My College List?? Some guidance needed

College Search & Selection
1

Hey everyone, rising senior here from NJ applying to colleges in a couple months… :)>- I’m still pretty all over the place to where I want to go to college (and I haven’t visited a ton…) but I have a tentative list. Any advice or suggestions would be welcome!! I want to keep my college list short so I’m having trouble deciding between schools…

A quick look at my stats/ECs:
W GPA 4.2/max 5.0 (I don’t know my unweighted, but it’s A- range GPA. I’m not a straight A student)
2370 SAT I Score, 231 PSAT
790 US History, 790 Lit
AP Lang (5) APUSH (5) AP Calc AB (4)
Pretty solid extracurriculars in creative writing and music and academics/leadership. I am an All-State Orchestra level violist, won quite a few regional/state/national awards in writing (Bennington College, Scholastic, Governor’s Art Award), Editor-in-Chief of the school literary magazine, and a Book Award and Girls State over the summer.

I am looking to major in something in the humanities (perhaps English or Writing) on a possible Pre-Med track. I like campuses with an urban feel (at least pretty close to a city). Most of my schools are on the East Coast, but I’m open to suggestions that are a little further away. Money is not a big issue; my family does not qualify for financial aid and we can pay for it (even for the UCs).

List:
UPenn OR Columbia (ED) (I’m leaning towards Penn b/c they have the Kelly Writers House!)
UChicago (EA) (Never visited Chicago, but I like what UChicago has to offer and EA is nonbinding)
NYU (my father works there, I get reduction on tuition. I consider this a match/safety)
Johns Hopkins (visited, loved it)
Cornell (visited, liked it)
Brown (never visited)
Tufts OR Boston College (which one? haven’t visited either but I want at least 1 Boston school on my list)
Northwestern (again, never visited, is it worth it to apply…)
Georgetown (never visited, gorgeous campus though)
UCLA / UCB (out-of-state, but why not try for California, I love the state)
Rutgers (my state school, safety)

So basically I have 2 safeties (NYU/Rutgers) and the rest of my list is reaches… However, I just want to point out that if I do not get into any of my reaches, I will probably go to NYU, as I will receive reduced tuition. (The school is not my favorite though, and my family can pay for another school). What do you guys think? Should I take any off, or add any schools? Thanks!!

2

Can you pay full price for the UCs? I’d leave Tufts and BC on the list and take off one of your reaches. You want more choices than just NYU and Rutgers in the end, right? You are very qualified, although GPA is a little low. But there are thousands of other highly qualified applicants, too.

3

@intparent Thanks, just edited my post to say that money is not a big issue for my family. Thank you for your suggestion! Any others?

4

would you consider any small LACs?

5

@2016senior I would, but I don’t know a lot about LACs and the general vibe. I feel like in general I am looking into more national universities that are in urban areas (that have a sort of LAC vibe, like Tufts or something). What LACs would you recommend?

6

Haverford isn’t far from philly so thats a good fit, Davidson is close to Charlotte and has around a 80-90% (depending on year) acceptance rate to first or second choice med schools after graduation, Richmond is located in Richmond (all I know lol)

7

You might want to visit a couple of LACs to see what you think. You are leaving a significant portion of the college landscape out of your search if you don’t at least take a look. Also, are you female? Possibly Asian? Wondering based on your avatar, it can make a difference in recommendations.

8

@intparent Yes, I’m an Asian female haha. College admissions will be pretty tough…

9

You can read about the writing programs at – while also getting a general feel for – some colleges in these online articles:

“The 10 Best American Colleges for Writers” / USA Today

“The 10 Best Colleges for Creative Writers” / Flavowire

“The 25 Most Literary Colleges in America” / Flavowire

10

If your UW GPA is in the A- range, I think you need more match schools. Most of your schools are reaches with that GPA. Of your Boston schools, you’d have a better shot at getting into Tufts than BC, but environment/vibe-wise, you may prefer BC. Look at BU as a Boston back-up–it’s not as hard to get into as BC & they love full pay. Campus is very urban & I found a nice, creative energy there (I’m a writer, too!).

For UCs, I think you’d like UCB more based on your list, but your GPA will be an issue to get in there. Maybe look at Stanford–they do holistic admissions, and I know at least one girl who got in with an A- GPA & a lower SAT score than yours (I was really surprised, but happy for her!).

11

Correction: “The 10 Best Colleges for Creative Writers” / The Freelancer.

12

@proudterrier Wow, that’s amazing that someone got into Stanford with an A- GPA! Did she have a hook? (URM, recruited athlete, legacy, etc)

13

@shadyconcepts I am from NJ as well. Just a few comments. Replace Rutgers with TCNJ. You can afford to have a more selective safety school.

Being Asian and female would be a distinct advantage at a few schools. Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest come to mind. Many of the schools you listed, yes a disadvantage.

The top liberal arts colleges in NY, PA and New England are looking for students like you. Many Asian student simply don’t look at these schools. You would be smart to look at them, especially for humanities, writing, etc.

14

Don’t add Stanford. One outlier anecdote does not improve your chances at a huge reach. And you are something of s URM at a lot of LACs, so check them out.

15

Does NYU offer reciprocity with any other schools?

16

Definitely visit a smaller LAC to see if that could work.

Kenyon and College of the South (Sewanee) are very well known for their writing programs. You should be locks for those two schools. I think you have been furnished some good resources here up-thread to broaden your search.

Good luck!

17

Where did you get your info that Tufts should be easier for her to get into than BC? Tufts only accepted 16% last year and is ranked higher than BC. From what I recall, BC has an acceptance rate over 20%.

18

Actually, last year BC acceptance rate was 28%.

19

In 2014 BC’s acceptance rate was 34%.

20

Plus, I think this student would like Tufts much more than BC, anyway. It has the vibe she’s looking for, imo.