HELP with safeties/match school ideas please!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi!! I'm a junior at a highly-ranked public school (#2 in state) in MA and I am in desperate need of safety/match schools! haha</p>

<p>Schools i'm interested in (reaches i believe): UVA, Cornell, Colgate, URochester, Johns Hopkins University, UChicago, UC Berkeley</p>

<p>Safety/Match?? not really sure: ______________________ </p>

<p>AP Classes- Biology- 5, APUSH-4.
Next year i'm taking AP Chem, AP Composition, and AP Euro
and senior year I plan on taking 4-5 AP's
so that's 9 AP's overall--most rigorous courseload offered
everything not AP was an honors class</p>

<p>UW GPA- 3.7, Weighted- 4.24
I know the UW is rather low, I had a tough time adjusting to AP classes sophomore year :/</p>

<p>ACT- 30 (I plan on re-taking this junior year)
SAT- haven't taken yet- will this year
SAT II- 710 on Biology (I'm going to take more next year)</p>

<p>Extra-curriculars </p>

<p>Violin:
I am in school orchestra (first chair). Grades 5-present
New England Conservatory youth orchestra. Grade 10-present
I've taken private lessons from grade 4-present</p>

<p>Piano Lessons: Kindergarten-present. </p>

<p>Guitar: I teach myself? I've played for 4 years. It's more of a leisurely thing so I'm not sure if it counts </p>

<p>Sports: I play tennis in the spring and Field Hockey in the fall </p>

<p>Clubs: Microfinance Club- I'm Secretary
Leo Club, Math Club, Peer Tutoring, UNITE (leadership)</p>

<p>Volunteer Stufff: I volunteer at a hospital 4 hours a week during the summer and I occasionaly go to Project Just Because. I also Tutor. 150+ hours so far</p>

<p>Leadership: I'm on student council and Secretary of Microfinance club. I was chosen to attend the START leadership conference and won the Peter J. Baltren award there. I was chosen to be a part of the club UNITE in my school which is another leadership club </p>

<p>I plan on majoring in Biology.
If anyone has any other ideas on schools to apply to they'd be much appreciated!! I'm afraid I may not have enough safety schools/match schools.
Thanks so much</p>

2

<p>I think you have a good list here. I like to use College data dot com to determine reaches, matches, and safeties – it was very accurate for my son. Now using it with my rising junior daughter. S1 is attending UVa in the fall by the way! Great school and their music dept. is excellent. Just keep doing what you’re doing in terms of choosing the school list. Hope you can squeeze in some visits this summer or fall. I think with all the increasing competitiveness in admissions that it doesn’t matter as much as to whether a school is a match or a reach (the “reach” status is more defined by the low admission rates), so just choose a good selection of schools match/reaches (8-12) and make sure to include at least two good safeties that you wouldn’t mind attending (instate options or a private with great merit aid?). Do prep well for SAT and take two more SAT II’s. You look great on paper so far :). You should know though that UCB is 50K OOS. Just thought you may not know. Also, look at UNC Chapel Hill. The CC search tool is very good if you don’t put in too much criteria (just one major at a time). Good luck!!!</p>

3

<p>Boston University, Wisconsin, Minnesota, UCSD, Washington, SUNY Stony Brook and Pittsburgh. Best of luck!</p>

4

<p>Northeastern
RPI
St. Lawrence</p>

<p>…U of Roch seems like a really good fit with your musical talents. Students enrolled there can take classes at the Eastman School of Music at no charge. Make sure you set up an interview there if interested.</p>

5

<p>UMass Amherst would be a good safety for you. With your stats, you should get into Commonwealth College. They are building a new honors complex with classrooms and a dorm which should be open next year. With the Five College Consortium, you can take classes at Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire Colleges.</p>

6

<p>Thanks so much everyone! i truly appreciate the responses :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Hornetdad: I will definitely be applying to UMass Amherst. The price is amazing (money will be a huge factor for me) and it seems like a nice school!</p>

<p>csdad: thanks for the ideas! and that’s really good to know about free music classes, I’d definitely take full advantage of those!!</p>

<p>poi: Thanks for all of the ideas!! I was looking into Stony Brook or Binghamton from the SUNY schools. Do you know which would be better for biology?</p>

<p>jkiwmom: wow, thanks for the thorough response :slight_smile: i’ll look up collegedata.com! oh boy, i didn’t know UC berkeley was that expensive. that’s really good to know because money will be a factor for me.</p>

7

<p>bump! anyone else?</p>

8

<p>“I was looking into Stony Brook or Binghamton from the SUNY schools. Do you know which would be better for biology?”</p>

<p>Anecdotally, I understand Stony Brook is stronger in the sciences. It’s the home of Brookhaven National Laboratory.</p>

9

<p>Davidson College. It’s a top 10 LAC with a no-loan financial aid policy.</p>

10

<p>Indiana University would be a safety, and has a great music school.</p>

11

<p>Thank you everyone :slight_smile: no loan financial aid at davidson?! that’s amazing!</p>

12

<p><a href=“money%20will%20be%20a%20huge%20factor%20for%20me”>I</a> *</p>

<p>Then don’t apply to schools that will be unaffordable…like UC Berkeley. </p>

<p>OOS publics (except for UVA and UNC) do not give much/any aid to OOS students.</p>

<p>some OOS publics will give merit, but your stats would need to be higher.</p>

<p>I don’t think JHU meets need.</p>

<p>Have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay? Can they pay their EFC? If not, that will be a problem.</p>

13

<p>They’ll probably pay up to 30,000 ishhh. I think I should get decent aid… I mean, I don’t know much about it. but my dad lost his job 5 years ago (as a stock analyst, things arent looking good) and is still unemployed. And I have a brother in college. I’m sure they’ll pay their EFC… I mean, they’re really responsible with money haha. </p>

<p>Thank you for all of the info on financial aid, I’ll probably take UC Berkeley off the list, then. and maybe JHU</p>

14

<p>*I mean, I don’t know much about it. but my dad lost his job 5 years ago (as a stock analyst, things arent looking good) and is still unemployed. And I have a brother in college. I’m sure they’ll pay their EFC… I mean, they’re really responsible with money haha. *</p>

<p>Just to be on the safe side, ask them how much they’re comfortable paying each year. If they have a lot in savings/assets, then your EFC may be over $50k…even with a sibling in college.</p>

15

<p>Okay! Thanks so much for the advice. They’re paying close to 30,000 for my brother to attend Syracuse. I’ll have a money conversation with them. I’m pretty sure most of our money is tied up in our mortgage/house. I don’t know, this whole money thing really scares me! :(</p>

16

<p>Well I think you have a lot of options but for something on the financial safety side look into the University of Alabama (Alabama’s public flagship). Right now you’d qualify for 2/3 off OOS tuition and with a 32 ACT you’d qualify for full tuition. </p>

<p>[Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)</p>

<p>Best of luck with your search! Don’t worry about the money. Just make sure you prepare appropriately with financial safeties too!</p>

<p>Edit: Btw, I’m pretty sure your family’s EFC is split between dependents in college. For example, if your parents EFC was 30k they would only have to pay 15k for your brother and 15k for you.</p>

17

<p>^ 2/3 off tuition?! now that’s an offer pretty much impossible to look past. thanks for informing me :slight_smile: you’re making me feel better about the whole process! Great to hear the EFC is split as well. the thought of it doubling next year, and tripling (with my sister) 2 years later is really scary!</p>