Is my college list viable?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a current HS sophomore, and while I know I still have a decent amount of time before I apply, I’ve compiled a tentative college list based on research and infosessions/school tours. Just wanted to get some second opinions before I fully commit to this list.

Am I classifying all of these schools correctly? Is the composition of my list OK (should I have more matches and safeties relative to my number of reaches)? What are some other possible matches/safeties that I would be interested in? (As for the third question, I’m interested in schools that are either urban or within 30 mins of a major city, not on the West Coast, and not in-state except for possibly UMiami. A history of providing decent merit aid would be a nice plus, but not necessary.)

Stats:
White female from FL
Can pay in full (will not be requesting financial aid)
School doesn’t rank
GPA: 4.0 UW/4.7 W (am taking the most rigorous courseload available – will have 13ish APs by end of senior year)
ACT: 36C (36R, 34M, 36E, 36S, 11W) (in one sitting)
SAT: Will take this year, but am expecting a 1560+ (because a) the ACT score and b) received a 1500 on PSAT last year)
SAT Subject Tests: 800 on Math II, am expecting a 780-800 on Biology
EC’s: Not going to go super in depth as my list will obviously look more impressive two years from now, but suffice it to say, they’re good enough to make me decently competitive at the Ivy level. Multiple leadership positions, student government, awards in several competitions centered around bio and math, run my own tutoring business, serve on the board of the local chapter of a nationwide charity, 100+ volunteer hours (will have 300+ by senior year), et cetera.
No hooks except that the ACT score was from eighth grade, if that even counts for anything
Planning to dual major in biomedical engineering and mathematics + minor in Chinese

List:

High reaches:
Harvard
MIT
Princeton
Columbia
UChicago (yes, I know they don’t have an engineering dept.)

Less high reaches:
Duke
Vanderbilt

Matches:
Johns Hopkins
Carnegie Mellon
Rice
WashU
Georgia Tech

Safeties:
Northeastern
University of Florida
University of Alabama

Thanks so much in advance! :slight_smile:

2

None of the schools that you list as “Matches” are matches, for you or anyone; given the admission rates, all of them are reaches to some degree.

Northeastern is not a “Safety” for you.

3

@gandalf78 You may be right, but Northeastern accepted 29% of their students last year and their average ACT score was a 31. Based on that, I would say it is likely I will get into Northeastern.

As for the match schools - I would agree that some of them are high matches, but based on their admit rates and average test scores I would say that I am a match for all of them (not that I will certainly get in to any of them, but that I am a very competitive applicant for them).

Based on the criteria I listed, what matches and safety schools would you recommend I add to my list?

4

I agree that Northeastern is an unreliable safety. They rejected a number of students from our local high school last year who had scores both within and above their 25-75% range.
When you are looking at highly selective colleges, high scores do not make someone a shoo-in.
And certain colleges seem to fear being used as a safety and reject some top applicants from a high school in favor of applicants with lower scores and GPA’s. The term is “yield protection”- accepting students more likely to attend.
Northeastern is becoming a very popular safety for students applying to colleges like Harvard and MIT, as well as a top choice for some students within its own right as its reputation has grown, which means that it is becoming more competitive and ceasing to be a reliable safety.
By all means apply there if you like it and are excited by its internship focus. Just do not count it as a safety. Two kids I know well, at the top of their high school class with good scores, considered it a safety but did not get in and are going to their bottom choice super-safeties.

5

I think part of the problem is you don’t know who was rejected at all these schools. I would be willing to bet all of your non safeties had people rejected with 36 ACT’s

6

It is early, but your preliminary list is very aggressive to me – I would classify your match schools more in the reach category because they have very low acceptance rates (many of them accept around 15% – if you don’t live in GA you would need to to look at the OOS acceptance rate for GA Tech). Your academics to date are top notch but as you know things like ECs (too early to know), LORs, essays play a part in holistic admissions. Keep in mind that students with perfect GPAs and standardized tests do get rejected from the top tier colleges – being in the academic range for those schools will not get you accepted, it will get your application past the first cut to be seriously considered.

To me there is too big of a gap between your “match” and “safety” schools. I would look to add one or two strong schools where admissions are somewhat less competitive (URochester is one that comes to mind) and one or two schools that you can apply to non-binding EA (ex. UMichigan) and hopefully get an acceptance by December.

Also before you finalize any list (and you are too young to have a final list at this point) you will need to have the “money talk” with your parents. Your application list will have to take into account any financial constraints as well as any other limitations (ex. geographic) your parents may have.

7 
        You would qualify for merit at NEU, which might be why you could be WL. Not because of it's reputation or selectivity.  The more popular merit schools can reject the NMFs and high stats kids purely because there are more kids than money. Even if you are not looking for money.  
     You need to rethink matches and be quite clear you would not apply for FA at all, and/ or need merit. As a soph this might not be set in stone as you imagine. Can pay in full is not the same as your folks actually paying 250k plus for a non tippy top school.  Sure they would pony up for MIT/Harvard, but  maybe not NEU or GT/washu.
8

Your ACT score from 8th grade probably won’t be considered. Generally standardized testing from middle school is not considered (or reported).

I agree that many of your “matches” are actually “reaches.” You will want to show demonstrated interest (visit, interview, email, etc.) You might want also to consider Brandeis as a low match/near safety.

Alabama is probably a good safety. Are you planning to apply EA to MIT/Chicago or REA to either Princeton or Harvard?

9

Can you use the 36 from 8th grade? I’m just not clear on the ACT rules. College Board purges scores from middle school (but I know the ACT varies on many logistical areas from them).

I agree that you need some more lower ranked schools just in case. GTech rejected multiple in-state students with similar stats last year.

10

Johns Hopkins is probably a low reach school on this list and Northeastern is probably a low match
Adding a school like U Rochester or RPI might be good
Would you consider Cornell or Dartmouth ?
That said - based right now on your statistics, extracurriculars and your scores it is likely you would get it into one of these schools as a senior. Just too early to tell. And I would add a few schools

11

@TheGreyKing Thank you for replying! I do like the school and will still apply there - that is a very good point about yield protection, though, and I’ll probably start looking at it as more of a match. Naviance data does state that over the past two years, all 15 applicants from my school with a 35+ ACT and 4.2+ WGPA were accepted, but you can never be too careful.

Could you possibly recommend any matches or safeties that I should look into?

@Nicki20 That is most likely true. But that’s the literal definition of a match school - a school at which you are a competitive applicant, but not a definite shoo-in. I’m not saying that because I have a 36 ACT, I’m guaranteed to get into these schools. What I am saying is that because I have the GPA, other test scores, competitive extracurriculars, and what will be excellent essays to back it up, I believe I have a pretty good shot at them.

12

@happy1 Thank you! I have been considering putting UMich on the list. I have already had the “money talk” with my parents. They are willing to pay in full at any school (based on my family’s income we would not get any need-based FA no matter what school I applied to), and have not set a geographic limitation, although they seem apprehensive about me going to a school on the West Coast (which is why I stated in my OP that I was not considering schools there).

@intparent I have thus far contacted all of my reach schools and several of my match schools. Of those, they will all accept my ACT score from 8th grade except for Carnegie Mellon. As I stated in OP, I am going to take the SAT as a backup, for CM and for any school that suddenly reverses that decision between now and my senior year.

@LoveTheBard See my reply to intparent in this post regarding the ACT score in 8th grade. I have visited or attended an infosession for most of these schools, and plan to go for an interview for as many as I can. I am either going to apply ED to Columbia or REA to Harvard - have not decided yet. I will look into Brandeis :slight_smile:

@Jprothn Thank you! I have heard negative things about RPI and do not plan to apply, but will look into Rochester.

Thank you to everyone who stated that some of my matches should be classified as reaches - that’s why I made this thread. Am definitely going to add one or two lower matches to my list.

13

You should confirm with ACT that the score is still on file and can be sent to colleges. Just to be on the safe side. I was thinking that although you said no west coast, you might drop Columbia for someplace like Harvey Mudd. Once you have to get on a plane, I don’t know why it makes much difference.

14

I think you conceded too much here. For reasons subject to mathematical analysis, you actually can be too careful.

With respect to your actual choices, your chances at your originally listed match schools could, individually, reach ~60% or higher. As a group, they could be argued to be a collective low match.

The above dissenting opinion offered, I’d also recommend the University of Rochester, mostly because it nicely matches your criteria.

You might look into Swarthmore as well if you haven’t done so already.

15

@intparent It was still on file as of this spring (used it to apply to a summer program). I’ll contact ACT just to be sure, but I figure that if they kept it well into my freshman year, they aren’t likely to delete it now. I will look into Harvey Mudd in case my parents’ attitude changes (I do love Columbia, though, and was considering applying there ED).

@merc81 Thank you! That’s honestly exactly what I thought when I first posted this thread - that, when looking at my match schools collectively, I have a very good chance of getting into at least one of them. I will look into Rochester and Swarthmore :slight_smile:

16

As for the ACT, even if they keep it on file, many schools will want testing that is no more than 2 or 3 years old.

Brandeis – along with a host of other schools – have a 3+2 engineering agreement with Columbia. Here’s a link to the combined liberal arts / engineering program:

https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/learn/academiclife/engineering/combined-plan-program

As a woman, you have a whole host of match schools in the women’s colleges (Barnard comes to mind, given the interest in Columbia). If you were to consider CA, both UC Berkeley and UCSD should be considered (San Diego is a pretty easy airport to get into and out of). And I second @intparent’s suggestion of Harvey Mudd as a reach with Scripps as a low match/safety (but with demonstrated interest of paramount importance).

I agree that Rochester’s worth looking into.

Have you looked into schools like Rose-Hulman? Olin? Purdue? Emory might also be a good match and has a solid biomedical engineering program. Virginia Tech and Wake Forest might make for good low-match/safeties.

Also, if Columbia ends up being your top choice, you might want to apply ED, but you’re a loooong way away from that.

You’re not at all being “too careful” with the list of high reach and reach schools you mentioned.

17

She’s not. But if she’s persuaded too far away from them, she could end up with a diluted list that would be inferior to her original.

Btw, if you ever want to study in China, @chrysalism, this program is one of the strongest around (This would be a while off, I know!):

https://www.chinainsight.info/education/general/231-associated-colleges-in-china-a-hidden-gem.html

18

I agree that your list is much too reach heavy.

Your safeties are good but definitely add a few more matches. Schools like Case Western, Lehigh, Bucknell, Pitt.

Some of the schools on your list also give an ED bump so when the time comes to apply, use your ED wisely.

19

Since you asked, I looked up colleges with biomedical engineering majors and compared them with what you wrote and what I know about those colleges. I think U of Florida and U of Alabama are good safety choices if you like them. Here are some matches to consider. Some of these will be almost safeties for you, but not as risk free as the state colleges because they are “holistic” in admission and thus your great stats are not the near-guarantee they are at the state universities you named.

Matches:
University of Rochester
Lehigh
Lafayette
Trinity (in Connecticut)
Bucknell
Union

Additional safeties to consider:
U of Pittsburgh
Penn State
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Stony Brook (but there are a lot of commuters in this school and you are an out of state student, so investigate the social setting with care despite the strong program there)

Two colleges named by other posters, Swarthmore and Harvey Mudd, are terrific choices— both are reaches for anyone because of the small admissions percentages. Someone mentioned Brandeis, which I agree is a good match for you in many ways, but it does not have any engineering majors per se, just a 3:2 program, unlike the other colleges named.

And although earlier I expressed some concerns about Northeastern as a safety, your high school’s Naviance data sounds good, and you are coming from Florida, whereas the students I know who were waitlisted/rejected were coming from a Long Island high school where about 20 students applied to Northeastern.

20

@chrysalism

This is old data. The acceptance rate was 19% and the middle 50% ACT was 33-35.

Bottom of this page: https://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/

You’ve got a good chance, but really not a safety. That said, UF and UA are two solid options.

For solid matches, have you considered schools like URochester or Case Western?