Hey guys,
I am a junior and I’m starting to make a list of colleges. I want to go to a well recognized school and I’ve got a list down. I plan to major in business. I only seem to have reaches and one safety. Can you guys help add to my list.
Right now I have:
UPenn
UC Berkeley
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Michigan
New York University
UCLA
What are your stats. I don’t see any safety schools on your list.
@TomSrOfBoston U of I would be a safety. I’ll post stats but nothing is really final as of now
GPA: 3.93 (end of sophomore year)
ACT: 30 (trying to get to 34)
APs; Gov (3), Macro (5), USH, Lang, Calc BC, Evironmental
Next year: Chem, lit, stats, comp. sci principles
ECs: Congressional Debate: Vice captain last year, captain this year and hopefully next. Won presiding officer award and best legislation. Have authored multiple legislation
Tennis: Won few awards at tournaments, varsity this year
Interact: Webmaster past two years, president next
NHS: joined this year, hopefully President or VP next
Business at Emory is pretty good as well.
-What can your family afford?
-What states would you be interested in?
-Do you want an urban/suburban/rural campus?
@newjerseygirl98 My parents said that money isn’t a problem for college so I’m not taking that into account. I’m not picky as to location but I like the northeast and preferably urban. Once again, I’m willing to consider all options
These are good schools in big cities with business. I’ve put an asterisk next to the northeastern schools.
Reaches:
-Brown University*
-California Institute of Technology**
-Carnegie Mellon University**
-Case Western Reserve University
-Columbia University* **
-John Hopkins University**
-NYU
-Northeastern University* **
-Rice University**
-University of Chicago**
-USC
-Vanderbilt*
**If you get a 34, consider these schools.
Matches:
-American University
-Baylor University
-Boston University*
-Butler University
-DePaul University
-Emerson College*
-George Washington University
-Fordham University*
-Georgia State University
-Illinois Institute of Technology
-Loyola Marymount University
-Loyola University Maryland
-Rhodes College
-Seattle University
-Temple University (With a 3.8 GPA or 32 ACT, you’ll get automatic full tuition scholarship)
-The New School*
-Tulane University
-UCLA
-UC San Diego
-University of Pennsylvania
-University of San Diego
-University of Tulsa
-University of Washington
Safeties:
-Augsburg College
-Bellarmine University
-Belmont University
-Chatham University
-Creighton University
-Drexel University (You’re eligible for a full tuition scholarship)
-Duquesne University
-Holy Family University
-Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis
-La Salle University
-Loyola University Chicago
-Loyola University New Orleans
-Meredith College
-Mills College
-Notre Dame of Maryland University
-Pace University*
-Polytechnic Institute of New York*
-Regis University
-Rockhurst University
-Saint Joseph’s University
-Seattle Pacific University
-University of St. Thomas Minnesota
-Wheelock College*
-Xavier University
Check with your parents what their budget is (you need a real number). Many parents have no idea how much a university costs these days (costs have almost tripled at UIUC in about 15 years, for instance. Tuition is unimaginable to most adults.)
Your safeties will be universities where you’re sure you can get in with a 30 ACT. You need two of those.
Once you have your actual ACT score, you’ll be able to find your matches (where you’re near the top 25% threshold and that admits 30-40% applicants) and then everything else becomes a reach due to selectivity.
Going from top 10% to top 1% is VERY VERY VERY hard so don’t count on it, but if you could reach 32 (top 2%) it’d already be significant.
What kind of culture/atmosphere do you want at you school? As in would you mind being at a cutthroat school and what kind of political climate do you want? (also Northeastern is not a reach and you most definitely do not need a 34 to consider it- and University of Pennsylvania has the best and most competitive business program in the country- it is definitely not a match and would be a reach for even the most qualified business applicant- maybe newjerseygirl98 was thinking of Penn State when she put it in the matches category?) I would also consider Boston College, University of Virginia, and University of Notre Dame (as low reaches/high targets, assuming you’ll get you ACT score up).
Also you could add Babson College as a match, but it’s not urban.
Many of the schools on newjerseygirl’s list do not have undergraduate business schools so be careful with that.
Some I can think of offhand in or near urban areas would include: UPenn, NYU, Fordham (a potential safety that has non-binding EA), Emory, Tulane (also has non-binding EA), USC, BC, BU, Northeastern, Villanova, UMiami, Temple (potential safety), URichmond, Bentley, Babson, Gtown, UTexas-Austin to name but some. Here is a list you can go through and start researching options that seem to be good fits.
http://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/2014/07/01/2014-pq-ranking-of-the-best-undergraduate-business-programs/2/
Penn (UNiversity of Pennsylvania) is definitely NOT a match.
Any college that has less than 30% acceptance can never be a match regardless of your stats.
You can use “supermatch” on the left 
@MYOS1634 Thank you. I wasn’t sure where the “match” cutoff was, sorry.
@MYOS1634 They won’t give me real number. I am in-state for UIUC so its around 22K.
@supersuperski I’m fine with a cutthroat culture. I just want a school where I would be recruited by a good firm after graduation. I eventually want to get an MBA and JD.
Also, if the school is really good and I would like to attend it and it doesn’t have a business degree. I would consider and econ major.
Thought I would add this:
Home state: IL
Race: Asian (Indian)
Gender: Male
When you say "around $22K, that is just tuition. UIUC would be $35K a year with room and board. Most out of state schools with highly-ranked business schools will be more. Make sure your parents understand this.
@2muchquan They do. They know that if I am able to get into a top school, it can be around 50-60k
But do they actually HAVE this amount of money? Because your loans will be capped at 5.5K for freshman year.