might need safeties?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello, everyone! I wasn’t sure if I should put this in College Search or Chance Me…
I’m currently a senior and have compiled a list, but recently I’m not too sure about how safe my safety schools are. And I don’t really love my super-safe schools, so I’m trying to either figure out if my safeties are safe enough, or find safeties that I like better. (whew, i used the word safe a lot!)

Stats:
SAT: 2300 (750 CR, 800 M, 750 W 8 E)
GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.45 W
Class Rank: ?/625. School district does not officially rank, but I am in the 30s.
SAT II: Chinese (740), USH (770), Math II (770), Bio M (720)
AP: Human Geo (5) USH (5) Lang (5) Micro (5) Macro (5) Bio (4) Chinese (4) Euro (4) Physics B (3) Japanese (3)
IB: Diploma candidate, SL math (5) SL Econ (6)
Future tests/current courseload:
AP Calc AB, HL Japanese, HL English (possibly AP Lit), HL Chem (and AP Chem), SL Art History

Extracurriculars:
-Volunteer leader in a program run by a neighboring city- grades 9, 10, 11, 12. 28hr/week, 3week/year. no leadership opportunities, the only way to “move up” is to get hired. Summary from my app: “Organized projects and games suited to various age groups; responsible for overseeing, leading youth activities; selected for recognition by the city”
-club fencing- grades 9, 10, 11, 12. 6 hr/week, 48 weeks/year. I’ve done a few competitions here and there, gone to nationals and JO
violin- on my own (private teacher, I participate in CM which is a performance test kinda) as well as school orchestra 6hr/week, 34week/year where I’m principal second (I lead the second violin players) as well as an outside orchestra 4hr/week, 36week/yr where I now play first violin. We performed at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall. World Relief Chamber Music- grades 9, 10. 3 hrs/week, 40 weeks/year. an orchestra that raised money (around $12000/year when I was there) for a natural disaster every year, also played in nursing homes.
-Girl Scouts-2hr/week, 26week/year. I’m the treasurer, sometimes I chair events too.
-YLA-grades 11, 12. 3hr/week, 30week/year. I’m a sponsorship coordinator, responsible for outreach, fundraising, and, of course, sponsorships
FASCA- grades 10, 11, 12. 4hr/week, 3week/year. A cultural association aimed towards Asian-American youths, specifically those of Taiwanese descent.
-NHS- grade 12. 2hr/week, 10week/year. peer tutoring after school, not much to say

High honors awards (school)
CSF, NHS, Distinguished Scholar (basically honor roll for the entire year)

Other awards:
National Merit Commended (I was one point away from semifinalist, of course I’m not salty or anything…)
National AP Scholar
1st Team USA Fencing All-Academic
VOCE Honorable Mention (a competition for musicians, competed under “solo strings”
Recognized by the neighboring city for my dedication to volunteering and helping the community. There’s no official title, but I got “recognized” by the city, free lunch and pin

Internship/work experience
none

Essays: I think my common app is decent! nothing groundbreaking, but 7-8/10
Teacher Rec: There are four teachers that I asked for recs. Chem teacher had me for two years, the other taught my intended major (econ), the other is my language arts teacher, and the last is my Japanese teacher (my fifth year with her now). My counselor recommended that I ask these teachers, so the letters must be pretty good? My chem teacher is a perfectionist and supposedly writes really good LOR.
Counselor Rec: he likes me more than most of his students. I read his LOR, it was very nice. 9/10 or 10/10

School: public magnet in CA, not sure if it’s considered large or small? class size is 625
Current list of schools (sorry, it’s arranged in order of due date)

University of Chicago (EA)
Columbia University (ED)
UC Berkeley, Los Angeles, Irvine, Santa Barbara
Emory University
Claremont McKenna College
USC
Brandeis University
Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
Rice University
Washington University in St. Louis

I tried supermatch, but I don’t think I did it right? thank you!

(also posted in college search)

2

Wait, are your safeties already included in the list? I think you have a good shot for all, and are guaranteed at UCI and UCSB. UChicago/Columbia/Claremont/USC/Brown/WUSTL are the only ones that you have a questionable chance with. The rest are basically your safeties.

3

You’ll probably get into a most (if not most) of the schools on your list, especially UCI and UCSB, so I would’t stress to much. If you really want a safety maybe consider Cal Poly SLO?

Chance me back?:http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1838110-chance-me-for-ucs-stanford-cornell-cmu-uva-cal-poly-slo-duke-ill-chance-back.html

4

I’ll group them into what I considered my reaches, matches, and safeties:
High Reach: University of Chicago, Columbia University, Brown University
Slightly lower reach: Claremont McKenna College, Washington University in St. Louis
Match: Carnegie Mellon University, Rice University, UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, USC
Slightly lower match: Brandeis University, Emory University
Safeties: UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara
Honestly, I don’t want to go to either of my safeties so I’m looking for some alternatives. Also, I got the info of these groupings off a list. I just have a really hard time putting acceptance rates and my chances into perspective. Ex. recently I was thinking that maybe Emory and the matches (lol that sounds like a really bad band name) were low reaches, which terrifies me.
@epicer I’m a little curious about why you think I have a good chance for UCLA/UCB but USC is a reach, since their rankings and acceptance rates are really close?
@bitensky Thank you! I feel a little better now, especially since I’ve been on the Columbia ED applicant thread lately and have been feeling pretty discouraged. I wrote this post because I started thinking that my matches were reaches and my safeties weren’t as safe as I hoped. I’ll chance you! :slight_smile:

oh! and I forgot to add that my intended major is econ!

5

Have you demonstrated your interest in Brandeis? They take that very seriously. You don’t want them to think you’re using them as a safety or won’t go if accepted.

6

@pdubs97 Brandeis doesn’t have a supplement, and I won’t be able to visit their campus (I live in CA). I haven’t expressed any interest, but I never saw an opportunity to- I’m subscribed to their emails, but have never seen an information night offered or anything.

7

@dr0wning They do have a supplement. One of the options to choose from is essentially “Why Brandeis?” Maybe you can choose that one and do a good job of explaining why you really like the school.

8

@pdubs97 I only saw the option to upload a resume, essay(in lieu of SAT), and an international student-specific supplement. Am I just not looking in the right place?

9

@pdubs97 I checked again, and I can’t find a supplement anywhere. Even their admissions page (http://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/apply/checklist.html) has no mention of any supplement. I can’t find it at all.
Also, I knew that they had a test-optional policy, but didn’t know until now that AP, IB, and SAT II tests could were acceptable. Is it worth it to use the test-optional policy to submit AP tests with scores of 5? For some reason I think that I’d be better off sending the SAT, but who knows.

10

@dr0wning your SAT score is fantastic so you should definitely send it. But also make sure that you report all your AP scores.

When I go on the common app, there is a Brandeis supplement. The prompt and options are listed right above the things you mentioned. Not sure if this essay question is waived for some applicants or something.

11

@pdubs97 Is the writing supplement under Writing Supplement > Questions, or Application > Questions? A quick google search tells me nothing about Brandeis waiving essay questions, so I’m starting to get a little concerned… I know that for Rice, one of the supplements didn’t show up at first. However, if you search Brandeis in Common App, supplements are not required- which makes me think that any supplements would be hidden away under Applications > Questions rather than Writing Supplement > Questions. Sorry if this is confusing! I think I’ll make a thread specifically about this so I can see what other people have experienced, do you know where I should post it?

I self-reported all my AP scores in the Common App.

12

@dr0wning for me, the writing supplement is under Writing Supplement > Questions.

13

I just saw in the sidebar that I had to answer “Are you applying to the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program?” after fiddling around, I found the prompts! Thank you :slight_smile:

14

@pdubs97 Considering how seriously they take demonstrated interest, are there any ways beyond the supplement to show it?
Also, what do you think of my list in general? Not enough safeties, too many reaches…? Any suggestions?

15

@dr0wning tbh I’m not sure how to show you’re interested when a campus visit is out of the question. I know Brandeis is having a webinar on Thursday night that you have to sign up for, so maybe you can look into that. They’ll have it on file that you took the time to watch a webinar. There are probably some threads on this website about showing interest in a school.

As for your list, I think it is good. You have a stronger than not chance at some of your UCs and Brandeis. You look good for Emory too, but I don’t know much about the school.
I don’t think you have too many reaches, unless you’re having trouble finding the time to write good essays for each school. If you feel like you can apply to all of those schools without sacrificing the quality of your applications, then go for it.
I just don’t want you to get completely shut out. Maybe consider throwing one VERY safe school that you are 100% sure you will be able to get into and afford and enjoy onto your list. What are your “super safe schools” that you don’t like so much?

16

@pdubs97 Thanks, I’ll look into the webinar!
I didn’t have it on my list since I added it last minute, but I also applied to UC Santa Cruz. Some other posters said that I had 8 reaches, and others said that the majority of my list is reach. I’ve actually finished nearly every supplement. Brown’s probably needs a little editing, and I’ve only done half of Rice’s. Besides those two, though, I’ve written them all and they are submit-ready (I started writing my essays in July).

I am 100% sure that I will get into a UC, since I’m in the top 9% of my school (ELC program). The reason I made this thread was because I wasn’t sure that I would really enjoy what I considered my safeties (UCI, UCSB, UCSC) and I wasn’t even sure if they were safe enough. UCSC has an acceptance rate of 46%, but other than that I don’t have any extremely safe schools. I’m also not really sure as to what constitutes a match, safety, and super-safe school to me in terms of acceptance rates. Would you agree with the list I created in post 3 about which schools fall into which category?

17

Your stats are definitely good. The only issue is that your UW GPA is a bit low for top UCs:

CMC - reach
UCB/UCLA - high match
USC - match (likes your SAT)
UCSB/UCI - safety

18

@uclaparent9 My UC GPA is 4.00, if that helps. Could you suggest any other safeties? I prefer urban > suburban > rural, mid-large size, and schools that aren’t in the midwest or the south. Also, I’m okay with any weather that’s not horribly cold. However, I can make exceptions for all of these preferences (except for rural).

19

Why UCSD is not in your list? That is a great UC!

20

SD and Davis don’t seem to be as strong in my intended major (econ), though I do agree that UCSD is a great UC, especially for people who are interested in bio/biomedical engineering/veterinary studies! Quite a few of my friends applied there.