Is this list balanced enough?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>stats:</p>

<p>SAT: 2080 (CR: 640 M: 730 WS: 710 – i expect this composite to go up at LEAST 100 points on the October test)
ACT: 35 (writing scores haven’t been released yet for June)
SAT-II: pending, but I’m expecting 710-750 Lit and 740-780 IIc
GPA: 3.85, and have taken the most demanding courses available to me (5 AP’s on my schedule for next year, 1 Syracuse University course and 1 SUNY C.W. Post College Course)
i am white, although i am a second-generation israeli, and am a citizen of both the US and Israel (speak fluent hebrew)</p>

<p>Honors/Awards
-National Honor Society (11,12)
-National Spanish Honor Society (qualified for in 10th, member of in 11, 12)
-Award in delegate excellence (unsure of actual name, but that’s essentially what it was) at University of Chicago – for Model UN (11)
-Score of 100 on Nyssma Level 6 (highest level, highest possible score) on Drum Set (9)
-Local award for success in art based on a theme (painting on canvas) (9)</p>

<p>School Activities
-Model UN (10, 11, 12) – participated in acclaimed MUN forums at prestigious National Universities such as University of Chicago and Harvard University. Co-leader of the club as of my senior year (12); formal member-voted position is called “Secretary,” however I share equal responsibility in club leadership with two others (the title “Secretary” is just that: a mere name). </p>

<p>-Track and field (9, 10)</p>

<p>-Lacrosse (9, 10)</p>

<p>-Marching band (10)</p>

<p>Community
-Trivia Challenge for Charity (11)– organized by the high school. I was in a group of four, and we competed in a trivia privately sponsored by parents and family to answer questions in order to raise money.</p>

<p>-Concert in response to a death in the community (10) – After a terrible car accident resulting in the early death of a senior from a local High School, a group of friends (including myself) from multiple schools took the initiative to organize some sort of event to raise money for a memorial for the beloved student. Seeing music as the perfect medium for such an event, as the majority of us were musicians in bands outside of school, we decided to put together a concert in the backyard of one of our houses. I, as well as several others, ended up being jointly responsible for the booking, organizing, promotion, as well as performance at the show, which became one of the “hottest” events of the school year for several high schools. The organization went as far as to provide services such as food, security and valet parking for all patrons. The show brought in over 500 students to see 4 bands (all of which played free of charge, and one of which I was the drummer of) in an incredible live setting (rented sound equipment, rented lights, beautiful backyard), and raised money in the mid-thousands, 100% of which was donated to the High School (all service expenses were paid for out of pocket) for the building of a memorial in the form of a score-board for the soccer field.</p>

<p>-Concert for Charity at the Local Jewish Community Center (11) – Seeing the incredible results in the previous year’s backyard concert, two of my good friends and I decided to put on another similar show, this time donating to charity rather than the communit3 y. bands performed, 2 of which I was in. After renting us their gym for the show, the JCC allowed us full and complete freedom in the organizing of the show. This put the responsibility for running a smooth show on the three of us; we had to rent and borrow sound equipment, rent lighting equipment, promote the show, book the bands (all of which played for free, and 2 of which I was the drummer of), and actually control all aspects of the show, from the ticket selling to the soundboard and lighting rig, all while playing in several of the bands. The show was an exhausting but overall a very fulfilling endeavor; while we met many setbacks (such as lighting equipment not being delivered properly and poor early ticket sales that nearly forced us to cancel), in the end, the event was a great success, and brought in a surprisingly large sum of money for Cancer Research.</p>

<p>-Intern for Local Legislature – Presiding Officer (11, 12 - ~2.5 hrs/week all year long) - This was and continues to be an incredible experience in seeing the inner workings of politics. I am given full and complete view of all internal affairs, and am involved in small local political events, which allow me to participate in and understand and value the fascinating political process. Being on a personal level with an influential politician allows a complete and unbiased view of the political procedure. In addition, because I worked on Mondays, I had the opportunity to watch in on the actual legislation and deliberation.</p>

<p>Employment

  • 1 job (9, 10) – approximately 15 hrs/week (quit to pursue new job)</p>

<ul>
<li><p>2nd job (11) – approximately 15 hrs/week (quit because it was an in-between job)</p></li>
<li><p>3rd job (12) - office job, approximately 20 hrs/week starting in a month</p></li>
</ul>

<p>List:</p>

<li> Stanford</li>
<li> Princeton</li>
<li> Duke</li>
<li> Yale</li>
<li> UPenn</li>
<li> Williams</li>
<li> Brown</li>
<li> Binghamton (safety)</li>
<li>Pomona</li>
<li>Vanderbilt</li>
</ol>

<p>other possibilities:</p>

<li> Rice</li>
<li> UVA</li>
<li> Georgetown</li>
<li> Amherst</li>
</ol>

<p>is the list balanced enough or should i switch some from the “others” list, or should i get more safety’s, or what…</p>

2

<p>you need some more safeties and matches. i mean, you have a great chance at those schools, but since it's hard to predict, it's better to comprise a more extensive list of schools to back you up. might i suggest...</p>

<p>NYU
UCLA
USC
U Michigan - Ann Arbor
Northwestern
Wake Forest</p>

3

<p>Dude, most of those schools are reaches and match/reaches. You should have a few matches and a few safe matches. What do you want to major in? </p>

<p>Some universities that come to mind include Boston College, Chicago, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Michigan-Ann Arbor, NYU, Northwestern, Tufts, Vanderbilt qand Wisconsin-Madison.</p>

<p>What do you want to major in?</p>

4

<p>great activities. consider NYU, UCLA, and Michigan-Ann arbor.</p>

5

<p>Without knowing your class rank, it's a little hard to say. You've got strong qualifications, a great ACT score, and working will be plus. But, my reaction is that your list may be as top-heavy as any list I've ever seen. Every single school on your list outside of Binghamton, ranges from incredibly to impossibly difficult to get into.</p>

6

<p>I thank you guys for the responses. For one, I really have no idea what my class rank is as my school does not release ranks, although I'm pretty sure I'm at or near the top 10%.</p>

<p>In regards to major, I plan on majoring in Philosophy, and just keep in mind my list is not randomly strewn together. In fact, I spent much time researching each school I've chosen and have visited many of them. I understand it's very top-heavy, but I'm so happy with most of those schools that getting into even 1 of them will leave me content, and I'm not sure what the chances of getting rejected from every school will be.</p>

<p>Again, though, I'm unsure of which safeties/matches to add. I already have Vanderbilt there, Alexandre, it's a great school and I was very impressed by the responses I've recieved from friends who have gone there as well as responses to my inquiries to Dean of Admissions William Shain, who is a fantastic and extremely nice guy. Binghamton is a safety and plus I have a sibling currently enrolled.</p>

<p>But as far as the others, how hard would it be to get into, say, UVA or UMich? Would those be reasonable matches?</p>

<p>note: I'm sure it doesn't really make any difference but when I copy/pasted my stats from a different thread, I forgot to add that I ended up with 12 on the ACT essay, giving me a 35 for the writing. So a 35 w/ 35 writing.</p>

7

<p>RC, I agree with the others, this list is VERY top heavy.</p>

<p>I suggest you find a rolling admission school (like U Michigan) and apply there asap. </p>

<p>Find a few other possible safeties and matches that mimic the reaches on your list. Your reaches, except Williams, are all mid sized, urban or quasi-urban schools. I suggest Tufts, Brandeis, Syracuse, Emory, NYU, Trinity as <em>slightly</em> less selective possibilities that have similar "feel" as your reaches. (If any of them offer EA, do EA.)</p>

<p>If you are admitted to U Mich or another EA school <em>and</em> would be happy to attend, you can switch strategies and go for all reaches in RD. If not, you can include at least 2 matches and 2 safeties in RD.</p>

<p>Your SATS are well below median for nearly all your schools, and the kids with below-median stats are typically going to fall into one of the following catagories: URM, legacy, development admits, geographic diversity, or athletes.</p>

<p>Schools that might be match/safeties for you: Drew, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Allegheny, Lawrence.</p>

8

<p>I'm not sending my SAT's. The only time they'll see the SAT's is if they require SAT-II's.</p>

9

<p>Ahhh. Well the ACT is certainly better but my concerns about matches & safeties are the same.</p>

10

<p>about as unbalanced a list as you could create. Almost every school listed, while wonderful, is a reach. And it isn't a lottery to get into these schools. While we don't know all the factors they use, by and large the elite schools are looking for the same things. So either you're going to get into several of them or none.</p>

<p>I always tell people to spend the bulk of their time and effort looking for matches and safeties. You should put more time into researching safeties then the elites, to be honest. If worst comes to worst you want to have a school you KNOW you'll be happy to attend. Think of the elites as the icing on the cake; if you find one thats a fit for you AND you get accepted, its wonderful, but I wouldn't count on it happening.</p>

11

<p>What about Vanderbilt? Couldn't I consider that a match?</p>

<p>And I was thinking about Tulane as a safety, as they offer wonderful merit aid and from what I understand, their honors college is not half bad.</p>

12

<p>I agree with what others, especially SBmom, has posted. While you have a decent shot, you really cannot count on getting into ANY of your listed schools (except Binghamton). Many parents are familiar with the saga of the son of Andi who had stellar qualifications, applied only to elite schools, was waiting listed on several, but ultimately did not get into any. There is a HIGH proability that the only school that you will get into will be Binghamton. If you are fine with going there then maybe you are OK, but there are other great schools to consider where you have a reasonable chance of being accepted. SBmom lists some that I also would recommend looking at: Brandeis, Tufts, Emory, NYU), but even there your odds of acceptance at any given school is at best 50-50 and probably less. You have to remember that each of the colleges that you list take only a small minority of their applicants who will almost all have qualificaitons similar to yours. A "match" school just means that your qulaifications are average for the kids they accept, but since schools even at a notch below what you are applying to (e.g. Tufts, Brandeis, Emory, NYU) accepts less than half their applicants, you are taking a risk of no acceptance (again, except for Binghamton) if those are the only schools you apply to. For another safety, I would suggest Rutgers, which has a very strong Philosophy department. But SBmom's strategy of applying EA or rolling admissions to a safety/match will give you the security of then rolling the dice for the elite schools.</p>

<p>Tulane is a match, not a safety, but another good school to consider.</p>

13

<p>How is Tulane a match? I don't understand how you place Tulane and Tufts at the same level.</p>

14

<p>To answer a few of your questions:</p>

<p>If your class rank is just at the top 10% threshold, then Vanderbilt could be anywhere from a match to a match/reach, to a reach -- depending on the competitiveness and profile of your high school. </p>

<p>For the vast majority of the colleges on your list, it is almost impossible for an un-hooked applicant to get accepted at the top-10% class rank threshold unless your high school is very hot stuff -- a well-known magnet school, a hoity-toit prep school, etc. </p>

<p>For example, the 20th ranked senior (just inside the top 10% at my daughter's Mass. public high school would have no prayer of Vanderbilt, regardless of test scores. Gettysburg, Dickinson, and similarly selective schools were matches for kids just inside the top-10% at her school.</p>

<p>My daughter considered Vanderbilt. Ranked #2 in her class with SATs at their 75th percentile with an effective EC tag, I felt that it was a match. Good chances, probably would have gotten accepted, but by no means a safety. If she had applied to five "Vanderbilts", I would not have expected five acceptance letters. Conversely, a student from Thomas Jefferson High magnet school ranked just inside the top-10% would almost certainly get into Vanderbilt. On the plus side, if I have correctly gleaned your religion, you might have a slight edge at Vandy as they are trying to reverse a reputation for being a bit "waspy", so a Jewish student from New York, for example, could address a desiret to increase cultural diversity.</p>

<p>Ask your guidance counselors where students from your high school with your GPA have gotten accepted the last few years. That will give you a starting point.</p>

<p>As for UVa and UMich: Out-of-state admissions (I'm assuming you are from upstate NY) at these two schools are very difficult. I think you have a better shot at Vandy than you do at UVa out-of-state. My daughter also considered UVa. I didn't really like her chances out-of-state. I figured that would have been a pure toss-up. I also ran the UMich calculator (at the time, they had a rigid points system that was published in conjunction with the Supreme Court cases). She was borderline for out-of-state.</p>

15

<p>Tufts is probably a bit more selective than Tulane. But take a look at the stats of accepted kids form Tufts and Tulane: they are nearly identical. 25th - 75th Percentile Verbal SAT Range: (Tufts 610-710), (Tulane 630-710); 25th - 75th Percentile Math SAT Range: (Tufts 640-720), (Tulane 610-700); 25th - 75th Percentile ACT Range: (Tufts 26-31), (Tulane 28-32). Granted, Tufts accepts a lower percentage of its applicants but the vagaries of college acceptance is unpredictable enough that you just can't count on a good school like Tulane as a safety. In general, I wouldn't count a school as a safety unless you have a >90% likelihood of acceptance by being considerably better qualified than the average accepted student. And I just don't think you can say that about Tulane for you.</p>

16

<p>And let's not forget Tuft's syndrome. I fit the description of top 5% at a very top prep school, and the scattergrams show more rejects than you'd think at the Vandy level schools.</p>

17

<p>Unless you are a 4.0 valedvictorian + all state athlete/ prodigy I don't think you can consider any of those schools safeties, and very few are matches (Boston College, Chicago, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Michigan-Ann Arbor, NYU, Northwestern, Tufts, Vanderbilt) </p>

<p>You can't just consider non-Ivies second rate, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Vandy, & Northwestern can be just a difficult for admissions as some of your reaches.</p>

18

<p>I'm from Long Island, New York, and I go to a top public school--a magnet-public per se--definitely one of the best and most respected on the Island.</p>

<p>As far as GPA and standardized tests are concerned, my guidance counsellor took one look at my stats and automatically assumed with a smile that I was applying to "Harvard or Yale, right?"</p>

<p>I just don't understand why people on the individual forums for most of these schools are quite adamant about me having "a decent shot" at the schools, while you guys all seem to be telling me (and of course it's important to be realistic, I understand) that I may not even be accepted at ONE of the schools.</p>

19

<p>We're just saying that out of your 10 schools, 9 are reaches by standards. 7 are top twenty schools, and 2 are arguably the 2nd and 3rd most selective LACs in the country. Not saying that you could get into any of them, but you asked of if this list is balanced, and it's pretty clear that it is not.</p>

20

<p>By saying "balanced," I made a poor choice of words; what I meant, essentially, is 'is this list reasonable in regards to my stats, etc'</p>

<p>Maybe that makes more sense? I mean, I don't know if even that will change your answer...</p>