Trying to find good matches

College Search & Selection
1

Hi. My grades are mediocre and my extracurriculars are nearly nonexistent; however I have ambitions of going to a top school, and I’m wondering which schools I have a chance at being able to get into.

GPA: 3.6 (unweighted)/ 4.2 (weighted)

ACT: 30

PSAT: 1330 (SAT results not back yet, but I have taken it)

One varsity sport for 3 years, and I have had a part time job that for almost a year, no other extracurriculars that I can think of.

Colleges that I’m thinking about:
UIUC: I like pretty much everything about this, except for the fact that it’s in state for me and I’d rather go to an out of state college. Either way, I’m probably going to apply here.

UPenn: I like this because of its great education program (my intended major), and to be honest because I really like the idea of going to an Ivy League college. I also think that schools with large student bodies in big cities are good fits for me. However, I know that I don’t have any chance of getting in here.
Brown: Pretty much the same as above^

University of Georgia: It seems like a match for me academically, it has a good education program, and is in a warm state which is nice.

Pepperdine: I love the idea of living in CA, this seems like my best option there, and it also seems like a great campus and it has good academics, so I think I’d like it there a lot.

That’s just a few, I have a lot more that I’ve been looking at as well including Boston University, Tulane, NYU, Vanderbilt, Miami, UW Madison, and more.

My questions are:
Does this seems like an okay list so far?
How selective of schools should I be looking at for matches?
Are there any other suggestions for matches (or safeties or reaches) for me?

2

So, Illinois is your home state. Do you have a financial need? What exactly do you want to do with an education major? Schools that are good for Elementary Education will differ from schools that are good for Education policy.

What is your PSAT SI? If around 220, you have a shot for NMF.

For Safeties, you may want to consider rolling application schools with guaranteed merit. With your GPA and ACT, you would qualify for a $19k/yr scholarship at Bama. Bama has rolling admissions with applications opening in July. Ole Miss offers $12k for your stats and has rolling admissions.

That said, I’m in PA and our most well regarded schools for education to teach k -12 are our directional state schools. I would encourage my kids to go to a directional state school if they planned on only pursuing a bachelor’s degree.

I think Vandy is a high reach, but it is so well regarded for Education, you may want to try there instead of the other reach schools you listed.

Assuming no financial constraints, take a look at :
Wisconsin
Rochester
Ohio State

I don’t see the value of NYU or Penn for undergraduate education. If you want Penn for the city, take an in-depth look at Temple.

3

Go to the results threads for your colleges to have a perspective on this year’s applicants and their results.

A college list must be built from the ground up.
First talk budget with your parents - you and them must have a specific figure of what they can afford from income and savings.
Second, find two affordable safeties. Find universities that admit 50% applicants and run the NPC.
Then, look for universities with about 40% admit rate where you’re near the top 25% for stats. Run the NPC and select 3-5 of those that are affordable.
Then only do you add reaches.a

4

Elementary education
My PSAT SI is 202

5

bump

6

Do you have naviance? That was helpful for us. So we could see that, yes, you really do need a 102 from our high school to get into Yale for example. Of course it is just a starting place and my son goes to a big public school so there were lots of acceptances and rejections to go through.

7

If you want to be a teacher in the state of IL, UIUC makes a ton of sense. The program is excellent, you have a say as to where in the state you do your student teaching (so you have a leg up on getting an eventual full time job), and I also believe I’ve heard you are fully licensed when you graduate.

8

I don’t know if I want to be a teacher in IL, but I do want to be fully licensed when I graduate.

9

smu added into the vandy and tulane and you fall in the act range

10

No one should be answering any of these questions because you’ve failed in step one…what is your EFC, and what can you afford? Go look at the thread where the accepted applicant just had to turn down Tulane due to not enough money. You could get accepted to all and be able to afford none.

11

I don’t know what my EFC is but my parents have told me that we can afford any college.

12

“it’s in state for me and I’d rather go to an out of state college”

If you go to any university, in-state or out of state, and live on campus in a dorm, then it is going to feel like an entirely different world compared to living at home with your parents. You have some very good in-state options in Illinois. Getting acceptance is usually easier for in-state students, and your GPA while decent, is not going to completely blow away admissions at any out of state university which is ranked as high as UIUC.

Does your state have any sort of tuition reciprocity with Wisconsin or any other nearby states? To me it is hard to believe that most of your out of state choices are going to be worth the extra cost compared to your in-state options, even if it is possible to pay it.

13

I can see that UIUC is my best option but I still want to have other choices.

I’m not exactly sure but I think that there is tuition reciprocity with all public colleges in midwestern states.

14

^ That’s not correct - many of the flagship/main campus publics do not participate in reciprocity. Here’s a link: http://msep.mhec.org/institutions?field_state_term_tid=5&field_program_type_term_tid=All&field_sector_term_tid=All

15

Thanks, I didn’t realize that.

16

URochester would be a good option.

17

Thanks, I really appreciate all of the advice. I think I’m starting to come up with a real, well thought out list, I just wish I had more to add to it. Does this seem like a decent starting point?
Safeties: U of Alabama
Matches: UIUC, Rochester, UW Madison
Reaches: Vanderbilt

18

Rochester would be more of a high match/reach

You can look at schools like

Private. Elon college of Charleston university of San Francisco Loyola of md Saint Lawrence university (slu) Catholic university (dc) Drexel temple Washington and jefferson as matches of varying degrees and types of schools

Public. University of Rhode Island ( under appreciated and solid school especially for education) university of Arizona university of New Mexico unlv Montana Wyoming Iowa u Maine Orono Utah Oregon university of central Florida all in the match/safety category

19

Not sure on Alabama as a safety, at $48k and you get $19k for 30ACT that is still approx $30k/ $120k plus travel etc. I would shop arround for $120k for sure

20

I would talk to your parents a bit more in depth about costs first. My son is an elementary education major, and we can technically “afford college” - it was never a question if he would attend. But we would not have paid $70k a year for an education degree that will get him $45k/year to start if he’s lucky, whether he went to state school or Harvard. Not trying to discourage you, but it’s better to know now before you get your heart set on something that you can’t do.

That being said, TCNJ in NJ is one of the best for education. I’d say it’s a reach, but since it’s a NJ public and you’re out of state, it probably ups your chances. I think it would still be under $40k without merit for you.