<p>What are you wanting to study? It’s much, much easier to begin formulating your list if you have some idea of a major. Also, look at tangibles like urban v. suburban v. rural; big or small; conservative, liberal, or in between; public, private, or indifferent; financial aid or merit aid necessary; east coast, west coast the south, etc. > all these types of things can narrow your scope. I would agree with what others have said and disagree with your counselors…you don’t have to apply to just 6-8 schools. With your stats you might go heavier on reach schools (still keeping match and safeties) provided you like all of them and are applying for the right reasons. Good luck!</p>
<p>I plan to study something related to foreign relations or political science (I want to eventually work in the government) and I would much rather prefer an urban/suburban setting than rural, as well as a school on the east coast. But that stuff doesn’t really matter all that much to me. If it’s a good school, I would probably put up with anything!</p>
<p>By the way, thank you for all the answers! I have definitely decided to lengthen my list of colleges to apply to and adding some more reaches. I was considering adding UChicago and Washington U. Along those lines, does anyone know of any other non-Ivy top schools (like UChicago)?</p>
<p>If you are adding some Reach schools in an urban setting, also look at:</p>
<p>Brown (smaller urban)
Rice (in Museum district of Houston)</p>
<p>I think some safety schools within the UC system would be UCI, UCR, and UCMerced. Im from california too, and it seems with your stats, these UCs are pretty safe for you. Cal states, well they should be good too. And if you are really really really worried, which i dont think you should be, cause you do have ECs, great testing scores, and great GPA, you can look into community colleges. Im from south california, so for me PCC and ELAC are safety nets.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Based upon your intended major, I might add the following: Tufts (one of the best intntl relations programs in the country), UVA (great poli-sci dept. – Larry Sabato at the helm-- great law school), Northwestern, Vanderbilt, UNC (maybe…if you get into UCB and have IS tuition, OOS tuition for UNC wouldn’t make sense), WUST (which you already mentioned), and Rice.</p>
<p>Anything with above a 30% acceptance rate (check collegeboard) would be a safety with your stats!</p>
<p>Might look at Holy Cross-smaller version of Georgetown but easier to gain admission. Holy Cross has nice campus 1 hour from Boston. HC is also need blind financial aid(same as Ivies). Also Tufts.</p>
<p>Mercy93, last year’s PSAT qualifying score for NMSF was 218. The line might move a point or two higher or lower for this year, so that should tell you if you’ll be NMSF. </p>
<p>Have you had the money talk with your parents? Will they be able to cover your EFC? </p>
<p>If you are interested in government, visit Davis (match) and see if you like the campus and area (sleepy during the summer). Since it’s right next to Sacramento, there are internship possibilities. Another possible match is Macalester in St. Paul, a LAC in a city. American U in DC would be a safety with a good possibility of merit aid.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for all the advice. So I’ve revised my college list to: harvard, yale, columbia, georgetown, upenn, ucb, ucla,ucsd, usc, duke, brown, wash u, and uva. </p>
<p>I feel like everything is kind of on the reach side though but I don’t know which schools to take out & which ones to put in. I would prefer that my reach schools be east coast schools & my match/safety ones to be in california (my theory is that if I’m going to put up w/the weather in the east, it has to be for a really good school)</p>
<p>By the way, in regards to financial aid, i have discussed it with my parents and they are okay with the price of colleges like Ivy leagues & other prestigious schools. but they claim that if I’m going to go to an expensive school on the east coast with no “sparkle,” they would prefer it if I stay in california and go to a UC since it’s much cheaper.</p>