Help w/ safeties/match schools, I have too many reaches

College Search & Selection
1

A little about me: HS senior in northern Va with 4.4GPA, top 3% class rank (out of 400), 1510/34 SAT/ACT, tough schedule (mostly all honors or AP), 5s and 4s on my APs.

UVa and William and Mary are my two top choices and my scores indicate a match but there are too many stories of northern Va students not getting in with scores better than mine. My counselor warned me that both schools can be iffy. My only safety so far is JMU. I visited Tech and just didn’t like it, too big.

My current reaches are: Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Cornell, and Princeton.

I need to add more solid matches, any suggestions? Mid-Atlantic to northeastern state or private schools that could offer some merit based offers to get tuition close to Va instate? I feel overwhelmed with the possibilities and don’t know where to look.

2

Richmond
Gettysburg
Lafayette

3

what is your interest major wise?

4

Here are some more good mid-atlantic/NE schools that are probably match-range for you. They do all offer at least some merit aid – check the amounts and then run NPC to see whether the schools would be affordable:

Boston College
Lehigh
Villanova
Bucknell
Trinity College
Connecticut College

5

Thank you everyone.

Jamesk2014, I’m looking at either architecture/design or double major in English/history. For architecture, I’m more interested in design emphasis than one of the professional tracks. A program that combines design and creative writing/English is my dream degree.

6

Dickinson, Boston University, UMass Amherst ?