Please Help With My College List!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey everyone! I'm going into my senior year of high school, and I figured that I need to start narrowing down my list of schools to apply to. You can see my stats and my preliminary list below, and I was just wondering your thoughts on it. Those thoughts can run similar to "chance me" threads with what would be reaches, safeties, etc...or they can be suggestions on other schools, etc. Thanks a ton! If you want more info let me know.</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Location: New York
I currently attend a very competitive/selective private high school. We do not rank our class because of this. There are no specific AP classes, but if you enjoy the class you can take the corresponding AP.
UW GPA: ~3.8
SAT 1: Math: 800
Critical Reading: 800
Writing: 710
Essay: 8
SAT 2: Math 2: 800
US History: 740
Biology/Chemistry: 700
(I am going to take Physics and Lit next year--I'll actually prepare for those. lol)
APs: Freshman: Biology (5)
Sophomore: Chemistry (3), US History (5)
Junior: Literature (?), European History (?)
Senior year (expecting the following): Calculus BC (self-study BC, class will cover AB), Physics C, Statistics, maybe another Physics/Comp Sci/ Psych self-study</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars:
President/Founder politically incorrect/satirical newsletter
President/Founder Literature Club
President/Founder NYC Club (take advantage of what the city has to offer, in terms of art and entertainment)
Committee Head of specific service project, involving tutoring economically disadvantaged children
Comp/Math/Physics in-school tutor
100+ hours community service
I play the Bagpipes, but I am not currently in a pipe band.
Other stuff that probably aren't worth mentioning...</p>

<p>Here is my preliminary college list:
MIT
Stanford
Cornell
Harvey Mudd
Harvard
Carnegie Mellon
RPI
University of Michigan
Stevens Institute
Boston University
SUNY Buffalo</p>

<p>I plan on doing engineering in college. I'm not sure which type, but I'm leaning towards electrical. Are there any glaring inadequacies in my record, anything I can change, any problem in my schools list, etc. that I should know about? Please be as honest as you can!!</p>

2

<p>You have great credentials and a solid list. IMO. Some are reaches (for everyone), Harvard, etc. You have matches, Cornell, etc. and you have safeties, BU, etc.</p>

<p>Do you have a first choice? That might help with answers.</p>

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<p>For the most part, my preliminary list above is in order of preference. MIT is the dream school. Hopefully that helps a bit.</p>

<p>*Just edited in my ethnicity too. (I forgot that earlier.)</p>

4

<p>Honestly, I’d say that’s a very solid list. Like morrismm said, you have a nice range of schools. I could suggest more schools that are similar to the ones you already have, but it’s not as though you really need more schools, if you’re satisfied with your list. And can I just say that Carnegie Mellon could make a great given that you play the bagpipes? (Yeah, I’m going there for engineering, so I’m totally biased, but you know…) :D</p>

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<p>I never even noticed that Carnegie Mellon had a pipe band, let alone a degree for it. That’s crazy–thanks for mentioning that. </p>

<p>I was worried about the range of my schools more than anything, I suppose–I figured it was too reach-dominated. But apparently not so, so my main difficulty is going to be removing two of those schools from the list. Although, my sister said she’d pay for the Harvard admissions thing, which leaves me in good shape. </p>

<p>I suppose from here I’ll research those schools a bit more, confirm my choices, and then try and get applications done by the end of the summer. Then focus on Physics/Lit SAT 2s for this coming year. That should make my life much less stressful–thanks everyone!</p>