<p>How does this sound for a first draft list for a kid with good grades, good test scores and good ECs, who is interested in possibly majoring in physics or math, or less likely, engineering? Not in reach order, of course.</p>
<p>University of Wisconsin-Madison
Harvey Mudd College
Caltech
MIT
Princeton
Stanford
Univ of Chicago
UC Berkeley
Univ Mich - Ann Arbor
Univ Illinois - Urbana/Champaign
Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>Not enough matches. It's pretty much just a bunch of safeties and reaches. </p>
<p>You picked excellent schools for the sciences though. Are you sure you'd be happy to attend every single one of them?</p>
<p>if you have as good stats as you say then you seriously have a great shot at caltech and mit (like REALLY good). they are looking to fix their imbalanced boy:girl ratio, so a girl with good stats will actually be chosen over a boy with the same stats.</p>
<p>atrophicwhisper--
Thank you for your response. What would some matches be? That is actually where I am having the most difficulty. Thank you.</p>
<p>What do you want out of a school? That's a fairly random list...</p>
<p>Lots of schools are good for the sciences and math- what you should be doing now is narrowing it down to schools you really like.</p>
<p>I.e. size of campus/ student body. Also, UChicago is a quirky school to say the least (especially compared to a school like MIT). If that's what you'd like, great, but you should be looking for things you'll like in particular.</p>
<p>Also- what do you want to study as of now?</p>
<p>and that is the academic quality of the instruction. I don't care if it is rural/urban, large/small, warm/cold, whatever.</p>
<p>I honest doubt that you care solely about academic quality. If I suggested Bob Jones and it were somehow a top notch school the equivalent of Harvard, unless you're a very conservative Christian who doesn't mind the strict honor code, you wouldn't want to go there. </p>
<p>BTW, I would suggest some of the lower UC's as matches (I think San Diego is pretty good with the sciences, but I'm not so sure about math/physics.)</p>
<p>You're going to be living there for at least 4 years. I'd imagine there's
[quote]
something
[/quote]
you want in a school.
Otherwise how are you going to choose come May 1st?</p>
<p>It's great that you are so flexible on location. To define real matches, one would have to know your scores & stats. (750s+, and 3.9-4.0 UW=Excellent;
700-720ish, and 3.6-3.8 UW=Good.) For H.Mudd, Cal Tech, Princeton, Stanford & MIT you will want Excellent stats to be competitive. Just one opinion.</p>
<p>So far I have 4.0 unweighted. I have a 34 ACT and plan to bring that up. Haven't taken SAT IIs yet, but realize I have to get 750s.</p>
<p>I almost put down that the only exception to the academic quality issue is that I couldn't take an ultra-conservative campus, so you defintely caught me on the Bob Jones remark. On other aspects, yes, I might like some environments better than others, but all those considerations are trumped by my desire to get the finest education I can acquire. At this point I am strongly thinking about majoring in mathematics, but I am also very interested in physics.</p>
<p>I want to get a good list of reach, match, safeties. I will apply to my local flagship university, which will be a definite safety. I need help with my strategy on picking where I should apply.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I have a 34 ACT and plan to bring that up.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>When did you take the ACT? There really isn't much "up" from a 34. Best to devote your time to your SAT Subject Tests now. The 34 on the ACT is sufficient for any of your reach colleges. </p>
<p>Rice, Brown, and Cornell are less reachy but very strong academically.</p>
<p>Congrats! Your 4.0 and 34 ACT definitely put you in the running for top schools. Just make sure your Math SATII is tip-top for MIT & Cal Tech. I don't know if you need to take the ACT again, unless the math or science reasoning was weak or if ECs are average.</p>
<p>Are you certain that nothing matters but academics? HUGE differences in those schools. Harvey Mudd and Caltech, for example, likely have smaller undergraduate student bodies (700 and 950, respectively) than some of the dorms at Illinois. S1 (Mudd) & S2 (Rice) ruled out UIUChampaign before we even found the engineering school--just too big for their tastes. The lifestyle at Caltech or Mudd differs so much from Madison, Ann Arbor, or Champaign that I can't imagine that many people would find them equally attractive, even if they were exactly equal in all academic respects.</p>
<p>As for a safety, a female with stats competitive at the more selective of your listed schools could find Rose Hulman or (especially) Rolla a match--but they are both stronger in eng'g than math/physics. Then again, Mizzou fits the safety bill quite well (just saw your latest post).</p>
<p>For Math, don't rule out Harvard--if you think you'd be comfortable there (S1 didn't bother applying on fit grounds). </p>
<p>Second the opinion that at Caltech/MIT (and Harvey Mudd) you'd likely benefit from your gender--all of them are really interested in top notch candidates who happen to be female. MIT probably less so than the other two because it is better known to the general public and, consequently, has a more rounded applicant pool.</p>
<p>Both Mudd and Caltech offer more than decent merit scholarships to selected people--Caltech offers fewer, but bigger ones, while Mudd gives a 10/11K one to a large number of its students; moreover, Mudd has a very nice, albeit highly competitive, scholarship for a handful of URMs and Women.</p>
<p>Finally, be aware that if you end up going with engineering, Chicago doesn't have a program.</p>
<p>stevedad said what I was going to warn.</p>
<p>However, because engineering sounds like it's not as crucial an interest as math and physics, Chicago is still worth considering seriously. OP, message me and I'll give you some people to e-mail in each department.</p>
<p>I would recommend Cornell as a match if you get 750ish on the SAT math and CR. Very good in math and physics and it has the best engineering in the Ivies.</p>
<p>caltech doesn't practice any sort of affirmative action, so being a girl won't help you or hurt you. i've spoken to admissions officers who say they would flip a coin if they were stuck between two identical applicants of different genders.</p>
<p>MissouriGal,
S looked at every school on your list except Wisconsin, visited all but UIUC and Wisconsin, and applied to seven of them. For math and physics, and the belief that it's academics that will make your experience, Chicago should be on your list. No engineering, but physics and math are top five departments. Your list, while a little reachy, is not random for math/physics. The joy with being a math/physics major is that you aren't limited to engineering schools -- which turned out to be a big decision point for my S.</p>
<p>For safer schools with your stats -- WPI, RIT, Rose-Hulman, Case Western. I agree with tokenadult (a wise poster you should listen to) that you should focus on the SAT-IIs rather than the ACTs at this point. A 34 is more than fine. </p>
<p>Have you taken the toughest courseload possible at your school? Any APs or college courses? Pursued any math/science interests outside of class? Colleges know that not everyone has incredible resources readily at hand, but they DO look to see if applicants have maximized what IS available to them -- or if they created opportunities where there were none previously.</p>
<p>Mudd is a wonderful place -- listen to Stevedad. Mudd is totally devoted to undergrads and gives everyone a really thorough workout in math. Tenure is based heavily on teaching ability. The math dept. is awesome and has won awards for the quality. The kids there also get into great grad schools and do significant research/project work. (Can you tell I really like the place?) Check the Mudd website for specific SAT/ACT scores for the $10K scholarship -- and be sure you are in the top 10% of your class. No exceptions to that one.</p>
<p>S had apps prepared for Chicago, MIT, Mudd, Caltech, CMU, Stanford, UMich, Cornell, in-state flagship and at the last minute, Harvard. (He dropped a couple of these after getting great results in the EA round.) For him, it came down to Chicago, Mudd and MIT. He ultimately chose Chicago, and as much as he is THRILLED with his decision, it was still very hard to turn down Mudd. He is a math major, may double in CS, is likely to take some serious physics at Chicago for fun.</p>
<p>You didn't ask, but...Chicago, MIT and Caltech have Early Action. If these are on your list come fall, applying EA can give you a good sense of where you are in the applicant pool and if you should drop/add some schools. It was a terrific feeling to have some good news in mid-December!</p>