<p>As you can tell, I have WAY too much schools on my list and after HOURS of deliberating, I've thrown myself into slight anxiety.</p>
<p>Babson College<br>
Bard College<br>
Boston College<br>
Bowdoin College<br>
Brandeis University<br>
Emory University<br>
Carnegie Mellon
New York University
Reed College<br>
Tufts University<br>
University of Chicago<br>
University of Notre Dame<br>
University of Southern California<br>
Villanova University<br>
Wake Forest University</p>
<p>I took the most difficult classes in high school, if seeing all of the classes would be useful, let me know!
12 APs by the time I graduate
Out of 1,190 high schools in America, high school is in top 50</p>
<p>EC:
Habitat for Humanity-Historian 2 years
Model UN-VP 3 yrs
Spanish Club-President 4 yrs
FBLA member-4 yrs
Outside orchestra organization-4 yrs
All State Orchestra
All Southern Orchestra
Paid Internship at small robotics company
Volunteer at hospital-100+ hrs</p>
<p>@wilde12 All of these schools are good schools, and you have the stats to be a competitive applicant at each of these universities. If I were in your positions, I would evaluate the environment (location, surrounding city, diversity of students, etc). You have a good mix from a cornfield (Notre Dame) to a huge city (NYU) so it ultimately ends up being your choice. Since these schools all have a good reputation and are bound to have your interests to study, I suggest you focus less on reputation and more on a gut feeling. Do some research on the schools and try to get a feel for their environment. Once you have narrowed it down, apply and from there where ever you get accepted go an visit before making your final choice.
Good luck</p>
<p>Great ECs, GPA could be better, but by the way you separated it, seems like there’s a good upwards trend. Robotics internship sounds pretty cool, emphasize that on your essays. What are you thinking of majoring in?</p>
<p>Boston, Bard, Babson, Brandeis, NYU, Reed, Villanova, Wake Forest, solid matches, I would venture a guess and say that a few of these could even be safeties for you.</p>
<p>Emory, CMU, Notre Dame, Tufts, are high matches/low reaches.
USC-mid reach
UChicago-mid/high reach.</p>
<p>pffft 15 is nothing; I’m applying to 17 and still living (barely). I bet a lot of those colleges have many supplement essays (Wake Forest has like 7), so if you haven’t gotten most of them done by now, I guess I understand why you need to chop down this list. But yeah, as above poster said, you are highly competitive at essentially all of them; visit their websites, and go with your gut.</p>
<p>Wilde12- what is your concern? Time? Fees? If you are mostly done with apps and can afford the fees I think you are competitive for all of these schools…if you have not started the apps then you need to be worried because it would be hard to do a good job on all of them…then you must rank starting at your favorite on down and get to as many as you can-but make sure each one is done to the best of your ability before moving to the rest (or if some have later due dates shift to the end).</p>
<p>Thanks everybody!
Yes, my main concern is fees so I’m starting to cut it down. Now I’m trying to cut based on comparing the schools with similar stats (theoretically similar chances of acceptance) and deciding which of them I would rather go to.</p>
<p>And I also need a second opinion of if I’m applying “strategically”, I’ve been told differently but I somewhat feel that I’m applying to too many reaches and would really like someone to tell me.</p>
<p>You’re a good applicant to a lot of schools, wilde, but your GPA will crush you in admissions at some of the more difficult schools. I’d say this:</p>
<p>KEEP
Babson College (If you’re interested in business, otherwise cut it. You’ll likely get a large scholarship)
Boston College
Bowdoin College (great liberal arts choice)
Emory University
NYU
two out of Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, USC, UofC, and Notre Dame (they are all reaches with that GPA, so it’s not worth applying to all five. I would suggest personally Notre Dame and CMU)
one of Villanova and Wake (both of these schools have strong connections; however, having both is slightly useless as they are both safeties)</p>
<p>CUT
Bard College<br>
Brandeis University<br>
Reed College<br>
3 of that group of five I mentioned earlier
1 of Villanova University and Wake Forest University</p>
<p>That narrows your list from 15 to 8. I took off Reed and Brandeis because you already have Bowdoin which is better on your list, Bard because it’s just too unknown to get you anywhere special, and the others because they were unnecessary reaches or just plain unnecessary. I would suggest you fix my ideas according to your intended major, but it seems like you want to go into a business related field so I did my list to that.</p>
<p>That was really helpful and I truly appreciate it, thank you! I’m currently trying to figure out which ones to keep of: Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, and Notre Dame.</p>
<p>Really? I honestly don’t think I don’t. The highest I’m applying to is University of Chicago and even so, I believe that there is a bleak chance.</p>
<p>Oh okay yeah I’ll be happy to help you in your choice. First tell me your major and what you’re looking for in a school (like a beautiful campus, diversity, etc.).</p>
<p>UChicago has an 8.8% acceptance rate and is a high reach, so it is just as hard to get into as any of the mid-level Ivies. I think you have a very good chance at the rest.</p>
<p>I think grades will keep OP out of Bowdoin and UChicago. Reed should stay on the list as it has smarter students than all but 3 or 4 OP’s other choices but has a much higher admission rate.</p>
<p>One concern I’d have is how well you’ve researched those schools. They run the gamut… there’s no consistency AT ALL for this list.</p>
<p>You can’t BOTH want Babson and UChicago (utilitarian vs. huge core curriculum), Villanova (wasp) and Bard (hipster), Carnegie Mellon and Reed, Bowdoin and NYU, etc, etc.
What do you want to study? Do you want to go to grad school? Do you want to find a job right after college? Do you want a rural, close-knit campus or an urban/impersonal campus with lots of surrounding nightlife and culture? Do you want preprofessional or intellectual? Do you want down-to-earth or competitive student body? Do you want to watch big sports or do you want to participate in intramurals? Do you want conservative or liberal politically? Do you enjoy wearing ties, button-down shirts, and blazers, or are you a tee-shirts/flip flops kind of guy?</p>
<p>depending on your answers, you’ll be able to cut half the schools on your list.</p>
<p>Finally, what are your two safeties (two schools you’re 100% sure you can get into, like, and can afford)?</p>
<p>And everyone, I truly appreciate the amount of help received in this post. It has been difficult to find people (besides my classmates who are as lost as I am) who can guide me.</p>