Is this a good college list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a junior, and my parents want me to pretty much finalize where I'm going to apply soon so I can focus on essays, etc. I want to study Biology or Math. How's this list look?</p>

<p>Here's some quick academic info; I've posted more detailed stuff elsewhere.</p>

<p>Grade - 11
Sex - M
Ethnicity - Hispanic, White
State - CT
School Type: Large, competitive public
SAT - 2250 Superscore (700CR/760M/790W). Highest sitting 2230.
GPA - UW: school doesn't keep track but its ~3.87.
W: 5.74
APs: US History 5, This year: Chem, Stat, Calc BC. Next year: English, Spanish, Bio, Microeconomics, CompSci(?)
Rank: School unranked
Courses: Most difficult possible, will have earned ~45 UConn credits by HS graduation.</p>

<p>COLLEGES - I'll probably only apply to 1 or 2 of the ones I marked "may not apply".</p>

<p>Safety: UConn (EA), University of VT (may not apply), Boston University
Match: University of Michigan (EA), Tufts University, Berkeley, University of Washington (May not apply)
Reach: JHU, Dartmouth, MIT (EA), Brown (may not apply)</p>

2

<p>Looks like a well balanced list. If you really prefer your reaches, I’d consider applying to JHU ED. Your CR score will make Dartmouth and MIT tough, but you might slide into MIT ED.</p>

3

<p>I might retake the SAT because of CR, but my guidance counselor said it wouldn’t matter much because I got such a high writing score. MIT is my definite first choice though, and I’m in the middle 50% for CR, so I don’t think it will hurt me much. Correct me if I’m wrong though.</p>

4

<p>I think you’re wrong. It’s well blow average for admits unless they are high demand URMs or athletes. CR is the most important score at most colleges, and even at MIT where math is king, they have a very high CR average. If you have nationl level math/science awards and show true genius in those areas, they might let a 700 go. But if you’re just an average MIT applicant I don’t think they will.</p>

5

<p>Can you afford your OOS schools?</p>

6

<p>Common data set says it’s between 670 and 780. Anyhow, I’m taking the ACT in June and I do much better on the ACT reading tests than I do on the SAT CR. And I got the info about the writing balancing it from my guidance counselor, but I don’t know if he’s right.</p>

<p>And cost at the OOS schools should be ok. I’ll get some financial aid and I have a lot of credits that’ll transfer.</p>

7

<p>

Are you sure about that??? Public Us offer very little to OOS students. Your FA would consist of LOANS (Stafford and other). If you’re VERY low income you could get a Pell Grant. But how would you afford the other $50K/year?</p>

8

<p>As OOS at Michigan, that is not a match. Plus, they deferred and then waitlisted many students so applying EA may not get that early acceptance. Plus, if financial aid is a consideration, they give almost no aid, I hear, to OOS. Although we didn’t investigate the UC system, I cannot imagine admissions for OOS student needing aid there would be much different.</p>

<p>If you are looking for rolling admissions, consider schools like Univ Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana (IU you mwhereas lift for where merit money). Public flagships offer the benefit of rolling admissions so you get early decisions but typically offer nothing besides loans for OOS students. </p>

<p>As the parent of a senior this year, we looked at schools where he is on the low end of stats. that bottom range is deceptive – just because that is the low end of their scale doesn’t mean they will take any particular student at that end of the spectrum. </p>

<p>Good luck with this process.</p>

9

<p>I suggest to look for a few more match schools. Maybe U. Rochester?</p>

<p>I second the suggestion to consider applying ED to Johns Hopkins, since there the ED acceptance rate is significantly higher than the RD rate, 38% vs 16%. I think you would have a good shot there ED, as your stats are within range. </p>

<p><a href=“https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArlRBr9Qvz0mdEdLNzNsRnBKT3Z1dDZ5QTFCQVV1NkE&output=html[/url]”>2012 Admission Decisions - Google Drive;

10

<p>I really liked JHU, I’m just trying to be careful about financial aid. I guess I can go on their site to see how much I’ll get with the calculator, but I’m weary about not being able to compare financial aid packages. If I did ED at Hopkins and they didn’t give enough money, would it affect EA applications?</p>

11

<p>I might add NYU as a match. Or Northeastern.</p>

12

<p>As a URM with your stats, there is not a school in the United States that I’d discourage you from applying to.</p>

<p>Looking at your list. </p>

<p>UConn --IMPORTANT, get your application in as early as possible – even for high stat in-state, there are often squirrelly results for people who apply late.
VT – should be a safety.
BU – probably more of a match than a safety.</p>

<p>Michigan – yes match. Apply early (though not as important as UConn) – However, as I’ll discuss, you may want to rethink applying here at all. (I disagree with prior poster, even for OOS – however, none of your match schools are “locks” if it were a lock, we’d call it a safety.)</p>

<p>Tufts – technically a match – but with their <25% admit rate, not a sure thing.</p>

<p>Berkeley – same as Tufts.</p>

<p>University of Washington (which one State or St. Louis). State, probably safety, St Louis, may be closer to reach – same as tufts but with a lower admit rate.</p>

<p>JHU, Dartmouth, MIT, Brown – you certainly have the stats to apply, but all have minescule acceptance rates.</p>

<p>Michigan – this school really jumps out as not belonging on your list. Having visited many of the schools on your list with My D a year ago, I can honestly say it’s difficult for me to imagine someone really loving both Dartmouth and Michigan. Michigan is an excellent school, and EA is good, but I don’t think it fits on your list.</p>

<p>Others to consider – It looks like you’re thinking of engineering/sciences (MIT is a dead giveaway).</p>

<p>Consider – Cornell or Northwestern (matchy-reachy); Lehigh (Match); Bucknell (Match); CMU (Match); Rochester (Match); Maryland (Safety-ish); Purdue (Safety-ish). Northeastern (Safety Ish) I’m sure I could come up with more if you need them.</p>

<p>Final thought – there was a thread last year in which an MIT admissions officer basically said, if all three sections of your SATs are over 700, he would not recommend taking the test over again. If you do a search, I’m sure you can find it, it was a fascinating peek into the admissions process.</p>