<p>Could you look at this college list and tell me which ones are safeties, matches or reaches? Sorry, but I’m clueless. If you don’t know all, please do the ones you know.</p>
<p>Williams College
Northwestern University
Purdue University-Main Campus
Emory University
Texas A & M Univ.-College Station
Georgetown University
Johns Hopkins University
The Univ. of Texas at Austin
Baylor University
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
Washington Univ. in St Louis
Yale University
Cornell University
Columbia U. in the City of
Brown University
Duke University
Stanford University
Rice University
Harvard University </p>
<p>I don’t know if this makes a difference but I am a black female. I was born in England and moved here when I was about five. I’m a citizen now.
UW GPA: 3.93
Rank: 9 out of 380
I haven’t taken the SAT yet, but I hope to get over a 2200, though my actual goal is a 2400. My first unprepared practice this summer was a 1960. I have a tutor.
I took AP World History and got a 3, unfortunately.
Throughout high school, I plan to take AP: Calculus, US History, French, Biology or Chemistry, English 3, English 4, Government, Economics, Psychology, and Music Theory.</p>
<p>EC’s:
President of French Club
French National Honor Society
National Honor Society
Student Council
A program where upperclassmen go to underclassmen dens and take a “leadership” role there
Varsity Tennis
Played piano for eleven years (But only taken lessons for eight of those)
Taken drum lessons for three years
Have a part-time job at my church as a child-care worker
Am shadowing a doctor (40 hours)
HOSA
Academic Team </p>
<p>Volunteer Work:
A camp where we fix houses for those in need.
Bible School - A summer day camp for kids at my church
A mission group at my church
A program for kids, in my church (for part of freshman year)
I"m going to volunteer at the hospital this year.</p>
<p>Awards:
Tennis Freshman Girls Singles District Champ
I have had perfect attendance nine years of my life.
I was also nominated for the Chemistry Pre-AP Award, but I didn’t win.
I’m in the G&T program.
I’m going to try for NMS
I compete in French Symposium every year, and hope to win an award this year. I also may win an award in Academic Team.</p>
<p>Many of those are reaches for virtually all applicants.
Exceptions:
UT (if you are a Texas resident), Baylor, TAMU, and Purdue should be safeties … if you get that 2200 or above. This is easier said than done if you are now testing at 1960. The others are reach schools even with 2200 or above. Your list is thin in the middle (none of them are necessarily match/target schools, although that may depend on your actual SAT scores.) </p>
<p>It looks like you are selecting from US News rankings, which isn’t a very discriminating way to build a list. A couple of your selections (like Purdue) suggest you might be looking for an engineering school, but others (like Williams or Georgetown) don’t have any engineering programs at all. You’re also spanning quite a variety in terms of size, setting, and atmosphere. Many people would not be equally attracted to a small, rural liberal arts college like Williams and a huge, ~urban megaversity like TAMU, where more than 40% of undergraduates major in business, engineering, or agriculture.</p>
<p>If you want to choose solely based on ranking & selectivity, I suggest you consider more schools in the US News 20-50 (national LACs & universities) range. Better yet, first figure out what kind of “fit” you’re looking for (size, location, major, etc), and your budget, then build your safety/match/ reach list. Budget is very important unless your family is rather wealthy or has saved a lot for college. Depending on income and savings, you might need a strategy focused on need-based aid or on merit aid (one or the other). The same schools are not necessarily good for both. Rule of thumb: the more selective the school, the better the need-based aid, but the less likely the merit aid. Merit aid is more likely at schools rich enough to have it, but where you are clearly in the top 25% of enrolled students (or better).</p>
<p>When I go into college, I’ll be a Pre-Med. I know it seems hard to believe, but I could see myself in most of these school, based of of the environment. BTW, In Texas, if you are in the Top 10 %, you can go to any public university.</p>
<p>If UT is an assured admission & financial safety, then you can afford to take a risk on some other long-shot schools. Any of the ones on your list will work for pre-med, assuming you are not too particular about location, size, etc.</p>
<p>Create an account on one of the college search tools or use your account on College Board’s search tool. Select each of your schools and save them to your list. You can then easily compare the schools based on their acceptance rates, average test scores of admitted students etc. It will answer many of your questions…</p>
<p>Williams College- reach for everyone
Northwestern University- reach
Purdue University-Main Campus- low match
Emory University- high match
Texas A & M Univ.-College Station- safety
Georgetown University- low reach
Johns Hopkins University- reach
The Univ. of Texas at Austin- safety
Baylor University- safety
University of Chicago- reach
University of Pennsylvania- reach
Washington Univ. in St Louis- reach
Yale University- reach
Cornell University- low reach
Columbia U. in the City of… - reach
Brown University- low reach
Duke University- reach
Stanford University - reach
Rice University- low reach
Harvard University - reach</p>
<p>I agree that these are reach schools for most people. You have strong stats and are a good candidate… however there are many people with strong stats that are good candidates for many of these schools. You need to look a bit further for more match schools and safety schools. You might look at some of the women’s colleges like Smith and Mount Holyoke. Not only do they have excellent sciences they also have less applicants and perhaps some merit money to make available. You would be an outstanding candidate at a school like Skidmore or Vassar as well.</p>
<p>Reaches
Harvard University
Yale University
Stanford University
Columbia U.<br>
Cornell University
Williams College
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
Brown University
Duke University
Rice University</p>
<p>Targets
Northwestern University
Georgetown University
Johns Hopkins University
Washington Univ. in St Louis
Purdue University-Main Campus
Emory University</p>
<p>Safeties
The Univ. of Texas at Austin</p>
<p>Why even apply to these unless you plan on playing football or can’t afford the above? These aren’t up to your academic standards.
Texas A & M Univ.-College Station
Baylor University</p>
<p>TIP doesn’t mean anything except you were identified as having good potential. I didn’t see what year in HS you are. Have you taken the PSAT as a junior already? Are you NMSF?</p>
<p>I haven’t taken the SAT yet, but I hope to get over a 2200, though my actual goal is a 2400. My first unprepared practice this summer was a 1960. I have a tutor.</p>
<p>Without scores it’s hard to know. With practice, you may be lucky to get a 2150. It’s really not that easy to go from a 1960 in practice to a 2200+…probably kind of rare. </p>
<p>What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay?</p>
<p>Right now, you need to include schools like UT-Dallas, TAMU, Texas Tech if you’re instate and you might not get the scores you’re expecting. Those are fine for pre-med students.</p>