<p>THE STATS
Background: Rising senior, Hispanic male in a CA public school, (upper?) middle class, first-gen
Major: Chemical Engineering or Bio/Biomedical Engineering
GPA: 4.00 UW, challenging course load
SAT Score: 2180 (730 CR, 670 M, 780 W)
SAT II Scores: Math 2 - 730, Chem - 610, US History - 670
AP Scores: Euro - 2 (not submitting), Chem - 3, Physics B - 4, Calc AB - 5, Lang - 5, US History - 3
ECs: Honor societies and service clubs with leadership, school choir for 4 years, a few awards from summer programs
Note: I am planning on retaking the SAT and SAT II tests (I have only taken them once each).</p>
<p>THE COLLEGE LIST
Reach: Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern, Hopkins, Berkeley
Match: CMU, USC, UCLA, UCSD
Safety: UCSB, UC Davis, Cal Poly SLO</p>
<p>THE QUESTIONS
Does my college list look appropriate for my stats? Am I applying to a wide enough range of schools? Is my categorization of reach/match/safety pretty realistic? General assistance would be great. Thanks, CC!</p>
<p>How do the net prices listed on the colleges’ net price calculators look to you? These can cause some schools to change categories (i.e. a school may more to a reach if the only way to afford it is to get a reach-level merit scholarship).</p>
<p>Purely on high level stats, Berkeley is probably closer to a match than a reach (however, the various engineering majors vary in admissions selectivity). However, generally, there may be concern that your weakest standardized test scores are in chemistry if you intend to go for chemical engineering.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO does not have chemical engineering. Other California publics with chemical engineering include CPP, CSULB, SJSU, UCI, UCR.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus: I looked at the NPCs with my parents and they were ok with me applying to all of these schools. I am really hoping to improve my Chem SAT II score. At Cal Poly, I would major in Biomedical Engineering, or maybe Materials Engineering. I’m not really interested in other CSUs. I may add UCI to the list.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need more schools in any category as long as you are happy with your choices. 12 applications is a bit much work, but if you can afford to go to those schools if admitted then fine.</p>
<p>BrownParent: I am happy with my choices and have spent quite some time thinking it over. I think I will finish my applications for the “super reach” schools last, in case I run out of time/energy. Thank you!</p>
<p>What is your rank? Do you have access to Naviance? If so does your school send students to the reach schools on your list, and if so how do your stats match?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t consider UC Davis a safety. It is as difficult as UCSD so definitely a match.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t consider UCLA a match. It is as difficult (and perhaps more so) as UCB.</p>
<p>CMU and USC may also be reaches for you. It’s hard to say without specific rank information and Naviance history for your school.</p>
<p>With these adjustments your list is very top heavy.</p>
<p>With OP’s stats, it probably is a safety/low match. I know many kids from my DD’s CA HS who were accepted with much lower stats (sub-2000 SAT’s). For the class ahead of hers ('13), 19 students were accepted to Davis. (Suburban CA public high school, graduating class size @350)</p>
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<p>Agree they should be at the same level, but in OP’s case, probably both matches, not reaches. Again, my DD’s HS’s class of '13 had 5 acceptances to Cal and 6 to UCLA.</p>
<p>I think you have done your research and its a great list. I think most of your reaches are realistic reaches - Stanford may be a little bit harder (I wonder how many Hispanic males from California they see each year - set yourself apart anyway you can).</p>
<p>fogcity: I am in the top 15 of a class of 600+ (top 2%). My school does not use Naviance. Is Davis really as selective as UCSD? According to their CDS’s, UCSD looks more selective (albeit, slightly).</p>
<p>stemmmm: Thank you. I realize Stanford as a huge stretch, so I know to be realistic haha. I’m sure there are tons of CA hispanic males, so the competition is tough.</p>
<p>I think this is a perfectly good list given the OP’s stats. I note that the OP is a first-gen URM as well. Indeed, if your SATs go up (and even if they don’t) you could even add a couple more reachy reaches, like Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>Get that SAT I Math over 700 if you can. The rest is good. </p>
<p>Just retake SAT II Chem or take SAT II Physics. Just take one. Don’t waste energy retaking the others. If you just finished AP Physics B, SAT II Physics has a friendlier curve. You can get a lot more wrong and still get an 800. </p>
<p>Basically, the privates will take your best score from each component of the SAT, and one math and one physical science SAT II and compute some kind of academic index. Then they bin students by groups with similar academic indices and admit a certain fraction of each bin. You want to try to get into the highest bin. </p>
<p>All of the other stuff matters in the holistic review, but improving your academic index goes a long way. </p>
<p>BTW, UCSB is supposed to have a top 10 chemical engineering department, so if that’s your safety, LOL. You may be applying to way too many schools.</p>