You need one or two safeties.
Applicants make the mistake of choosing OOS public schools as matches, those schools rarely meet financial need even with merit scholarships and they are very expensive. If you get in to a private reach school they will meet your financial need but that’s it, normally no merit. Safety schools need to be in state public schools so you can afford them and apply early to get that admit out of the way.
Unless you are taking the SAT because you are a potential NMSF, I wouldn’t bother taking it. Your ACT and SAT 2s are outstanding.
Don’t know how strong they are in Physics, but you might look at Pitt and Alabama. Easy applications, you’d get merit at both, and both seem to admit based on numbers/scores with little or no consideration for ECs.
@LuckyCharms913 I think some schools require SAT if you submit SAT II. Depends on school. My memory is muddled from two years of tours and admission briefs so take it with a grain of salt but worth it for OP to check each school.
- I am an Illinois resident currently, but I used to live in California. That's mainly why I'm leaving one UC on my list no matter what.
- Alright, I will make sure that my father and I run the NPC for all the universities we decide on.
- "Many kids applying from small hs in small communities will still have gone beyond in their ECs." I'm still not sure what kind of ECs you're looking for, but I can tell you that 99% of ECs in the area are tied back to our school district. Do you have any examples?
- "OP, you need affordable safeties." Again, do you guys have any solid examples? Being an Illinois resident, I've earned scholarships to some local universities (UIUC, EIU) through academic competitions, but I'm only interested in UIUC.
- Thank you, I'll make sure to look at Tulane, Miami, SMU, USC, Pitt, and Alabama.
- "Unless you are taking the SAT because you are a potential NMSF, I wouldn't bother taking it." 99% sure I'm a potential NMSF, and I'm actually required to take the SAT at school this Wednesday!
OP, I’m afraid that, for the reaches you named, they want kids who can see the opportunities, find them and pursue them. You seem to be thinking of “ECs” as high-school focused. Do you do anything outside high school? Quality volunteering isn’t limited to hs (what do adults in you area do?) Is there no chance, ever, no way/no how, of getting some STEM experience outside hs classes? You’ve got to look beyond. More important, you need to be the sort of kid who does, who thinks this way. Not just looks at the hs box.
You have to have happy, affordable safeties beyond UIUC, in case you don’t get in, that random possibility.
Again, which opportunities? Where? I have said repeatedly that there are not many opportunities around here and most do not apply to me (sports and ag). I mentioned my volunteering for NHS in a previous reply. I volunteer at a local hospital and I’ve proctored for a local math contest. I found both of these opportunities by myself, not through the school, but they both do tie back to the school through NHS.
Many adults in my area work as engineers. I have asked if I can shadow someone and gotten turned down because I am under 18. Again, that’s about it.
I’ve looked beyond the hs box, and trust me, there’s not something I’m overlooking. Funny story actually, I was talking to someone from UIUC at a college fair. The moment I mentioned the school I go to, she said, “You don’t have many opportunities down there, do you?”. If you believe that the universities I’ve named will reject me because of this lack of opportunities, please tell me so that I don’t waste my time reaching for the impossible.
If you vol at a hosp, well, I asked several times, what besides hs clubs.
You need to have vision. (For the record, I pm’d OP.) Your competition for tippy tops will have it. Kids so out there that they commute 45-60+ just to the hs: well, the best of them will have it. They find ways.
I said research what these TTs say they “look for.” If you cannot- or won’t- do that first step, then you reevaluate your targets, shift down. This is in your hands, right now. An adcom saying you don’t have many opps isn’t offering a bye. Tippy tops want to look at an app and say, “Wow, kids down there don’t have many opportunities, but look at what Johnnie did!”
I have almost identical stats as you. Same exact act score and sat scores, very similar activities (band, math team, etc). I also had a lot of service hours from being an eagle scout and I am a national merit finalist.
I applied for physics to Cornell, princeton, UIUC, UChicago, Michigan state, and Columbia. I was accepted at Cornell, Columbia, UIUC, and MSU, And waitlisted at Princeton and uchicago. So you definitely have a real shot at most of those schools, considering how similar our applications are. However, I got very little need based aid from Cornell and Columbia. I was offered a full tuition award and stipend at MSU, and was admitted into the 125 student Honors Program at UIUC, but only got about $10,000 in scholarships. I’ll probably end up going to MSU for financial reasons.
So my advice to you is add more colleges to your list, and drop some of the ones you have now. I’d recommend not applying to Berkeley or CMU, as they give almost no merit scholarships. Also, maybe get rid of Yale or Cornell since they are comparable to UIUC in the field of physics. Keep your applications to 3-4 reach schools (uchicago, princeton, mit, caltech), a few targets, and some safeties. I’d recommend adding Wisconsin, Ohio state, Michigan state, Colorado, maybe some other big state schools as your safety schools. These schools give merit based aid, and also have pretty decent physics programs. Also, you should add some “second tier” private colleges, like maybe northwestern or lower ivies. With your stats, along with the first generation college student hook, you have a really great shot at any of these schools. Just remember that admission is not guaranteed. I only applied to 6 schools, and I definitely regret not doing a few more.
Oh and I think UIUC is a guaranteed admit for you. (A guy I know got in for physics with a 30 ACT). Just remember that you want as many options as possible come April.
@cdhxyx Phew, that’s a bit of a relief. I was starting to think I was a lost cause.
Do you think this list is more reasonable?
Reaches - MIT, Caltech, UChicago, Princeton
Matches/Safeties - UIUC, Wisconsin, Colorado, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Ohio State
Georgia Tech is a reach for any level of stats OOS.
I don’t see an obvious financial safety school. Did you determine your budget and EFC?
Have your browsed these scholarships lists?
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Maybe put a couple of those on your list.
These are competitive scholarships so consider them matches rather than safeties:
GT is not a reach school, it’s definitely a match school for this candidate.
Yeah that list definitely looks good. You’re basically guaranteed to get into most of those safeties. Of course, I’d recommend looking into which reach schools you want to apply to. Can you see yourself going to Princeton or Caltech? Don’t waste time applying to a school you’re not considering. I now realize I wasted my time applying to Columbia since I don’t really like the campus. I would have been much better off applying to northwestern or making my other applications better.
Michigan state, Wisconsin, Minnesota are all schools that give a lot of merit based aid to highly qualified students like plusorminus. And Georgia tech is a match, if not a safety school for this student, considering that his test scores are well above the 75th percentile.
Better list, yes.
Don’t end up like this student:
@CU123 You’re probably right on GT being a match; I forgot OP was physics major.
Have I missed post about budget somewhere? I was thinking about adding a full tuition and/or free ride school from the merit lists primarily as financial backup.
I am a senior and am on the back end of the process you are just getting into. I was interested in similar schools and I have similar (but not as good stats). I have pretty good ECs but none of the fantastical, one-in-a-million, unique ECs that CC people love to rant and rave about. I also have not won any national awards or anything. I also applied for engineering at my schools which is one of the most competitive majors. This is what happened.
My Credentials:
GPA: 3.88/4.35 W
Rank: (7/275)
ACT: 34 (W34, M33, R34, S33)
APs: Environmental Science(5), US History(5), Lang/Comp(5)
SAT II: Physics: 800, Math II: 740
ECs:
Cross Country (Captain)
Track (Captain)
Ultimate Frisbee Club (Captain and founder)
Amigos de Las Americas: 2 month service project living with host family in Costa Rica
Park Service Internship
Sunday School Teacher
Outward Bound
Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble
My college list and what happened at each:
Stanford University: Rejected
UIUC: Accepted
Brown University: Waitlisted
UC Los Angeles: Waitlisted
UC Santa Barbara: Accepted
UC San Diego: Accepted
UC Davis: Accepted
Franklin W Olin College of Engineering: Rejected
Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo: Accepted
Rice: Waitlisted
USC: Accepted (with half-tuition merit scholarship!)
UC Berkeley: Accepted!!
So while my lack of national awards and superhero-like ECs may have prevented me from getting into some of my highest reaches, I still got into some incredibly prestigious programs in one of the most competitive majors and have a wealth of options. Just chill out and do your best on your appllications. You can’t exactly materialize a jaw dropping EC or national award in the next couple months. You will still get into great schools.
I recommend that you apply to USC and try to get one of their merit scholarships. USC is a great school and they are willing to offer lots of money to get top tier applicants to attend. I will probably got to UC Berkekely over USC but the scholarship they offered makes it a tough choice.