idk where to apply

hey everyone—

so it’s the summer before my senior year and i have 0 idea of what I want to do for college, because i don’t trust the college process (my sister had a perfect GPA, near perfect test scores, international awards and recognition but got rejected from all of her reach schools, even though she was VERY qualified);

here are my stats:
uw gpa 4.0
w gpa 4.672 (I’ve never gotten less than an A-)
12APs thus far— 4 self studied because my school wouldn’t let me enroll in the class (5s and 4s in all)
took both sat and act: 35act, 11 writing — 1570sat, 20writing

im completely undecided in terms of what I want to study— i love math.

in terms of ECs, in my opinion they’re pretty great, as they’ve all led to major awards, so i can’t say what they are because it will put my anonymity at risk.

live in california
income; $300k+

i would want to either be on the west coast, preferably norcal, or the east coast

thanks for your help!!

ps my username has nothing to do with stanford— stanny is my nickname and 24 is my college grad year

The obvious choices would be the UC’s, Cal Poly SLO, Santa Clara for in-state then OOS like UW, along with some Reachier schools like the Claremont Consortium, Stanford, HYP etc…

Reach schools are considered Reach schools for all applicants since there are no guarantees. If you have a balanced college list then you will several options in the end.

Best of luck.

when it comes to reach schools, are my academics impressive? i only ask about academics because i know that my ecs are up to par (not to sound cocky or anything hahah)

You could look into colleges listed in a Princeton Review sampling, “Great Schools for Mathematics Majors,” but which would also be excellent for a range of other majors. Try Haverford, Harvard, Hamilton, Bowdoin and Reed. With well-considered applications to schools from this group you would be likely to attain a high quality acceptance or two in addition to any from the schools you may already be considering. Irrespective of your sister’s experience, I’d recommend that you do trust the college admission process. However, you will enhance your chances of a good outcome through careful attention toward creating a suitable college list.

@stanny24: Overall you are competitive applicant but so are the majority of the students applying to the top schools in the US. As stated by myself and other CC posters, you need to have a well balanced list with a couple of safety schools, several Match schools then you can apply to an unlimited number of Reach schools but still have some great options from which to choose in the Spring.

Just remember where you go for Undergrad will define you, it is what you do with the opportunities you are given that make you successful.

what schools would be considered match schools for me when it comes to private universities? the ucs have never really appealed to me for some reason. which schools should I consider myself a shoe in?

With demonstrated interest, schools in the statistical vicinity of the University of Rochester generally would seem to be likely admits for you.

https://amp.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9