Need help w/ refining college list

College Search & Selection
1

Currently applying colleges and I need help adding to/ refining my list
Asian American male in competitive public HS in NJ
Most likely going to do something w/ econ, history, business
3.73 uw gpa, 4.00 weighted, no class rank
1500 sat
Took 6 aps, with 4’s and 5s on the one’s ive taken which are micro/macro/apush

Tennis team for 4 yrs
Participated in history bee/bowl, qualified for nat’l tournament
Part of volunteer org that was biggest club at school
Worked for the past year
Taught kids tennis this past summer
Volunteer hours

Location and school size doesn’t really matter too much to me, I would prefer a larger school though

Still yet to really work out budget, but it is flexible

The colleges I’m looking at right now include
Michigan Ann Arbor
UT Austin
UVA
Rutgers
UMass Amherst
Wisconsin-Madison
Considering Pitt, FSU, Case Western, Indiana, Marist, Fordham, SUNY schools
I really just need more target and safeties, given that my first 3 schools are pretty hefty reaches

2

Forgot to mention that my LOR is from my history teacher and my essay is also basically on history

3

So assuming you’re on a 4.0 scale (4 = A, 3 = B), here’s my thoughts - and yes, it’s all over the place:

  1. UT Austin - reach due to OOS

  2. UVA - high reach

  3. Rutgers - Likely

  4. UMASS - Likely

  5. Wisconsin - Likely

6 Pitt - Safety

  1. FSU - Likely with OOS waiver

  2. CWRU - Match

IU - Safety

Marist - Safety

SUNY - I’ll assume SUNY B, Buff, SB - likely to B and safety to the rest.

Marist / Fordham - aren’t large, etc. but safety

So you can go anywhere with your desires - from a Penn State to a Delaware to Ohio State to a South Carolina to an Ohio State to a if you want a bit smaller (Pitt size) a Syracuse, Miami Ohio (rural), Miami Florida, Bama (tons from the Northeast) to an Arizona, etc.

Your list is fine- you have schools on there you’ll get into, etc.

Good luck.

1 Like
4

Theoretically you only need one safety but I always recommend two. After that you could apply to all reaches if you wanted to.

I’m assuming Rutgers is a safety? If so, that’s a nice safety.

Would you pick Marist or a SUNY over Rutgers? If not why have them on your list?

FSU would probably give you instate tuition and honors program. S21 is there now and likes it.

You really need to pin down your budget before you go any further. You don’t want to waste time researching and applying to schools you can’t afford.

5

You have a lot of great schools, the trick is finding ones that will be the right fit for you. Have you done any school visits yet? What appealed to you about the schools on your list. Do you want to be a plane ride away? or would you rather be a long car ride? Do you like the city or would you rather be in a smaller college town?

1 Like
6

Just a heads up on Indiana. If you want to study business you should apply to the Kelley School of Business at Indiana. With your stats you would be a direct admit. It is easy to switch out of Kelley into another major but quite difficult to switch into Kelley unless you are a direct admit going in.

7

My advice: work out budget first.

1 Like
8

Add The College of New Jersey as another in-state option.

I think you could possibly receive a significant OOS merit scholarship at UMass Amherst - I think the max is 16K these days. It brings it down closer to your in-state tuition at Rutgers, but not quite there.

1 Like