Help with college list

College Search & Selection
1

I am a current junior who needs help with creating a more complete list and getting a better sense of reaches/matches/safeties.

SAT - 2390 (790 CR, 800 M, 800 W)
SAT II - Bio 750, Math II 770, Chemistry 760
3.9 GPA UW
School doesn’t rank, very competitive top in the state public school
Senior year course load is rigorous, 3 AP’s and otherwise honors courses because of limited AP offerings.

4 years varsity cross country / track, captain, good enough to run for D3
President of geology club
1st chair trumpet and section leader of nationally recognized HS concert band, 2 years of marching band, member of brass quintet, honors band
2 week exchange trip to Germany
2 year member of freshman ambassador program
4 year JSA member
NHS member
Many hours of community service volunteering for local National Weather Services office
Summer job at local bookstore
Internship for law firm

White male, I do not anticipate cost to be a significant factor.

Ideally, I’d like a school that is not too big and not too small, preferably somewhere in the 3,000-10,000 range in a setting that at least is not completely rural. However, I am not too picky and would weight academics as the primary consideration. Not entirely decided on major, likely not STEM but probably somewhere in the range of polysci/international relations, or maybe media/communications/marketing. Regardless, I do not have a set path and am hoping to use college as an opportunity to figure out what I really want to do.

I have only looked at a handful of schools so far: WUSTL, Brown, and Tufts. Given the selectivity of top tier colleges, I have a difficult time determining what constitutes a match, reach, safety, etc. for myself, and do not know how high my expectations should be.

Thanks in advance!

2

Wesleyan, Emory, GW, American, Georgetown, URichmond, Johns Hopkins

3

Do you have geographic preference or are you willing to go anywhere? The 3 schools that you’ve already looked at ultimately became my son2’s top choices :slight_smile:

4

Good question. Your stats are strong enough that you could apply to Ivy League colleges and have a reasonable chance of getting admitted. To run competitively in D3 as a distance runner, you probably need 9:30 for 3200M or faster. To be honest your EC’s are all over the map. As you decide what EC’s to do senior year and complete your applications try to make it clear what your goals are. Money is always an object, even if Warren Buffett is your father. The question really is whether it makes sense to include colleges that award merit aid or not. You should probably not rule out some of the smaller, more selective LAC’s as they can offer a wonderful education. Some colleges that fit your criteria:

Georgetown - Reach (it is for everyone, but your chances are very good)
Boston College - Target
William & Mary - Safety/Target
Dartmouth - Reach
Yale - Reach
Swarthmore - Reach/Target

The answer to your question really is that colleges with acceptance rates below 20% will be Reach colleges for anyone regardless of their stats.

Your only liabilities are that you aren’t a Legacy or an URM and you haven’t won awards on the state or national level. Not clear how many APs you will have taken in total but the very strongest students sign up for 5 or even 6 AP’s senior year and will have completed 8 - 12 by the time they graduate. Rigor means taking Multi-variable calculus

A 3.9 UW GPA with some rigor and 2390 SAT are rock solid stats but remember that the top colleges build a class by picking so many URM, so many Legacy, so many International students, so many Athletes and an even mix of male and female students. If you are a strong enough athlete to be recrutied for D3 atletics, than your odds improve appreciably since you are then competing for not only recruited athlete but also strong student spots which you clearly have

I think it will help you if you try to understand what spot colleges are filling by admitting you

5

Add Pomona and Claremont McKenna to your list.
They both belong to the Claremont consortium of colleges- comprising 5 top LAC’s in S Calif.
All are located within walking distance in the small town of Claremont in the LA area.
Total school population is around 5000.
Students can cross register at any of the other colleges.
Claremont Mckenna has very well respected PC/ government programs.
Pomona is a reach for everyone, Claremont not so much.

You also would be highly competitive for a full tuition scholarship at U Southern Calif, where my DS , who had similar stats as you graduated. REMEMBER to apply before Dec 1 in order to be eligible for scholarship consideration.
I’d consider USC a hi match for you. Especially if you are a NMSF.

WUSTL, Johns Hopkins are reaches for everyone.
Applying ED to WUSTL is almost the only way that hi stat students are accepted there. Most are WL’ed.
An ED application seems to be the only way of showing “interest” to admissions there.

6

The Ivy and equivalents entail a bit of good fortune to get into, but you should be fine for WUSL, Tufts and other excellent schools. I always think it is a good idea to apply to an EA/rolling school you like – this way if you are admitted by December it is a true safety. Many high level students in my HS apply to UMichigan and/or Tulane for this reason (there are many other schools that would also fit the bill).

7

Thanks all for the responses, I’ll do my best to reply as well as I can.

@RenaissanceMom I’d prefer to stay out of the South/the heat, and generally would rather stay along the coasts. I wouldn’t really say I have very strong geographic preferences though, academics/fit definitely are still my top criteria and I’m sure if I really liked somewhere I wouldn’t discriminate based on location.

@Wje9614be Thank you for your insight. I don’t think I’m at 9:30 but I’m certainly some amount under 10, I haven’t had a chance to run the 2 mile this season. My EC’s certainly lack focus and that definitely is something I would like to work on, but is junior spring/summer too late to fix that? I enjoy all the activities I do and honestly would have a tough time deciding what to focus on. Although I realize that this doesn’t exactly work in my favor for admissions, I’ve always sort of prided myself on having a bit of an eclectic range of interests. Regardless, I’d certainly be willing to try to develop any one of those interests in particular in order to improve my chances.
In regards to APs, my school only offers a handful and I have largely taken what has been made available to me. Although admittedly I have had to sacrifice an AP in order to maintain my commitments to music, I do believe my course load reflects a good deal of rigor within my school. My guidance counselor has given me the impression that colleges are aware of the extent of the school’s offerings course wise, but I do not know how that makes me stack up to other students in other schools.
As a general note, I am not sure if this is something that you can answer with any degree of certainty but how much weight should I be putting into Naviance? For example, my GPA and SATs put me well within Boston College’s accepted range of students from my school, and although I understand the danger of calling such a selective school a safety, I cannot help but feel confident about my chances in the context of previous acceptances.

@menloparkmom I’ll certainly look into Pomona/Claremont, I’ve heard good things and like the idea of the consortium. A full tuition scholarship to USC is very appealing, but it’s sheer size strikes me as a bit daunting. To be fair, I have yet to tour a state school of that size (or many schools for that matter), so my opinion could change.

8

USC is a PRIVATE university, and is ranked #25 in the country.
It offers honors classes with small class sizes, a diverse, smart student population, tons of school spirit, great profs, incrediblly wide ranging educational opportunities, including a fantastic school of music that offeres many opportunities to study or play music across a wide range of venues- orchestra, band, etc, etc. and sunny Calif weather almost all year long. And it is building an incredible new housing complex that will be the envy of many universities. USC has money to spend , and is willing to use it to attract students like you.
Getting a full tuition scholarship from USC is statistically just as hard as getting into a top Ivy, but they do offer 140 of them - not just a hand full .

Claremont and USC can be visited in one short trip .

9

I would hesitate to say you’re “fine” for any school with an acceptance rate below 20% (Tufts, WUSTL, etc.) as above commenters did. I have a 34 ACT and a 3.99 and was wait listed at Tufts, but accepted to Hopkins. Also, the idea that high stat students aren’t accepted to WUSTL is a myth. WUSTL doesn’t wait list for having high stats, they wait list kids for not showing enough interest. That being said, they’ll wait list a high stat kid for not showing enough interest. I was accepted to WUSTL, and I’m sure the fact that I went to every WUSTL meeting in my city, got to know my admissions officer, and visited campus helped.

10

<<<
A full tuition scholarship to USC is very appealing, but it’s sheer size strikes me as a bit daunting. To be fair, I have yet to tour a state school of that size (or many schools for that matter), so my opinion could change.


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

?

USC is a PRIVATE university.

11

Seriously? OP, I suggest you ignore the quote above.

The key is whether you are taking the most rigorous courses available at your school. If your guidance counselor considers your schedule “Most Rigorous” you’ll be in good shape for that part of the evaluation.

12

^ I second CHD2013’s comment. Rigor means having 4 years each of English, Math, Foreign Language, Science, and Social Science/History, preferably with Bio/chem/physics, and 4-8 APs. That’s what schools like Harvard expect. AP Calculus (AB OR BC, no difference) is seen as most rigorous but even at Harvard “only” 2/3 students have had calculus, with most others stopping at Precalculus.

13

Holy Cross, Wesleyan.

14

@mom2collegekids @menloparkmom
My apologies, I had always assumed USC was part of the UC’s for some reason, I clearly didn’t do my research in that regard.

Thanks to everyone’s help I have assembled a very long list of colleges that I will need to work on whittling down. I’ve tried to narrow in on schools with a reputation for polysci/international relations, and largely stuck to a 3,000 to 10,000 undergrad range with a few exceptions. I don’t know where exactly lines would be drawn between reaches/targets/safeties, but if anyone could offer their feedback/advice that would be excellent. I feel like touring may be the best way to reduce this list, but I don’t think it’s very feasible to see them all given the geographic range.

Listed roughly in what I believe to be from biggest reach to biggest safety:
Yale, Brown, WUSTL, Pomona, Northwestern, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins
Tufts, Claremont McKenna, Wesleyan, USC, Emory, BC
William & Mary, Tulane, Brandeis, Colorado College, University of Rochester, University of Richmond, George Washington University, UMASS Amherst (in state)

Is there enough safety there? I can’t help but feel UMASS is the only one that is at all guaranteed. Obviously I can’t apply to all of them, but if it helps at all here’s a few things I’m looking for if anyone knows some of the more intangible aspects of those listed:

-I’d really like an opportunity to go to a diverse school and get exposed to as many ideas/cultures/etc as possible. I’d like to avoid homogeneous, even if that is homogeneous in the form of a liberal echo chamber. I’m liberal myself but want to break out of the bubble I’ve lived in for the first 17 years of my life
-While I’d prefer a driven environment, I’m not looking for cutthroat or overly competitive students
-Good study abroad opportunities
-Social scene that isn’t wholly dependent on Greek life
-Student body neither too preppy or too crunchy, preferably well-rounded without any attached stereotype

If anybody has any insight it’d be much appreciated. Once more, thanks again to those who have helped so far, it has been immensely useful.

15

OP the size of school you are seeking is a little bit in conflict with getting the diversity of a larger campus experience. You may very well like the 3K-10K size school, or you may find it not diverse enough and may not offer the broader range of courses you want. What happens when you decide on a different major/field of study and your college selection doesn’t have a strong program or doesn’t have the degree plan?

A college with a strong Honors College may give your the best of both worlds.

What have been your parents/family experiences with college? What about friends and students from your HS?

Visit large, med, small schools off your lists - also those in urban, college town, and other setting to see if there is a strong appeal. I could definitely see how a school with those combinations in different places could be very similar experiences. With on-line research, you may find similar schools equally appealing - however the very selective schools are very limited in admissions.

What is your family budget? You are bright - have you thought about not using all the resources on UG?

If I were your parent, I would not overlook safeties that can give you scholarships. Even though you say you do not want to go to school in the south, UA is very appealing to many OOS high stat kids. You will not find a shortage of equally bright and talented students, and your stats would have your cost be low with full tuition scholarship. Great study abroad opportunities. 2/3 of students are non-greek. Million Dollar Band (MDB) would be a great activity to put your trumpet skills with a fun group (fall semester is the time commitment, but it is a great group of students - and they are very selective, looking for the best talent on instrument). My DD was not in HS marching 10-11-12 but was MDB freshman year and is returning this year - small scholarship based on audition.

UA and UA Honors is a very quick application, and just need to do it for the scholarship deadlines. There are very selective honors programs like CBHP and Fellows, and some that are a little larger, like STEM MBA, and Emerging Scholars (can get into research as a freshman). My DD is in STEM MBA as a civil eng major.

Do you want to be close enough to home for school breaks (or good airline connection)? That is probably down the list, but it does take away from Thanksgiving break when you spend a lot of time traveling and your school has a short break.

There are many, many excellent schools. Employers don’t care that this particular school is more selective than others to get in (and that will also limit the diversity you are looking for). If you are studying engineering, you want to go to a ABET accredited school for example.

If you believe your cross country ability will help you secure a spot at a highly selective school, that could help you with that.

Have you gotten on college campuses for various experiences to get more of a feel for schools?

I would really focus during now and through senior year to learn about the courses and careers you are exploring. It will help direct you with college selection, and also help you finish UG degree in 4 years/8 semesters.