HELP!! What are my reaches, matches, and safeties??

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

So I’m an incoming senior getting ready to apply to college and I have a substantial list of colleges, but I’m unsure of how safe some are over the others. Can someone give me their opinion on what is a match, safety, and reach school? Thank you!!

COLLEGES:
Boston University
Fordham University
Syracuse University
Northeastern University
Villanova University
University of Pittsburgh
The George Washington University
American University
Lehigh University
Boston College

Might add if people think its a good idea… Brandeis, Wagner College, Temple University
IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS OF SCHOOLS PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

MAJOR: Business at most (Applying for communications at BU, Nova, and Northeastern)

GPA: 4.58 (Weighted) Most likely will go up once updated in September
Class rank: 51 of 530 (top 10%) (extremely large, competitive suburban high school)
ACT: 30 Composite (34E, 28M, 30R, 28S) Took 3 times, got a 30 each time

Honors: 6 (so far) all honors/AP except science, for both Sophomore and Junior Year
AP: 2 (Lang & APUSH)
Straight A’s Sophomore and Junior Year, two B+'s freshman year -__-

Freshman Schedule: Honors English, Honors Gifted and Talented, Algebra 1, Biology, History, Microsoft Office (i transferred to a different school after this year, I couldn’t take many higher level classes at this school)

Sophomore Schedule: Honors English, Honors Geometry, Honors US1, Chemistry, Photo and Video

Junior Schedule: AP Lang, AP US2, Honors Precalc, Physics, Business Management, Financial Literacy

Senior Year Schedule!
AP Lit
AP Environmental
AP Gov
AP Calc AB
Art (Graduation Requirement)
Peer Leadership

Sports:
Freshman Soccer
Winter Track (2 years JV)
Cross Country (3 years JV)
-Had to cut back to 1 season of sports bc of getting injuries!

Extracurriculars:
Student Council (4 years) (Homeroom Representative Freshman year, leader of homeroom class) (Elected Senior Class Officer, one of 9 elected to lead the school senior year)
Newspaper Writer (4 years (Media Manager Junior year, managed schools instagram account),
Team Challenge (won 3rd place in county for business ethics competition)
National Honors Society
Internship with Local Hospital, 4 hours a week for the entire summer (3 years)
Internship with Local Library, 2 hours a week for 5 weeks (10 hours total)
Will have 150-200 hours of service by application time
Works on the Jersey Shore as Beach Staff at a Private Club, 18-24 hours a week all summer (3 years)
Runs weekly Youtube Blog with 4,000+ subscribers

Awards:
Distinguished Honoree by the Library of Congress for a writing contest
3rd Place in Monmouth County Team Challenge Business Ethics Competition

EXTRA:
I think I qualify as first generation (mom has associates degree, dad didnt go to college)
I’m also a twin

Thanks and i appreciate any help!

2

BUMPPPP

3

What is your unweighted GPA?

4

@chloburger when i calculated it without my junior year grades it was around a 3.86 so its around there or a little higher now

5

Boston college is a reach, Northeastern a high match/low reach

6

So, here is what I would do. Look at each of the schools and what is the 25% -75% numbers for there entering Freshman class. If you want to be in the those ranges to even have a change to be competitive. Then there is the GPA, EC’s, Leadership and Essays to consider. You also have to consider acceptance % BU is 29% so 1 out of 3. This will give you and idea on how you stack up against other students.

https://www.bu.edu/admissions/about-bu/profile/

This will give you an idea of where you stand.

7

If you are committed to business school then you should EA to BC (but I agree with Chembiodad that one is a reach). If you don’t get in EA I think there is time to apply ED2 to Lehigh. Entering the RD round at many of these schools is going to decrease your chance of an offer, so focusing on a strong early application is crucial. Can you afford these schools because you won’t get merit at the top rated ones and your twin is probably heading to college too? As for other schools, I would think that Babson is a better fit than Brandeis.

8

@Oregon2016 @NCComputerNerd are any of these targets or safeties? im not trying to apply to a ton of reaches i only really wanted like 1 that is still reasonable

9

also at many of these schools i think I’m going to apply as communications. I’ve been between business or communications for a while and wanna test both out, and getting in with communications i think will be easier for me, and something i will enjoy more since im not a huge fan of math

10

What schools do you might want to apply early to?

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@studyhard13 im only considering applying early action as a communications major to fordham since that is my #1 school

12

oh ok. You should definitely be able to get in.

13

Ok, looking at your profile as a potential communications major and a fan of Fordham, I think you can pull together a strong early application. Seems like Syracuse would be a logical second choice on your list. Get a more definitive GPA (unweighted), then look at the data sets for each school to see where you fit in its reported distribution of previous applicants.

14

My friend got into every school you are applying to and she applied for the business program. You and her have nearly identical stats and you might have better ECs so I would say you have an excellent chance. One tip for BU is to not talk about the city of Boston. They don’t want people who just want to go to school in Boston, they want kids who want to go to BU.

15

In terms of admission, Pitt is a safety. Apply as soon as possible (I think they start accepting apps in August) and you will have a rolling admissions decision about 4 weeks later. Add Temple IF you like the school; it would also be a safety.

However, have you run the NPCs to see if these schools are affordable? Looks like you are from NJ; what about Rutgers?

I think American, Fordham, Boston University, GWU and Syracuse are matches (might not get into all, but they are realistic based on your stats).

Northeastern, Villanova and Boston College are reaches, but not crazy reaches.

16

@chloburger @LuckyCharms913 Thanks for the feedback!

I have run the NPC on most of these schools and although some are pricy, some are doable and I see as worth the price for the education/location. I toured Rutgers and didn’t really like it, many parts of the campus are falling apart and the busing system is terrible. I also really want to be in a large city on the east coast outside of New Jersey, because my family is not likely to stay long after I graduate.

Do any of you have any suggestions for safeties or matches I can add in a big city in the Northeast for Business/Comm?

17

Look into BU and Northeastern! The business schools (especially BU) are highly regarded across the nation. Great transportation with the T too and right in the middle of Boston.

18

I think you have a good chance at all of these schools! BC is probably the toughest, but you still have good chances there!

19

Define “big city”? Providence College, RI.

20

Boston University
-target
Fordham University
-target
Syracuse University
-target
Northeastern University
-low reach/ high match
Villanova University
-target
University of Pittsburgh

  • back up school
    The George Washington University
    -match (doesn’t look at standardized scores anymore)
    American University
    -low match/ maybe back up school
    Lehigh University
    -match
    Boston College
    -high match