@ntk131998: “Wofford for Furman? Whats the reasoning? Just curious.”
Your comments at #32 above. Also, I know several students at Wofford (one a football player); school spirit is not lacking, and the academics are good.
@ntk131998: “I have looked at Auburn, but if I am going to go that far away, I would prefer a bigger school . . . .”
Auburn has over 20,000 students, it is big enough. If you want a bigger surrounding community look at UAB, as one of the earlier posters wrote.
OP, I agree with your assessment that your list is reach-heavy. @gandalf78’s advice in #38 and #40 is what I’d give you. At present your list has only two true matches – out of a list of ten, that’s not enough and may mean you wind up admitted to only your safeties. There’s nothing wrong with going to your safety at all; especially if you can afford it and you do well there, it’s often the best decision in the long-term.
If you aren’t happy to attend the school then it’s not a safety. It’s a waste of application $.
UPDATE: My midyear counselor meeting is next Tueday (Feb 16th) so I’m going to try to have my first draft finalized by then, as well as my classes for next year.
I considered the things posted and I made a few changes, as followed:
Explanations: I decided to keep UNC CH on the list even though the odds are stacked against me. It is my dream school and I have very deep family connections there (grandfather ex dean of the medical school, building named after my family on campus.) I do not expect those things to get me in, but its my families school and I couldn’t live with my self if I didn’t even try.
I needed a few more match schools, which is why I added Elon and Auburn.
3 of the schools (Ole Miss, Bama, Auburn) dont require essays and the applications open in July. So applying isnt a huge time commitment.
I have 4 instate publics on my list. That helps provides affordable options.
The 2 privates give me a variety of options.
So after the changes, it leaves me with 4 Reaches, 6 Matches, 2 true safeties. A little more balanced than before.
I would be happy with attending any school on my list. Obviously some more than others, but if I put a school on here then it would be one that I can picture myself attending.
Also, this is just my first draft, so I would be very surprised if this doesn’t change by July after I do some tours.
Now as my classes next year, a little off topic but I thought I might as well include it:
AP Stat
AP Econ (Micro/Macro)
Honors English
Honors American History 2
Ceramics (need an art credit to graduate)
OPEN (haven’t decided on a class here. I will discuss with my counselor)
So, here will be my credits when I graduate:
5 APs (Stat, Econ, Psych, Human Geo, Gov)
12 Honors
5 Math
2 Forgien Lang
4 Science
1 Art
5 Social Studies
May be forgetting something, but thats pretty much the outline of my plan for the next year.
Any comments or suggestions on my classes or list please feel free to add them!!
If there’s a building with your family’s name on campus, I see why you’d want to apply to UNC-CH 
You could add Appalachian State as another match, and in Virginia Christopher Newport would probably do too.
Furman is very different from the others: conservative/traditional, Baptist (the others are all secular and have more variety).
Your junior schedule looks good except for two things:
@myos1634 I forgot to add app, I was planning on that!!
This is my senior schedule, sorry if I wasnt clear.
Those are some good points. I may take AP World in my open spot or Spanish 3. I will discuss it and see what I feel I can preform better in.
Sorry, my bad - senior schedule of course.
Elon only comes close to being academic match territory if you get the projected ACT score. Almost 75% of Elon enrolled freshman have an UW GPA of 3.5 or higher. SAT averages are over 600 per section. The ACT average is 27, which if you do what you hope puts you in range. Have you run the net price calculator for Elon? I’m not sure how their need-based aid is, but since there total COA is less than many competitors some have said they’re stingy with aid. You wouldn’t be in range for merit aid there. A school isn’t truly a match if it’s only an academic match - finances should be considered as well.
I don’t think Ole Miss is a safety for you - right now, going on the scores you have (and not the projected ones), it’s a match. Plus you are out of state and relying on financial aid. I think that you need to add another safety on the list, preferably one that you’d be happy going to - you don’t sound enthusiastic about ECU.
I also think the same thing as @InigoMontoya, re: Elon - it’s only a match for you if you get the ACT scores you project, but as of right now, it’s a reach. College of Charleston also isn’t exactly a match but its acceptance rate is pretty high, so that might work in your favor.
I know that you don’t prefer some of the less selective NC public universities, but I think you should put one or two more on your list based on your average SAT scores. UNC-Greensboro is a match for you (a safety if you make the ACT scores you want), and UNC-Asheville has higher stats but also a pretty high acceptance rate (70%) that makes it a little weird to predict, but I would say match/low match. In South Carolina, you might want to consider adding USC Aiken or USC Upstate to your list - although they would need to be affordable to make sense.
@InigoMontoya @juillet Ole Miss is a safety even with my current scores because of their automatic admissions (2.75 GPA 1020 SAT.) Also, all of these are based off of my projected ACT scores, which I am very confident I will be around after my preparation.
I would be happy about going to ECU. Obviously, its not my first choice, but if it came down to it, I wouldnt be upset if thats where I ended it. The school spirit is great, and the location is within about 2 hours of my home. Also I know a ton of people there. ECU is not my first choice, but it is my favorite of the “lower tier” NC publics.
As for the other SC schools you suggested, if I am going to pay OOS tuition, I would want it to be to a school I am truly in to. Which is why I have not put those other SC schools on my list.
Yes, I would need my projected scores for Elon, but I also need those projected scores for most all of the schools on my list. If it turns out that I do not end up with my scores in that range, then I would obviously come back and reconsider a lot of these schools.
From all the way back at post #4:
At that time your budget was $20K/year. Has it gone up to $34K?
Ole Miss offers automatic scholarships. With my projected scores I would get AT LEAST $8,250. Which would bring COA down to about $25k, which my parents have said is doable should it be one of my final schools.
Good enough then. I’m glad you checked and talked to your parents. That puts you well ahead of some of your classmates who may end up broken hearted.
Update: I have decided to add Virginia Tech to my list. I met an admissions counselor from there the other day and we had a very productive conversation. She said for liberal arts programs there admissions standards are much less intense than their engineering, and that I should be in range. She also said if it turns out to be one of my top choices, she highly recommends applying ED to increase my chances. I would need decent aid to attend, and their NPC showed me getting much of what I needed, bringing COA down to about $21k. I think I will remove Clemson from my list, and add VT.
Get the GPA up. That’s the first thing. Second thing, keep studying vigilantly for the SAT and ACT. A 3.0 is even low for VT. You’re also below their Middle 50% for SAT scores. Hopefully you can get the ACT up.
As everyone else has said, Chapel Hill is a reach but I don’t blame you for wanting to try. Keep in mind that ED is binding. I know that applying early increases your chances, but unless you have an absolute dream of dreams when the time comes, go for Early Action.
Update: So with all the snow we have had, we had nearly two weeks off of school, which pushed my midyear counselor meeting to tomorrow. In that time, I have made a few changes to my list.
I have added Iowa and Indiana too the list. These are both very different from the rest of my list mainly due to location. I have family by both schools which is what inspired me to consider them in the first place. Iowa I think could probably be classified as an academic safety, but I would need FinAid which is why I have it listed as a low match.
Since my list has grown so much, the rankings have kind of lost a lot of their meaning. If I had to make a short list of my top (realistic schools) it would be as follows, with reasoning:
University of South Carolina- It has the SEC school sprit that I am looking for, while being relatively close to home. Also, my town sends a decent number of students there every year so I would know a few people going in. The political science and international relations programs are nationally ranked.
Virginia Tech- Has the school spirit and distance from home I am looking for. The liberal arts program is small which means individual attention.
UNC - Wilmington- Lacks the athletics and school spirit I was hoping for, but the location is wonderful and you cant beat the NC Instate tuition.
Auburn- School spirit is obviously there, and the distance from Atlanta is great when it comes too internships and traveling. The reason I put Auburn on the short list rather than Bama is the small town atmosphere of it, which is a huge plus in my book.
Hopefully I can receive some good feedback tomorrow which will help me continue to fine tune my list.
Any comments and suggestions and welcome and encouraged!!
Too many schools; try to keep it at 10 or fewer: 2 safeties, 2-3 reaches, the rest matches.
Maybe this list: ECU, Ole MIss (safeties); UNC-CH, UNC-W, Clemson (reaches); USC, College of Charleston, Auburn, Elon, NC State (matches).
Just my opinion; concentrate on the in-state schools (lower costs) for most of your schools, and fill in around the edges for the rest.
@gandalf78 thats really good advice, thank you. I really like that condensed list you made. Add Virginia Tech and it really covers all my bases.
Thanks!
You should try to keep it at 10 or fewer also for FAFSA ease. You can only put 10 schools on at a time. While it’s not a big deal, it’s nice to not have to resend the FAFSA more than one time.
^ Plus, you don’t want to pay too much money in all those application fees, if you can avoid it.