What are reach schools for me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm looking for some reasonable reaches for me to apply to this fall. I know I'm not Ivy League or very, very selective public school material, so please don't suggest those (I know I have no chance). I would prefer a larger school. I plan on going into something in the health field of engineering with a minor in music and/or German.</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.858
W GPA: 4.029 (5 points for A's in AP classes)
Class Rank: 14/331</p>

<p>Test Scores
ACT composite: 31 (35 English, 28 Math, 29 Reading, 30 Science, 8 Writing)
SAT: taking in June
PSAT: 183</p>

<p>AP Classes
AP Human Geography (4)
AP US History (3)
AP English Language and Composition (taking currently)
AP European History (taking currently)</p>

<p>Freshman Transcript
AP Human Geography A/A
Honors Biology A/A
Honors English 9 A/A
German 2 A/A
Honors Geometry A/A
PE A
Health A
Concert Band A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore Transcript
AP US History A-/C
Honors Chemistry A-/B
Honors English 10 A/B+
German 3 A/A
Algebra 2 A/A
PE A
Trigonometry A-
Wind Ensemble A/A</p>

<p>Junior Transcript
AP European History A-
Sociology A
Economics
Physics (no honors available) A
AP English Language and Composition A
German 4 A
Precalculus A
Wind Ensemble A</p>

<p>Senior Expected Schedule
AP Psychology
AP Biology
Human Anatomy and Physiology
AP English Literature and Composition
German 5
AP Calculus AB
Wind Ensemble</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities
Tennis (9, 10, 11)
Track & Field (10, 11)
Color Guard (9, 10, 11-Captain)
Pit Orchestra (9, 11)
Jazz Band (9, 10, 11)
Pep Band (9, 10, 11)
German National Honor Society (10, 11-Treasurer)
National Honor Society (11)
Class Board (10, 11)
Baton Twirling (9, 10, 11)
Assistant Baton Teacher Parks & Rec.(9, 10, 11)</p>

<p>*I will be continuing most, if not all, of these ECs senior year</p>

<p>Awards
Several state awards for German speaking/writing
Attended UW-Madison German Day in 9, 10, 11
State baton team member 2013
Placed in the top 10 in my division for baton twirling at nationals twice
I've won a few local titles for baton twirling (should I list these?)
First place rating at state solo & ensemble clarinet solo (you have to qualify for state at a local contest)</p>

2

<p>No suggestions? :(</p>

3

<p>35 minutes? Patience, kid. </p>

4

<p>Home State? Wisconsin? Where in the US would you like to study? How much can you and your parents afford?? </p>

5

<p>Aren’t you interested in UW-Madison? I think you ought to have an excellent chance of getting in, as a state resident. The same would apply to most other midwestern state universities, with possible exception of Michigan. Do you want to get out of the northern midwest? Do you want a smaller school? Have you spoken with your twirling coach? Some big schools have scholarships for cheerleading and marching band. USC might be a stretch, but it’s worth a try. Look at other football powerhouses - your GPA and scores should be adequate, and the twirling and band could be the hooks you need. SMU? Texas A & M? Florida State? NC State? I’d say you have a lot of options. Check out the national organizations for baton twirling - they might be a good resource for you.</p>

6

<p>Unless you explain your financial situation, no suggestion anyone makes will be of much value. Have you discussed how much money, if any, your parents can contribute to your college education? If not, you need to get that nailed down before looking at which schools are “reaches”.</p>

7

<p>@woogzmama‌ I don’t really consider UW-Madison a reach. I have looked at some schools for baton twirling but it is not a priority (marching band in general is a must, though). I am a member of a baton organization but I doubt I am good enough to be considered for a feature twirler position at most places. I would prefer a larger school.</p>

<p>@Gumbymom‌ and @Joblue‌ my EFC is about $18,000. My parents said they could most likely contribute $6,000 a year. I have a few thousand dollars in bonds my grandparents gave to me that we’ve been saving for college as well. Home state is Wisconsin. I don’t have a serious preference as to where- just wherever I would be most happy.</p>

8

<p>It kinda requires us to list highly selective public universities if you wanna do marching band and go to a higher ranked school than UW-Madison… the only schools I can think of for you to consider are Wake Forest, Boston College, USC, Notre Dame and North Carolina (not sure if you consider UNC too selective)… everything else is at UW-Madison’s rank or you consider too selective or doesn’t play D1 sports.</p>

9

<p>When I say very selective publics I meant more along the lines of UVa out of state or UNC Chapel Hill out of state (both <25% if the numbers I’m looking at are right). I’m fine with more selective universities, but high reaches that I have .5% of getting into aren’t really what I’m looking for.</p>

10

<p>Public schools rarely give good need based aid to OOS students (there probably are a few exceptions, but not many). So UNC probably doesn’t make sense. Minnesota has tuition reciprocity with Wisconsin, so U of M Twin Cities might be a choice, but I don’t know if you would get FA there. </p>

<p>Note that just because your FAFSA EFC is $18K does not mean that you would get enough aid at all schools to match that. And it sounds like you are not well positioned to meet your EFC without possibly more loans than you can take on yourself even if a college meets your FAFSA EFC amount. You should run the Net Price Calculator on each college’s financial aid page of their website to see what you could expect to pay. Note that if your parents are divorced, own a small business, or have rental property, you probably would get less aid than is shown.</p>

<p>Too bad you will not be an NMF candidate due to lower PSAT, that would open up some nice affordable options. Maybe someone else could suggest any colleges with automatic scholarships for the OP’s stats that have marching band as well?</p>

11

<p>I don’t think Wake, BC and USC are affordable to op. I maybe wrong, if EFC is 18K, none of the college mentioned will fully match the EFC, worse than that, even they do, the parents only can provide 6K who can close that gap? The bond will be used up in one year.</p>

<p>OP I think UW maybe one of your better choice. Otherwise you need to go to a lower ranked oos or private school where you get high merit money so that you don’t have to take on large debt for UG. What about UMTC?, you will get in-state tuition there.</p>

<p>If you can bring the ACT to 34, that will open up more doors.</p>

12

<p>In all fairness, a reach school is a college that you might not get into and is an institution where the average student is a slightly higher academic achiever than you are. Basically, “reaches” are places where you apply KNOWING that you likely won’t get in anyway. You’re not going to find a reach that you’re likely to get into because then it wouldn’t be a reach, it would be a match or a safety.
Base your applications off of where and what you really like. If there aren’t any highly selective schools you are interested in, don’t feel like you need to apply just to put reaches on your list. There’s nothing wrong with liking matches or safeties more than a super-selective university! :)</p>

13

<p>How do you plan to cover the $12K gap between your EFC and what your parents are able/willing to pay? Are you considering private loans (in addition to any federal student loans that might be offered as part of college aid packages)? If so, are your parents willing to borrow that much?</p>

<p>You probably should rule out most OOS public universities (too expensive, not enough aid). The lowest OOS costs, at schools like Minnesota-Morris and Truman State, are still above $20K. Most private schools that claim to cover full need will be reaches (<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014&lt;/a&gt;). Many of them are super reaches or are small LACs with no engineering programs. The University of Southern California is the largest of these schools, has a big sports scene, and should be within reach for your stats. Try running their online Net Price Calculator to see if they leave you with an EFC of $18K or less.</p>

14

<p>I understand the high chance of not getting into a reach school, but with UVA or UNC the chances are so slim it’s not even worth applying (in my mind). </p>

15

<p>Ok, if so, put UIUC and Mich Ann Arbor on the reach, but what is the point?You cannot afford it even you get in. You are looking for a LARGE School as reach below UVA and UNC, those are the two I throw out as reach.</p>

<p>AS I said work on your ACT or SAT first.</p>

16

<p>I do plan on taking the ACT again (the last time I took it I had little prep) and I plan on actually practicing the SAT before I take it.</p>

17

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<p>You are missing the point. Wouldn’t matter if you could get in or not, you can’t afford them. Public universities do not give much financial aid to out of state students. They give it to the children of their taxpayers, so to in-state students. </p>

<p>You need to do two things:

  • Run the net price calculators on the schools you are interested in. If you don’t have a plan to meet the EFC that each college gives (and “I will just borrow as much as I need to” is not a plan…), then you need to probably take it off your list.
  • If you really can bring up your test scores a lot, then some colleges that give automatic merit scholarships for stats come into play. </p>
18

<p>Westpoint, it is a reach and free! And certainly has all the marching band you wanted.</p>

19

<p>I have no interest in joining the military. Thank you for the input, though.</p>

<p>As for affordability, the two examples I gave were just two that came to mind. There are other private schools that could be affordable but are too selective and I would have a slim to no chance of getting in. I understand that some schools will be too expensive and I have already eliminated some schools from my list because of this, but I am just trying to get an academic and social idea of the types of schools I’m looking for before I get into the financial aspects of it.</p>

20

<p>The only publics that could be on your list that are out of state are UVA and UNC which you think are too selective so public schools OOS aren’t on your list. The schools that I mentioned are literally the only colleges that qualify under your criteria. No OOS public schools exist that are better than UW-Madison that would meet need that aren’t UNC or UVA hence why I suggested private colleges (Few of these also exist because you want a large school with a marching band.)</p>