<p>My Act is a 31 (will most likely increase 1-3 points).
GPA: UW:3.98 W: 4.55
EC= Fairly good.
Recs= Great</p>
<p>Safeties:
UCI
UCSD</p>
<p>Match:
UCLA(in state)
UCB(in state)</p>
<p>Reach:
Brown
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Stanford</p>
<p>The list appears reasonable to me, because it seems that you will be in at all four UCs. If the UCs are acceptable to you, then you can shoot for dream schools with the rest of your applications. All of your reaches are very competitive. If you want to be admitted to some reaches for certain, try a few of the New Ivy/Near Ivy schools, where your chances are much better. Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt, Emory, Tufts, Johns Hopkins, U Chicago, Georgetown, NYU, and Notre Dame may be of interest.</p>
<p>yeppp 10 char</p>
<p>It looks reasonable based on the information you gave us, but what do you want to major in, and can you/your parents afford the full cost of the competitive schools you listed if financial aid is insufficient?</p>
<p>Are you ELC [top 4%]? Does you ACT score include the writing score? Have you taken all the a-g classes required by the UC system? If so, then your list looks ok, though UCSD is very popular among students ,so I wouldn't count on it as a safety.</p>
<p>Yes i am ELC (top 1% to be exact). Yes my ACT score does include writing (10). I have taken all the classes required. </p>
<p>And I am still unsure if my family can afford the full costs of the competitive schools. If not, most likely i will take loans and pray for scholarships. If this does not work either, I would consider the UC schools because they would be considerably cheaper because i am In-State. </p>
<p>ps. Don't judge me on the title. I had a typo lol.</p>
<p>you look pretty good so dont worry to much..
appply where you want to, youll never really know untill you apply if you were good enough anyway</p>
<p>None of your reaches give merit aid, just so you know. It might be best to focus on your matches, since they will be more affordable and you'll get a good education.</p>
<p>You're list really can't be a good one until you know what you can afford. It's not difficult to figure out aprox. what an ivy will offer you by filling out calculators. They are all need blind, not happy surprise merit scholarships. And outside scholarships will not reduce EFC, your parents will have to come up with it. Unfortunately, many middle/ upper middle families just can't afford ivies.</p>
<p>You have great stats for the UCs and they may save your family some financial pain! For ivies you need to raise scores and get lucky.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I never considered how my financial status would play an influence to where I went. Anyone know how I can know how much it will cost me for each school? Is there a site i can punch in numbers, and see how much each will cost? I personally don't know how financial aid works,or how being upper lower class/ lower middle class will play a role in my costs for school. My brother also attends a university, does that play any role in how much aid i might receive?</p>
<p>I do qualify for fee waivers for AP test, reduced lunch and stuff like that. How can i get fee waivers for college applications, because if i want to apply to this list of schools, the price might be hefty.</p>
<p>If you are eligible for reduced lunch and fee waivers, you are definitely eligible for need-based aid. That is good. Yes, you can get waivers for application fees. Your academic statistics look even better coming from a low income environment. You are a strong candidate. Now, the only problem is that most private schools cost over 40K per year, and even if they want to give you most of that amount, they can't all afford to do so. Of the Ivies, Brown has the hardest time giving a lot of aid. The others can probably do it, if you are accepted. Please look at University of Chicago. Just recently, an alumnus donated millions and millions of dollars to provide full aid to low income students. And that is a top 10 university! (My alma mater). USC gives great aid- apply there. Some other schools known for good aid are WUSTL, U Rochester, Tulane, Emory, Rice, Vanderbilt (I think), George Washington, Case Western, Boston University, Ohio Wesleyan, Boston College. Many liberal arts colleges are giving more aid today than the universities are. You could apply to some of top ones- Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Carlton, Bates, etc.</p>
<p>UCSD isnt a safety for anyone and UCB/UCLA are not matches for anyone.</p>