This post is ending up pretty long, but bear with me!
So I’ll be a senior this upcoming fall, and I’ve compiled a list of universities so far that I’m planning on applying to, but I want to make sure there aren’t any that I’ve overlooked. So far I’m applying to
Brandeis University
Boston University
Northeastern University
University of Rochester
University of Kentucky (safety)
University of Cincinnati (safety)
I’ve only really considered a few factors, as I’m looking for universities that are 1.) Very good with financial aid, primarily need-based since my parents won’t be able to contribute anything and 2.) Have a very strong mathematics department with wide course offerings and undergraduate research opportunities, as well as allowing me to be a competitive applicant to top graduate math programs (all colleges I’m applying to MUST have a graduate program in math, for reasons that will become apparent). Most other factors, such as school size or location, are mostly irrelevant to me.
Another big concern I have is selectivity - while there are many places that satisfy those two requirements, most are very selective, and I want to find schools that I’d at least have a shot at getting in. I’m still not entirely sure how competitive I am to some colleges, though. I’ll give my background and stats to give a better idea of what kinda colleges I should be looking at. I apologize in advance for going into so much detail, I just wanna get the best suggestions possible.
GPA: 3.52 UW 3.95W
Class rank: 40/313
ACT: 33 (E31/R32/S34/M36)
-Honors/AP/Dual Credit classes I’ll have taken by the time I graduate next year -
Honors: Spanish III, Precalculus, Honors Research
AP’s: English Lang, English Lit, European History, Calculus BC, Chemistry, Physics C: Mechanics, US History
Dual Credit: MAT 329 Calculus III, MAT 325 Differential Equations, MAT 330 Partial Differential Equations, MAT 302 Intro to Higher Mathematics, MAT 234 Linear Algebra, MAT 420 Real Variables I, MAT 421 Real Variables II, MAT 345 Intro to Geometry, MAT 310 Elementary Theory of Numbers
(The university I dual enroll at uses a 100’s - 400’s numbering system, I included the numbering to indicate the ‘level’ of each class)
Activities/EC’s: Fencing (8,9,10,11,12), Marching Band (10,11,12), Pep Band (10,11,12), Academic Team (11,12), Math Team (11,12)
I’m also doing research this summer with a mathematics professor at the university I dual enroll at (unrelated to the honors research class I mentioned above). I’m still not sure if anything would be published at this moment, so I’ll just have to wait and see how things turn out.
I’m attending a local stem program, the Thomas More STEM Institute, this summer for a week on a full scholarship.
Honors/Awards: Placed top 3 numerous times (10-12) at fencing competitions.
Performed good enough at regional qualifiers to compete at the North American Cup in fencing, twice.
Received an ‘E’ rating in Epee fencing
Placed 2nd in mathematics in the KY Governor’s Cup, district level and 6th place at the regional level.
Placed 2nd at the John O’Bryan mathematics competition.
Received my school’s Academic Achievement Award for Chemistry sophomore year (only ~3 are given out per year)
Thanks in advance for any help - it’s only June and it’s already getting to be college-stress time, so hopefully getting my list out of the way now will help.
Are your parents unable to pay, or unwilling to pay? If they are unable to pay, you should be able to get generous need-based financial aid from some of the wealthier private universities. If my assumption is correct, the your list above consists primarily of safeties and safe matches. You have not reaches or match-reaches.
Your GPA is not great, but your curriculum has been very advanced and your ACT is solid. You should check out some private elites, like Brown, Chicago, Northwestern etc…
If your parents have the means but are unwilling to pay for college, then ignore the above! 
It’s because my parents CAN’T pay, they definitely would if they could.
I thought BU, NE, and Brandeis were all matches at best, leaning towards reach because of my GPA. I hadn’t even considered places like Brown, Chicago etc. purely because of that. What sort of colleges would you say are matches for me, just so I know the general selectivity range I should be looking at?
Are you planning on fencing in college? If so, you might be able to get an atheltic scholarship to help with your college costs.
You have a chance at some of the very selective schools simply becuase of your unusual background in Mathematics. Not too many undergraduates come in ready to take graduate courses in their major. That being said, you have to realize that these very selective schools have very low admission rates and no one is assured of getting in. i would agree with @Alexandre that you have a very good chance of getting into the schools on your list.
Brandeis and Rochester are excellent safe matches to have on your list.
I would say NYU is a match, but they are not known to be generous with financial aid. Neither is Northeastern by the way, which could make it more of a match when I think of it.
Good matches to consider would include a lot of LACs, like Grinnell, which happens to have a solid Mathematics department. Carleton College, Carnegie Mellon and Wesleyan would be some good match-reaches.
In most cases, I would agree that your GPA is on the low side for schools like Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and Rice. But considering the classes you have taken, and your profile (you have interesting qualities that universities respond well to), I think they are worth a look. Also, Brown is definitely a school that is looking for more boys (way more girls apply to Brown for some strange reason). Still, you only want to apply to 2-3 such reaches.
Well I guess it’s always good to hear that you have a ‘very good chance’ of getting into schools previously listed as matches/reaches lol.
And yeah, I’ve browsed many chances and results threads on here, and I’ve seen how there’s essentially nobody guaranteed to get into certain top schools.
I would probably fence in college if I had the opportunity, although I haven’t really considered athletic scholarships for it, so I’ll look into that
@Alexandre Wow, so far I’ve been exclusively looking at schools with 30%< acceptance rates, assuming it wouldn’t even be worth it to apply to more selective places. Guess I’ll have to expand my list of potential schools, then
What is your GPA in your college courses (including those advanced math courses)? If you have a 4.0 in the advanced math courses in college, then that may be a significant positive impression that could override your high school GPA, which would normally indicate that it would not be worth bothering applying to the super-selective schools. Still, super-selective schools would not give a high chance of admission in any case, so you still need affordable safeties.
However, with the math courses already taken, many LACs would not have many more available for the OP. The OP should check the course catalog and schedule of each school (particularly smaller ones) to see what math courses are available and offered regularly. Graduate level math course offerings are likely highly desirable for the OP.
I’ve gotten A’s in every math class I’ve taken so far (some of those I have not taken, but will next year - I would assume A’s for all of them, though, since I’m usually at the top of the class)
I’m still planning on applying to all of the schools previously listed, because I’d be happy getting accepted to any of the 4 I hadn’t listed as safeties.
Sorry, but with a 3.52, I would not say Brandeis and Rochester are a “safe match.”
More like low reaches for both.
Johns Hopkins might be a place to look. Fencing might be a minor hook for them but not a source of scholarship $… Same deal with Brandeis – both are Div III, so no athletic scholarships per se.
Soze, under normal circumstances, I would agree. But in the case of the OP, that 3.5 GPA includes AP English Lang and Lit, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry and AP Physics C. He has gone on to take advanced university level mathematics and has received all As in those classes.
Have you talked with your math professors about colleges? They may have some suggestions for you as well.
Yes, I just talked with one yesterday, actually, and most seem to think I should be aiming as high as possible
I think that you should add in some schools that are need blind and meet full need. Many of these would be reaches obviously, but Alexandre is correct - your profile might just interest one of these schools. Maybe consider some of these - Wash U, Rice, Hopkins, Northwestern and Cornell. And I would definitely reach out to the fencing coaches at Hopkins and Brandeis (I assume you would not be recruitable at Division I schools, but if you are, reach out to some of those coaches as well).
I have Rice and Hopkins so far as 2 potential reaches. I’m not good enough for Div I (or II, probably), but could you explain how fencing would work for schools like that? Like how would I go about using it to increase chances, etc.
You may want to ask your college math instructors if they have suggestions for colleges that have good math departments suitable for you but are not super-selective. The only catch is that some of the usual suspects like UIUC, UMCP, Minnesota, Rutgers, Stony Brook, Ohio State, etc. are out-of-state publics that do not give good financial aid to out-of-state students and are not known for lots of merit scholarships for students with your stats.
Have you run the net price calculator on each school’s web site?
I’ve run the NPC on all the school’s I’ve listed, and they all come out affordable enough… Yeah, I’ve looked extensively into OOS publics, but the vast majority would be too expensive. I might try talking to some of my professors, I’m not sure how much information that have on this kind of thing, though. When I was talking to my prof from last semester yesterday, colleges came up, and he hadn’t even heard of most of them (even though they’re supposedly fairly reputable)
The wrong question was asked earlier. The questions isn’t whether your parents can or cannot pay…the question is…are they LOW INCOME? and also…do you have a non-custodial parent? Do your parents own a business or take business deductions.
Simply being “unable to pay” means nothing to schools. The actual financial picture (income/assets) is what matters.
Are you sure that your safeties are safeties? Those schools may give you large merit, but if room, board, books, fees, etc aren’t covered, how will those get paid?
Are you a likely NMF?
I suggest the large OOS universities that are good with automatic scholarships as financial safety options to add to the couple on your list. Your GPA over 3.5 (barely over) would qualify you along with your good ACT score. UA has an honors program set up for UG research (called Emerging Scholars Program) - I think that would be a very good opportunity and with your GPA and ACT score you would have full UG tuition (8 semesters).
W/O the budget, etc - use of NPC and which schools have a likelihood of merit and COA low enough for budget.
If I were in your shoes, I would apply to all the financial safeties that meet your educational goals in MA, and then apply to the others that perhaps may have enough merit/FA for attending.
If you are a NMF, make sure to include those schools that provide the merit and meet your educational goals.
Sounds like you have had very good educational opportunities - which makes me wonder about your GPA - did your freshman year pull you down? Were you more motivated on grades later?