Please help me make a list.

College Search & Selection
1

Im looking to eventually get an MBA, and I dont really know what schools I should apply to. While I do want to eventually get an MBA, an undergrad business school is not absolutely necessary. Could you guys help me make a list of some reaches, matches, and safeties? Money is not an issue, my grades/stats/ will be posted below, and I would rather be on a coast but thats not absolutely necessary.
Thanks for all the help. I will chance back if you post a link.
UPENN, UC Berk, and NYU are must haves on the list. If you have the time could you tell me which universities would be the reaches, matches, and safeties.

Upcoming senior in california and attend a top prep school.

ACT: 34 Composite - 33 English, 35 Math, 36 Reading, 31 Science

Sat II: Math II - 800

GPA: 3.88 UW,4.51 W

School does not rank

Extracurriculars: 4 year varsity soccer member (all league first team all four years, and captain senior year), club soccer, community service board, 50+ hours of service all four years, NHS member, varsity club treasurer, chem club member for four years and president for one, volunteer at a homeless shelter, have an internship at a fortune 500 over the summer, four year latin club member

My counselor would consider my courses the most rigorous offered at the school. Junior year I took 3 AP’s and 2 Honors courses and senior year I will be taking 6 AP’s.
Junior Year: AP Physics I, AP US history, AP stats, pre calc Honors, Latin 4 Honors, english (scored a 5 and two 4’s on the AP exams)
Senior Year: AP euro history, AP world History, AP calc ab, AP latin, AP physics C, AP language and composition

Work Exp: ninth and tenth grade worked for a family members company. Junior and senior year I worked for a fortune 500 hedge-fund and real estate group.

I have not yet written my essays or seen my recs but I presume they will both be pretty good.

Thanks for all the help in advance.

2

Wharton, UCB, NYU, another Ivy, and another high profile school like Duke or Vanderbilt can be your reaches.

UCSD, UCI, UCD can be matches.

Cal States and smaller UC’s like UC Riverside could be safeties.

What do you like in a school? Clearly urban, does state location matter much? Size of school?

3

@TheDidactic . I do like the urban school thats something that clearly really appeals to me. Other than that location doesnt really matter much. Any sized school is generally fine unless its extremely small (less than 3000 kids). I needed a list like that a lot because I dont know how many reaches to have, how many schools to apply to, which reaches etc… So that helped a lot if you have any other advice or colleges I might like based of this information please let me know. Also which other ivy do you think would appeal to me?
On another note. What about a school like USC (my school has a great connection with them), would it be considered a match? Is UCSB a match? How much of a reach do you guys think my reach schools are? For example i know wharton is a fairly high reach for me and any other applicant but is NYU a high match? low reach? Im just not that educated on the topic so any information will help!
Thanks again!

4

Of the three schools you mentioned:
Penn - Reach (it’s a reach for everyone)
Cal in-state & NYU - Match/Low Match (I like your odds at both)

If you want a school that’s strong overall (obviously) and specifically in business/econ - aside from HYPSM/Ivies - I suggest the following:

  • UChicago
  • Duke
  • Northwestern
  • Notre Dame
  • WUSTL
  • Emory
5

USC would be a reach; UCSB a match. Your reach schools will be reaches no matter what but you have a decent chance since your stats are good. I don’t think NYU is a high match, just a regular reach.

BU, University of Virginia and Tufts can be matches too.

Tulane and Villanova perhaps high safeties? Indiana University has a good business school/program.

6

@TheDidactic Tufts is a reach for everyone, as is UVA OOS.

7

Yea i do think UVA is a reach for OOS applicants. Dont know much about tufts. All these suggestions really help so thanks. I have a couple other questions though.
How many reaches, matches, safeties should I apply to. (dont want to sound conceded but as i said before money is not an issue)
Second, all my test scores are in one shot. Do you guys think I should retake.
Any info or opinion helps me.
THANKS

8

A typical counselor recommends applying to 8 schools (3 reach, 3 match, and 2 safeties.) however, your a top student applying to top schools and odds are lower. If I were you I would apply to ten. 4-5 reaches. 3-4 matches. 2 safeties. By the way, if your applying to Stern NYU it’s a reach but if your applying CAS, it’s a match. Berkeley is a match. Penn Wharton is a reach obviously for anybody.

9

–What would you major in, other than business? Econ, math?
–Are you perfectly fine with attending, say, UCSD/UCD/UCSB, and saving some money? Or are you ho-hum about the UCs (excepting UCLA/UCB)? That would indicate roughly how many apps to put out there.

10

@Dunboyne yeah you hit the nail on the head if there is no business then I would do econ and math which I am totally fine with.
I AM perfectly fine with attending other UC schools because as you said I would save some money and they are still great schools, but that being said I wont be applying to UCR or UCM. Based on that information what advice would you give me regarding how many apps?
In addition, while I am extremely open to attending a UC school, if the opportunity of an ivy I wanted to attend or top private school was available for me, I would go in that direction. Thank you for the help :slight_smile:

@MegaMetalHead I would be applying CAS to both penn and NYU. Thanks for the advice.

11

Maybe 5 UCs. Identify an in-state safety. Then, being you’ll be happy with a UC, which I think you’re a strong candidate for, try to identify a reasonable number of privates that you know are an excellent fit for you. Perhaps 1-2 matches and 3-5 reaches. Prioritize them, so you finish the apps for your top choices before you add any others.

Other posters might have a different approach.

12

Your comment re attending UCs “because you would save some money” is confusing. Are the private colleges on your list affordable without financial/merit aid? If so a strategy with a sharper focus on getting into the best college possible is easier to describe and follow than one that tries to achieve multiple and diverse goals.

I don’t think you should be so quick to change your original thoughts re Stern and Wharton by applying to the CAS at NYU and Penn.

i recommend that you think long and hard about an ED application to one of the colleges on your list. Perhaps that could be Wharton. For selective colleges that offer ED a significant percentage of the class is picked during the ED round. If you don’t get picked at ED you’ll have time to add more colleges to your list. For example, at Penn 51% of the class is picked during ED

Your chances at one of the UCs is very high. Discuss that with your college counselor. Verify that with Naviance. Despite your claim that your school doesn’t rank, it’s very likely that your school ranks at some level - perhaps deciles. Are you in the first decile? If so consider the UC application as a safety. You’ll get in “somewhere”. There’s no need to add CSUs to your list.

Add additional reaches to your list. Look at USNews ranking for ideas.

13

@fogcity I think my point was lost when I said I would attend UCS to save money. The private colleges on my list ARE fully affordable without aid. My goal is to get into the best school possible and my point about the UCS was that I am open to attending a UC school if that is the best school I am accepted into. So could you help me on that strategy to get into the best college possible?

Your point about CAS vs Stern and Wharton is interesting. Could you perhaps give me some further insight on that regarding what I should do?
I didnt really state it hear but I am forsure applying ED to penn CAS/Wharton (havent decided which one yet)

All that being said my goal in posting this was to get a sense of how many schools I should apply to and which ones.
My school does have deciles and I am in the top 10%.

Any information you have that could help based on this would be wonderful.

Thank you!