Help me with my college list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi everyone!
So I'm a junior and I visited several colleges over April break hoping to narrow down my list of reach schools (at the beginning I had around ten...)
Would anyone help me in narrowing this down? Or even possibly suggest other schools I may have missed that seem good in my intended major, preferences, etc?</p>

<p>My Information
I am Asian-American and I live in Massachusetts</p>

<p>STATS
Weighted GPA: 4.39
Rank: 5/344
SAT: 690 CR 770 Math 800 Writing (I plan to retake for my CR score in October)
SAT IIs: I'm taking US History, Math II, and Biology in June
PSATs: Definitely won't be NMF, score was 214</p>

<p>CLASSES
All APs/Honors
By the end of senior year, I will have taken (hopefully) 7 AP classes, which is the maximum we are allowed to take in our school.</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS
Very focused on music...
Percussion Ensemble --> 9th
Tri-M Music Honor Society --> Members (9th), Treasurer (10th), Vice President (11th), President (12th)
Night Orchestra --> 10th, 11th, 12th (expected)
Middle School Pit Orchestra --> Pianist as well as accompanist during rehearsals (10th, 11th, possibly 12th)
High School Pit Orchestra --> Pianist as well as accompanist (10th, 11th, possibly 12th)
National Honor Society </p>

<p>COMMUNITY SERVICE
Hospital Volunteer (summer before 10th, 10th, 11th, expected 12th)
Church Pianist</p>

<p>College Preferences</p>

<p>Intended Major: Psychology with intention of pursuing a clinical psychology graduate degree and possibly a music minor/double major (not the most important factor however) --> What I don't want is focus on more research based psychology, I'm looking for more clinical-based.
Cost Restraints: Whenever I ask my parents about their ideal finances for college, they never give me a straight answer; they always say something along the lines of "don't worry about the money". What I can say regarding this however is that you can suggest schools without worrying about finances and my parents and I will discuss finances later on when I'm putting together a final list.
Geographical Location: Prefer to remain in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey; Stanford is only on my list because my sister lives near San Fran.
Size Factor: I'm leaning more towards an undergrad student population of 1000-6000
Rural/Urban/Suburban: Rural or suburban, I think I could get used to Boston or New Haven, but NYC is too much for me.</p>

<p>Tentative College List</p>

<p>REACH
Harvard
Swarthmore
Yale
Princeton
Stanford (I'm on the edge with this one)
Dartmouth</p>

<p>MATCH
Boston University
Wellesley College (not sure if this is actually a match or not)
Sarah Lawrence College
Cornell (same here, this might be a reach)</p>

<p>SAFETY
UMass Amherst
Northeastern University</p>

<p>I feel like I am very top-heavy right now.</p>

2

<p>If you have a safety you can DEFINITELY get into, can AFFORD, and ARE WILLING TO ATTEND, then you can be as top heavy as you want in your list. Good luck.</p>

<p>(I don’t think I’d consider Northeastern a safety).</p>

3

<p>Northeastern is a safety, and has no additional essay other than the common app. If you do early action to both UMASS and Northeastern, you can have both responses back before Christmas, no problem. If you’re wrong, and you’re not, you have time to correct. </p>

<p>Sarah Lawrence is also a safety, and so is BU. Wellesley is a match if you are female (I suspect that you are). I think you might have too many reaches and that the probability of you ATTENDING your least favorite reach is so small that you are wasting your time with that one. Basically in order to go to your least favorite reach, you have to get rejected by all of the other ones AND get accepted to that one. </p>

<p>I think that you should consider some other matches like Brandeis Tufts and Bryn Mawr, Vassar, etc.</p>

4

<p>I’d say Cornell’s a low reach/reach, but it’s certainly possible. I think Wellesley’s a match/high match because acceptance rate just keeps decreasing. I also don’t think Northeastern’s a safety. </p>

<p>If you want some more matches/low matches, check out the other Seven Sisters (Smith, MHC, Bryn Mawr), those seem to match what you’re looking for as well and are probably easier to get into than Wellesley. Barnard’s out because it’s in NYC, but the others are worth looking into. </p>

<p>If you like your safeties a lot, then it’s ok to have a lot of top choices, if they’re really just the back-up plan you hope you won’t need, then you should probably find more matches.</p>

5

<p>Northeastern is much more selective than Boston University. I think you should put Boston under safety and Northeastern under match. </p>

<p>Cornell is a reach.</p>

6

<p>I would not consider any school a safety. I was rejected from most of my safeties and accepted mostly at my reaches. I would just make a list of schools that have super reaches and a list of schools that are more reasonable. I personally think with your list you are on the right track. would you consider any liberal arts schools?</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the suggestions!
@beautifulchick95 - I would definitely consider liberal arts schools; I have Swarthmore as my top choice, in fact. I haven’t visited Williams or Amherst yet but I was contemplating putting them on my list as well.</p>

<p>@Xtremepower - I wasn’t aware that Northeastern was more difficult to get into than BU was, but thanks, I’ll look into that!</p>

<p>@ClassicRockerDad - If I apply early action to UMass and Northeastern, wouldn’t that be against the rules of other school’s ED/EA restrictions??</p>

8

<p>Don’t worry about money is exactly what you want to hear, especially if your parents are the straight forward no BS types, which I sense they are. I’d put BC on the list.</p>

9

<p>You should add Williams. It has everything on your wish list plus excellent music performance opportunities, even if you choose not to double major. Your music ECs will also give you a boost in admissions. (Be sure to submit a music supplement to your application at all the privates on your list.)</p>

<p>If your top choices are small to medium sized privates, you should try harder to find safeties in the same category. I think the suggestion to add other women’s colleges is a good one. If Swarthmore is your top choice, then Smith, for example, would make a good safety. I would also look at some of the other less selective LACs in the northeast like Colby, Sarah Lawrence.</p>

10

<p>Check out U Rochester to see if they have clinical based psych (vs research). It seems to match everything you’re looking for including music, size, stats, location, etc. They should be a match. It’ll just depend on the psych.</p>

11

<p>You mentioned Harvard. I presume that’s one of your top choices. You probably aren’t going to apply Early Decision somewhere else. </p>

<p>Harvard has single-choice Early Action (SCEA). Applying to UMASS EA is probably fine, but you should check carefully. I know for Yale’s SCEA, your own state school is fine.
Northeastern EA would violate SCEA. However, Early Action does not improve your chances at Harvard, so I think that you would be better off not applying Early to a school with SCEA and applying EA to UMASS and Northeastern to make sure that you have a safety in the bag. </p>

<p>Momrath, small LACs like Smith and Colby don’t really make great safeties because their admissions are holistic and there are factors that you can’t control. If they are used as safeties, it’s important to have at least one other numerical safety (admissions is basted solely on stats and is predictable) or an EA safety that you get into before Christmas so that you know that you have something. Colby definitely waitlists some great students who they feel are unlikely to attend. </p>

<p>Another school worth considering, that feels similar to BU and Northeastern but has a top 10 psychology department is University of Pittsburgh. They also give out very generous full-rides to people with very high SAT scores. They have an honors program which groups the top students together. The psychology there may be more research, so you should check it out yourself. They have rolling admissions, and if you apply in September you’ll be admitted in October, and it will relieve a lot of pressure. It is a schlep from Massachusetts though.</p>

<p>Boston College is a match school with Clinical Psychology that also has EA.</p>

12

<p>Actually, Harvard is not my top choice because I’m not a huge fan of Boston. My top choice for a university would be Princeton. So if I’m understanding correctly, you would recommend NU and UMass EA rather than EA at my top choice??</p>

<p>And thanks you all for the insight!</p>

13

<p>[Harvard</a> College Admissions § Applying: Early Action](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/application_process/early.html]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/application_process/early.html) indicates that if you apply to Harvard EA, you agree not to apply EA to other private schools.</p>

<p>So you can apply SCEA to Harvard and EA to UMass - Amherst, but not SCEA to Harvard and EA to Northeastern.</p>

<p>The other SCEA/REA schools have similar rules, although there may be variation. Check their web sites. Princeton’s SCEA information is here:</p>

<p>[Single-Choice</a> Early Action - Princeton University | Single-Choice Early Action](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/single-choice-early-actio/]Single-Choice”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/single-choice-early-actio/)</p>

14

<p>I’m surprised the “don’t worry about the money” comment hasn’t really been focused on.</p>

<p>If your parents really mean that – AND they are fully informed about what the COA really can be these days – then great! But prices have soared and can be a shock to someone who hasn’t kept track. Make sure they know what these places cost for tuition, room and board, other expenses – and see if they still say “don’t worry”.</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>Maybe. </p>

<p>It depends where on your list the EA schools fall. As UCB said, UMASS you should apply EA anyway. Princeton allows applying early to public schools. UPitt is also public. </p>

<p>Is Northeastern a more preferable choice for you than UMASS? Would you prefer to have two safeties in the bag? </p>

<p>Also, would it change your application strategy if you were denied by Princeton in December, or would it knock you for a loop and cause you great anxiety. These are questions worth asking. Getting denied when you have somewhere else to go isn’t as stressful. Postponing the more likely outcome until all of the decisions come in may work to your psychological advantage. </p>

<p>Basically, valid reasons for applying early are eliminating applications and eliminating stress. Getting admitted to safeties relieves stress. Getting admitted to your top choice eliminates applications and a lot of stress. </p>

<p>Your first choice is a reach, so your chances of getting into Princeton at all is very small. </p>

<p>Furthermore, it is generally harder to get into a school SCEA without a hook than it is to get in RD because they haven’t seen the rest of the applicant pool. So your chances of getting into Princeton SCEA is even smaller than your chance of getting in eventually. So there is a very large chance that you will not get in. You will most likely be deferred and then eventually denied. However, you could be denied early. </p>

<p>Suppose that instead, you applied EA to Northeastern. You’d have two safeties in the bag. It would probably relieve a lot of stress, and it won’t dramatically change the number of schools that you have to apply to. </p>

<p>Competitive EA schools like Chicago, MIT, Georgetown and BC that are unrestricted are a great way to eliminate schools further down your list. I’m not sure why BC doesn’t appeal to you when you’re already applying to harvard, BU and Northeastern, and they actually have an undergraduate program in clinical psychology.</p>

16

<p>that is a crazy cross section of schools! swatrhmore and northeastern on the same list!
muhlenberg college would be a happy median perhaps.(IMO)</p>

17

<p>Thank you, ucbalumnus!
@SansSerif- My parents have already sent one daughter through MIT, so they are pretty informed about costs. I know we will have to have more conversation about it once the time comes for financial aid though.
@ClassicRockerDad- Thank you for the insight! I didn’t know that EA didn’t increase chances actually, because the admissions officer at Princeton did tell us that it shows interest and therefore makes it more likable to the office, but I’m not sure how accurate that is. I actually hadn’t thought about BC yet as an option, but I will add it to my list. Thanks!
@Zobroward- Haha yes I know. Northeastern is an iffy one right now because the psych department is quite small, however. Thank you for the suggestion!</p>

18

<p>I have nothing against Northeastern or UMass, but don’t think they make very good safeties for a student who has targeted Princeton and Swarthmore as her top choices. </p>

<p>The point is to get into a college that is a good fit and that you’d like to attend, not just to get in. No problem with applying to NU and or UMass, but the OP should keep looking for one or two safeties that share more of the characteristics of her favorites.</p>

<p>Smith, Holyoke and Bryn Mawr have admission rates over 40%. They are reasonably good safeties, with high academic standards. </p>

<p>There are other LACs in the same level of selectivity, maybe not Colby which is slightly more selective, but certainly Sarah Lawrence and others like Rhodes, Muhlenberg.</p>

<p>I’m a fan of ED and SCEA more for the student’s peace of mind than for better admission chances (though I do believe that the commitment factor mentioned by the Princeton adcom is valid). If you have a clear first choice – and you’re sure you can afford it! – then applying ED or SCEA makes sense to me. Otherwise, if you’re denied during RD you may always regret not applying early. </p>

<p>Also, if you are denied or deferred during the early round you have a chance to recalibrate your RD list.</p>

19

<p>So momrath, what would you recommend then regarding Princeton/Yale? (first choices)</p>

20

<p>Well, you don’t have to decide on an SCEA or ED choice for several months yet. So take your time and do some more visiting, especially to potential safeties. If you can apply to UMass EA at the same time as SCEA to Princeton and/or Yale (I haven’t checked if this is allowed) then do so. Then you’ll have a bird in the hand for sure.</p>

<p>By the time November rolls around your first choice may have changed and changed again, but mostly likely one will consistently float to the top spot. In that case, apply SCEA or ED, depending on the school, but keep working on your other applications.</p>

<p>If you’re denied or deferred from your early choice you can always add some more low matches and safeties.</p>

<p>On the subject of another kind of safety, I’d also second the advice to ask your parents to use an online calculator to make sure that the finances work.</p>