<p>I am an incoming senior and I need some MAJOR help narrowing my college list and possibly suggesting others. I plan to major in either Economics or Finance (and if so a Pre professional track on Law). I took the ACT and got a 30 and the SAT and got a 1800 (Planning to take again; ACT Goal is 32 or 33 and SAT Goal is 2000+) . My GPA is 3.91 (unweighed) and my rank is 32/580 and I am a resident of Texas.</p>
<p>Nine schools isn’t excessive but I would consider cutting 2 from:</p>
<p>NYU is expensive and notoriously stingy with fin-aid.
Fordham, UCD and Syracuse seem like an odd group, are there specific reasons they made the list?</p>
<p>Berkeley is a reach, but there’s nothing wrong with that.</p>
<p>@M’s Mom: Thanks I will make sure to take that out</p>
<p>@Vinceh: UCD, Fordham, and Syracuse have good law school, I want to go to a university and continue my education there with out going to another university if that makes asny sense</p>
<p>Georgetown accept. rates are up there with UC Berkeley --both are real reaches. You look like a great candidate in terms of your EC, GPA, AP’s, etc. Just take a really intensive SAT prep and see if you can get those scores up a bit. You have a really good shot at most of the schools on your list otherwise. I’d take off Syracuse and NYU though.</p>
<p>woops, I goofed. I read someone else’s post before yours and was confusing their info. with yours! Sorry. So just going by SAT’s alone, nix Berkley.</p>
<p>I think Georgetown would be a big reach; the mid-point SAT is around 2100, so while your GPA is strong, you’re going to need a big jump on the test front.</p>
<p>As far as staying at the same school for undergrad and law school, I think you’re over-complicating the decision. Law school admissions are based on GPA and LSATs, while going to Fordham might help you in some small way to get into Fordham Law, a better sttrategy would be to do exceptionally well as an undergrad to give yourself the widest range of options possible. Besides, after four years at one school, you may well be ready to expand your horizons somewhere else.</p>
<p>My parents are saying NYU is a “Greedy” college after reading an article about a student who created her own major and is now in thousands of dollars in debt should I reconsider it?</p>
<p>@jikiwmom: Remove syracuse and nyu for price or for tough admissions?</p>
<p>@Vinceh: Thanks for the advice, I will reconsider!</p>
<p>If you’re referring to the story about the woman who studied religious/women’s studies and graduated with something like $250,000 in debt, I personally have a hard time blaming NYU for that. Most every school will allow you some sort of flexibility in creating a major; regardless of the major created, you’re still the one making the decision to take on the debt. I suspect, given the chance, NYU could trot out a few alums with self-created majors who have gone onto phenomenal success. The main reasons I could see for dropping NYU are its reputation for poor financial aid (abetted by stories like the one you mention) and the fact that, unlike many of your other choices, there is no traditional campus there.</p>
<p>Syracuse is very cold and snowy especially when compared to your other choices (it can and is dramatically snowier than New York City), so that just seems like it doesn’t belong. The other one that doesn’t fit is UC-Davis. </p>
<p>USC will be a reach with 1800 SATs but that’s hardly a reason to drop it, (personally I think you have a much better chance of getting into USC than Berkeley). You may want to add some place like Baylor or Pepperdine as other warm weather schools where you would have a good chance of being accepted.</p>