<p>As of now, my list is a little top-heavy:</p>
<p>yale
columbia
upenn
dartmouth
princeton
cornell
washington univ. in stl.
rochester
suny buffalo</p>
<p>I am interested in a pre-med track but also want a school with good humanities depts. basically, i dont want a school like mit or cal tech. i realize that even with great grades, most of my schools are reaches. does anyone have some ideas for safties-matches for me? I want to stay in or near the northeast, if possible</p>
<p>Could we have your stats first? :)</p>
<p>Boston U, Syracuse, Case Western, Pitt, Miami (OH), Villanova, and Geneseo come to mind, taking a brief scan through the USNWR listing. Looks like you would prefer a medium to large university setting, and those should fit the bill.</p>
<p>Boston U has grade deflation, and might not be the best for pre-med. And I would say that medium is more accurate than large...none of his schools are really over 15,000.</p>
<p>If you want to stay in the Northeast, I'd say that Syracuse is a good bet.</p>
<p>my stats:
SAT I: 2370 superscore (800 CR, 770 M, 800 W), one sitting 2360
SAT II: 800 math II, 790 us history
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
hardest courseload school offers, IB diploma student
APs: euro-5, lit-4, us-5, chem-5, macroecon-5
IBs: econ-7, math methods-7</p>
<p>holy crap, if those are true then you got a good shot at all those schools</p>
<p>apply to a safety and they'll prob pay you to go there</p>
<p>I had the same SAT I score and slightly less spectacular GPA/SATIIs/APs and applied to four of your schools, among others: Penn (Huntsman Program), Dartmouth, Cornell, and WUStL. My safeties were the UChicago, Reed, WUStL, and the University of Washington.</p>
<p>Ended up not applying to the UW (I'm a lazy bum), and got waitlisted at Reed and WUStL. On the other hand, I got into all but one of my reaches.</p>
<p>Not sure if that helped, but I think you're fine with the schools you've got now. I would pick some in-between ones.</p>
<p>Have you looked at... Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, UVA, Northwestern, UChicago, Tufts, and Syracuse?</p>
<p>Agreed - this is one of those lists without any in-between schools. Your stats are so good you will probably be fine but one or two schools "in the middle" would be good.</p>
<p>Yanarchy, I caution anybody who thinks that Reed, WashU, and Chicago are safeties. They are safer than other schools, but admissions is not guaranteed (as you experienced firsthand).</p>
<p>A real safety is one that you can get into, no holds barred. Given your scores, any SUNY is a safety for you, and I suggest adding Geneseo to your list (seconding lesser's suggestion).</p>
<p>Never consider WashU and Chicago safety schools. If they think they are being regarded as safeties, they will reject you in a heartbeat no matter how much of a superhero you are.</p>
<p>A friend with similar excellent stats was waitlisted at Wash U. He didn't have much for extracurriculars - do you?</p>
<p>you got a full ride at Suny and Rochester</p>
<p>Yale, Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth and Princeton are reaches for everyone. You would be in the range of top applicants for these schools, and unless your application has some serious fallbacks such as few if any ECs, you have a good chance of being admitted at one or more of these. However, a good chance isn't a guaranteed admission to any of these schools since, as a fine math student you know that chances for each school are independent of the others. So for those schools you need to concentrate on your essays and be sure that you get good recommendations from your school</p>
<p>Rochester and Wash/St. Louis are good matches for you, probably with merit scholarships (although there is always the possibilty that you would be subject to what is known as the "Tufts Syndrome", that is, that the school will think you are too overqualified so probably wouldn't attend if you're accepted). But that again usually can be cured with essays and interviews. You will have to have genuine interest in attending those schools, and show it. Another school in this group, with fine pre-med and humanities programs, and merit aid, is Brandeis.</p>
<p>Pitt would be a good safety. Likewise Fordham. For a safety with good science you might look at SUNY-Albany, but I don't know about its humanities programs.</p>
<p>If financial considerations are a concern (and in most familes they are), the rach schools may give you some aid but you'll likley get much more from Rochester and WashU. Another possibility would be Lafayette. Another might be Georgetown.</p>
<p>i do have some pretty good extracirriculars:
-i swim, but am not quite good enough to swim at an ivy. nonetheless, i will be emailing coaches with my times and stuff
-i have done research in a biology lab for all 4 years of high school and may be publishing a paper in time for my applications
-i write for the newspaper at school
-i do habitat for humanity
-math leauge
-goegraphy team captain this year</p>
<p>and other small stuff. i know that they dont really connect well, but my main ones are the swimming and research.</p>
<p>i think i will apply to syracuse. i looked at tufts and didnt really like it. i really havent looked at LACs at all. i may look into amherst and williams. chicago does not seem attractive to me really, i do not like the location that much. i am sort of mad at myself for limiting my area to the northeast, but then again i know i would probably be unhappy in other areas of the country just because i am picky. i would try UVA, but it is way too far south for my tastes.</p>
<p>i will pretty much be overjoyed even if i only get into one of yale, columbia, dartmouth, or upenn. i just am looking for some other place i would be happy to attend in case of disaster at those 4. thanks everyone for the ideas</p>
<p>p.s.- my dad went to rochester, so i am hoping that the fact that i am a legacy there will help me avoid the tufts syndrome</p>
<p>The Biology Lab EC is the best and most unique EC on there. Stuff like writing on the school newspaper is meaningless and might actually hurt you because they wonder why you didnt become a editor-in-chief (only positions that are even considered worthy for ivies are the highest possible positions you can get, and usually they dont want just that, you gotta be a national officer to get a good shot based on your ECs)</p>
<p>your academics are amazing though so you prob dont need to worry about the ec problem</p>
<p>In general Tufts does not give merit aid. And in general, in assessing need-based aid colleges will set one's EFC (expected family contriution) higher than we parents think we can afford.</p>
<p>When applying to the top colleges, dont expect any aid. Harvard's not going to give out any aid unless your a pennyless and homeless Intel Winner, which I doubt has ever happened in history or ever will.</p>