Trying to make college list

College Search & Selection
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<p>I originally posted this in the wrong forum I think, so I'm reposting here.</p>

<p>I'll be a senior in high school this fall, so I've been doing some work this summer by trying to narrow down the list of colleges to which I'd like to apply. I'll tell you a bit about myself, post the list (keep in mind that I will not be applying to all of these colleges, this is still a pool), and then I'd like to get any feedback about the list or recommendations of other colleges you think would cater to my interests. </p>

<p>I go to an awesome public school in California that consistently sends students to prestigious universities. I have a 3.92 unweighted GPA and a 4.29 weighted GPA for my three years of high school. I got a 2360 on the SAT1 (780 Math, 780 Writing [8 essay], 800 Reading), an 800 on the SAT2 Chemistry and Math II tests, and a 720 on the SAT2 Physics test. I do not plan on retaking any of the aforementioned tests. In terms of AP and honors courses, I took Algebra 2/Trigonometry Honors my freshman year; AP Calculus AB and AP European History my sophomore year; AP Chemistry, AP US History, AP Calculus BC, and Physics Honors my junior year; and next year I will be taking AP Music Theory, AP Statistics, AP Comparative Government/Economy, AP English 4, and, if my course request is granted, AP Biology. I received a 3 on the AP Euro AP Test (not sure how that happened because I felt good about it) and 5's on the AP tests for all other AP courses. </p>

<p>I have a variety of areas that I'm interested in studying including biology (with a marine focus), mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, and psychology. I'll copy and paste what I wrote for the EC section on my stat profile: SCUBA diving including study-abroad trip to Fiji for 3 marine bio college credits (certified Advanced Open Water Diver w/ 3 specialties, also gained cultural knowledge and helped to paint a local village's community center and did ocean clean-up, received an A in the course), Oboe w/ private instruction for 6 years (first-chair freshman, sophomore and senior year), Piano for 9 years, Young People's Symphony Orchestra (sophomore year, potentially senior year), Cross Country freshman year (potentially senior year), Chamber Singers (junior and senior year), Contemporary Acapella Project (junior and senior year), Manchoir (junior and senior year), Concert Band (freshman year), Symphonic Wind Ensemble (sophomore - senior year), Symphonic Orchestra (selected for it all years since its inception my sophomore year), GSA (President freshman year, participated sophomore year), Environmental Club (implemented a recycling program at the high school as co-president my junior year, will participate again potentially as president next year), 15 + online music reviews, tutoring of middle school students in math, Red House A-List Band program (participated for two years until its dissolution my freshman year). Clearly some of my extracurriculars are stronger than others.</p>

<p>Finally, here's my list of colleges: UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, Brown, Northwestern, Stanford, University of Chicago, Cornell, Boston College, Penn, Tufts, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Northeastern, Cal Poly SLO, Duke, UNC - Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Princeton, Lehigh, Boston University, University of Miami, University of Virginia, University of Washington, and USC.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for any insight you can give.</p>

<p>If you want me to go more in depth about any of my extracurriculars I can.</p>

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<p>u of miami for marine bio (100 % match for that) if you go to florida on a college tour you might want to check out rollins , stetson and florida southern. they are not close to u of miami but maybe worth the drive if you are already in florida.! those schools are all unique in their own ways!</p>

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<p>Congratulations on your academic success!!! Your stats are honestly very impressive :slight_smile: It seems you have a pretty good list (in terms of the # of schools) as is. I would need more info about your personality in order to give an opinion about fit. Nonetheless, good luck w/ your reaches, & all I can say is that w/ a background like yours just make sure you pick a school at which you will constantly feel academically challenged/stimulated. Again congrats! I’m looking forward to seeing you on the flip side, when you have to narrow down acceptances and pick a school.</p>

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<p>Why are Michigan, University of Washington and UNC on your list?</p>

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<p>What role will financial aid or the search for merit aid play in your decision?</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>Yes to the above question…</p>

<p>You have some OOS publics on your list. They often don’t give much need-based aid, and merit can be very hard to get - even with great stats. </p>

<p>Have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay? If not, do so.</p>

<p>If your family is expecting financial aid, then you need to check with EACH school’s Net Price Calculator to see if you might get the aid that you need. </p>

<p>Your parents may say that they can only pay $20k per year, but maybe all these schools will expect them to pay a lot more than that (other than the instate SLO)</p>

<p>If your parents will pay $60k+ per year for any school then you’re fine. However, if they will only pay X, then you need to find out if these schools will expect them to pay a lot more than X. </p>

<p>To start with…try the NPCs at:
U Washington
UCLA
Boston U</p>

<p>don’t do Princeton’s or similar schools’ NPC first…HYPS give super aid so their results will be misleading.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the responses. The comments about financial aid spurred me to talk to my mom about exactly how much we can spend on colleges. We’re on vacation right now so we don’t have all the papers we need in front of us, but once we get back home we’ll be filling out the NPC’s and meeting with a financial aid advisor as well. Hopefully this will give me a better idea of which of the colleges on my list are prohibitively expensive. I’ll post in here in a couple days once I have more information.</p>

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<p>With the exception of your in-state CA publics, most of the schools on your list will be in the $50-60,000/per year range. Of course, you have impressive statistics, and it’s not out of the question that you might get some - even a lot - merit money. (Northeastern loves high achievers and is looking for geographic diversity - two points in your favor.)</p>

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<p>Well I looked up tuition and fees for some of the OOS publics.
Washington - $28,058
North Carolina - $26,834
Virginia - $36,570
Michigan - $37,265
So those, especially UW and UNC seem very feasible with how much money I think we have, but I won’t be certain until we get home and can look at all the paperwork.</p>

<p>Oh and in case anyone was wondering, I’ve visited UCSD, UCB, UCSC, UCLA, USC, UCD, Brandeis, Brown, Northeastern, Harvard, and BU.</p>

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<p>You need to add the cost of room, board and transportation to get a truer picture of how much these schools will cost. Transportation costs in particular can be tough, since you will always be flying home during the busiest/most expensive time of the year.</p>

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<p>Yeah I did also look at the cost of room and board. I don’t anticipate transportation costs to be the biggest problem because I know my parents can cover that. Especially from Seattle to San Francisco.</p>

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<p>U of Miami has a fantastic Marine Biology department. So if that what you want to study and where your heart is, then UM would be perfect. It’s right on the water!</p>