Composition: 3
Psychology: ?
British Literature: ?
World Literature: ?
Government: ?
Calculus AB: ?
Environmental Science: ?</p>

<p>I expect to do extremely well on the essays. I’ve been told by my AP Lit teacher that I’m the best writer she’s ever had, and at a writer’s workshop at Ball State University I took home the “Most Talented Writer” award. I also expect my recommendations to be solid because the teachers I’ll be asking recommendations from have known me for 3-4 years.</p>

<p>I’m planning on going into law school after graduation, but because there is no pre-law major I’ll probably double major in Economics & some sort of government class.</p>

<p>As of now, I’m applying to (I’ll probably eliminate 2-6 of these):</p>

<p>Cornell<br>
Chicago<br>
Johns Hopkins
Claremont McKenna
Tufts<br>
NYU
Michigan
Boston College
USC
George Washington
Boston University
Tulane
Illinois
Carleton
Haverford </p>

<p>& I’m still considering (I’ll probably only apply to 1-3 of these):</p>

<p>North Carolina
Duke
Williams
Wake Forest
Wisconsin
Carnegie Mellon
Richmond
Lehigh
…and a few others</p>

<p>Notes:</p>

<p>*I’m applying ED to Cornell.
*I have a ton of connections @ Chicago, and I live 20 minutes away
*My uncle is very good friends with someone at Tufts. He is an ex-chancellor and has a building named after him at Tufts.
*The person with my class rank last year ended up at Chicago.</p>

<p>That said…</p>

<li>What schools do you think I should eliminate from my list?</li>
<li>What schools look like a match?</li>
<li>Are there any other schools out there not on my list that you think I should add?</li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks in advance</p>

2

<p>If you're looking for narrow down you're list, you should probably choose either BU or BC. They are very different schools and most people strongly prefer one over the other.</p>

3

<p>I would help you, but I'm not familiar with really uber competetive school admissions. I hope someone else with more expertise in this field can help you out. My best wishes :)</p>

4

<p>"If you're looking for narrow down you're list, you should probably choose either BU or BC. They are very different schools and most people strongly prefer one over the other."</p>

<p>I've visited and prefer BC (by a lot), but my GC gives me a 50/50 shot at BC & an 80% shot at BU.</p>

5

<p>The point of safeties is to eliminate the need for tons of matches (BC). Despite the %shot your GC gave you, you really SHOULD pick one school, BU or BC. They are very different and you are applying to plenty of other schools (unless you are committed to Boston). </p>

<p>Also, your list varies wildly in sizes. Claremont has around 1,000 students, in contrast to many of the schools on your list having 30,000+ students. Decide what you like and go from there.</p>

<p>Another thing I noticed - almost all of your "likely applies" are liberal schools and almost all of your "maybe applies" are conservative. Just an observation lol.</p>

6

<p>Whenever a post starts out by saying that you've already been advised they are mostly reaches and it goes on to say your uncles has a friend and you have connections....you know you're not bound to be dealing with a realistic list.</p>

7

<p>The problem with this list is that you seem to have no idea what you want. Haverford is a school in the middle of nowhere with 1,000 undergrads. NYU doesn't even have a campus, and Illinois has 30,000+ students! Decide what you're really looking for and that will help you eliminate a lot of schools.</p>

8

<p>I'll try and address all the issues you guys have brought up.....
(no particular order)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Zagat, I really take offense to you saying that this is not a realistic list. I've talked to 2 GC's for a combined total of over 15 hours to compile this list, I've spent countless hours over the past 2 years researching and reading about the schools, and I've visted many of the schools on the list. I'm not just throwing names out there as you imply. The list has 20+ schools, and I say I have connections at 2 of them, and that makes the whole list unrealistic? And why are you so bitter about the connections part? You make it sound like connections are a bad thing and that they've never helped anybody get into a reach school before. If you've got connections, why not use them? </p></li>
<li><p>I listed Illinois b/c I'm an Illinois resident; it's my safety school. I'm probably not going to end up there. </p></li>
<li><p>I listed Claremont McKenna b/c they're extremely strong in the social sciences and are great with their pre-law advising. I'm aware of their extremely small undergraduate population.</p></li>
<li><p>Carleton & Haverford will probably be removed from the list; I really only put them there b/c my parents are obsessed with me going to a liberal arts school, particularly Carleton, and those are two 'realistic reaches' my GC's brought up.</p></li>
<li><p>Ideally I'd go to a school in the northeast, preferrably Boston or NY but I'd make an exception if I really like the school. Also, I'd like a school with around 10k undergraduate students but size isn't that much of an issue for me. </p></li>
<li><p>I don't care if the school is liberal or conservative.</p></li>
<li><p>Most of the 'maybe list' I'm not going to apply to so don't spent as much time trimming that list as much as the 1st list.</p></li>
</ol>

9

<p>How about the kind of environment you want to live in?</p>

<p>NYU is in the middle of everything, Cornell is on a mountain overlooking... nothing, and Duke is somewhere in between.</p>

10

<p>Environment isn't going to play a huge factor for me as long as there is a decent amount of stuff to do in the area. </p>

<p>For example, I'm willing to go to a rural campus like Cornell because I've heard that there is a lot to do there. However, I'm less willing to go somewhere like Colgate where I've heard there is very little to do.</p>

<p>If I had to pick, I'd prefer an urban environment.</p>

11

<p>It sounds like you're too flexible with your criteria. You need to take into consideration the cons of each school - not just the pros. Weigh them out. I'm sure there's SOMETHING you don't like - or at least prefer more.</p>

<p>Break your list up into your reaches, matches, and safeties (or be even more specific, since you have so many schools), then organize each list according to which ones you would be more inclined to attend if you were accepted to all the schools in the list. Unless if there's something uber special about the last one or two schools, kick them out.</p>

12

<p>I'm working on rearranging the list now, and I've decided which colleges I'm completely sure I will be applying to.</p>

<p>100% positive I will be applying to:</p>

<p>*Cornell (Early Decision)
*Chicago<br>
*Claremont McKenna
*George Washington
*Illinois (Safety School)</p>

13

<p>Some preferences of mine that may help narrow this list down:</p>

<p>*I'd prefer to go no farther south than Washington D.C. and no farther west than Chicago, but I'd definitely make an exception for California, maybe North Carolina.</p>

<p>*Ideally I'd like to go to school in NYC or Boston (NYU, BU), but if they are in the suburbs around the city (BC) than that is a major plus as well. If I can't be in NY or Boston, I'd prefer the to be somewhere else in the northeast or mid-atlantic.</p>

<p>*Ideally I'd like the school to have an undergraduate population around 10k, and no less than 4k. I'd make an exception for Claremont McKenna because there are 7 schools right next to each other so it feels like a larger school.</p>

14

<p>For economics/pre-law (and your other preferences):
Cornell (its your first choice)
Chicago
Tufts
NYU
Boston College
Boston University
Carleton (great LAC, makes M&D happy)
Duke</p>

15

<p>Of the 3 preferences you just listed, Cornell only fits one of them - It is bigger than 10K undergrads and is not in a city such as NYC or Boston.</p>

16

<p>Also, for social sciences, I'd look at Northeastern over Boston University. Most people pick out BC and BU because of the names, not knowing that BC is in Newton(largest town in Boston suburbs), and that there are atleast 5 comprable school to Boston University within the area, IMO the other four are better.</p>

<p>If you want suburban campuses, then you want:
Boston College
Tufts University
Brandeis University</p>

<p>Also, you might want to look at Suffolk Universiy as a safety, but I believe Tufts and Northeastern are the better options.</p>