Help with Safety Schools?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'd really like to know any recommendations people have for "safety schools" or really any school you'd think I'd get in that would offer excellence in my choice of 2 majors. Because I feel like I have Hardly Any on my list. Preferably Out of State Please! Secondarily: chances. But Those are useless, so you don't have to, haha. </p>

<p>MERCI BEAUCOUP!</p>

<p>State: South Carolina
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Female
Looking to Major in Either Physics or English</p>

<p>Lists of Schools(being stripped down as we speak! I'm NOT applying to all 20):</p>

<p>Vanderbilt University
Johns Hopkins University
NYU
Oberlin College
Barnard College
UPenn
Rice University
Tufts University
UVA
UC-Berkley
UCLA
University of Southern California
Amherst College
Columbia University
Yale University
Howard University
Boston University
Duke University
Brown University
Harvard University</p>

<p>GPA:
W: 4.61
UW: 3.86
(I had a rough Sophomore Year Because of a string of Family emergencies that really affected me, It was only 2 B+'s though, so not a drastic drop in grades (BY ONE POINT))
By Year:
9th: 3.934
10th:3.666
11:4.00</p>

<p>SAT I (by section):
CR: 750
M: 700
W: 680</p>

<p>SAT IIs:
Bio: 720
USH:700
ACT: 31</p>

<p>APs:
AP Chemistry: 4
AP World History: 5
Bio: 5
Lang&Comp: 5
USH: 5
But I'll be taking AP Eng IV, AP Physics, AP Modern Euro, and BC Calc Next year.
Every other class I've taken Has been honors(Except for my foreign language because it isn't offered)
Rank: My School is Private, and it doesn't rank.</p>

<p>[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
Extra Curriculars:
-Debate Team(Captain Next Year) -9th/10th/11th/12th
-Quiz Bowl- 9th/10th/11th/12th
-National Honor Society- 11th/12th
-Grits(School Newspaper)-10th/Disbanded and merged with the Literary Magazine
- literary magazine- 9th,10th/Disbanded and merged with the Grits School Newspaper
-WEBBASED Magazine and Literary Journal- 11th,(Editor Next Year) 12th
-Great Books Book Club-9th/10th/11th/12th
-2010 Musical(Grease)-10th
-2012 Musical(Sweeney Todd)-11th
-(Co-President) Sci-fi/Fantasy Club-10th/11th/12th
-Vestry(Oldest Group in my Schools History) - 9th/10th/11th/12th
-YIG(Youth in Government)-10th/11th/12th
-French Club-10th/11th/12th
-National French Honor Society -10th/11th/12th
-Summer Reading Committee (We pick the summer reading novels for the entire school)-9th/10th/11th/12th
-Teacher-Student Book Club(Creator/President)- 11th, 12th
-Science Club-9th/ President in: 11th/12th
-Service Leader Program -11th/12th (Leader of a YMCA program to help urban youth in the arts/academics.(Over 50 hours))</p>

<p>Awards:
-1st place Local School Public Forum Debate 2008
-1st Place Poetry/Short Fiction Contest 2010
-2nd Place Local School Public Forum Debate 2009
-NAACP Exhibition of Student Excellence Award 2009
-National French Honor Society
-2nd place Poetry Out Loud 2009/2010(School Wide)
-1st Place Poetry Out Loud 2011
-Honor Roll 2009/2010/2011/2112
-NHS-11th/12th
-Cum Laude Society- 11th</p>

<p>Service Projects:
-Old Folks Home-9th/10th/11th/12th (Old Folks Home)
-YMCA Children's after school program-10th/11th/12th(Explained Above)
And the Typical:
-Hospital Volunteer work- 11th/12th
Overall: Over 200 hours</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience:
Over My Junior Year, and preceding summer I did Research In the NeuroScience/Optometry Unit of a Local Hospital. I am now in the process of being published. (Over 100 hours)</p>

<p>Hook: Here is where I have a question, I was once a Jeopardy Contestant... but it was Kids Jeopardy... Should I mention that on my Applications or no? Also, URM(Except for Howard), Research</p>

2

<p>Can you afford your OOS options (like $50k/year for the UCs)? Do you need merit or financial aid? What kind of school are you looking for (small/large, urban/rural)? The only common aspect for your current list is prestige.</p>

3

<p>My family makes ~100,000k a year,
so I will need Some financial Aid to afford OOS Colleges and Universities.
I am interested in BOTH large and small colleges, and would rather be in an urban area, or even a rural area close to an urban area.</p>

4

<p>If your family makes 100K you won’t get any aid at OOS publics (UCB, UCLA). UVA does meet need but your EFC will probably be near 25K. Can your family pay that? USC and Oberlin look pretty solid (matches) but I don’t know if you’ll get any merit aid offered. The rest are reaches. Why aren’t you looking at South Carolina, a great in-state school? You might get merit$ at Ohio State, probably Alabama, LSU, Tulane, Arizona.</p>

5

<p>You have an outstanding record! Congratulations on your talent and hard work.</p>

<p>Being such a great student and being an AA female, you will have many opportunities. What I recommend you do before I or any others make (further) suggestions, is let us know what you would ideally prefer in terms of the size of a school, its location both in terms of urban vs. suburban vs. rural and in terms of weather (we already know SC is off the list. How about NC or other nearby states?), Greek scene, sports scene both for watching and/or participating, is having a significant AA community either on campus or off campus important to you, other features like music (do you play an instrument or sing and if yes do you plan to continue?), that kind of thing. You have schools on your list that are about as polar opposite in many of those aspects as schools can be. So please give us some insight into this and it will be much easier to suggest some safeties. Because the thing about safeties is that if you did end up being “forced” to go to one, which is so unlikely in your case but still…, then you want it to be someplace you really like for other reasons also. Many students don’t like cold weather, but are willing to sacrifice to go to Harvard, for example. They might be less inclined to overlook it for the University of Maine (not picking on Maine!!).</p>

<p>Oh, and you are right, chancing is useless in your case, you have a chance anyplace. Your 2nd year was fine, I wouldn’t couch it in terms of being “rough”. Besides , the 4.0 your 3rd year makes it far less important. If it had been the reverse, then maybe some comment would be useful, but as it is don’t bring attention to it.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for your input! Erin’s Dad: Simply, I hate South Carolina. Also, I think there are more matches… I think I have the grades for NYU, Barnard, Boston U, Rice, Vandy, and Even UPenn… I could be wrong, though lol. But that’s what my Guidance Counselor told me.
fallenchemist: Thanks for the compliments! Below is a lot more info!
More Info:
The reason these schools are so varied is because I see the merit in all of them, I have no preference for size of school. And As I have gone to a predominately white School, having a large AA community isn’t at the forefront of what I think is necessary to attend a college. I do not give a wit about Sports, but would like to participate in Greek Life, but that isn’t a deal breaker either. I’d enjoy a good school Newspaper, and I sing and love musicals so a good school drama department would be nice as well. I LOVE Speech and Debate and would continue to participate on a College Level. I am capable of withstanding all kinds of weather, but would really like to go to a place with all 4 seasons, as South Carolina has like 2 seasons: Fall and Summer, haha.
Anymore opinions?</p>

7

<p>Pitt would be a safety as far as admission, but you might get some merit money. Cum Laude Society as a junior indicates a fairly high class rank and your scores are good. BTW–I am a shameless Pitt promoter.</p>

8

<p>That is great info! I will give it some thought and get back to you later. But that helps a ton. Tulane remains a great choice with that criteria, other than the 4 seasons. Active Greek scene without dominating the school social life, Musical Theater productions open to non-majors, the Newcomb-Tulane Debate Society, and as previously stated you would get an excellent scholarship. Also I know there is an initiative to bring Speech/Debate to middle school kids in the area, so you would be able to fulfill the community service requirement with something you love. [Tulane</a> University - Students Coach Young Debaters](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/111909_debaters.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/111909_debaters.cfm) Enjoy! I will try and come up with some other highly likelies (I hate the term safety) that are in the Northeast or midwest that meet your criteria. But I shamelessly will push Tulane, lol. It does seem to meet a lot of your needs though.</p>

<p>P.S. I just saw MD Mom’s post when I posted mine. Funny. We are both shameless! LOL. But Pitt is an excellent suggestion. BTW, Carnegie-Mellon right up the road from Pitt is well know for theater, but I know that is a “hobby”, not your anticipated avocation. Still, worth knowing in case you get to Pittsburgh for a visit. You could see both.</p>

9

<p>You would be a fine candidate for Carnegie Mellon, Haverford, Bryn Mawr Johns Hopkins and Connecticut College.</p>

10

<p>Wow, FallenChemist…
I had never really considered Tulane before!
I’ll be sure to look further into it!
Any other Colleges you would recommend I’d be happy to hear about!</p>

11

<p>I think with your profile Boston University is a safety.</p>

<p>I’ll second yabeyabe2’s recommendation of Carnegie-Mellon, it’s very strong in the sciences but also has a honors/scholars program in the arts & humanities (I don’t remember the name of the program). You’re certainly a match for CMU; another strong science school to consider is Case-Western (Cleveland), probably a safety for you but I don’t know about the quality of the English department.</p>