<p>Hi!
I'm a female high school junior at a competitive private school in Washington, DC. I have a 3.95 out of 4.0 unweighted in mostly honors and AP classes. I have 800CR, 740M, 800W SATs (haven't taken SAT IIs yet-they will be Math II, Chemistry, and French). I'm interested mostly in the sciences, but I like social sciences too. I want a medium sized university that is not rural. Any ideas? Thanks!</p>
<p>Rice, Carnegie Mellon, WashU.</p>
<p>None of those are safeties. Matches, maybe, but they’re all finicky enough that I wouldn’t count on them.</p>
<p>OP might try Case Western, RPI (Rensslaer Polytechnic Institute), WPI (Worchester Polytechnic Institute)? Tulane is a perennial favorite safety/match school of top students–its acceptance rate is a little low for it to be a true safety. Clemson, perhaps, or the Colorado School of Mines? (ETA: there’s always your state flagship, of course.)</p>
<p>Case Western and Tulane are known for their generous merit aid. I don’t know about the others. You will want to find a safety you love that is also affordable–what’s your PSAT score? Are you in line for NMF?</p>
<p>You could most likely land a full ride to Tulane if you don’t mind warm weather.</p>
<p>Given your stats, the following all fall somewhere on the Safety-Match continuum</p>
<p>American
Boston College
URochester
Johns Hopkins
Carnegie-Mellon
Case-Western
Emory
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest</p>
<p>Just to clarify the posts about Tulane a bit:</p>
<p>HYPhoper is almost right, Tulane has a full tuition scholarship called the DHS (Deans’ Honor Scholarship) that is awarded via a competition. It is tuition only, although it pays at that level no matter how much it increases. However, fees (about $2,500 I think) and room/board are not covered, although if you are NMF, you get another $2,000/year. In the past years 100 DHS’s have been awarded, although for the entering class of 2009 it was 75. We will see about this year. Anyway, your stats would certainly make you a very strong contender.</p>
<p>The weather is very warm for the end of August through most of September, but is much more pleasant the rest of the school year until the last week in April, usually. This year there have been lots of days in the 60’s in Dec.-Jan., but also some in the low 40’s and this week it is mostly around 50-55 and sunny. Pretty typical. Tulane is in a beautiful part of New Orleans with great facilities on campus and nearby, like a huge park across the street.</p>
<p>As far as the acceptance rate/safety school issue, for you it would absolutely be a safety, especially if you showed interest early by attending a local event or visiting, and applying for the DHS. You would automatically get a merit award of (this year) $25,000 and an invitation to the Honors Program, I feel quite sure.</p>
<p>Tulane really fits your criteria: it is not rural, it is medium sized, and it has very good programs in all areas. If you went strictly by average SAT scores Tulane would rank about #30 in the country.</p>
<p>Of course other schools listed above also are excellent choices that fit your criteria, such as Vandy and Emory. I just know a lot more about Tulane. My D had stats very much like yours and is attending on a DHS. She loves it there.</p>
<p>Look at Tufts. It is a medium-sized school, nice campus, great for sciences and liberal arts, and just outside Boston proper. Hard to get into right now, but with your stats, you should not have too much of a problem. Great study abroad opportunities too, if you are interested in that, since you study french.</p>
<p>*You could most likely land a full ride to Tulane if you don’t mind warm weather. *</p>
<p>NO…that isn’t true.</p>
<p>At best, she might win a competitive scholarship for tuition, but that is “iffy”. People often mistakenly call full tuition scholarships “full rides” - which they are not. You can’t go to school just on tuition unless you live in the neighborhood and don’t need room and board and don’t need to buy any books. A full-ride includes tuition, room, board, etc…</p>
<p>However…back to Cecary…</p>
<p>How much can your parents pay each year towards your education? If you don’t know, then ask. If they can’t pay the $55k per year that many privates cost, then you need to pick schools that will work for you.</p>
<p>If their EFC is low, then you need to apply to schools that meet need with little or no loans. [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml) You would not want to bother with schools that can’t meet need if your EFC is low.</p>
<p>If their EFC is high (and unaffordable), then you need to look at schools that give you huge merit for your stats. </p>
<p>If money is no object, then great!</p>
<p>Once we know what your financial situation is, we can make better recommendations for you. :)</p>
<p>Based on your SAT scores and GPA, American is a safety for you, and you will probably quailfy for botht he honors program and a scholarship which could rage up to full tuition. It fits the size criteria and is not rural. My son is having a great time.</p>
<p>Clemson University is a great safety and has amazing science majors.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it’s kinda in a rural area.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the help!
Money is not an object, but it would obviously be nice to get a scholarship :). I’ll definitely look into that Tulane scholarship. I live in DC, so American is too close to home, but all the others are definite possibilities.</p>
<p>What else do you want in a college?</p>
<p>quiet
rah rah big sports to watch
honors college on campus?
greek systems as an option
Catholic schools ok?
single sex
co-ed 50/50 split
big city setting
collegetown setting
nice dorms
recreation availability
warm weather
cold/snowy weather</p>
<p>Great stats. There aren’t many schools that are reaches for you. I’ll list them for you:</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Washington University. I would put about a 20-40% chance on any of these. </p>
<p>Any other school that is not a safety is a match (40-90%)</p>
<p>Safeties:
Medium sized safeties: Rochester, Case
Larger safeties: NYU, McGill, Wisconsin, Pitt, BU, Toronto</p>
<p>Because I live in DC and not in VA or MD, I don’t really have a state flagship. The government does give grants of up to $10,000 a year for DC residents in other state schools, but I still have to apply out of state. My PSAT score was 230, which should put me in the running for National Merit.
Catholic schools are fine. I definitely want to go to a coed school, and I’d like to go someplace in/near a city or large town. I don’t plan on going Greek, and I don’t want a party school. I like warm weather, but I don’t mind cold weather either, and I like snow. Sports aren’t a big priority for me, but I might go to a few of the bigger games during the year. I don’t want to go to a place where social life is only sports and frats. I really like to rock climb, but I think that a lot of cities probably have gyms if there isn’t any outdoor climbing. Honors programs would be great, especially for bigger public universities.
Do you really think NYU could be a safety for me? If it is, that would be great!</p>
<p>Yes, I think NYU is a safety for you. The Naviance scattergrams from my D’s school seem to indicate that everyone with stats above a certain point, both 1400 SAT (CR+M) and 3.6 GPA got in. This is in a pool with a large sample. You are way above that - that SAT is terrific. Most of the applicant pool on our Naviance plot was below this level (sometimes way below) which contributes to their low overall acceptance rate. </p>
<p>See if your school uses Naviance. That would give you better data.</p>