Help me sort my colleges into reach, target, and safety

College Search & Selection
1

Hi,

I am a high school junior beginning the college search process, and I feel a bit lost. Please take a look at my information and help me order the colleges I currently looking at. Also, if you have recommendations for schools I should look at, especially safety schools, please let me know. I want to major in English and then go to law school.

I go to a highly-ranked large public school in California.
GPA unweighted: 4.9
unweighted: 3.94
SAT: 1540, 790 English 750 Math
APs taken: sophomore- EHAP and Chinese (both 5s), junior- APUSH, Environmental Science, and Psychology (scores aren’t out yet)
APs for senior year: Lit, Lang, Gov, Econ, Calc AB, and Physics 1

Extracurriculars:
Volleyball since seventh grade, both club and school
Science Research since sophomore year
MUN for sophomore year only
Yearbook since junior year, I’m now an editor
Link Crew, senior year only
Volunteer at my church at their Friday night Awana program for younger kids since junior year
Freshman summer: volunteered at an aquarium
Junior summer: internship at a non-profit technology center; I wrote their newsletters and took pictures. I got a Gold Award for my hours there.
Senior summer: going to Kenyon Young Writer’s Workshop

I’m in NEHS, CSF, and National Chinese Honor Society, if that matters. Also, I keep a blog where I post book reviews and pieces of writing, lol, but I don’t know if I should include it in my college app.

Okay, so the schools I’m thinking about or have on my radar are Princeton, Brown (well okay I know those are super reach), Swarthmore, Kenyon, Amherst, Williams, Reed, Skidmore, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Middlebury, Vassar, Bard, Grinnell, UCSB

Thank you! Also, if you have any thoughts on the above colleges please share.

2

I think your resume is extremely impressive, and I’m glad to see a fellow English major out there!! For you, a lot of the schools you’re looking into aren’t necessarily “reaches,” though of course the Ivies are always a leap of faith. Because you have a lot of diversity in your extracurriculars with a sport, internships, clubs, and leadership, that’s a done deal. Your GPA and test scores are also great (though I’m not familiar with the new SAT since my class was the last to take the old one, but I assume your scores are high). Overall, you’re a pretty great student.

However, you said you might not mention your blog on your app, and I think that would be a fatal mistake. It’s one of the few things (besides the Kenyon Young Writer’s Workshop – jealous!!) that makes you stand out as an applicant, especially if you’re applying as an English major. It doesn’t matter if you’re a little embarrassed. Showing schools you have passion for your subject is the most important. You are going there to learn and grow and explore higher education, so the fact that you’re already exploring your interests is a good sign.

Based on your lists, I worry just a bit that you’re looking at schools that come up in the “top 10 [blank]” US World News Report or USA Today lists, rather than looking for schools that may have some hidden gems. There are so many fantastic and incredibly enriching English programs at schools you’d never expect – who’d have guessed University of Iowa has an award-winning creative writing program?

All I’m saying is to really dig into the entire college experience beyond programs. Chances are you’ll be living on campus for at least half your time there, and everything you do outside your classes is just as important as what you do in them. I personally sorted out my school priorities this way: 1) academic programs 2) distance from home 3) campus vibes/housing situation 4) non-major academics that are interesting/provide alternate opportunities 5) clubs/organizations to participate in. If the only thing you like about a school is one of these factors, it’s not the right place for you.

I’m more knowledgeable on UCs and Cal States and learning more about the Ivies, so regarding the others I wish you the best, but can’t exactly chance you. On your current trajectory, you’re on track to get into a lot of fantastic places, but I wouldn’t expect to “run the table” and get in everywhere you apply. Just make sure that when you’re researching, you’re looking into absolutely everything that school has to offer you! Best of luck!

3

Yeah, most of these colleges are from top lists, mostly because I didn’t know where to start looking. I will definitely look farther/deeper this summer. As for my blog, I’ll probably put it on my apps after I comb through it and add some more content in the next few months. Thank you so much for your advice!

4

http://flavorwire.com/409437/the-25-most-literary-colleges-in-america

These colleges tend to demonstrate particularly strong track records with highly regarded law schools:

https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Top-Producers-Lawyers-Infographic-e1459562437296.png

Colleges that emphasize writing can provide excellent preparation for future lawyers:

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/writing-programs

5

For literary pursuits, Vassar, Kenyon, Skidmore and Bard seem to be some of your stronger current choices while spanning a convenient selectivity range.

6

Get a Fiske Guide if you haven’t looked at one, it will help you understand the schools on your list better and maybe find more choices.

7

what are your cost constraints?

8

If your interest in English extends to writing and creative writing, do not overlook Hamilton.

9

@neural13, If you’re interested in Brown and Vassar, Wesleyan is an additional college that you should consider.

http://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/academics/law_school.html

Fwiw, Students from Brown, Wesleyan and Vassar were admitted to Harvard law in past year

10

Princeton, Brown - Reach
Williams, Amherst, Swat - Low reach
Midd, Vassar, Grinnell, Kenyon - High match
Berkeley, UCLA, Reed - Match
Skidmore - Match/low match
UCSB, Bard - Low match

The UC system would be a safety for you – you will get in somewhere – as well as CSUs and some less selective private schools. I don’t think your current list contains a true safety, as impressive as your resume is.

If you like all of these schools (fit!) and can afford them, it’s a good list. Just add a safety.

11

A true safety is a place where you are an automatic admit because of your grades and test scores, that you can afford without any aid other than federally determined aid and/or guaranteed state aid and/or automatic merit-based aid, that offers your major, and that you are happy to attend if all else goes bad in the admission and aid process. In CA, your commuting disatance CCs are likely to be true safeties. So get to know them, and see what you think about each of them as an option.

12

Thank you everyone. I appreciate your advice greatly and will read about the colleges you suggested. I plan to look closer at the UCs and research some more on those especially. Cost wise, my parents said around <$30,000 a year after any financial aid. So the UCs would be good for that price range.

13

^ I disagree with @prezbucky on saying Berkeley and UCLA are matches, solely because I’m very familiar with the UCs and I know firsthand that stellar students with brilliant resumes might not get in. Based on your resume I’d say you’re incredibly bright, but UCLA is the most applied-to school in the country with over 100,000 applicants, and their acceptance rate is lower than Harvard’s. You could be brilliant, but if they don’t have space for you and don’t want to make any, down on the waitlist or into the reject pile you go. So be wary of becoming too confident. It’s a tossup every time. I’d broaden your research to include smaller schools, unless you know you want to attend a large university. College tours will also help you hone your criteria for campus life, so try to see as many schools as possible, regardless of whether you want to attend. If there’s a campus within 2 hours of your town, drive there one day and check it out! There are countless schools with hidden gems that often get overlooked due to esteem, size, religious affiliation, or co-ed vs. women’s only colleges. Just use the time you have to really explore everything, because you likely haven’t really developed a “taste” or preference for certain aspects of different colleges. I know I didn’t have a clue what I wanted until just recently, so it’s important to dive in headfirst and commit yourself to those hours of scouring college sites. Don’t just look at household names.

14

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/application-prep/making-undergraduate-courses-count-for-law-school and related links may be helpful in planning your college study as a pre-law student. Law school does not require any specific undergraduate major.

Law school is expensive, so spending more on undergraduate may mean more debt at the end after law school.

15

I wouldn’t be too shocked if you got into Brown, to be honest. Come on, Skidmore a match? It’s average sat is ~1300-1330.

I’d consider Skidmore-like a safety; in my opinion, you definitely have a chance at a full ride from Skidmore-tier schools.
Just not at skidmore (not many merit awards for English it appears)

https://www.skidmore.edu/financialaid/merit.php

If you’re up to applying to 15 schools (I will be doing so as well!), I think your list is balanced.

Maybe apply to an ultimate safety. Get a fee waiver for that, though. Make sure there’s no supplemental application work. And make them fly you out (partially kidding).

16

As rough selectivity guides, these sources can be useful:

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-50-smartest-colleges-in-america-2016-10

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9

http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/college-profiles-new-sat/

UCLA: 17%
Harvard: 6%

(USNWR.)

17

@aspiringauthor7

A match (to me) means a 40-60% chance of admission – far from a sure thing. For someone with OP’s stats, Berkeley and UCLA are likely matches – maaaaaybe high matches, but certainly in the (larger) match range.

Reach/match/safety are not just dependent on test score and GPA performance vs. other admits, but also on the school’s admit rate and any hooks the applicant might have. And for colleges that admit by major/school, some majors are harder to get into than others, so that should be considered as well.

For a school to possibly be considered a safety for a superstar, for instance, I think it should have at least a 40% admit rate… and 50% or higher is better. Skidmore fails to meet that minimum, so to me it cannot be considered a safety.

18

A safety, for a top student with top stats, needs to have a 35+% acceptance rate. UcSb is the closest you have to a safety unless I missed something. It’s really hard to find safeties with enough academic range for top students. A midtier UC’s honors program (or equivalent) might be it, or Cal poly SLO.
For writing though smaller schools, with lots of small seminars, is best. Perhaps add Denison and show lots of interest???

19

In order to look for schools, I would first look at what size/location/academic programs they have. I personally didn’t want core requirements, which led me to schools like Amherst, Brown, and Hamilton. Hopefully looking for specific things will help you to choose what schools that offer what you really want/need.

And I would definitely include at least one school with an acceptance rate of 50% or higher. I’m sure you’ll have good luck, but all of your current schools are quite selective.

20

I agree with the above: make sure you have 2 safeties (which MUST have a high acceptance rate - for you, 35-40% should be sufficient, although the 50% mark indicated above is a good one).
Core curriculum, spread of the distribution requirements, and “open curriculum” would be an important criterion for many students, as would the content of your major (are you required to take specific math courses? is there space for electives within the major? is it possible to take “cognate” classes, classes in fields that impact your major or provide another perspective upon it?

Size shouldn’t be an immediate restrictive factor, although it is easy to see and thus is an immediate factor used by most HS students. Unfortunately it keeps a lot of strong colleges out of consideration that would otherwise be excellent fits for their major, personality, and interests.
“Does the college offer enough upper-level classes in your fields of interest” matters more.
You can only take 4-5 classes per semester. Even a small college will offer 600+ courses from which to choose (not counting separate sections of the same course). So, upper level classes would matter more than general classes.
A campus that looks huge soon becomes familiar whereas a campus with 2,400 students can feel huge with dozens and dozens of buildings and greens.
30,000 students leaving their 10-10:55 class together can feel overwhelming or 30,000 students screaming for their team together can feel inspiring and uplifting.
It really depends on what experience you want, and size of the student body isn’t the best way to look at it.
Better way to look at it is: do I prefer to listen in the middle of a large group, or to speak up and participate as part of a small group? do I want a few close friends, or lots of acquaintances? do I want a specific job with a major attached (turf science, engineering, teaching, nursing) or do I want a job but I can imagine acquiring lots of skills and figuring out what job these skills lead to?