Hello! So basically, I am planning to major in physics, and I want to apply to a lot of competitive schools. However, recently, I have been getting paranoid that I might not get in to any of the schools on my list. I will give you my stats and my school list. I was wondering if you think I should apply to some less competitive schools? If yes, could you reccomend any safties for a physics major?
Grades:
SAT: 1490
ACT: 32
GPA: 4.0
Physics 1 AP: 4
AP lang and composition: 4
(As a junior and I have only taken 2 AP classes, but I’ll be in chem, calc AB, and Eng Lit next year as a senior)
Extracurriculars:
Science Research Mentoring program at the Natural History Museum (high school research)
Started a science program for elementary-aged girls
Take art classes on Sunday
Intern with my art teacher to teach art
Teach Ukulele
Started math team
Joined robotics club/science olympiad
Go to astronomy outreach lectures
Girls Who Code
Awards:
Gold/silver keys in Scholastic Art and Writing awards
Multiple school art shows
Celebrating Art competitions
Supplements:
I’ll submit my art portfolio and some writing supplements
I’ve got 2 recs from my teachers and one from my research mentor. I think I’ve got a pretty good common app essay… I’m making a ton of people read it over with me.
College list:
Amherst
Bowdoin
Brandeis
Brown
Carnegie Mellon
Colgate
Cornell
Dartmouth
Johns Hopkins
U Michigan
Middlebury
Princeton
Reed
Vassar
Wesleyan
Please let me know if anyone thinks I could get in to at least one of these schools, or if I should add some more less competitive schools. If so, are there any you could reccomend?
Thanks so much!
Yes you have a chance of getting into one of these schools. You also stand a chance at getting into none. You need to find some safeties where you are in the top 25% of scores and GPA. None of these schools would put you in that group.
You don’t have any safety schools on this list. This list consists of almost all reach schools with possibly 1-2 matches. You need to add matches and safeties.
You have no safeties in your list at all. You need a school with an above 70% acceptance rate where your stats are also above the 75th percentile and most importantly, that is affordable. You need two safeties that you are excited about. Look at your home state.
I concur with the other posters that a safety is a school where your Stats are above the 75th percentile. A true safety is also one that is within your parents ability to pay. Look at the CTCL schools, and honors programs in small and midsize research institutions.
@LaraPal It’s good that you are thinking about this now. I agree with other posters, even though your credentials are very strong, I see no safeties on this list and no matches either, unless you are in state for U of Michigan, and then it may be in match/low reach category.
It would help us to help you if you could be a little more specific about what qualities you seek in a school. I see LACs, mid-sized private universities, large state schools, rural/urban/suburban, etc. Give us more information including any budgetary constraints and targeted suggestions will come.
Is that 4.0 weighted or unweighted? Also I think that some of the schools on your list may require or recommend SAT subject tests. I may be wrong as the list of schools continues to shrink but do double check requirements if you haven’t already done so. If you do need them, now is a great time to prepare before gearing up for your senior year.
What is your budget? Have you run the NPC on all of the schools on your list, or are your parents fine with paying $320,000 for four years of university, or $400,000 if it takes you five years to graduate?
@mamaedefamilia thanks so much for your advice! My mom makes about 75,000 a year. I am looking for small-medium sized schools in suburban/urban liberal areas. I have an unweighted GPA of 97.7, and a weighted GPA of about 101.3. Not sure how that translates to the 4.0 scale. I am recieving the scores to three subject tests on the 10th, so hopefully those are good. Do you know of any good saftey schools for the physics major? Thanks again!
@DadTwoGirls Hello! I am from NYC, and my family will definitley be applying for financial aid, as I have divorced parents that make <100 a year. This is a big factor to the college search, as you know. Do you know of any saftey schools for the physics major? Thanks so much!
1490 is just under the target the majority of those colleges will be comfortable with. You need roughly 750/750. Look at the mid-50th percentile for scores that each reports. You want to be near or above the 75th perentile.
Art classes on Sunday, celebrating art competitions, ukelele, going to lectures, etc, are interesting but not the sort of ECs that tip. I’m not sure how the Natual History Museum relates to physics. And often, teaching little kids anything isn’t as important as what you do with peers or alongside adults you learn from. In physics and engineering, collaborative math-sci activities are important. So robotics/olympiad are good- but what do you actually do in these?
So dig into what these colleges expect, (what they say and show,) what makes each unique, what “they” want in their students.
Connecticut College has a good Physics program. If you visit and interview, you would have a good chance of acceptance there.
All the schools on your list are tough admits. Does your high school have a track record with any of them?
I think you would get in to St. Olaf and Denison with merit/FA. Your list looks like all reaches, so that would make me very nervous. What does your college counselor think of your list?
Your grades and test scores would get you automatic admission at a number of good public universities including Iowa State University and the various University of Alabama locations. Your stats also would get you automatic merit aid at some of those places. So check through the info on automatic merit in the Financial Aid Forum, and see if ther is anything that you like better than the SUNY/CUNY system. Yes these are all bigger than your dream institution, but in the end you need affordable options on your list.
Bryn Mawr produced an Apker finalist (the top national award for undergraduate research in physics) in the most recent year and would be less selective than many of the schools on your current list: https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201808/apker.cfm.
Experienced posters on CC also say a safety should have a ~70% acceptance rate. From personal experience, with D, who applied to CS 2014, results can be a bit unpredictable.