<p>I believe I speak for all paranoid, caring parents when I say BRAVO for your new plan. We will all be pulling for you to get in to a reach-- but all of us (especially you) will be breathing a little easier during the process, because you will have a well balanced list SURE to deliver you some quality choices.</p>
<p>:) Good Luck!!</p>
<p>Thanks, much appreciation :)</p>
<p>I am basically assuming you are male. </p>
<p>If so one more idea: a reachy match might be Vassar. Advantage to be male, as their numbers are a bit skewed and they seem to want to get closer to 50/50. Vassar has a stunningly beautiful campus, social, friendly kids, excellent humanities, though is fairly liberal politically.</p>
<p>Bard is probably even more liberal but is similar to Vassar; it has an EA program that is really interesting: you go for a specific weekend, attend a program including a class, meet admission people, interview, and you get an instant admission decision (i.e. a great non-binding safety in hand by November!)</p>
<p>RC0813:</p>
<p>Just to follow up on a couple of things:</p>
<p>a) Yes, your ACT is very strong and you should be fine from that standpoint. The only reservation I have is that I don't know how adcoms deal with conflicting test scores. My hunch is that they will see your SAT scores when they get the SAT II report.</p>
<p>b) Students from lower income families (say, below 40k per year family income) get a bit of a boost in the admissions process -- adcoms are more lenient when evaluating test scores, ECs, etc. So, if your working during the school year is part and parcel of economic need, then this can be a benefit to you in the application process. I don't know your situation, so I can't say. But, you should be able to figure out if this is a plus for you or not.</p>
<p>c) To address the real danger with a mis-calibrated list (and this is what bit Andison last year). When you focus so heavily on Princeton, Yale, Stanford in your mind, you tend to mentally view schools just below that as "lower-tier" or "safety" type schools. This inevitably leads to not throwing everything you have into researching those schools and building the best possible application. This is a grave mistake because these are the schools that are often MOST interested in students who have done their research and can communicate a compelling fit. For example, it is nearly impossible to get accepted to Swarthmore without a half-way decent "Why Swarthmore?" essay, regardless of test scores. So what ends up happening is that you blow your chances at schools that you could have been accepted at if you had focused more. </p>
<p>Imagine the really nice, smart, cute girl in your calc class is hinting that you ask her out sometime, but you don't even notice because you are dreaming about a date with the cheerleader/homecoming queen in the size 0 jeans who probably doesn't even know you exist. That's how guys end up at home alone!</p>
<p>In other words, take a student who could have gotten into a Williams or a Swarthmore or a Vanderbilt and doesn't because they failed to submit a killer application. That's the recipe for a very solid applicant ending up at Binghamton or (even worse) nowhere at all. Don't let visions of Stanford and Princeton undermine your college application strategy. The irony is that Princeton and Stanford don't really care if you want to go there (why should they care, they don't have to worry about yield?), so getting yourself all fired up about these schools doesn't help your application there, but could hurt your applications elsewhere.</p>
<p>Here's my advice. Pretend that Princeton, Yale, and Stanford are off the table. Put them out of your mind. Now, go build yourself a college list with reaches, matches, and safeties and bust your butt to get excited about them, visit them, and build great applications for the new reaches. Meet some professors. Do an overnight. Make yourself visible.</p>
<p>Once you've done all that, then feel free to go back and send in applications to Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. Nothing wrong with applying IF you don't let those schools derail your whole application process.</p>
<p>I have definitely taken that advice to heart.</p>
<p>I have, actually, done that with one school already. I have been in contat with the Dean of Admissions of Vanderbilt (a school I'm very interested in) and have yet to visit but am quite pleased with the school on the whole and I feel I could complete a pretty solid app and have pretty good chances there.</p>
<p>I'm really glad you took advantage of the special potential of this site and have taken the advice to heart. It's really gratifying to see the light go on. I don't know where you will be going next year but I am confident you will be going to a school that will be exciting for you and allow you to reach your full potential. Good luck!!</p>
<p>
[quote]
The irony is that Princeton and Stanford don't really care if you want to go there (why should they care, they don't have to worry about yield?), so getting yourself all fired up about these schools doesn't help your application there, but could hurt your applications elsewhere.
[/quote]
This is solid advice, and in fact this entire post by interesteddad deserves to be in a FAQ. </p>
<p>Students fall in love with a reach and everything else seems dreary by comparison, but its exactly those other schools that should be the main focus. Stanford even says in black and white on its website they don't track visits, showing interest doesn't help you.</p>
<p>How would I fare at Wisconsin-Madison or UMich-Ann Arbor as an OOSer?</p>
<p>::applause::</p>
<p>and putting princeton, stanford, yale, etc. out of your mind, and actually getting in, makes it even more humbling and amazing.</p>
<p>RC, if you apply in September, you have a very good shot at Wisconsin and a good shot at Michigan. I would say Wisconsin is a very safe match and Michigan is a relatively safe match. Although this is purely guesswork, I would say you have a 90% chance with Wisconsin and a 75% chance with Michigan.</p>
<p>If I apply in september, when do I get my acceptance/rejection letter in the mail?</p>
<p>In the case of Wisconsin, there is a very good chance you would get an acceptance 4-6 weeks from the day you send your application in. In the case of Michigan, there is a decent chance you woul get an acceptance within 6-8 weeks of applying, but next year, with the kind of yield Michiga has had over the last 2 years, there is a chance that many top students will be deferred and not given a final answer until late March early April.</p>
<p>I can't speak for UM-AA, but I think you have a terrific shot at UW-Madison. It's a fantasic school if you don't mind that it's HUGE. The campus is fairly pretty (expect the main psych building, which is creepy and doesn't have any windows) and really hilly. In fact, if you walk up the part of campus most students refer to as "The Hill" everyday for a year, the U-Dubbers will tell you that it's equivolent to climbing Mt. Everest. I doubt that it's true, but that's what the tour guide says. It's not as steep as College Hill at Brown however. Also, if you like ice cream and cheese, they have their own dairy/creamery on campus and have something like 30 ice cream flavors for sale all of the time.</p>
<p>I agree that both Wisconsin and Michigan would be great schools for you to take a look at. Both have online applications and you will probably hear about 6 weeks from the date your application is complete. Get the apps in early in September and you should know before Thanksgiving which is a really nice thing.</p>
<p>you'll get into Wisconsin and most likely the honors college. I think the same for Michigan (the honors college too), but Alexandre has given you solid advice so take it.</p>
<p>edit- assuming that 3.85 is as difficult to get at your HS as you make it seem. If not, scratch that honors college stuff.</p>