I feel like my list could use some improvements. I’ll list a little about me first
Income: (85k); My parents say they will pay for my college but they haven’t given me a maximum price which isn’t very helpful
African-American;
GPA: 3.7 UW/4.3 W taking the most rigourous courseload at a “highly rated” public school in Missouri. School offers a lot more honors and CC than APs. Sends couple of kids to T20 schools every year
ACT: 31(33E, 35R, 30S, 27M) Took it once but confident I could get a 33+ with a little bit of prep. Only need 5 points
APs: Euro(5), US History(4), Chemistry (3);Senior - Calc AB, Gov, Psych, Lang
Rank: 23/377; like top 5-6%
ECs/Activities:
Track and Field(Varsity 3 years, Captain, All-Conference, State Qualifier, Regional Champion, National Qualifier, Should be All-American after Nationals); Getting recruited by WashU, Amherst, etc.
Soccer(JV 2 years, V 1 year, Academic All-Conference)
Senior Class Vice President
Boy Scouts(Life Scout, Senior Patrol Leader)
Mock Trial(Captain, Regional Qualifier, Best Novice)
Rho Kappa(President)
French National Honor Society
Missouri Boys State Alumni(Mayor)
Host(Summer Job)
Preferences:
Want to feel like I’m on a college campus but have access to the city
Don’t like campuses like NYU’s that is all over the city
Internships within a reasonable distance of the school
Good alumni network
Study abroad opportunities
Social scene; greek life is an added bonus
Cooperative over cutthroat environment
I prefer mid to large sized unis(tiebreaker)
Would like to go either North or West(tiebreaker)
Prefer an actual business school to economics(weak)
Current List:
Reach - WashU(Kids from my school accepted with lower stats), Dartmouth, Amherst, Harvard, Yale
Match - UNC, URichmond, Boston College, Villanova
Safety - SMU, Mizzou, SLU, MiamiU, Ohio State
As an OOS applicant, OSU is not a safety unless you are being recruited and have the coach’s full support.
do you want to run in college? because that changes everything. as a recruit, you can get into schools that might not otherwise be possible. running at wash U is very different than a place like Ohio St- just how good are you? D 1 or DIII?
assuming D3, Tufts might work as a school with city access and some greek life. it’s a reach but the running might get you in. Also University of Rochester, if that’s enough of a city for you.
UNC, by the way, I would not call a match. very hard for out of state.
Try running the net price calculator on each college and show each result to your parents. That can give you an idea of what they are and are not willing to pay.
BC and UNC are reaches. I would put Richmond at a high match. If you have UNC on the radar, you might consider UVA (also a reach). Fantastic business school. Has vibrandt Greek Life. About 15k UG so between mid and large.
Unfortunately, UVA fraternities and sororities appear to be very racially segregated, except for a few explicitly multicultural chapters, based on chapter photos (see linked pages from https://fsl.virginia.edu/ ).
All mentions are reaches other than Mizzou, SLU and Miami OH. Your reaches are dreams, the matches are reaches, and SMU business isn’t a match with a 31. Average for business is 33.
With a 31 and a UW 3.7, Harvard, Yale, Amherst, and Dartmouth are uber-reaches. OOS, UNC is a reach for everyone. BC will be a low reach, Villanova and URichmond high matches, SMU a match, and OSU a low match. As long as you like them all and they are affordable, you are good for safeties with Mizzou, SLU, and Miami OH.
Take a good look at your college choices as well. It’s very unusual for students to like both UNC and Amherst.
Check out TCU and maybe Baylor if you like SMU. Their business schools are a little less competitive and will be matches/low matches for you. Waco will most likely be too small for you, though. Baylor has great study abroad and alumni connections, however. And TCU is basically SMU in a slightly smaller city with better sports.
Another match/low match would be Marquette. Business school. Good Milwaukee location. Try the the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities for a low match/safety.