<p>GPA - 3.5ish/4.0, 88.5/100 UW, school does not rank SAT I - 1500/1600, 2260/2400 SAT II Math 2 - 800 SAT II Physics - Anticipated 720 Essays - Strong Teacher recs - Good ECs - Ultimate Frisbee team, teaching Sunday school, AWANA youth ministry, math tutoring kids at library, Joy Camp (Christian-themed daycare program, worked as counselor), all of them with a considerable amount of hours Work experience - Translated a hotel management company's websites into English, 20 hr/week Interests - Social work, psychology, philosophy, sociology</p>
<p>This is my list, please classify the schools as reach, match, and safety according to my stats and your opinion:</p>
<p>NYU
Oberlin College
Boston University
Case Western
George Washington U
Villanova
Fordham
SUNY Bing
SUNY Stony Brook
Macaulay Honors @ Queens (it's okay if you don't know what this is)
UC San Diego
U of Southern California</p>
<p>All of those colleges have horrible ultimate teams. You obviously didn’t put that much effort into the sport if there isn’t a single decent program among your college choices.</p>
[quote]
NYU
Oberlin College
Boston University
Case Western
George Washington U
Villanova
Fordham
SUNY Bing
SUNY Stony Brook
Macaulay Honors @ Queens (it’s okay if you don’t know what this is)
UC San Diego
U of Southern California {/quote]</p>
<p>In my humble opinion:
Reaches: Oberlin College, SUNY Bing (it becomes very difficult for in-state students), UC San Diego (difficlut for out of state), and U of Southern California.
Matches:Boston University,Case Western, George Washington U, Villanova, and Fordham (low match)
Safety: SUNY Stony Brook and Macaulay Honors @ Queens</p>
<p>If you need financial aid, perhaps you should add one more CUNY or SUNY school. Your number is good but what if you don’t get in? If money is not an issue, you should add one or two more school in the match list. Rochester and Brandeis could be your matches or high matches.</p>
<p>By the way, you can rank them as upper reach, lower match, etc., that would be more helpful. But…whatever floats your boat.</p>
<p>maxellis - I love ultimate and my team. But most colleges have ultimate clubs if not ultimate teams. I’m fine without competitive play.</p>
<p>t1388 - Thanks for your input! I think Macaulay Honors is a reach and therefore I am EDing it. You ranking it as a safety gives me some doubt. I think it’s going to be very competitive because it’s a good education, has a good reputation in NYC, and it’s free. Are you sure about it’s ranking?</p>
<p>And no, financial aid isn’t a problem. My parents are willing to pay full tuition for a private university. However, I still care. I’d rather not spend so much on undergrad education because I plan on going grad.</p>
<p>NYU - low reach
Boston University - match
George Washington U - match / low reach
Villanova - low reach
Fordham - match
SUNY Bing - low reach
SUNY Stony Brook - safety
Macaulay Honors @ Queens - reach</p>
<p>Just the ones I know, sorry. And nice list, none are ridiculous reaches. Btw, I’ll probably be applying to 3-4 of them. Good luck.</p>
<p>NYU- low reach
Oberlin College- high match
Boston University- match
Case Western- match
George Washington U-match
Villanova-match
Fordham-match
SUNY Bing-safety
SUNY Stony Brook-safety
Macaulay Honors @ Queens-safety
UC San Diego-high match
U of Southern California-slight reach</p>
<p>You don’t really have schools on here that are big reaches. Your gpa isn’t ivy-league caliber, but it should be fine for the schools on your list.</p>
<p>Shoozer, you could be right about Macaulay Honors. Nevertheless I don’t think it is more difficult than Boston University,Case Western and George Washington U. Perhaps it should move to match/high match category.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your rankings, guys! It really helps me put things into perspective. I don’t want to reach for like top liberal arts colleges or Ivies because my GPA is crap. I thought for NYU, GWU, Villanova, UCSD, USC, and Macaulay, they usually accept kids with 90+, so they are all reaches for me.</p>
<p>So I thought I had too many reaches. Do you think my list is good in proportion between reaches, matches, and safeties?</p>
<p>Bing is generally considered a safety at my school, with people with 82+ GPAs getting in. I know it’s gotten harder this past year, but it couldn’t have jumped to a reach…</p>
<p>shoozer, you’re aware that the students you’ll run into at places like Villanova, Fordham, and maybe USC are going to be really different from those at NYU, Oberlin, and Boston U., right? Schools have differing atmospheres, and the ones on your list reflect the full range of possibilities. There was a thread in the parents’ section about a student who went to Oberlin and doesn’t fit in at all…it really drives home the point about “fit.”</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I don’t really know how to tell if I would fit at a college. Should I look at diversity? (I’m Asian). Or do I have to visit the college itself… I don’t really have much preference though. Public, private, urban, rural, large, small, I don’t really care. I can see myself in anything, really. But I wouldn’t know. How do the schools that you listed differ in that aspect?</p>
<p>Some of the variables that are involved with “fit”:</p>
<p>Urban/suburban/small town
heavily Catholic/heavily Jewish/heavily Protestant/not at all religious
Athletics are prominent/few people care about sports
beer a big part of social life/drugs a big part of social life
politically extremely liberal/liberal/middle of the road
offbeat and artsy/preppy</p>
<p>Look at the Fiske Guide to Colleges (available at most bookstores and libraries)…it will give you insight into the way each of these variables apply to each of your schools.</p>
<p>Oberlin wouldn’t be a good choice if you’re looking for a critical mass of “normal” people. NYU probably wouldn’t be very good either.</p>
<p>You need to fill in a few blanks in order for people to give you good advice:</p>
<p>Where do you live?
Do you consider aggressive and sometimes obnoxious and aloof New Yorkers “normal”?
Would you like your college to have bigtime sports?
Do you have a preference regarding weather? In other words, does a cold, snowy winter bother you?
Do people who dress in the “preppy” style and drink a lot of beer bother you?
Do people who do everything possible to get attention (peircings all over, avant garde clothes, “individualized” hair, etc.) bug you?</p>
<p>There are plenty of so-called “normal” people at Oberlin but it is a place where those who fall outside of the so-called “norm” are not inhibited from expressing themselves. This is an attraction to many students but it is a turn off to others. A visit to campus would probably answer this question. With a 3.5 GPA I would think Oberlin is a reach not a match.</p>
<p>Your standardized test scores are extremely good, even though your gpa is mediocre. I am guessing that you go to a very difficult and well respected school, or maybe your just an underachiever. Hopefully it’s not the latter. If you’ve taken really hard classes then your gpa shouldn’t hurt you that badly.</p>
<p>Your extracurricular’s are nothing special, although your work experience is pretty interesting.</p>
<p>NYU - match
Oberlin College - maybe slight reach
Boston University - probably safety
Case Western - no idea, i know its in ohio though
George Washington U - match
Villanova - dont know
Fordham - dont know
SUNY Bing -im guessing a match
SUNY Stony Brook - safety
Macaulay Honors @ Queens - yea i have no idea
UC San Diego - probably a reach, i could be wrong
U of Southern California - match</p>
<p>sorry if that didnt help much, i am not familiar with some of these schools.</p>
<p>Well, I took AP World in sophomore year, AP English junior, and AP Calc and AP English now, senior year. I don’t know if that’s a rigorous schedule… Probably not.</p>
<p>“Where do you live?
Do you consider aggressive and sometimes obnoxious and aloof New Yorkers “normal”?
Would you like your college to have bigtime sports?
Do you have a preference regarding weather? In other words, does a cold, snowy winter bother you?
Do people who dress in the “preppy” style and drink a lot of beer bother you?
Do people who do everything possible to get attention (peircings all over, avant garde clothes, “individualized” hair, etc.) bug you?”</p>
<p>I live in New York.
I find New Yorkers normal, I don’t find them obnoxious or aggressive.
I don’t care about sports. I’m fine with most sports because I’m naturally athletic. As long as the sport doesn’t dominate the entire college scene.
I prefer warm weather… Who doesn’t?
I don’t mind the alcohol. I don’t really mind the preppy kids, as long as not all of them are.
Yes, they bug me. Haha. I like normal laid-back dudes.</p>
<p>I’d dump Oberlin and NYU, and replace them with a couple more warm-weather schools. With your SATs and GPA, you could get automatic tuition scholarships to Louisiana State and U of Alabama. You could also consider Florida State, U of Georgia, Wake Forest, Tulane, and U of Miami (Florida).</p>