What do you think about my list? Am I overestimating myself?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Asian female from GA
low, loooow-income family
Catholic</p>

<p>GPA- 3.5UW/4.0W (I got 2 C's when I transferred to a competitive school and took the most advanced classes. Why did I do that)
rank- n/a
SATI- 1450 (790M/660V)
SATII- Literature, physics, IIC (taking in Oct. hopefully 750+)
ACT- 34 </p>

<p>most rigorous curriculum; 13 AP's by graduation</p>

<p>ECs/awards/volunteer work/etc:
-NHS (4) treasurer
-Latin Club (1,2,3,4) VP
-Model UN (3,4) treasurer, best delegate award at W&M conference
-Odyssey of Mind (1,2) 1st @ state competition
-student advisory board (1,2,3,4)
-yearbook editor (2,3)
-Latin Honor Society (2,3,4)
-Leadership Club (1,2,3,4)
-Mu Alpha Theta (2)
-Beta Club (4)
-Governor Honors Program finalist (Latin)</p>

<p>-top band, principal, lettered in band
-marching band (1,2) section leader
-district honor band (1,2)
-all-state band (2)
-youth symphony orchestra, principal chair
-my flute choir performed at the National Flute Convention '04</p>

<p>-varsity tennis (1,2,4), lettered, best record award
-varsity cross country (1,2), lettered, best rookie award</p>

<p>-teaching @ vacational bible school during summer (90 hours)
-teaching @ a homeless shelter (65 hours)
-research on endangered seaturtles (100 hours)
-Community Outreach, group leader (~30 hours)
-plus NHS and Beta volunteer hours</p>

<p>*My EC's are inconsistent because I transferred after my sophomore year. Transferred students at my new school cannot play sports for a year.</p>

<p>Colleges I have in mind are:</p>

<p>Reach:
Northwestern (ED)
Rice (EA)
U of Chicago (EA)</p>

<p>Match:
U of Notre Dame (EA)</p>

<p>Safety??:
Emory (RD)
NYU- not Stern (RD)</p>

<p>My bro attends Emory, and most of his stats were lower than mine. He applied ED, so I'm not sure if it's exactly a safety when I'm applying RD. Do you think those schools are categorized correctly?? What other safeties should I add?</p>

2

<p>You're list is a perfect match. You did a good job researching your choices. But I still think you're UNDERestimating your choices. Why not add another reach or two? I could see Cornell being a good reach on your list.</p>

<p>And NYU is NOTTT a safety!</p>

3

<p>Hey there. Your list looks pretty good, but I would put a couple more colleges in the match column if you could. And definetly get a real safety . . . one you are absolutely positive you will get in. </p>

<p>Also, are you in the top 5% of your class? If not, I would think twice about applying to Notre Dame EA. Apparently they discourage it, idk. I would call them up and talk to a ND admisions officer about it if you have any doubt. Your SAT's look really good for EA though. </p>

<p>I would also move ND into the reach column. They're really unpredictable and I saw people this year with your stats and better get rejected. You're a good applicant for Notre Dame though, best of luck!</p>

4

<p>I think you can reach a little higher. Catholic schools Georgetown, Boston College. Ivies Cornell, U of Penn. Duke might be a good possibility.</p>

5

<p>Have you considered WUSTL as a match school?</p>

<p>I don't think your safties are real safties...</p>

6

<p>Girl, if Emory is your safety net, you must be Chelsea Clinton, Emory is a school that is hardly a safety, even for a valedictorian, it is one of the top schools in the country, I'd say it is a slight reach/match.</p>

<p>You need a REAL safety.</p>

7

<p>Emory and NYU are NOT safeties! NYU has about the same acceptance rate as northwestern which is a reach for you. i don't beat around the bush, get safeties, like a state U or a college with 50+ acceptance rate...</p>

8

<p>Yeah, yall are right. My brother got into Emory with a 1340/3.65UW, and he didn't even submit a teacher rec! I guess that deluded my judgment. </p>

<p>I always looked past Duke and Cornell because my GPA sucks.</p>

<p>My new REAL safety: UGA. I'm not too fond of the whole southern, big campus thing, but I think it's a good safety school. Should I apply early there?? Pros: no essay and I'd have one acceptance under my belt. Con: 40 bucks (remember, I'm poor, lol)</p>

9

<p>If Emory is your safety you might end up in community college, emory is not a safety for you.</p>

10

<p>uhhh, I'd assume UGa is rolling admissions so yes I'd apply there early.</p>

<p>The problem I see is if you are accepted ED at Northwestern you'll have to go there. What if their financial aid is inadequate? When money is an issue be careful about applying ED. EA is OK.</p>

11

<p>You need many more true matches and safeties. You need to spend more time finding a school(s) you would be happy to attend that could be the only school that you get into. UGA based on your comments doesn't sound like a good safety for you. A safety is a school where your stats significantly exceed the average accepted student and where your likelihood of acceptance is ~90%. But you would be wise to find such a safety school that you would really be happy going to based on size, location, academics and campus culture. By definition, it might really be the only school you get into. Don't put most of your effort into choosing reaches where you likely won't be accepted. Put your effort first into finding schools you like where you are more likely to be accepted. Even Notre Dame is a borderline match/reach; Emory is a reach, not a safety (even with your brother's acceptance) as is NYU. And don't get hung up on the prestige of the place. Find schools that are a match for your personality and aspirations.</p>

12

<p>While I think you would get into Northwestern ED, you probably should not apply early because of financial aid, as a previous poster pointed out. Yet, if the package is "insufficient" I guess you don't have to be binded to your ED contract...but I'm not to sure how that works.</p>

13

<p>I don't know if there is any safety school that someone would be truly happy to attend. Most people want to attend the best school they can get into, unless money is involved. I personally don't see a point in looking for 3-4 safety school. I don't want my parents to pay a lot of money for me to go to a school that's the same caliber as UGA but far away from home, you know? </p>

<p>And about financial aid- I don't even know if I can get into Northwestern, so I'm not going to worry about that just yet. Haha, I know I'm really reckless. I did talk to my parents, and they said give it a shot. So yeah.. that's the story of my life.</p>

14

<p>I would be happy to attend my safety, University of Houston. I love the school so much that I don't even want to apply to UT-Austin or Texas A&M, because in my mind they can't compare to University of Houston..even though UT and Texas are more prestigious. You should give the schools you want to go to a shot, because you have no "chance" if you don't even apply, but you should also get a safety you truly love just in case it doesn't work out your way.</p>

15

<p>ure a huge goof for thinking that emory and nyu-stern are your safeties. Its one thing when you say NYU....but nyu-stern is harder to get into than most your reaches. I dont think you entirely understand the definition of a safety. Apply to UGA or St. Joseph's (youre catholic). I wouldnt even say Villanova is a safety.</p>

<p>Otherwise, good list.</p>

16

<p>She said NOT Stern for NYU.</p>

<p>I agree that all your schools are either slight reaches or matches.</p>

<p>You can always apply for fee waivers for your applications - and some schools even waive the fee if you apply online.</p>

17

<p>apologies for that but emory and nyu arent safeties for anyone.</p>

18

<p>Maybe they're prestigious enough not to be called safeties per se, but you can at least call them "safe matches".</p>

<p>My way to determine whether a school is a safe match for someone is by whether they're offered a merit scholarship of some kind. If NYU offers someone $10,000, it was probably a safe match. It wouldn't make much sense to call that a match, much less a reach.</p>

19

<p>"My way to determine whether a school is a safe match for someone is by whether they're offered a merit scholarship of some kind. If NYU offers someone $10,000, it was probably a safe match. It wouldn't make much sense to call that a match, much less a reach."</p>

<p>thats stupid. how do you know that she would get merit aid at those schools, do you work in their admissions office, or are you just guessing? NYU/Emory are DEF not safeties or even safe matches for someone with a 3.5uw gpa, no offense. it will probably come down to the objective stuff like essays and recs for her at most of the schools on her list, and we have no idea how those will be, and if they really really sucked, even with her stats, she probably wouldnt get into emory or NYU. so, just to be safe, she should be applying to some actual safeties. schools that she could write an essay on her favorite episode of Friends and still get into. theyre at least matches, not safe matches.</p>

20

<ol>
<li><p>I meant in retrospect. My friend got a $10,000 scholarship offer from NYU, so I wouldn't look back and say it was a solid match or reach. My point was simply that NYU <em>can</em> be considered a safe match.</p></li>
<li><p>I wasn't referring to the OP. I was talking about safe matches in general.</p></li>
</ol>