Catholic schools always have higher gross acceptance rates because they receive fewer applications being religious organizations.
The average ACT score is a bit higher at Boston College so I would say they are equally selective. The acceptance rates don’t tell the whole story.
@shadyconcepts No particular hook, no. She was female, Asian American, CA resident. I think what helped was she was a girl wanting to go into the sciences & her supplements were cute/creative. I assisted her with her supplements, so I read them all, and I know Stanford really cares about them. Stanford is such a longshot for so many people, but they do holistically evaluate applicants for sure.
Thanks everyone so far! I think I’m going to apply to Tufts rather than BC, it seems to have the vibe I’m more looking for 
@proudterrier Wow that gives me hope for admissions to top colleges! I don’t know if I’ll even try for Stanford, but that’s an inspiring story. Any other suggestions are welcome!
@shadyconcepts Question: how do you know the Tufts vibe, you haven’t visited the school. If you do visit, wouldn’t it make sense to visit BC as well?
@BatesParent2019 Fair point. I guess I’m mostly going off research and other CC threads comparing the two. I don’t think I’ll ever get a chance to visit (my parents are adamant that it’s a waste of time, because they are pushing schools that are closer to Boston), so maybe I should just apply to both. I guess I’ll see!
Jump on the Amtrak and go yourself.
@bjkmom If by reciprocity you mean that they will help pay for another school, they do, but the schools that they will help pay for are not very good and not schools that I am looking into 
so it’s just NYU for that!
Any other suggestions/opinions?
It actually went down to 28% for class of 2019.
BC received 29,400 applications for class of 2019. I think Tufts received around 19,000. All BC acceptance info is on their newspaper website.
Hey guys! Thanks for all the responses so far. This is by no means a final list, but here’s how it’s looking, based off my common app and general feelings so far:
High Reach:
Penn (ED) (Subject to change, but most likely here)
UChicago (EA)
Columbia
Brown
Yale (for the lolz)
Reach/High Match:
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
Tufts
Georgetown
WashU
Vanderbilt
UCB/UCLA/USC (b/c Cali and why not!!)
Low Match/Safety:
NYU (CAS, not Stern)
Rutgers (state school)
So far, these are around 15 schools. It’s a lot for now, so I will probably do a little cutting later. I also may or may not apply to some selective LACs (I haven’t visited any so I just don’t know, maybe I’d love the vibe?), because from your comments, I think I might like them and I may have a slight advantage. I’m still iffy on WashU and Vandy because they’re in the South and I’m not a huge fan of that area but I wanted a little more diversity on my list than just the Northeast/West, and I’ve heard Vanderbilt weights SAT scores pretty heavily (good for me, with a high SAT and mediocre GPA!). Still not sure if I should even try for Yale honestly, what with my GPA. Well, this is how it’s looking for now! Any other suggestions would be welcome, I’m pretty open at this point. If I don’t get into a better school than NYU, it’s looking like NYU for me (and it is a great school so I wouldn’t be sad or anything!).
I’m surprised Kenyon isn’t on your list - top English /writing program .
I agree with Bates parent,apply to TCNJ honors instead of/alongside Rutgers honors.
Can you list what colleges NYU has reciprocal agreements with? There may be some you may not have heard of but are nevertheless good.
Your gpa is not mediocre it’s excellent and won’t keep you out of any school except Stanford (probably not the right vibe anyway) and Yale, and even then good essays will do a lot for you.
You should add Kenyon?Hamilton,Barnard,Bryn Mawr for soliud matches.
I’m surprised Kenyon isn’t on your list - top English /writing program .
I agree with Bates parent,apply to TCNJ honors instead of/alongside Rutgers honors.
Can you list what colleges NYU has reciprocal agreements with? There may be some you may not have heard of but are nevertheless good.
Your gpa is not mediocre it’s excellent and won’t keep you out of any school except Stanford (probably not the right vibe anyway) and Yale, and even then good essays will do a lot for you.
You should add Kenyon?Hamilton,Barnard,Bryn Mawr for soliud matches.
I’m surprised Kenyon isn’t on your list - top English /writing program .
I agree with Bates parent,apply to TCNJ honors instead of/alongside Rutgers honors.
Can you list what colleges NYU has reciprocal agreements with? There may be some you may not have heard of but are nevertheless good.
Your gpa is not mediocre it’s excellent and won’t keep you out of any school except Stanford (probably not the right vibe anyway) and Yale, and even then good essays will do a lot for you.
You should add Kenyon?Hamilton,Barnard,Bryn Mawr for soliud matches.
WashU in St. Louis is considered the Midwest, if I’m not mistaken. While it’s certainly hotter than a Chicago, a St. Paul, or a Detroit, it’s still got some of that Midwestern hospitality and culture.
@MYOS1634 Thanks so much for your advice! I don’t think I will add Kenyon just because of the location (I don’t know if I can take the rural-ish area + traveling really far to Ohio) and while I adore their writing program, it isn’t going to be my main focus. I’m looking into Barnard though, because of their unique relationship with Columbia and I like the vibe of the school a lot (I’ve passed by it a few times). Maybe TCNJ!
@DetroitLeper Oops, my bad, you’re right. Well I guess I have the main parts of the US covered!
Have you considered Columbia? It’s as urban as you get but still has an actual campus setting (unlike NYU). Of course it’s another super reach but you have the stats (and thus a shot at it). You could visit both Barnard and Columbia in the same day to get the vibe. My son is there now in computer engineering and he’s meeting lots of interesting kids with musical talent (several in junior NY Philharmonia).
@KathleenA Yep, I have considered Columbia! it’s in my high reaches list haha. I was actually considering doing ED there before I started leaning towards UPenn. Because my UW GPA isn’t a 4.0, I still think it’s pretty far off, unfortunately. I’ve already visited Columbia and loved the campus, but after looking through some threads I’m not sure if the whole general vibe is for me (I don’t want to believe in those rumors though, I’m sure it’s a great school). When I visit Barnard maybe I’ll check out Columbia again!
Yeah, I really wouldn’t consider WashU or St. Louis to be the South. It has some Southern influences since it is a border-ish state, but it’s otherwise pretty quintessentially Midwestern.
LACs I am considering applying to: Pomona, Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst, Barnard (basically either East or West Coast haha)
Still surprised Kenyon isn’t on that list… (I know, bis repetita placent, et alii… but… )