Is this a good (wise) list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am a junior and my counselor has asked me to start figuring out a more final list of colleges I am going to apply to. This is probably because I have my heart set on MIT and he wants me to select more schools that I would be happy to attend, because MIT is so hard to get in to. </p>

<p>My stats are:
Student:</p>

<p>User Name: IsaacM
Gender: F
Location: Michigan
College Class Year: 2012
High School: Public
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 4.00 (currently, but will most likely drop to ~3.95 after APUSH lol)
GPA - Weighted: ~4.02
Class Rank: top 5%
Class Size: 230</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT II Math Level 1 (IC): 750
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 680
SAT II Chemistry: 750
ACT- 31 31/33/34/26 (eng/math/read/sci)
Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: Girl Scouts (since 1st grade)(gold award in progress)
Swimming (10th)
Diving (11th)
Tutoring
NHS (cum laude award in progress)
Quiz bowl
chem olympiad
Mentoring Autistic children (6 years, 3-4 hours a week)
Leadership positions: Girl Scout Leadership Award
Working on Gold Award
Athletic Status - list sport and your level: Varsity Swimming (1 year)
Diving (1 year)
JV softball (1 year)
Floor Hockey (intermural)4 years
Volunteer/Service Work: LOTS. Will have NHS Cum Laude award
Honors and Awards: Distinguished scholar (all years eligible)
Swimming award-most improved
Academic Excellence-Spanish 3, Spanish 4, World History,
College Summer programs: Summer program at MSU cyclotron (very competivie program)</p>

<p>Oh, I just recieved my PSAT scores and I got a 213, I don't really know how the PSAT works, but I think that that is a decent score. I'm from MI, and a published score for qualifiying has been consitantly 209 in MI. I'm not really sure what I would be qualifying for, or what the implications of that would be, but the PSAT seems like a big-ish deal on here so I included it.</p>

<p>Possible Majors: Definitlely math/science related. I really like math, chemistry, astronomy and physics. Possibly engineering. Undecided futher than that though right now.</p>

<p>I am looking at these schools:
MIT
Harvard (I really like the Boston-Cambridge area, quite a bit actually)
Princeton
U of Michigan
MSU (live in East Lansing, not sure I want to stay though.... But I am elligible for the Honors College)
Swarthmore
Wesleyan
U of Chicago (I'm not sure if the big city life is good for me though)
Columbia (same as above)
Yale (great school, obviuosly, but I took a tour there and I did not like it all that much, then again, I had been in Boston and New York days previous...So I don't know if I should rule it out just yet. I'd be lucky to get in regardless...)</p>

<p>$$$$$ Money will not be a deciding factor in my college selection (unless I have to pay all the tution with no scholarship help or something ridiculous like that). My mom is currently in school, and I have weird family circumstances that will (i think) get me a lot of Need Based Aid. Obviously, I would be elligible for merit aid as well, if it is offered, but I know that it isn't at most top schools. And also, if I got accepted to any top school, I would recieve full tution and room and board (meaning Princeton, Harvard, MIT, etc good finaid schools). $$$$$$$$$$$$$44
I feel like I need more "saftey/match" type schools, but I know that I will for sure get into MSU Honors College and that is not a bad option whatsoever (I could take grad level classes for undergrad $ and no prereqs to classes) and I will most likey get into U of M (my school sends many people to MSU and U of M and I am top of my class).</p>

<p>Any other suggestions/advice/anything? Please and thank you!</p>

2

<p>also, Dartmouth maybe? I don’t know, is it strong in science? i haven’t visited but I hear that it is really rural, and I’m not sure if I will like that.</p>

3

<p>MSU Named Best Nuclear Physics Graduate Program, Beating Out MIT</p>

<p>Detroit Free Press, 4/21/2010 </p>

<p>Not only did Michigan State University (MSU) beat out MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the competition for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), it also surpassed the esteemed university on U.S. News & World Report’s list of best physics graduate programs in the nation. </p>

<p>According to excerpts from the article:</p>

<p>In the past, when rankings have come up, MSU’s Vice President for University Relations Terry Denbow will often say something about how the league MSU finds itself in is more important than a small rise or fall.</p>

<p>To credit his consistency, he said the same this year. And then he added that, where people once might have thought of MSU being in MIT’s league, “maybe now MIT is in our league.”</p>

<p>“I’ll be honest with you,” Denbow said. "I plan to use, ‘We are No. 1 in graduate nuclear physics’ a lot.’ "</p>

<p>Read the entire article here.</p>

<p>Source: [MSU</a> Named Best Nuclear Physics Graduate Program, Beating Out MIT](<a href=“http://www.capitalgainsmedia.com/inthenews/mit0415.aspx]MSU”>MSU Named Best Nuclear Physics Graduate Program, Beating Out MIT)</p>

<p>---------------------------- Go State!! lol</p>

<p>Still, I would probably suggest every other school on your list (with the exception of Michigan :p) as an alum of MSU and someone who is rather familiar with a few schools you have listed. MSU & UM are much larger schools than the Ivies or LACs even with its Honors option, the schools feel BIG. The overall learning environment is very different (school sports, rah rah for instance). If you are the extremely studious type of students, I would say that MIT & Princeton are better options for you especially when it comes to Math Dept. Best of Luck to you!! </p>

<p>Late for church…bye…~</p>

4

<p>Consider Grinnell, a LAC in a small college town in Iowa. Offers generous financial and merit to top students, has it’s own observatory (not much light pollution), top sciences, no distribution requirements, state-of-the-art facilities, and the smallest class sizes of any LAC (no class larger than 25, even intro science courses). The reputation is intellectual, quirky, unpretentious and understated.</p>

5

<p>“Still, I would probably suggest every other school on your list (with the exception of Michigan )”</p>

<p>Funny, I see it differently. Which school on his list really doesn’t belong with the others listed? I mean I suppose he could apply to MSU as a super safety. ;-)</p>

6

<p>Practically all of your schools bar one are reaches or high matches (Michigan and Wesleyan), and the one that isn’t is a school you’re not sure about.</p>

<p>Do more research and come up with more reasonable targets.</p>

<p>Also, your math/science test scores do not suggest the level of aptitude MIT students are known for, so maybe you should try to bring those up.</p>

7

<p>Are you willing to consider all girls schools? Wellesley and Brandeis would be good to add to your Boston area schools. What about Hopkins? You do need some places that are high matches and matches.</p>

8

<p>I’ve visited MSU (I have relatives in Lansing), and the campus is gorgeous, imo. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>On to your list:
MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Yale: all five are reaches for EVERYONE.<br>
U of Michigan, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, U of Chicago: I think these are pretty much matches or high matches.
MSU: more of a safety, but an excellent choice, imo. </p>

<p>Have you thought about Vanderbilt? I’m not completely sure about chances (I’m not really good at chancing), but I have a friend who’s there with pretty good FA and she loves it. </p>

<p>I applied to big-city schools only, so not really your thing, but I think you’re on the right track. I’m not really familiar with the logical in-state safeties for MI, but there are some out-of-state publics (like Indiana) where my friends have found success (financially and admissions-wise!). Good luck to you!</p>

<p>As for other schools to consider, have you thought about any out-of-state publics?</p>

9

<p>Since you have a safety that you would be happy attending in MSU, it is perfectly okay to “shoot for the stars” with (mostly) reach schools on your list. Good luck!!!</p>

10

<p>@sparkeye7-- yes the nuclear science at MSU is excellent and with the new facilities on the way, I’m sure that it will be quite an exciting place to be in the future, however, I don’t know if I want to limit myself to specifically nuclear science, though there is a lot of ways to make other connections.</p>

<p>@M’s mom-- I have started to do some research on Grinell, thank you.</p>

<p>@rjkofnovi— Yes MSU is probably a super safety, it is on my list because I live in East Lansing, I can literally walk a few blocks from my HS and be on MSU’s campus. Needless to say, I am quite familiar and comfortable there, but I still don’t know if I want to go to school so close to home.</p>

<p>@Ghostt-- I am actually not worried at all about my math and science scores. I got a 33 on the ACT math section, which is fine for MIT. And also anything above about a 740 on the SAT subject tests is considered a 800 by MIT, they realize that these tests, while they do show your knowledge, are not definitive and represent a Saturday morning, and the difference between a 750 and a 800 are a matter of questions. In all, all my scores put me within the middle %50. Also, I have to retake the ACT as a testing req of my HS anyway, and the 31 is from my Sophomore year so it will most likely increase anyway.</p>

<p>@Hitch123–I thought about all girls schools, and I like the Boston area a lot, but I am still not sure if I like it enough to go to an all girls school. I will probably apply to one or more, if I don’t get into MIT EA, if that is still where I want to be, exclusively. But if I didn’t get into MIT and did get into say Princeton (or most other schools on my list above) I’d probably go to one of those anyway.</p>

<p>@victoriaheidi-- I don’t think that I would go to any other out-of-state-public schools. Simply because MSU and U of M would be cheaper and are great schools anyway. If I was to go out of state, why not try for a more prestigious school and ones that have excellent finaid to boot. I was asked the same question by my counselor, and that is what I came up with after discussing it with my parents.</p>

<p>@jshain-- MSU would be a good option, educationally and such, as a safety (and really just in any case) but I don’t know if ‘happy’ is the right word. I think if I went there, I would lack any sense of accomplishment and I would basically still be living at home, which I would like to avoid. </p>

<p>Thanks everyone! :)</p>

11

<p>The bottom line IMO is you need to add some less competitive schools to your list unless you want to stay in MI.</p>

<p>With your current scores all other schools on your list are significant reaches. Yet there are many schools that meet full need you would have a good shot at.</p>

<p>I’d consider Emory, USC, Bates, Colby, Macalaster, Carleton and others on par with them.</p>

12

<p>

I guess you don’t realize that ACT is at the 25%ile for MIT and your 31 composite is below that. Also MIT accepts ~10% of applicants. With a 4.0UW GPA and a 4.02W GPA have you taken the most rigorous classes available?</p>

<p>I fnd your comments about having weird family circumstances that will get you a lot of FA cryptic - either you have a low EFC and few assets creating great need or you don’t. Great need won’t help at UMich or MSU, though I think you should get into both.</p>

13

<p>The bottom line IMO is you need to add some less competitive schools to your list unless you want to stay in MI.</p>

<p>With your current scores all other schools on your list are significant reaches. Yet there are many schools that meet full need you would have a good shot at.</p>

<p>I’d consider Emory, USC, Bates, Colby, Macalaster, Carleton and others on par with them.</p>

14

<p>Holy Cross-very good science majors including Nobel Prize winner alum. HC is need blind, has great alumni network,and campus 1 hour from Boston.</p>

15

<p>31 was the lower score of the middle 50% in a data set for a previous school year at MIT, I hadn’t checked in a while. Anyway, like I said, that was from my 10th grade year anyway. And as for the rigor of my classes, yes I am taking the most challenging courses, my school limits how many AP classes you can take and on top of that you can’t take any unitl 11th grade. </p>

<p>And what I meant about the weird family circumstances is a log story, but basically, we haven’t heard from my father in 10 years and he hasn’t had a steady job since then (otherwise courts would locate him for child support) my mother worked out this weird legal thing so that I won’t have to use any information from him and all of my tax things will be my mother’s, who is a full time student, so we are really broke, but only at the moment. Its really complicated and I don’t think I understand it completely. But even if my mom worked full time, we’d still be in the bracket that at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and MIT etc would give a full ride to, if accepted of course. As for the aid at MSU and U of M, I can find merit aid and we have family who work at MSU and can get me half tuition, on top of that being in state. And if all that fails, my family (grandparents and other relatives not in my household) are wealthy and would give/lend me the money, but I’d rather not have to do that.</p>

16

<p>And as for less competitive schools, I really like the east coast, can anyone give me examples of some less competitive schools that are still good and located on the east coast?</p>

17

<p>

</p>

<p>Don’t fall into this trap. Statistics show that adcoms rarely practice what they preach. The higher your scores, the higher your chances.</p>

<p>A 720 or a 740 is NOT an 800. While MIT might “consider them the same” or whatever, most people there did score 800 on the Math II subject test. A 680 is simply not competitive (and, iirc, our resident MIT admissions officer, as well as one of the people who blog for the MIT website, said that anything above 700 is fair game. 680<700).</p>

18

<p>“@sparkeye7-- yes the nuclear science at MSU is excellent and with the new facilities on the way, I’m sure that it will be quite an exciting place to be in the future, however, I don’t know if I want to limit myself to specifically nuclear science, though there is a lot of ways to make other connections.”</p>

<p>Smart girl!! I think wherever you end up, you will do just fine if not great!! Certainly, Beantown offers cultural / historical charms over many cities in America in addition to being home to a handful of great colleges in the nation. hmm…I believe that so long as you stay focus, sky’s the limit; especially for those who are committed and work hard wherever they are!! Admission stats are for references only, not absolute, and certainly never a measurement in one’s success in life!!!</p>

<p>“we have family who work at MSU and can get me half tuition, on top of that being in state.” </p>

<p>Wow… and I had to pay International Student Fee…=.="</p>

<p>Go Green! lol~</p>

<p>P.S. I like Bowdoin, but it’s in the northeast!! :)</p>

19

<p>I know that the 680 isn’t good. That one wasn’t sent. I later got a 750.</p>

20

<p>If I were you I’d add definitely add Northwestern to your list, its great at science, nice campus and seems like a perfect fit for you. Chicago and Columbia don’t seem like the best fits, instead maybe Penn, Dartmouth, or Brown?</p>