<p>I am a senior at a highly regarded magnet school in NYC(not stuy). I am looking for colleges that are within a 4 hour driving to NYC. Any additions to my list would be greatly appreciated. I am looking to major in phyiscs/engineering/finance.</p>
<p>My list so far is:</p>
<p>NYU
Penn State
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
SUNY (Albany,Bing, SB)
Tufts
Northeastern
Colgate
UConn</p>
<p>GPA: 88 weighted with 4 APs
SAT: 2200, retaking and aiming for 2350+
SAT II: Math IIC:780, Physics:750</p>
<p>ECs (major ones):
Captain of a sport team(4 years),
On math team, AIME qualifier
Volunteering</p>
<p>Apply early to Cornell only if you are sure you can afford it. Try to raise your SAT scores. The SAT scores at Cornell Eng are almost as high as MIT and Caltech.</p>
<p>Re what collegehelp has posted, I don't think your SATs are as much a problem as your GPA; if you have an 88 average weighted, that suggests that you have no more than a B unweighted, prehaps less, and even with a class rank in the top 10 percent (which you do not say you have), this is very low for a highly selective school. Cornell sounds like a major reach to me for that reason, and I am not so sure about Tufts and Colgate being other than slightly more realstic reaches; I think the other schools on your list may be matches. And of course your athletics may make up for the GPA deficiency; are you good enough to play for any of the schools listed? It seems too me you should talk to your school college counselor about match schools, because he or she will know whether other students from your high school with similar grades have gotten in to the schools you mention. </p>
<p>I would also suggest looking west and south from NYC more (as you haev already done with Penn State). What about Lehigh? And perhaps Lafayette? Bucknell might be a little farther away from NYC than you woud like, but not much. I don't know about the programs in your areas of interest at American and GW, but those both also seem like schools where your GPA would be less of an obstacle than at some of the schools on your list. I also wonder about the University of Delaware and the University of Maryland; I have no firsthand experience of either but based on various parent postings over the past year or so they seem like schools that might also work for you.</p>