<p>Hey everyone!! So I'm a junior right now, and it's always been my dream to go to Yale. I know it's a reach, and so are some of the other school I'm planning to apply to next year (Harvard, UPenn). So I'm wondering, what would be a good target school for me? And safety? Thanks so much!! :)</p>
<p>Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Half black/Half Russian (LOL yeah what...? I know)
School: One of the best public ones in MA
SAT: 2180 (690 CR 740 W 750 M) First time taking it, will take again
SAT II: will take Bio, French, and Math 2 this year
GPA: 3.93 out of 4.00 (unweighted)
Current classes and grades: APUSH (A-), AP Bio (A), AP French (A), Honors Math (A), Honors English (A) Regular Spanish (A)
Next year: AP Calc AB, AP Psych, AP English, maybe AP Psych
PSAT: 99th percentile, the National Achievement thing (for African Americans or whatever)
ECs: Varsity swimming 3 years (1 out of maybe 5 blacks in league), Environmental Club, Water-Polo Club, Peer Mentoring Program, Guidance Aide for Freshmen, Special Needs Aquatics, French exchange next year, charity work in Africa this year
Work: Lifeguard and head swim lesson instructor all year
Awards: National Achievement for PSAT, 4th Place in National French Contest, Honorary Mention in City-wide MLK Essay
Others: Speak Russian and French fluently, Family income ~60,000, Neither of my parents went to college in the USA</p>
<p>That doesn’t tell us anything about what you want. Small? Big? Rural? Urban? HYPenn are pretty broad appeal schools, so the things that draw you toward them could also draw you toward Brown, or toward Columbia, or toward even Bryn Mawr (although that last’s a stretch.) It would probably be most helpful for you to start with CC’s College Matchmaker or the CollegeBoard’s super match just to get a list; then you could come on here for more schools like the ones that appealed to you, or other more human opinions.</p>
<p>UMass would be a safety and probably affordable.</p>
<p>Do you have any idea what you’d like to study in college? Or at least areas of study you are interested in? Do you want to swim in college? These are the questions you need to ask yourself in order to look for the best school for what you want.</p>
<p>For safeties, some obvious candidates are the University of Massachusetts schools if they are affordable (check their net price calculators) and University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa with Presidential Scholarship and University of Alabama - Birmingham with Blazer Elite Scholarship.</p>
<p>But what you want to study is a big factor in what schools to consider.</p>
<p>No I’m only applying in around New England and definitely not anywhere in the South. Yeah, I’ll apply to UMass I think but that’s like an extreme safety. Okay but never mind I don’t think I was like clear in my question but thanks!</p>
<p>Your safeties are more likely to be defined in terms of net cost, rather than admissions, since many of the not-super-selective private and out-of-state public schools are not that generous with need-based financial aid. You may have to look at deeper safeties to get large guaranteed (for your stats) merit scholarships (analogous to Alabama and UAB), and your in-state public schools for decent need aid. Check each school’s “net price calculator” (put that in the search box) to see what kind of financial aid it is likely to offer.</p>
<p>What are you interested in studying?</p>