So here we go...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, so I'm just gonna get to the point and provide a breakdown of my credentials and interests. </p>

<p>I'm Hispanic, got a 2000 SAT the first time expecting at the very least a 2200 for my retake. I will be taking 3 SAT subject tests as well. I am a National Hispanic Scholar (unofficially). GPA is 3.9 UW and 5.5+ W and I will graduate with 9/10 APs under my belt.</p>

<p>I have a few solid extracurriculars with active leadership positions but my real interests are probably in my hobbies. :) </p>

<p>I will be majoring in any one of the following (narrow, I know):
*Economics
*Computer Science
*Political Science
*International Relations
*Physics
*Astrophysics
*Mechanical Engineering</p>

<p>probably says the most about me ^ </p>

<p>I've been reading this site for a while so I've got the terminology down. I'm looking for a set of safeties, matches, and reaches. </p>

<p>This is the list I've got so far.</p>

<p>Safeties (in-state): USF, UF
Matches: ???
Reaches: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT</p>

<p>I want to go to school in a city or at least a college town. I'd really prefer not to be in the suburbs or anywhere rural (I am aware of the locations of the colleges I've already listed). </p>

<p>Going to school in New York (City!) or somewhere in California would be pretty cool IMO, but best case scenario / dream situation for me would be getting into Harvard and MIT and getting the rare opportunity to make a decision between the two. </p>

<p>I'd like a strong school community as well (no commuter schools <em>cough</em> USF <em>cough</em>!). </p>

<p>Financial aid is a BIG necessity for me, for income bracket I'll be under $50k this year. </p>

<p>Suggestions, questions, etc. are all appreciated!</p>

2

<p>Your stats are good. Your reaches are a reach for anyone so I would not think in terms of having a choice but just getting into one. Here’s why, if you apply early decision to Yale, Stanford or MIT you increase your chances of being accepted. (Harvard and Princeton no longer offer early decision).</p>

<p>Financially, one of your reach schools is also your best bet because in your income bracket they will ask for no contribution from your family. Your family deserves that kind of assistance, by the way, that is what financial aid is for.</p>

<p>I don’t know what to advice you about matches, it’s too broad a question.</p>

3

<p>Harvard’s great for Financial Aid if I can get accepted, but the thing about ED that scares me is the financial aspect of it. </p>

<p>Thanks for the assitance.</p>

4

<p>You know, there is an Ivy League school in New York City…</p>

5

<p>Yes, I do know. I left it out because I haven’t really looked into that school yet. All I know is that it’s Ivy League and that it’s in NYC. I don’t even know the majors they offer…</p>

<p>Thanks for the tip.</p>

<p>I’m focusing mainly on safeties and reaches right now though. I’m sure I could fill up my reach list pretty easily.</p>

6

<p>Early decision at Yale and MIT at least is safe for Financial Aid because if your pretax income is what you reported then at these schools you will have a full scholarship. Your having applied early decision won’t affect that.</p>

<p>You’re right, early decision at any school that you’re not sure will offer you a full scholarship should you be accepted is not safe.</p>

7

<p>Ah, I see. Thanks for the information, that’s very helpful.</p>

8

<p>This should help with your college search. Most, if not all, of your matches and reaches should come from this list. :slight_smile:
[Schools</a> That Say They Meet Full Need - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/paying-for-college/2008/09/05/schools-that-say-they-meet-full-need.html]Schools”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/paying-for-college/2008/09/05/schools-that-say-they-meet-full-need.html)</p>

9

<p>Yale, Stanford and MIT all have Early Action, not early decision. In other words, if you are accepted, the schools commit to you, but you don’t have to decide until May 1st whether to attend and you are free to apply to other schools. Applying to an early action school should not be a problem if you need financial aid, since you will get a financial aid offer and you can decide whether it’s acceptable before you commit to the school. You will also be able to compare the EA financial aid offer to regular decision financial aid offers you receive.</p>

10

<p>Thank you. Are EA deadlines typically in November? More of a general question, I know I’ll have to look at each individual school to know for sure.</p>

11

<p>For many schools, EA deadlines would be Nov. 1 or Nov. 15th. However, as you noted, you would have to check each individual school you might be interested in. In addition, some schools are Single Choice Early Action (you can only apply to one school–Yale would be one example) and others, such as I believe MIT, will allow you to apply to other EA schools.</p>

12

<p>I suggest doing EA to MIT, as well as schools like University of Chicago, Boston College and Georgetown, to predict your chances first round. Then, depending on the schools you get into, you can apply regular for the rest, or not apply at all. :)</p>

13

<p>Does that mean that the November SAT or SAT 2 would typically be too late for EA?</p>

14

<p>I would recommend you apply to Michigan-Ann Arbor as a match. It meets most of your criteria (top academics, great college town, strong community feel etc…), and although Michigan is not known for giving out great financial aid packages, it does have good merit scholarships for URMs with 3.9 unweighed GPAs and 2200 SAT scores. Michigan has top 15 departments in all the majors you are interested in and top 5 departments in Mechanical Engineering and Political Science. If you decide to apply to Michigan, make sure you do so during the Early Response (completely non-biding) perior as it improves your chances and the odds of getting a merit scholarship. </p>

<p>Other schools I would recommend include:
Columbia University
Cornell University
Northwestern University
Rice University</p>

15

<p>I wouldn’t call UF a safety - or any state flagship school. I qualified for their honors program by my numbers and didn’t make it. Granted, I made it into better schools, in my opinion, but I still wouldn’t call it a safety.</p>

<p>I don’t think astrophysics is that common of a major. The only school I can think of with that major is Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. You might want to consider other schools that are in the top 25 or so along the likes of Vanderbilt, Emory, Notre-Dame, etc. I don’t know how they rank in the programs you mentioned, though. I just know from reading people and their stats people with much better stats than you get rejected from HYPSM each year, so it seems to be somewhat arbitrary and random. And since finances will be an issue, do your research on all the schools that cover 100% of financial need. Here’s a list to get you started:
[CSLF</a> : IF : Colleges That Meet Financial Aid Need](<a href=“http://www.cslf.com/investinyourfuture/payingforcollege/collegesthatmeetneed.htm]CSLF”>http://www.cslf.com/investinyourfuture/payingforcollege/collegesthatmeetneed.htm)</p>

16

<p>Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. </p>

<p>I don’t have to have the astrophysics major, I’m sure physics will be fine if that’s what I decide to do. </p>

<p>I’m not sure how stats get “much better” than mine (I mean, a 4.0? 2400 SAT?), but I think I get what you’re saying. I’ve read through the decisions threads for most of the Ivy League forums and I noticed that it’s pretty easy to see who the generic people are and who the well-rounded people are. I saw a lot of SAT scores around the 700s accepted and a lot of near perfects rejected so to me it seems it really came down to extracurriculars and the essays. I’ve done the best with what opportunity has been available to me, living in the ghetto most of my life and what not and I think they’ll take that into consideration hopefully [my family income is actually much lower than $50k]. It’s still a “crapshoot” though and I appreciate that fact. </p>

<p>UF is known for rejecting certain types with high stats, over-represented race, but not enough extracurricular involvement. Maybe it shouldn’t be a safety, maybe a low match? It’s really not that hard to get into, but I read that sometimes they get the idea that they are just the applicant’s back-up school and reject overqualified applicants? </p>

<p>On the other hand, many kids from my school end up going to UF with not-so-amazing SAT scores but solid GPAs, high class ranking, and overall being well-rounded. I really don’t think I’ll be rejected, especially as a URM, but I see what you’re saying. UF can be random. </p>

<p>Thanks for that link, I’ll look into those schools you named.</p>

17

<p>In terms of NYC schools, I’d suggest Columbia as a low/mid reach and NYU as a match. Both are strong in Economics and Political Science.</p>

18

<h2>but not enough extracurricular involvement</h2>

<p>I was an Eagle Scout and had a lot of leadership though Boy Scouts and Order of the Arrow, had hundreds of community service hours and some awards - 3 academic student of the year awards, some city-wide art awards, one of them being the cover artist, chosen from about 1000 applicants, lots of musical performance and a few other things I can’t remember off the top of my head lol.</p>

<p>I think it either came down to something like AA or I made a typo or two on my application and maybe wrote a crappy essay. I don’t know I’m kind of glad they rejected me because I wouldn’t be at Vanderbilt if they hadn’t :D</p>

<h2>On the other hand, many kids from my school end up going to UF with not-so-amazing SAT scores but solid GPAs</h2>

<p>Yeah, I had higher SAT’s than all but 2 of the top 10 students at my school and my rank was like 80 or so out of 270? My GPA was somewhat poor in that I made a lot of B’s 9th and 10th… I didn’t do my homework. Oh well, now that I’m in college I do a lot better than high school valedictorians and salutatorians that weren’t naturally as bright and were now struggling with the conceptual difficulty.</p>

<p>Physics can be really broad and doing something more specialized may work to your benefit if you already know what you want to do. Learning Quantum stuff may not really help you with Relativity and the “big” astrophysics stuff since I think they’re contradictory… (one assumes the universe is discrete, the other continuous, etc) Also you may have less labs to do for Astrophysics. I took 6 physics courses but hated the labs so much I gave up on a double major and am just going for math now, but I still love the conceptual ideas…</p>