<p>What are some match schools for someone with a SAT score of 2300 and a GPA of 3.99?</p>
<p>What things would that person be looking for in a school?</p>
<p>Is that all you have?</p>
<p>LOL good question! So far, all I know is that the school should be strong in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.</p>
<p>Glad to see you are a new member. We are all happy to help, but you need to help us to help you. Here are some questions that you need to ask yourself:</p>
<p>Large school, mid-size, small no preference yet?
Urban, suburban, rural?
East, south, Midwest, West, US or foreign country?
Public, private or no preference?
Need-based financial aid or merit-aid needed?
Potential major or career plans, academic interests?
Greek life or non?
Coed or single-sex?
Religious affiliation?</p>
<p>From there, run a computer matching program like the college match here on CC. After that, you will be in a good position to get advice.</p>
<p>You need to give us more info but with those stats I would say you could probably look at some ivies and top schools, a lot of things would probably be safeties for you. I mean this is also considering that you have good ECs and a hard class load.</p>
<p>With that GPA and SAT score, you should be looking at Ivies and Top 20s unless you have severe deficiencies in extracurriculars/sports/other parts of your application.</p>
<p>Since when can you have a severe deficiency in sports??? Sports are something you do for fun; if you’re not an athletic person, there are other extracurricular activities you can do to pass the time.</p>
<p>I’m assuming that you’re a junior, like me. I have a similar profile to yours. </p>
<p>This is my concern when looking for match schools:</p>
<p>The schools where I fall at or above the 50th percentile tend to have acceptance rates below 20%. I have been told that a school with a twenty, or even fifteen, percent acceptance rate isn’t a “match” for anyone. They’re more like rolls of the dice. This makes me nervous.</p>
<p>That being said, have you looked at really strong LACs like Middlebury, Amherst, or Williams? U Chicago really seems to encourage (although I really have no way to know for sure) learning things for the sake of learning things, if that appeals to you. But once again, while your stats may match you to most of those schools, I’m still anxious about regarding any school that is that selective as a match.</p>
<p>Does your school have Naviance? I have found it to be a very valuable tool in the college search process.</p>
<p>I have a theory that once your stats are above a certain level, there really are no “matches,” only low matches/almost safeties and reaches. That being said, I would say schools like Northwestern, WUSTL, some of the stronger LACs are the closest things to a “match” for someone with stats like yours. However, they are still extremely hard to get into.</p>
<p>middle tennessee state university seems like a good match</p>
<p>Reach (because they are a reach for anyone who isn’t an international math/science award winner):</p>
<p>Top 8-10 of the USNWR Unis </p>
<p>Match: 10-20 USNWR Unis and 1-10 LACs.</p>
<p>^1-10 LACs are not matches for ANYBODY (excepting development cases and those international math/science award winners).</p>
<p>Congratulations on your fine accomplishments. There is a lot you can learn here; more if you post rather than merely lurk.</p>
<p>Assuming you have the other parts of a good application (ECs, leadership, good recs, etc.), there is no school you can truly rule out. But you are getting to a level where there are no matches, only reaches and safeties. The Ivies and the top tier of LACs are feasible for you. But their admissions rates are 5% to 15%, and none can be called a “match” simply because the odds for anyone are not that great. Ironically, because of this, top students tend to be applying to more places merely to put the odds in their favor.</p>
<p>Another dynamic is that these top schools are typically giving very generous need based aid, but not much in terms of merit. So depending on your family’s financial situation, they may be very good deals–much much less than public schools.</p>
<p>At any rate, take Mizzbee’s advice and start narrowing your list based on the features you value, and keep asking questions.</p>
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<p>People seem to be suggesting that, outside the few schools with admit rates below a certain point (~15-20%), everything else is a safety. I’d be careful about this.</p>
<p>It’s true that your stats would put you in the top 25% at schools ranked 30-something in the USNWR rankings (places like Kenyon, Trinity College, or the University of Rochester). However, these are solid schools that do reject most applicants (~60%). I’d be surprised if their rejections did not include a few kids with very high stats. So, you still need to show enthusiasm in your applications.</p>
<p>Now throw in cost concerns. Suppose you want to attend one of these very expensive schools, you don’t qualify for need-based aid, but your parents cannot afford the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). In that case, you can’t take anything for granted. For those private USNWR 30-something schools, you’ll be competing against applicants with stats as high as yours for the most generous merit scholarships, which only go to a very few students. </p>
<p>As for public honors colleges, I hear stories of kids being rejected outright despite very high stats.</p>
<p>For students with very high stats, I agree that there are not really any match schools, just reaches and safeties. </p>
<p>This thread may be helpful.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/881237-ivy-caliber-safeties-matches-condensed-advice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/881237-ivy-caliber-safeties-matches-condensed-advice.html</a></p>
<p>^ Consider Grinnell College. According to a 2005 report by the Grinnell Office of Admissions (<a href=“http://web.grinnell.edu/dean/Reports/05-06/ReportOnAdmission2005.pdf[/url]”>http://web.grinnell.edu/dean/Reports/05-06/ReportOnAdmission2005.pdf</a>), of 442 applicants for the class of 2005 with SAT CR scores of 750-800, 129 were rejected, or more than 1 in 4. Of 387 applicants with SAT M scores of 750-800, 149 were rejected (almost 40%).</p>
<p>Does that make Grinnell a reach for the OP? Probably not. So is it a safety? I don’t think so. Very high stats alone do not assure admission to such a school; they certainly don’t guarantee you’ll be able to afford the high cost. They do seem to make admission likely.</p>
<p>Grinnell would be a safety.</p>
<p>^ I’d prefer to call it a “match”, but I suppose it depends on the OP’s details (ECs, financial need) and on his tolerance for risk. Based only on what we know about the OP, his admission to schools like Grinnell is likely but not certain. Ability to cover the high cost is much less than certain for some strong applicants.</p>
<p>Here are a few examples of rather high-stat CC posters who have been rejected or wait-listed by schools more or less competitive with USNWR #18 Grinnell:</p>
<p>fishface1 (770/700/780, top 10%, rejected by #28 Tufts)
manyamile (700/750/760, 3.87U, rejected by #31 BC)
CurseItToHades (710/770/800, 4.0U, rejected by #11 LAC Claremont McK, waitlisted by #12 LAC Wesleyan)
jordanxbaker (660/800/800, 3.8U, wait-listed by #23 LAC Oberlin and by #12 LAC Wesleyan)
shnokabel (720/730/800, 3.98U, wait-listed by #12 LAC Vassar)
blackbird23 (680/800/800, 3.78U, wait-listed by #17 Vanderbilt)
singh2010 (770/700/760, 4.0U, wait-listed by #17 Vanderbilt)
phanatic (680/780/800, 3.98U, waitlisted by #31 William & Mary)</p>
<p>Now maybe with the OP’s stats and ECs he’s stronger than any of these posters … and cost is not a concern. In that case he may want to call the schools in this range “safeties”. It’s his call.</p>
<p>Maybe the problem is trying to cram a complex problem into three categories, and even the definitions of the categories are not universally agreed upon.</p>
<p>My son is high stat (2360, 36, 4.0). We really have two pools of schools he applied to. He applied to 4 uber elites, and we think he might get admitted to one (and have no idea which one it would be). He applied to a spectrum of LACs, ranging from #1 to #40 on the US News list. We think he will get into 75% of them (and have no idea which ones it will be.) I will not be surprised if he gets rejected from schools less selective than some he gets into; I saw that happen with his older brother.</p>
<p>In the current climate, with application numbers climbing, notions that presume certainty (like “match” and “safety”) are fraught with peril.</p>