<p>I'll probably be applying to 9-10 schools, and it would be ideal to have three very selective schools, three very good matches that I have excellent chances at, and 3 or 4 schools that I know I can get in to (However, they still should be great schools)</p>
<p>I'm looking for schools that are in the Northeast, have more than 2000 students, have a nice campus, and are either urban or near a city
The following schools are what I am considering so far:</p>
<p>Top tier:
Harvard
Yale
UPenn</p>
<p>Second:
Tufts
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins</p>
<p>Third:
George Washington
Boston College
??
??</p>
<p>I need some more schools that I will definitely gain acceptance to.</p>
<p>Well, without knowing more about you or your interests this might not fit at all, but how about Goucher in Baltimore? About 2300 students located in Towson (suburb of Baltimore).</p>
<p>NO. Georgetown and Tufts are not matches. Sorry but with 23-26% acceptance rate, they are reaches. And BC and GWU I would say are matches...American, Fordham, UPitt., Northeastern could be safeties perhaps. What are your stats anyway?</p>
<p>Sorry, but you're not considering the candidate by saying something like that</p>
<p>I have solid EC's, 2310 on SAT, and am towards the top of my class (with the most difficult course load possible) at an elite prep school.</p>
<p>My college counselor has even identified schools like Georgetown and Tufts as 'matches' in which I'd have a good (though not guaranteed) chance for admission</p>
<p>For this last tier of schools that I am applying to, I am looking for other colleges and universities on par with GWU and BC. Students with my GPA and SAT scores (coming from my prep school) have all been admitted to those schools over the last few years</p>
<p>well sorry westernmass, not to hurt your ego, but i disagree with your guidance counselor. Georgetown is definitely a REACH. Tufts is maybe a reach/match. BC and George Washington are safeties for no one, they are matches. Please don;t think that because you go to an elite prep school that you are above applying to schools like AMerican, real safeties! Don;t ask for help if you're going to dismiss what I have to say.</p>
<p>:rolleyes: omg! I actually agree with greendayfan <em>faints</em> Anyways, even though I agree, I'm going to accept that you think those schools fit into those categories because you're not asking for greendayfan's advice. How about the many NYC colleges? There's a ton out there, manhattanville, cooper union, nyu, etc.</p>
<p>I don't think you understood my post, GreenDayFan</p>
<p>First of all, let's clear one thing out of the way: 'Reaches', 'Matches', and 'Safeties' all vary depending upon the applicant</p>
<p>EVERY SINGLE APPLICANT from my school with my range of SAT scores and GPA has been admitted to BC and GW over the last 5 years. Those are suitable 'third tier' schools for ME.</p>
<p>The second tier of schools should be schools that I have a >50% chance of acceptance to (according to the college office) . Again, based upon my school's extraordinary success rate in college matriculation, JHU, Tufts, and Georgetown are all schools to which I probably have about a 75% chance of acceptance to. That exceeds what my school expects for your second tier schools.
Looking at the success of my school, I think I can safely trust the judgement of the college office over someone on a message board.</p>
<p>So please, understand this: In my case, GWU and BC can be treated like safeties.</p>
<p>Now to get back on topic, does anyone else have any comparable schools that he/she could reccomend?</p>
<p>SOOOOOO many people want to go to college in the Northeast. Why not look elsewhere. There are great small schools in the Midwest, south, and West...why not look there?</p>
<p>Sozo, I wholeheartedly agree with you about quality schools outside of the Northeast. However, being that I live in New England, I'd like to go to school reasonably close to home.</p>
<p>westernmass - without going into the side issue of your ease of getting into Harvard, Yale or UPenn, I have a couple of comments:
1) If your safeties are truly safeties, you only need two. If they're safeties, you are a sure bet to get into them. So why apply to more? Except for another poster's suggestion of NYU, I think you've pretty much gotten the list of larger schools that fit your description.
2) You indicate a preference for in or near cities, with a nice campus. So I was surprised Columbia wasn't in your "top tier". Columbia would seem to fit the bill better than Yale would, in fact. </p>
<p>I'm taking it that you go to Hotchkiss, b/c I know of very few schools that can profess such schools as safeties, however, even if you go to Hotchkiss or Berkshire, I would still be reluctant to say that GWU or BC are good safeties. Just from experience, their are plenty of Berkshire and St. Marks grad whose school list reads like this:</p>
<p>Harvard
Brown
Stanford
Dartmouth
William & Mary
Johns Hopkins
<em>a random state school</em></p>
<p>Guess where many of them are going? Personal stories don't mean much, but I can tell you that UMASS-Lowell or SUNY-Purchase is not what they were banking for.</p>
<p>Hayden, thanks for your reply. I haven't looked at NYU yet, but as far as Columbia is concerned, I should probably give it another try. I went there the day after UPenn and found it less impressive (not sure why, just the 'feel'). Our college office simply requests that you apply to about 3 of those 'third tier schools' (as they aren't conventional safeties, and you will almost be guaranteed to have the oppurtunity to make a final decision rather than being stuck at one place)</p>
<p>Cre8tive, I certainly know that people's college plans can be foiled. Don't worry though, my prep school is much better than Berkshire and significantly better than Hotchkiss (I won't state which one, just as an overly sensitive identity/security precaution, but you've likely all heard of it :-) )</p>
<p>Oh, you go there! I'm sorry, didn't consider that Western Massachusetts, western mass to me is Berkshire County or my boarding school, which is on the state line.</p>
<p>Okay, now I see your case. Franklin & marshall is in Amish country to say the least, near Philly?...not in thesense of what you would call near Philly. It would be like saying your school is in Worcester and advertising it as near Boston.</p>
<p>I understand the caliber of your prep school, but please take the advice to have one safety, school aside, that statistically, you will be sure to get into.</p>
<p>when looking at reach, match and safe schools, the acceptance rate is very important to look at. There are a lot of really good colleges out there with higher acceptance rates because of things like location, size and name (non)recognition. No matter how great of a candidate you may be, with any of those schools, chance comes into play with whether or not you may be accepted. Its not saying not to aim high, but find some schools you'd be happy at that have higher acceptance rates and apply there.</p>
<p>Poor word choice, my fault
Hotchkiss is definitely a top 10 school. While the top several schools may be clearly ahead of the rest (in terms of college matriculations), schools like Hotchkiss do exceptionally well</p>
<p>He's goes to one of the following schools, that's all we can establish:
Deerfield Academy
Milton Academy
Phillips Academy Andover
Phillips Exeter Academy
Roxbury Latin
Groton School</p>
<p>I could reccomend schools to you, but I have no clue what you want to study or what programs you're looking for.</p>