<p>I am a high school senior trying to narrow down my list of colleges. I am a US citizen studying abroad so I am not considered an international applicant by most schools. I plan on pursuing an economics major for my undergraduate degree. </p>
<p>Just a few stats to help out:</p>
<p>SAT: 2250 first attempt CR 750 Math 730 Writing 770---> My second attempt will hopefully bring me over 2300 with an improved math section.
Math II -790
GPA: UW= 3.9 W=4.1 (I am in the IB program and my maximum would be out of 4.25 though I am not sure of the conversions)</p>
<p>I am writing SAT physics in October and that should be the scope of my standardized testing. If necessary, I might take literature although I would prefer to stick to two subject tests. </p>
<p>A brief extracurricular overview:
Student body head
Intern at newspaper company with published articles
Economics research at university and think tank
Varsity swim team captain
4 years of charity school community service
and many more. </p>
<p>Essays: my essays will be competitive and of high quality (please don't judge my writing on the basis of this post :P)</p>
<p>Recommendations: </p>
<p>I have two teachers who should give me very good recommendations. </p>
<p>Essentially, my issue is that I am aiming at many top tier universities and it is possible that I might not get accepted into any of these. Could anyone suggest safety schools on the Northeast (from DC up) with respectable economics programs? It would be greatly appreciated. Also, if it helps, I still have a house in New Jersey so I may be considered in state when applying to Rutgers. I am not sure though. I do not mind liberal arts colleges and I am considering Colgate and Hamilton very seriously. Thank you for your help CC!</p>
<p>Sorry, I forgot to mention that. I am in a decent financial situation and my parents are willing to pay around $250k for college. I would ideally like to gain some scholarships in my safety schools though. Thanks for the question annasdad.</p>
<p>Are you considering graduate school in economics? If so, you probably want a school with good math and statistics departments as well as a good economics department, since economics graduate schools prefer applicants with junior level math and statistics courses as undergraduates (e.g. real analysis, intermediate linear algebra, probability theory).</p>
<p>Rutgers and Stony Brook look like decent candidates in your desired geographic region. University of Minnesota may be a good candidate if you are willing to go to the midwest (its list price is significantly lower than your price limit, even for out of state). Ohio State and Wisconsin are also worth considering in the midwest.</p>
<p>You can also look at schools like Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Villanova, SUNY-Binghamton, Trinity, Holy Cross, GW, NYU, Fordham, URichmond (too south?), Carnegie Mellon to name a few offhand.</p>
<p>Your heading says you are looking for safeties, which implies that you already have reaches and matches. What are they? It will simplify things a lot if we know what you are looking for.</p>
<p>I am considering applying ED or SCEA to an ivy league such as Columbia or Princeton, respectively. I also have other reaches such as Duke, Uchicago, and Williams. My matches are NYU, Carnegie Mellon and Boston University. But I feel that this is a very volatile list that could really leave me stranded, so I am still searching for safeties that would have solid economics programs.</p>
<p>Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan all have excellent econ departments and strong math programs, and your stats should get you into all three. Michigan would be the priciest of the three but well within your price range and the biggest name, Wisconsin’s a little cheaper and not quite as prestigious a name but highly competitive in your fields, and Minnesota is a bargain and the lest prestigious name overall but right there with Michigan and Wisconsin in your chosen fields.</p>