Hey!
I was wondering if I’m heading in the right direction with the colleges I want to go to or if I’m reaching too high.
Knowing would save me time writing some of the longer college apps over the summer and help me focus on getting into schools I could reasonably get into.
Thanks!
Schools:
Uchicago
Duke
Princeton
Yale
MIT
Harvard
Stanford
UIUC
Georgia Tech
Umich
Upenn
GPA:
Unweighted: 3.8
Weighted:4.35
Tests:
ACT: 36
SAT: 1590
SAT II: 800 Math, 800 Physics
AP: Physics C mechanics (5) and electromagnetism (5), AP Euro (5), APUSH (5), AP Lang (5), AP Stats (5), AP Calc BC (5)
I can give you a real world answer. My D graduated in 2015 from a large IL high school with a 36 ACT a 3.82 unweighted, 4.3 weighted GPA with 10 AP courses or maybe 11. She was rejected EA to Stanford, rejected by Princeton, Yale, Harvard from your list. Your ECs are stronger than hers were. Your list is too top heavy relative to your stats. My advice would be to short list these super selective schools and add some like Carnegie Mellon or schools likely to offer you merit aid. You will have a very strong application but it is hard to write exceptional, school specific essays to that many schools
You have a very strong background but almost all of your schools are reaches for any unhooked applicant. I suggest you work to create a more reasonable college list that includes a better mix of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (find out your parents’ budget and run the net price calculator for each school) and that you would be happy to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on the hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in. Cast a wider net.
Agree that you need more matches and safeties (unless UIUC is sure thing based on your stats). The GPA is excellent, I would have expected higher with your nearly perfect test scores. Perhaps your school is rigorous and competitive. Since you would be first generation to attend college, that could be a big benefit to your application.
@Sam7764 you are a qualified applicant but these schools are insanely difficult even for very qualified students so make sure you add a few more matches and safeties. HYPSM are a crapshoot for practically everyone. Penn, Chicago, Duke are bit more attainable than HYPSM in general, but still are reaches for all intents and purposes. GTech, Umich are probably low reaches/high matches for you and UIUC is probably a match. You need some more matches/safeties imo.
Your list, although top heavy, is fine if you understand that you may only get admitted to 3 of your 11 schools as the rest are ultra-selective & super competitive.
Why not go for an even dozen & add CMU to your list ?
Vanderbilt is test score heavy so that might offset your low GPA (relative to the thousands of kids with 4.0 UW who will apply to the same schools. Your ECs look great. As others have said, add some high quality but lesser ranked schools to the mix. You’ll likely get scholarships there and hopefully choose between them and a few on your list.
Your grades and test scores are great and high enough to get you past the first cut at those schools - meaning you would be considered academically qualified and your app would be read. This is a good start. It will come down to how well written your essays are and how they appeal to those schools. You’d almost certainly need to write very different essays for many of those apps since those schools are looking for different things and it would be tough to write just one set that would be universally appealing.
One potential issue that you still have time to address is that the way you’ve listed your ECs doesn’t make them sound very interesting or exceptional. That could be true or it could just be the list and summary format. But none of the ECs show leadership, going beyond attending scheduled school events or exceptional talent (with the possible exception of the martial arts national rank.) You will want to use your essays to tell a story about how interesting and exceptional these ECs are and you’ll also want to make sure to carefully consider the order and content of that list on the app. Start with the ECs that are most meaningful to you and/or the most impressive and be sure to use at least a small descriptor that highlights why they’re awesome. Continue your list in descending order of importance and don’t list things that aren’t important or detract from the “story” of who you are and what you do. More is not better. Quality not quantity. You want your app to tell a story about who you are and what you’ve been doing.
One other factor you have little control over but can try to manage if you have the knowledge is which other students from your school will be applying. Look at Naviance to get a feel for how many from your school those colleges take and it will help you decide how competitive you will be in that pool, which can save you time or point you in different directions. For example, at my son’s school, Harvard usually takes 1 or 2 students each year. In my son’s graduating class, one of the kids who was applying to Harvard was a multiple legacy (both parents went to Harvard, as did older sibling and grandparents) was wonderfully well rounded with near perfect scores and had appeared on Jeopardy. Another applicant had near perfect scores and was a recruited, nationally ranked rower. There were at least three other applicants with perfect scores and incredibly impressive ECS. So a total of 5 who would all be fantastic Harvard material - from a school that normally sees 2 accepted. Unless you thought your hook, scores and ECs were more compelling than those 5, you might not want to waste time with a Harvard app. Just an example, but figure out the general landscape of your school and how likely admissions are based on past admissions and your knowledge of who else is applying.
These schools are quite different from one another. What are some of your preferences?
And aside from UIUC, your flagship, all are reaches or low reaches for you.
UChicago’s RD rate is (allegedly) now the lowest RD admit rate, among traditional colleges, in the US – about 2-3%. HYPS are also all under 5% for RD. MIT’s is about 7% and I believe Penn’s is under 10% as well. Duke’s would be right around 10%. And Michigan and GIT are two of the hardest admits for OOS applicants among all public schools.
I think you should put serious thought into what you want in terms of academic (majors, class size, curriculum, etc.), social (greek/party scene, sports, clubs & activities, etc.), and environmental (weather, location, urban/rural/suburban setting, campus look and size, etc.) fit variables. And cost – run NPC. Once you have those in hand, you can make a list of reaches, matches and safeties that:
You like; that fit what you're looking for
You can afford, and
Will give you a better chance at a happy admissions result.
What math classes are you currently taking/going to take next year? If you have already taken BC as a sophomore some dual-enrollment classes will definitely help make you stand out.
I intend to major in Aerospace Engineering or Business management depending on the school.
Also, I go to one of the top high schools in the nation so there’s more than enough rigor and courses available for me already.
I’m not really worried about financial constraints. What I’m really looking for is a New Englandish area school in a small city, not too isolated but nothing major like New York City.
Would adding CMU be reasonable? I think Purdue would also be a reasonable safety. I’m not really sure what other schools would be a good fit, any ideas?
Your parents have assured you that they can pay up to $70,000 per year (or what the net price calculator at each college says) for your education?
As an engineering applicant, UIUC, GT, and Michigan may be harder to get into than you think. It is better to find an affordable safety where admission to your major (or a similar one like mechanical engineering) is assured, to avoid the possibility that your only admission is to UIUC in the Department of General Studies (from which it will be very difficult to change into any engineering major).
Chicago does not offer mechanical or aerospace engineering or undergraduate business, so remove it from the list.
I went to one on your list for undergrad and one for business school. I interview a number of students for the undergrad. Many are Asian given I live very close to a predominantly Asian (gifted and talented) high school. Everyone applies to the same list. My biggest annoyance is that kids apply to so many schools that it is obvious that they aren’t convincing about why they want to go to my school. Also if you don’t have time to visit all these schools I wouldn’t bother applying. It will come out in the interview and I put it in my write up. Each of these schools gets a ton of applicants many alike so I would make it very clear why you want to go to the school. I haven’t seen one in yet (one waitlisted) and all of them are impressive on paper fwiw.
I think Purdue would be a good addition. UAlabama might be a good safety as well (and you should qualify for substantial merit aid). Perhaps also look at a some schools along the lines of Case Western, RPI, UMD.