What are my Reaches, Matches, and Safeties?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>This is kind of an update to previous threads I've made. I could bump them, but I have a good bit of new stats and other important info I couldn't otherwise edit in. I've taken your suggestions and made them into a loose list. I need your guys' help categorizing and maybe shortening that list. </p>

<p>Numbers and such:
GPA: 4.0 UW/4.6ish W (My school in Florida is a feeder school to UF, but we send a handful of kids to really good schools like Stanford and Princeton yearly.)
ACT: 34 (30 English, 34 Reading, 34 Math, 36 Science, 31 English/Writing with 11 Essay)
SAT: 2190 (760 CR, 710 Math, 720 Writing with 10 Essay)
SAT II: 740 Bio M, 760 US History, 750 Chem, 750 Math II
AP: Bio (5), US History (4), English Language (5), Chemistry (5), Euro (5)</p>

<p>Rank: My school doesn't do rankings, but I am in the top 8 students (probably top 3) in my class. I was selected as such for helping out at graduation, and it will go on my transcript as a leadership position of sorts.</p>

<p>Race/Ethnicity: Puerto-Rican</p>

<p>Schedules:
Freshman: AP Biology, English 9 Honors, Geometry Honors, Spanish II Honors, World History Honors, Debate honors</p>

<p>Sophomore: AP US History, Chemistry Honors, English 10 Honors, Spanish III Honors, Algebra II Honors, Computer Programming Honors, Debate Honors</p>

<p>Junior: AP Chemistry (hardest class our school offers; those handful of kids that our school sends to Stanford, Princeton, UPenn, etc. pretty much all take this class at some point in their high school career. Its teacher is writing one of my recs. Serious business), AP Euro, AP English Language, Spanish IV Honors, Pre-Calculus Honors, electives</p>

<p>Senior: AP English Literature and Composition, AP Calculus AB, AP Spanish Language, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, Physics Honors, AP Computer Science A, Humanities, History of the Motion Picture (required credit and filler)</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

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<p>Awards:</p>

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<p>Here's my list so far:</p>

<p>Bucknell University
Cornell University
University of Florida
Lafayette College
Lehigh University
University of Pennsylvania
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
Stevens Institute of Technology
Tufts University
University of Texas-Austin
Washington University in St. Louis</p>

<p>I'm interested in a STEM major, particularly chemical or petroleum engineering. I won't need financial aid but merit aid would be cool. I've visited Stanford, Rice, and WashU and liked them all a lot. I need your help figuring out which schools are reaches, matches, and safeties based on my stats and information. I know my list is reach heavy, and that's why I'm looking for matches in addition to insight on where I stand.</p>

2

<p>Bucknell University- Match
Cornell University- Reach
University of Florida - Safety (if in-state)
Lafayette College- ?
Lehigh University - Match
University of Pennsylvania- Reach
Princeton University- Reach
Rice University- Reach
Stanford University- Reach
Stevens Institute of Technology- ?
Tufts University- Match
University of Texas-Austin- (Instate: Safety, OOS: High Match) 8% rule
Washington University in St. Louis- Reach</p>

3

<p>Cost constraints?</p>

<p>Safeties would include: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If you make National Merit Finalist, consider these also: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For example, at Texas A&M, National Merit Finalists get decent [scholarships[/url</a>] including waiver of out of state additional tuition. That would leave a net cost of about $50,000 for four years at a school with both chemical and petroleum engineering.</p>

<p>Use [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.abet.org%5DABET”&gt;http://www.abet.org]ABET</a> -](<a href=“https://scholarships.tamu.edu/tamu_scholarships/freshman/national_merit.aspx]scholarships[/url”>https://scholarships.tamu.edu/tamu_scholarships/freshman/national_merit.aspx) to find schools with your desired engineering majors. Note that there are only 17 ABET accredited petroleum engineering bachelor’s degree programs in the US (University of Texas - Austin is the only one of your list that has one).</p>

<p>If you are primarily interested in chemical engineering, also consider University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, North Carolina State University, and Virginia Tech as lower cost out of state options.</p>

4

<p>Ucbalumnus: Hi again! I don’t really have cost constraints: my parents have confirmed with me multiple times that they will pay for my college education. I’ll look into those schools and Texas A&M, thanks for the tip.</p>

5

<p>If they have said that $60,000 per year ($240,000 for four years plus college cost inflation) is within their willingness to pay, then thank them for the opportunity. (Though they may still appreciate it if you go some place that is good but costs a lot less.)</p>

6

<p>For Chemical why not Delaware? That would be a safety.</p>

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<p>Erin’s Dad: Delaware was on my list, but I think I forgot to write it down lol. Thanks for the reminder.</p>

8

<p>The ones that I know about
Cornell University - Reach
University of Florida - Safety
Lehigh University - Match
University of Pennsylvania - Reach
Princeton University - High Reach
Rice University - Reach
Stanford University - High Reach
Tufts University - Low Reach
University of Texas-Austin - Reach
Washington University in St. Louis - Reach</p>

9

<p>wavylays94, why would UT be a reach for him?</p>

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<p>^ 8% rule.</p>

11

<p>Hey, I’m looking at Chem E too and have a lot of the same schools on my list!</p>

<p>Bucknell University- match (really weird admissions. You apply for each major totally separately, so there might be a particularly tough pool of applicants in your major one year and not so much the next. Ignore it’s overall acceptance rate.)
Cornell University- low reach
University of Florida- safety?
Lafayette College- safety
Lehigh University- safe-ish match
University of Pennsylvania- reach
Princeton University- high reach
Rice University- reach
Stanford University- high reach
Stevens Institute of Technology- idk
Tufts University- match (they have sneaky acceptance policies. They’re known for rejecting overqualified applicants to mess with their acceptance statistics)
University of Texas-Austin- if out of state, it’s a reach (they have like 10% acceptance OOS)
Washington University in St. Louis- low reach</p>

<p>If you’re interested, some other schools on my list are Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, and Carnegie Mellon. They all have top-notch engineering programs.</p>

12

<p>Michellel: Thanks for the response! I’m in Florida so I guess UT-Austin would be a reach for me. After looking over its admissions more, I see what you and other posters mean. I’ll take another look at those 3 universities that you listed.</p>

13

<p>Bucknell University - safety
Cornell University - reach
University of Florida - safety
Lafayette College - safety
Lehigh University - match
University of Pennsylvania - reach
Princeton University - reach
Rice University - reach
Stanford University -reach
Stevens Institute of Technology - safety
Tufts University - match
University of Texas-Austin - reach because of OOS
Washington University in St. Louis - match</p>

<p>Your ECs aren’t spectacular, but with good essays and recommendations I think you’ll be a perfectly qualified applicant even at the Ivies and Stanford. If you’re looking for good engineering, Case Western and University of Rochester are both strong in that department and would likely offer you a nice scholarship. If you’re not dead-set on engineering and are considering other STEM fields, I’d like to shill for my school, University of Chicago. We don’t have undergraduate engineering (yet) but our undergrad programs in math and physics are among the best in the country.</p>