Too many reaches, not enough safeties?

College Search & Selection
21

Drop Michigan. OOS schools, especially flagships, are notoriously stingy with financial aid for OOS applicants.

Add UC Riverside, UC Davis, and 2-3 CSUs (the stronger ones include CPSLO, SDSU, SJSU, SFSU, CSULB, CSPUP, CSUF)

22

^and CPP

23

@furiously My friend got denied from Cal Poly SLO, but got into UCLA. UCs/CSUs do not consider race.

24

Furiously, don’t play the URM card because your scores don’t match what the ivies want in URM candidates. There are thousands of URM’s, with better stats, applying to the ivies. Don’t assume that because you are URM, that you will get in automatically into the ivies; no outstanding scores-no ivies.

25

It doesn’t matter for UCs and CSUs. And CPSLO cannot be relied on as a safety.

In June or July, sign up for UCR’s admission guarantee to make it a safety (you also need to include it in your regular UC application). See http://admissions.ucr.edu/whyucr/ourguarantee .

26

My scores dont match what Ivies want? I beg to differ. Besides my ACT score (which I have only taken once so far, will be taking again soon) I’d say I’m on par with a vast amount of their applicants. My ACT score isnt even low to begin with.

27

SAT/ACT is a large part of the admissions decision. Sure, the package is the result of a holistic process but unless you have some crazy hook (homeless, been through so many struggles in life etc.), Ivies want to see that you have a high score. 33+ falls under this criteria. 32 may just scrape the barrel; 31 falls a millimeter short. You have very good grades, EC’s etc. but that standardized test score matters. 31 is by no means low but when you’re talking Ivy League, it’s not much.

28

It’s against the law for ANY public California school to consider race.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_209

29

Bumping this

30

There’s not much we can add beside “add non-UC, perhaps private, colleges to your match and safety schools” and " for reach, look for fit and switch out the colleges that don’t match you, replacing them with others that match your profile better".
Keep reading the threads, you’ll see that even an amazing profile isn’t a guarantee of anything, especially if admission rate is below 30% + UCs because so many factors come in.

31

What does your list look like now that you’ve processed the feedback from other posters?