I can't find a Safety I like

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I have a list of schools including Reaches, Matches, and Safeties, but my top schools are Reaches. I like my matches, but not as much as my reaches, and my safeties are okay, but I'd really prefer not to go to them. Can anyone suggest a few others that I might like?</p>

<p>Here are my Stats:
Before High School
Algebra 1 B
French 1/2 B</p>

<p>Freshman Year
Honors Geometry A/A
Honors US B/B
Honors French 3 B/B
Honors English 9 B/A
Gym A/A
Ceramics 1 B/B
Honors Biology B/B</p>

<p>Sophomore Year
Honors Chemistry A/A
Honors English 10 A/A
Honors French 4 B/A
Honors Physics B/B
Honors Algebra 2 A/A
AP US Gov A/A (5 on the exam)
Ceramics 2/Honors Health A/A</p>

<p>Junior Year
Honors Precalc A/A
IB History 1 HL C/B
IB English 1 HL B/A
IB French 5 HL B/B
AP Chem A/A (5)
IB Film (dropped)/AP Microecon B/B (4)</p>

<p>Senior Year
AP Physics
IB English 2 HL
IB History 2 HL
AP BC Calc
IB French 6 HL
AP Statistics
Theatre 2</p>

<p>Summer before Senior Year
Foundations of Technology (A/A)</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.5
W GPA: 4.27</p>

<p>Testing:
SAT (attempt 1): M:750, CR: 580, W: 610 (MC: 58, E:9) 1940
Attempt 2: M: 720, CR: 620, W: 650 (MC: 69, E:7) 1990
Superscore: 2020
I will be retaking the SAT in October and I am taking the ACT in September. I think I will have a 32 on the ACT if the practice tests are accurate. And I hope I can get that SAT to a 2200.
Subject tests: Math 2: 770, Chemistry: 750
AP Scores: Us Gov, 5. Chem, 5. Microecon, 4.</p>

<p>EC's:
Costumes Committee (9, 10, 12)
Ensemble in The Music Man (11)
Stage Manager of a Show (11)
Tutoring (11-12)
National Novel Writing Month (9-12)
Jewish Youth Group (9-12), Regional General Board (11-12)
Intern at Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition (9-12)</p>

<p>White
Female
Public High School
Legacy at Brandeis (mom)
From MD
Projected Major(s): Chemical Engineering or Chemistry & theatre </p>

<p>Hopefully my recs and essays will be good as well.</p>

<p>My List So Far:
Brandeis
Carnegie Mellon
Case Western EA
UChicago
Drexel EA
UMD Priority
MIT EA
NYU
Northwestern
Tufts
Vanderbilt
WashU
UDel</p>

<p>What I want in a college:
3-10K students (preferably 5-8K)
Not in MD/DC/VA (far away)
Near/In a city/large town</p>

<p>Cost is not an issue. Thanks everyone!</p>

2

<p>Are you Jewish since your mom went to Brandeis? If so do you intend to continue practicing in college?</p>

3

<p>I am Jewish and I do intend to keep practicing at college. I want a school with a Hillel preferably, but not a Jewish School (like Yeshiva University or something like that)</p>

4

<p>There’s a thread on the Parent’s forum entitled Colleges for the Jewish B Student (can’t link to it because I’m on my phone). You might want to post your question there since many of the schools discussed are safeties for an A student with your stats. I used when i was researching transfer institutions and found it quite helpful.</p>

5

<p>What county are you in? MC-Rockville has an excellent theatre (performance, production, tech/design options are available), and you could take the pre-engineering classes too. Bigger than you say you want, and probably not far enough from home, but it’s a guaranteed admit, and your stats might get you merit aid if you want some.</p>

<p>Remember, you don’t have to be in love with your safety. It just has to be a place you would choose to attend than take a gap year.</p>

6

<p>NYU proper does not have chemical engineering, but PINYU does.</p>

7

<p>Have you considered the College of Charleston? I would highly recommend you check it out!</p>

8

<p>Bumping this</p>

9

<p>Check out Manhattan College. It is in NYC, albeit not in Manhattan. It’s located on the edge of an upper-middle class residential neighborhood (very Jewish, actually) and next to a lower-middle class neighborhood in the Bronx, but it’s not unsafe. I heard it is good for ChemE and it seems to meet your size requirements. It takes about 40 minutes to get into midtown.</p>

10

<p>Carnegie Mellon
UChicago
MIT EA
NYU
Northwestern
Tufts
Vanderbilt
WashU</p>

<p>are all completely out of your range in my opinion. You have to do an honest reassessment of the strength of your application.</p>

11

<p>Chicago and Brandeis also do not have chemical engineering.</p>

12

<p>NYU, WashU, Tufts chem engineering is crazy weak too. I’m sorry, but you have done a horrific job picking colleges. </p>

<p>You should look into the University of Minnesota.</p>

13

<p>What have the IB advisor, and your general HS counselor suggested? They should know where students with profiles like yours have been admitted in recent years, and ought to be able to help you determine where things fall on the safety/match/reach spectrum.</p>

14

<p>I have been told that the more techy schools often will admit the “lopsided” applicant that consistently achieved high grades in math and science, but did not perform quite as well in other subjects. This seems to be your situation. Your SAT score could use a boost but I do not think all the schools on your list are completely out of your range. Being full pay might help as well. I would think that Drexel would be a safety.</p>

15

<p>@Cornelliann
I do know those colleges are reaches and that it will be hard to get into them. But I also believe that I do have a shot. All those colleges you listed are considered my reaches, but does that mean I shouldn’t apply? I also disagree that Tufts and WashU have “crazy weak” ChemE schools. From what I’ve researched and heard, their schools seem to be good. </p>

<p>@ucbalumnus
I know UChicago and Brandeis do not have ChemE.</p>

<p>@happymomof1
Our IB advisor just suggests big state flagships for IB kids and I’m not interested in those.</p>

<p>@HarvestMoon1
I hopefully will boost my SAT score come October. I’m aiming for a 2100-2200.</p>

16

<p>I think you need more matches AND safeties, not just safeties. I don’t know who is helping you with your list but it is incredibly ambitious given your stats. If you were my daughter I would spend the next three months helping you find realistic options that you will feel good about attending if your long shots (most of your list) don’t work out. </p>

<p>I am not trying to be harsh, but I have seen a lot of kids in your position wind up very disappointed on April 1 because they didn’t find match schools they liked. Good luck.</p>

<p>P.S. Have you looked at the admissions data on collegenavigator.gov? It is very helpful. For instance, the 25th-75th percentile range on the math portion of the SAT at MIT is 750-800. So as good as your math score is, it’s still near the bottom of the MIT pool. Also keep in mind that a lot of schools disregard the SAT portion of the test entirely, so I would focus on bringing up your CR score.</p>

17

<p>@sally305
Do you think I don’t have any matches because I was considering some of the schools on my list matches.</p>

18

<p>No, I think you have some for sure. Are they schools you would be happy to attend? I just don’t think you should focus all your energy on the reaches, and perhaps add a few more matches you might not have considered before.</p>

19

<p>I’d choose my reaches over all my matches, but I would be content attending my matches.</p>

20

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</p>

<p>Some of the strongest schools for chemical engineering happen to be big state flagships.</p>

<p>However, you can get listings of schools with chemical engineering at [Accredited</a> Program Search](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx) .</p>