Help Paring down my list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello, I'm a rising senior (as of today!) from NJ with the following stats:</p>

<p>Major: Undecided, probably something in either the Humanities or Social Sciences (maybe Psych or IR? really no clue here.) Not sure about post-grad plans, except that I won't be going to med school. </p>

<h1>s:</h1>

<p>SAT: 2270 (800 CR, 690 M, 780 W)
ACT: 34 (34 E, 35R, 33M, 32S)
Subject Tests: 800 US History, 780 Literature, 650 Spanish
World History, Bio E, and Spanish (again) pending
GPA: 3.93 UW, 4.5ish W (my school hasn't officially released our weighted GPAs yet, but I'm guesstimating)
Rigor: APUSH I & II, AP Psych, AP Lang, scheduled to take AP Lit, AP Enviro, AP Euro and AP Spanish next year, 7 additional honors classes, my GC has said she will check the most rigorous course load box (although there are students I'm in competition with who have more APs and Honors than me)</p>

<p>ECs:
Fencing, just recreational but I enjoy it, 9-12
Gymnastics, just recreational, but I enjoy it, 10-12 (considering trying to get certified as a gymnastics judge)
Marching Band, very intense, state champions, undefeated in the USBands circuit and top 20 in the nation in 2012; second in the state, undefeated in USBands circuit, Class AAAA champions and overall second place at a regional in 2013, going to another regional and back to nationals this year, 10-12
Peer Mediation 9-12
Fencing Club, founding member 10-12 and treasurer 11-12
Volunteering at a horse farm for disabled children, about 60 hours and I'm going to get more this summer
Rutgers Summer Scholars Program this summer, taking American Sign Language for 3 credits
ASL Club (not sure if I will include this) 9
Spanish National Honors Society 10-12 (not allowed to join until 10th)
National Honors Society 11-12 (we're not allowed to join until 11th)
Science National Honors Society (this is a joke) 11-12
That's all I can think of right now...</p>

<p>Awards:
A combination of honor roll and high honor roll throughout high school
Nominated for NJ Summer Scholars Program (couldn't apply due to a conflict with a family vacation)
...So pretty much none :(</p>

<p>Misc.
White, female
No hooks
Go to very large, public high school, probably something like top 100-150 in the state, we regularly send kids to top schools though, we actually had a kid get into 5 Ivies this year. Kind of concerned about this, the competition among the top 10% or so is pretty fierce (a USABO medalist, an All-Eastern Musician, and an aspiring Olympian, just to name a few)
Most probably full-pay, although my parents refuse to run NPCs, they are well aware of the cost of college though and have explicitly said they can pay list price at pretty much any school (my Dad however, is opposed to paying substantially more for a school that he feels is inferior to Rutgers, and considering that he didn't believe me when I told him that Swarthmore is better than Rutgers, this could be problematic.)</p>

<p>Things I'm Looking for in a college:
Again, pretty fuzzy here, and none of these are real deal breakers. but so far:
Would like to be in a city or close to a city
Medium-sized preferred, but this is definitely not a deal-breaker
Location-wise I'm pretty indifferent, although I currently have a fascination with CA (and HI, but UH Manoa didn't make the list). Getting away from NJ and experiencing life in a different part of the country really excites me
Not interested in super conservative or religious schools
No commuter schools
A club or intramural gymnastics/fencing team would be a definite plus, even though that's kind of silly
A social scene that does not center on drinking or Greek life; it's ok if it's on campus, just as long as it doesn't dominate campus life
Prestige would be nice :)</p>

<p>My (ginormous) current list:</p>

<p>Super Reaches:
Stanford (locked in by my Dad; am considering applying REA, any words of wisdom about that would also be appreciated)
Princeton (locked in by my Dad; visited, felt kind of neutral about it although the campus was very nice)
Yale (visited, liked the campus a lot)
Columbia
Harvard (visited, liked the way Harvard seemed willing to marshal its vast resources to cater to the whims/needs of its students, and Cambridge/Boston seemed like a really interesting place to spend 4 years)
Brown (visited, lukewarm on Providence but loved the pass-fail system and the open curriculum) </p>

<p>Reaches:
Tufts (visited, got a great vibe here)
Rice
Pomona
Claremont McKenna</p>

<p>Matches:
BU (visited, loved the campus, the energy, and the proximity to everything)
William and Mary
Kenyon
Oxy
USC</p>

<p>Safeties:
Loyola Marymount
American
Willamette
TCNJ/Rutgers (need to visit both and decide which I like better)</p>

<p>I feel like I could be happy at any of these schools, so it's so hard for me to decide which ones to trim off! Also, while I'm not really looking for suggestions, if you know of a school that screams butterfreesnd, feel free to toss it in there. Thank you!</p>

2

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<p>You are an excellent candidate stats wise, and probably EC wise. </p>

<p>Swarthmore is better than Rutgers. You have a problem if your father wouldn’t pay for Swarthmore, because it’s one of the best LACs in the country. If he won’t pay for that I’m not sure how you’re going to get away with anything on this list besides the ivies and Stanford. I think it’s better than the ivies and Stanford for a humanities major. </p>

<p>Not sure how Kenyon got in there. It’s an hour from Columbus. It’s very rural. If Kenyon is on there, why not Oberlin?</p>

<p>You might as well eliminate Loyola Marymount, American and Willamette as those will never pass the “better than Rutgers test”, and I don’t think they are, though if you are going into anything related to politics or government, being in DC is a huge plus, so maybe keep American. </p>

<p>I would add University of Pittsburgh to your safety list because you are likely to get a full ride scholarship, and they have gymnastics, not sure about fencing. It’s also very very similar to BU which you seem to like. If you get a full ride scholarship, you are financially independent. No future surprises, whether it’s better than Rutgers doesn’t matter. It’s right smack in the middle of the city, though Pittsburgh is beautiful it’s not Boston (I live in Boston, which is the Hub of the Universe). If I recall correctly, they have top 10 departments in philosophy and psychology and also have an honors program. They have rolling admissions and if you apply, you should do so as early as possible like in September. </p>

<p>I think that you are underestimating yourself in a few places. Tufts is a match (roughly a 50% chance), BU is a safety if it passes the better than Rutgers test. I think that they are peer schools, though Boston is a lot more exciting. </p>

<p>I think you are a little too ivy heavy given the difficulty of admission. There are a lot of great schools that I would have thought you would have considered, but you might have already eliminated them:
UChicago, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Rochester, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Wellesley (a great choice for you ), WashU in STL, NYU, McGill, Toronto (if you want international relations, why not be international, LOL). </p>

<p>I would not do restricted EA to any school - it’s too limiting. I think your chances at Stanford are small. If some of your schools have EA definitely do that. It would be good to get some decisions in the bag to help pare down your list. </p>

3

<p>I don’t really understand the “locked in by my dad” part. Your dad realizes how hard it is to get into in the first place, right? If you’re going to apply to a couple of super reaches, why not chose the ones you are the most interested in? I’d definitely reccomend cutting down on those, because five is alot, and they are some of the toughest schools to get into.</p>

<p>Have you visited the rest of the schools? Definitely do so if you haven’t already to get a sense of the vibe in these areas. Does Proximity matter at all to you? Keep in mind if you go to a farther school such as Rice or Willamette you may not be able to come back for all your breaks (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fall, Winter ect) due to travel costs.</p>

<p>What attracts you about those other schools? Are their strong programs that make you want to apply there? Also, have you calculated the Net Cost for each of these schools? It could be important when considering your final decision. Kenyon seems to be an outlier as it is in very rural OH. W&M is an excellent school, where I am currently attending. It is strong in the areas, allows for exploration, and is the perfect size, however it may be expensive OOS and it is not in an urban location. (although busch gardens is right next door)</p>

<p>What are your chances of visiting all those schools you mentioned? I would definitely at least try to give each one is a visit before applying, and if you can’t do that, consider whether the school really deserves a spot on your list. That’s one way to narrow them down.</p>

4

<p>You’re a strong candidate at all but the ivies and near ivies. You could 0-fer those schools because they’re that selective. However, there are some interesting ECs. One EC that caught my eye was your band’s national ranking. If there’s anything major that you contributed to the band, I’d play that up. If there’s any chance you could contribute to a college band, like with Stanford’s goofy band, I’d play that up, too. The fencing is another interesting EC, esp for a female student, and lots of quirky LACs are interested in fencing (I’m thinking of Haverford, but I think Swarthmore has a fencing team, too). </p>

<p>In order for me to help you pare this down, I’m dismissing from the list the schools Pop insists upon. When Stanford admits 5% of its applicants, consider that many of the admitted are athletes and legacies, and that well more than half the remaining admitted have scores and ECs as good as yours. Then you have some idea what your chances are at Stanford and its peers. So give Pop his choices and make your own list.</p>

<p>What ivies and near ivies have you an interest in? WashU, Vandy, Swarthmore, and Pomona are in the near ivies today. Pick two or three (Harvard, Yale, Pomona?) that don’t overlap with Pop’s. Then pick 4-5 matches from Claremont, Rice, Tufts, and…? Then two safeties from BU and some of the others mentioned here. I would consider one of the lesser Claremont Consortium schools, Pitzer or Scripps, because you’re already interested in Pomona and Claremont and I like the advantages the consortium offers in the way of courses, faculty, resources, bright classmates, etc. You could for the price of a safety take a lot of courses at a near-ivy and a match. I also really like Tulane and USC as safety candidates for you. I get the impression that you like to have fun, and these two are definitely fun schools, in my estimation, and you could win a LOT of merit at each, esp with that band connection. </p>

5

<p>I strongly second the recommendation above, regarding the Claremont Consortium. Although each of the individual colleges is small, the total undergraduate population is approximately five thousand. </p>

6

<p>Thank you for all of your responses!</p>

<p>@ClassicRockerDad‌ My dad has kind of skewed perception of schools, and prestige is very important to him. In his mind, if he hasn’t heard of Swarthmore, it must be because it’s not a worthwhile school. Some people in his office though, went to Middlebury and Williams, and he thinks they are excellent schools - he just doesn’t realize that Swarthmore is on the same level. This could make getting him to pay for a school like Oxy or Willamette difficult, I would at least have to show him some rankings or peer schools or something that he would recognize and make the schools look favorable. Interestingly enough, however, he has repeatedly said he doesn’t want me to go to Rutgers (that’s where both my parents went and they want me to do better than they did), so I’ve been getting mixed signals from him, he really just wants me to go to Stanford or an Ivy (which is where I want to go so our goals are at least partially in line). I will definitely look into Pitt, sounds very promising, and while I don’t anticipate any problems, financial independence would feel liberating to say the least. I have considered a lot of the higher level schools you mentioned, and honestly they all seem spectacular to me! I actually have a poster board above my desk with something like 90 schools on it that I have been researching and they all made that list, but I tried to just provide a small portrait of the schools that I have felt drawn to for one reason or another (or sometimes no reason at all lol). </p>

<p>@shawnspencer My dad for some reason requested that I apply to Pton, I think he may secretly want me close to home, and he loved Stanford and wants me to apply there. I would definitely apply to Stanford anyway (it’s becoming my top choice) and Pton isn’t exactly a school I would be upset to attend! Columbia is probably on the cutting block for my super reaches, it’s just so hard to say no to NYC though! I may visit W+M and American, but as I’ve already been on 13 college visits, my parents are starting to get tired of them lol, and my parents have already told me they’re not looking to do a major trip across the country to look unless I get in. I don’t know too much about programs in these schools, as I really don’t know exactly what I want to major in, or what career I would like to pursue, so I haven’t used that as a weeding out factor yet. Proximity isn’t a huge factor, if anything though, I’d prefer to be further from home! I’m always up for a little adventure, and what better time is there to go somewhere unique with few consequences?</p>

<p>@jkeil911 Unfortunately, I don’t really have any leadership roles in the band, with 140 kids or so, leadership positions are hard to come by and especially since I didn’t start my freshman year. I know Stanford is tough to get into, and I don’t think I have anything truly legendary that makes my app stands out, but I’m hoping if I can write an earnest, kind essay, I might be able to let the admissions committee see that I’m not just a bunch of numbers :slight_smile: I really find myself drawn to the Claremont Consortium, as it’s in CA and each school really seems to feel bigger than a typical LAC due to the closeness of the Consortium, as woogzmama pointed out. Tulane makes me a little nervous, because they seem to like to reject kids like me, although I do believe I’m on their mailing list and have been for like a year now (ever since I heard about Tufts Syndrome). It would probably be pretty fun to live in New Orleans, although I’m pretty sure my Dad considers this school “overrated” so, it may not be worth it. </p>

<p>Also I think almost all of you talked about Kenyon, I agree that it’s an outlier, I included it mostly because I really like writing, and am a bit introverted and it seems like ‘my people’ so to speak might be found there, and from what I’ve read it is supposed to be a little less politically raucous than Oberlin. I am very concerned about it being so rural and so small though (my high school is more than 1.5 times the size of Kenyon), so I’m thinking I might cut it for that. </p>

<p>So my (tentative) adjusted list looks something more like:</p>

<p>Super Reaches:
Stanford
Princeton
Brown
Harvard/Yale (will have to decide, I just don’t think there’s room for both)</p>

<p>Reaches:
Pomona
Claremont McKenna
Rice</p>

<p>Matches:
William and Mary
Tufts
USC</p>

<p>Safeties:
TCNJ/Rutgers
BU
American/Pitt</p>

<p>Still big, but I think this is manageable. Is it still too top heavy though? Also, grasping at straws here, but do my odds significantly decrease at Stanford if I don’t do REA? I know the REA accept rate vs. the RD accept rate is something like 7% vs. 3%, but doesn’t that technically mean the REA acceptance rate is double the RD one? Or are the kids who are accepted REA the kids who would have been accepted RD anyway? </p>

7

<p>this isn’t a bad place to start. you can continue to learn more about each school, visit some of them, talk to your GC when you return, find out where your friends are applying. the list is likely to change dramatically by January.</p>

<p>I don’t know the answer to your questions about Stanford. The lack of leadership is a big problem for the super-reaches. It’s okay tho as long as you don’t count on going to one of them. I know someone with identical scores and close ECs to yours who struck out on the ivies and near ivies he applied to. It was not unexpected, but it hurt him because some part of him held out hope. </p>

8

<p>You are a very good student with decent EC’s and very good test scores, but from what I see here, I think it is a mistake to apply to HYPMS. They want something amazing, and unless you have a great story to tell in your essays, I am afraid that your chances are low. These schools have single digit admission rates. Then they allocate spots for legacy, and athletes, URMs and international students. As a woman applying as a liberal arts major, the competition is very keen for the few remaining spots. </p>

<p>If you want to be admitted to an ivy, I would consider dropping Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford, Yale and adding Cornell, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Penn. You may still go 0 for 4 but your chances of success will be quite a bit better, in my opinion. </p>

<p>Swarthmore, Amherst, and Williams could be worth considering too.</p>

<p>Good luck, you can get an excellent education at any of these schools.</p>

9

<p>Consider applying to the honors college at BU… you will still be offered admission into the regular one if you aren’t accepted.</p>

10

<p>Regarding Tulane and Kenyon… </p>

<p>If anything, I think Tulane is underrated, not overrated. Definitely better than BU, except that BU is huge and offers a lot of things that Tulane doesn’t. BU is a private school that has the personality of a state university. Not knocking BU. I happen to like it a lot. If Tulane has what you want, it is a probably a better choice.</p>

<p>Kenyon is almost always an outlier for almost everybody. It is a very unique college. If it has a “my people” feel to it, then I think you should keep it on your list. It might not be as much of a match as you think though. In the past two years applications have skyrocketed and its acceptance rate has dropped into the low 20% range. You are correct about Kenyon compared to Oberlin. Totally different schools with no real similarities.</p>

<p>Yes, you are still top heavy. Need more matches (Tulane?). Also you might want to look a little more closely at Princeton and Brown. My understanding is that they are very different, with Brown being one of the most liberal Ivies and Princeton one of the most conservative. In other words, you might want to cut one of those two.</p>