Too much of a reach?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Ok, so I just finished my college list. I'm afraid my "meet" schools are too risky. Here's my full list, split into reach, meet, and safety, and the approximate acceptance rate</p>

<p>Brown 9% might apply ED
Tufts 20%
Duke 20% ... my dad went there, so legacies have admit rate of 33%
UVA or William & Mary </p>

<p>Boston University 40%
Colby 30%
Macalaster 40%</p>

<p>UColorado Boulder 70%
UIllinois idk%</p>

<p>Ok, so I'll probably add one more reach and one more safety, but as of right now, what do you think of my list according to my stats?</p>

<p>4.0 GPA UW
7 APs by end of senior year (Spanish, French, Calc, Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Psych, USH)
Not the most rigourus (Sp?) course load, but hefty for sure.</p>

<p>Essays will be alright/good/great... depending on topic
Recs will be great from one teacher, good from others. </p>

<p>EC's in short:
Internship at online writing site, been published
Pres of Spanish National Honor society senior year, officer junior
Cross Country and Track
Debate Team
Work experience every summer
Peer Leaders
and a few more...</p>

<p>Just with that, what do you think?</p>

2

<p>Impossible to tell without SAT/ACT scores. There’s a big difference between a 2400 and a 1800. Depending on what you have, it’ll make or break you.</p>

3

<p>You left out the financial dimension. Do you plan to apply for aid? Need or merit?</p>

<p>Do you have a public instate school on this list?</p>

4

<p>I’m from Illinois… Act is 31 sat 2 is USH 760 Spanish 780</p>

5

<p>Stat wise you will be fine for Illinois, Colorado, and Boston U as long as you can afford them.</p>

6

<p>okay - 31 with a 4.0 unweighted GPA</p>

<p>Chances, IMO, considering only ACT and GPA (and the Duke legacy). ECs, APs and SAT IIs should help also:</p>

<p>Brown - 15% (ACT is just below average, GPA is above average. Somehow their average SAT is 2150 and they let in only 9% – which means they must not put much stock in SAT/ACT, for surely they must be turning down a bunch of kids with 2300 SATs/34 ACTs to come down to that 2150 SAT average of admitted freshmen. If Brown admitted freshmen primarily based on SAT, their freshman class would be at 2200+ – we’ve seen plenty of high-SAT students in here, well above 2150, get rejected by Brown. So SAT must not be a huge deal to them. Brown throws me for a loop – let in a 2100, reject a 2340… same GPAs. Weird.)</p>

<p>Tufts - 30% (ACT is about average, GPA is above average)
Duke - 27% (ACT is a bit below average, GPA is above average, and legacy is a +)
UVA - 67% (ACT and GPA are above average)
BU - 80% (ACT and GPA are well above average)
Colby - 50% (ACT is about average and GPA is above average)
Macalester - 55% (ACT is about average and GPA is above average)
CU - 95% (ACT and GPA are wayyyy above average)
Illinois - 90% (ACT and GPA are well above average and you are in-state)</p>

<p>Hope that helps. I think you should get into about 4-6 of those: <em>maybe</em> one from the Brown/Tufts/Duke group, probably two or three from the UVA/Colby/Macalester/BU group, and both CU and Illinois. Your ACT is pretty decent and your unweighted GPA cannot be better. You also have good APs, you nearly aced the two SAT IIs, you have decent ECs, etc.</p>