How's my list? What should I change?

College Search & Selection
1

Hey guys!

Trying to finalize my college list, and it sees pretty weighted towards reach and super-reach schools. I’d love some tips on which safeties or match schools to add and which reach schools are too far out. Ideally I like mid-size schools (around 6,000 ish) with a good campus feel, close to jobs and internships, not much of a party school, and good programs in economics, business, and international relations. Cost is a big factor but I’m low-income enough that NPC shows pretty much full rides from most of the big ivy caliber institutions. Mainly look for safety/match schools but if there’s a killer reach school you think would be a great match I’d love to hear. Thanks in advance! Here are my current schools:

University of Chicago
Stanford
University of Pennsylvania (Huntsman Dual-Degree Program)
Brown
Georgetown (School of Foreign Service)
Cornell (College of Arts and Sciences, Legacy)
Johns Hopkins
Washington University in St. Louis (Because no supplement… why not!)
UC Berkeley
Claremont McKenna
UC San Diego
George Mason (Honors College, Early Action, Recruited for speech team with scholarships)
American University (Honor College)
UC Santa Barbara
UC Irvine
San Diego State
San Jose State

It’s a pretty ridiculous number of schools but UCs are all one app and I get fee-waivers for most so I’m making do. Could drop Cornell/Hopkins but they have pretty short supplements anyways.

Here’s my stats and stuff:

California
White
Male
Low-Income
Public high school in wealthy area

Testing:
ACT - 36 Composite Single Sitting (36M 36E 36R 35S waiting on writing)
SAT - 2330 Single Sitting (800M 780R 750W)
Subject Tests - Math II 800, Literature 730, Spanish Reading 750, Spanish Listening 740
AP - Calc AB 5, Human Geo 5, English Lang 5, Spanish Lang 5, Spanish Lit 5, Statistics 5 (and a couple that I took for no reason without self-studying or taking the class so they’re 3s or 4s, probably won’t submit)

Grades:
Expected after 1st semester senior year:
UW: 3.8 UC: 4.25 W: 4.28
Really weak 9th and 10th grade years, very strong upwards trend (9th 3.8, 10th 3.8, 11th 4.8, 12th 5.0)
Senior year class load: AP Calc BC, AP Art History, AP Microecon, AP Gov, AP Physics, AP Comp Lit

Awards:
-2nd Place in a speech event at speech and debate national championship
-2nd Place at an international debate tournament
-1st Place FRC Robotics World Championship
-1st Place Boys State California Oratory
-1st Place Boys State California Legal Advocacy

Extracurriculars - these are just a few highlights I have more stuff I can add but don’t want to waste your time:
-Robotics: 2 years Business lead for hs robotics team, raised about $140,000 each year, and was invited to Japan for a sponsor tour
-Debate: 3 years Finalist for the US National debate team (Top 15 in the country, many individual awards, coaching middle school debate, and invited to a tournament in Korea over the summer
-Local Homeless Shelter: 9 years Volunteer for a long time, first ever minor on the board of director for a couple years, and head of a group of high school students that intern at the shelter
-Business Consultant (Paid): 3 years Coaching and working for local startups and larger corporations coaching on pitch decks, business strategy, and marketing
-Spanish Translator (Paid): 3 years Translating Venezuelan birth certificates, translating online college courses
-Entrepreneurship: 2 years Work with a small team to develop a GPS bike computer, pitched to local angel investors, project eventually failed but makes for a cool story and shows my interest

2

You definitely have the test scores to get in everywhere; your GPA, however, may be the thing that holds you back. I know that colleges say GPA is the best indicator of college success, but in the rare case of a 36, colleges may be able to look past the less-than-perfect GPA. As far as reaches go, I would take a couple off. I don’t think you need many safeties either, though. I think you sand a very good chance at Cornell, and you have a shot at all of your other reaches. I think you should just do some deeper research as to what you want out of college, and eliminate the colleges that don’t offer the things most important to you.

3

Thanks! Any way you think I can address grades in my application? I do well in classes, honestly I kind of didn’t try at all in 9th and 10th because I was really bored in class. I know that won’t happen at these top universities with challenging classes and subject material that I’m passionate about, but I don’t know how to convey that in an application. And I’ll definitely look at dropping some schools off, thinking I can probably drop Johns Hopkins at the very least.

4

Thanks for the encouragement!

I don’t have any schools that I’m confident I’ll get into and confident I can afford. I’m not sure how to estimate my UC aid which is most of NY safeties, and George Mason is easy to get into but the full tuition scholarship I’d need to attend is very competitive (25 students out of 3,500).

5

You might add Vanderbilt to the list as they like high stats. Also, schools like Duke and Davidson have limited full-ride scholarships that you might be competitive for.

You should have enough UC’s on the list to find a good safety.

Good luck, and let us know what happens!

6

Yes, you can. If you have the time, can you chance me?

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1926308-chances-for-brown-ed.html

7

Great list and congrats on all your hard work in high school. You have the stats for a shot (nothing is guaranteed) at any college. And if you’re low income then top schools that meet full need are your best bet.
I’m fairly confident you’ll get into either Chicago, Cornell or Georgetown. But if you want to add more you could consider Rice - I’d say you’re a match there and it fits your description. Also Vanderbilt. And I’d add Columbia (reach) just to be in NYC for internship/IR opportunities.

8

What’s your class rank?
At the most selective colleges, ~90% or more of enrolled students graduated in their HS top 10%. Among students admitted without hooks, many may be closer to the top 1%. Check outcomes in Naviance if your school makes it available.