What schools do you think would be good fits for me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! I'm a junior from California who'd be so grateful to have some college suggestions, especially matches and safeties. i would really appreciate any help at all! I plan on majoring in Political Science, but with a possible double major or minor in Economics. I would prefer to be on either the West or East Coast, but I'm open as far as geography. However, I'm pretty liberal and I would prefer if my school/state wasn't extremely conservative. I'm looking for a mid- to large-sized school that gives out pretty good aid, whether it be need-based or merit. I definitely want coed. Thank you SO MUCH for all of your help!!!</p>

<p>SAT I: 2260, first sitting (800 CR, 780 W, 680 M). Will retake. Based on practice tests, I'm expecting ~2230 (800, 800, 700 M)
SAT II: 780 World History, will take US History and possibly Lit.
Unweighted GPA: 4.0, Weighted: 4.5
Rank: Top 2-3% (not finalized)
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History, US History, US Government & Politics, Physics B, Microecon, Literature, Physics C, Calculus AB. Lots of honors classes with a pretty rigorous schedule.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: President of a language club, president of a political club, Editor-in-chief of newspaper, officer of CSF, Board of Directors for a school-based charity, LINK Leader, peer tutor,
Job/Work Experience: Intern for a congressman (summer '13); intern for big political organization (13-14 school year) intern for city government (summer '14), intern for a US senator (summer '14)
Volunteer/Community service: Tutoring, volunteer at a hospital, SPCA volunteer</p>

<p>State: CA
School Type: Ranked as a US News gold school (top 500 in nation); public
Race(s): White/Middle Eastern
Hispanic (Y/N):
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 70,000</p>

2

<p>Here are some Matches and safeties. All of these schools have excellent political science departments. Some of them, like U chicago and Berkeley, also have very strong economics departments. </p>

<p>University of Chicago - Low Reach.
Georgetown - High Match.
Emory - High Match.
WUSTL - High Match.
California Berkeley - High Match.
Tufts - Match.
University of Wisconsin - Match/low match.
U rochester - Low Match.
George Washington University - Low Match.
Syracuse - Safety.
American University - Safety.
George Mason - Safety.</p>

3

<p>Thanks so much for your input. I truly appreciate your help. I’ll definitely check those schools out!</p>

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<p>*In original post, I meant to say expecting a 2300, not a 2230 :)</p>

5

<p>As a California resident you can expect that at least one of the lower ranked UCs is a safety, and that the mid-range UCs are low match. Apart from Georgetown your other DC based colleges are not especially convincing. There are no Ivies or equivalent universities on your list. Consider adding Penn, Yale, Harvard, and Stanford to your list. They are all high reach but your grades/scores are in fact in the middle of their range for accepted scores. They are need blind. I would drop some of your safeties and low match. Consider applying EA one of the high reach colleges that offer that as an option. Goog luck!</p>

6

<p>What about Johns Hopkins as a match? Barnard is probably a high match/low reach, with Columbia a super-reach.</p>

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<p>@fogcity: Thanks for your suggestions! I was thinking of applying to Stanford SCEA and Yale RD as my reaches, and maybe adding Penn. Do you think UCSB and UC Davis would be reasonable safeties?
@woogzmama: I’ll definitely look into Johns Hopkins. Barnard is an amazing school, but I need coed :slight_smile: Thank you!</p>

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<p>Remember that regardless of stats, any college with less than a 30% acceptance rate is a reach.
As a CA resident, UC’s would be your safeties. However, look at some of the “rejected everywhere” threads: quite a few kids with your stats ended with only UCR or UCSC. Don’t assume anything and apply widely, including all tiers.
For the Top 25 national universities, once you’ve made the cut academically, the difference will be your EC’s.
Due to your income bracket, disregard all out of state public universities that don’t offer full-rides.
Look at the “100% need” colleges, since you’re likely to get excellent financial aid packages.
For a match, based on your stated preference, I’d include Macalester. It’s located in a great neighborhood in a great city and it’s nationally recognized for political science/politically involved students.</p>

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<p>I graduated from Barnard. Granted, it was before Columbia College began admitting women, but Barnard students can live in co-ed housing, register in Columbia undergraduate (and, in some cases, graduate) classes, and participate in all university activities. The Barnard campus is right at Columbia - you seldom feel as if you are at a single-sex college, and you are hardly isolated from the world when you’re on 116th and Broadway.</p>

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<p>Reach: Columbia, Stanford, Penn, Duke, UC Berkeley.
High Match: Tufts, Emory, Macalester College, Barnard College.
Low Match: U Rochester, UCLA.
Likely: George Washington, UC San Diego, Dickinson College.
Safety: UC Davis.</p>

<p>UCSD is a must pick. It’s strong in both poli sci and econ, it’s in-state, and you have a great chance at admission.</p>

<p>There are 3 Liberal Arts Colleges in there. You might get more fin aid from these schools than the larger schools, so consider relaxing your size requirements. I agree with @MYOS1634 about Macalester. Dickinson won’t be on the radar for most people, but it has good poli sci and internships, a nice location – equidistant to NYC, Philly, and Washington – and might give you a pile of aid. </p>

<p>You should listen to @woogzmama about Barnard. It won’t feel like a women’s college for the reasons that she pointed out. Also, Columbia is one of the top schools for both poli sci and econ, but it’s very difficult to gain admission. So what’s the easiest way for you to have access to some of those opportunities at Columbia? Barnard College. This is precisely why some folks call Barnard a “backdoor” to Columbia (sorry woogzmama!), but if I was in your place, with your particular academic interests and stats, I’d happily try to take advantage of it. Barnard itself has plenty to offer. Its list of alumnae alone makes me think it’s grossly under-ranked. </p>

11

<p>I’d push up UCLA from a low match or push down UC berkeley from a reach. I don’t think that their admissions standards are that different. </p>

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<p>@woogzmama: Thanks so much for your input. I definitely didn’t know the degree to which Columbia and Barnard students interacted with each other, and knowing this definitely makes me like Barnard even more! The more I look into it, the better it sounds. I have added it to my list :slight_smile: Thank you!
@MYOS1634, @Guest15, @Dunboyne: Thanks for all of your suggestions! I’m definitely going to apply to UCB and UCSD. Just for context, my schools send many students to UCB. Two years ago, in a class of ~400, 15+ were accepted. I think that it may be a match, just based on my school’s previous success with UCB.
I’d really appreciate any other suggestions!</p>

13

<p>bump</p>