<p>I'm a solid, probably unspectacular student (3.7, 2210 - although 3.7 is barely top 25% in my school). I feel that the Ivy's are a little out my reach, and I'm looking for some schools that are in the next category down. Any suggestions? Some people have told me that Boston College and Villanova fit this mold, but I don't see myself doing well at a Christian/Conservative institution. I'm open to public and private, anywhere East of (and including) Chicago. Thanks.</p>
<p>Look at the LACs ranked say about 10-30 for a variety of places. Places like Trinity, Dickinson, Bucknell, Colby, Hamilton, Skidmore, Union, Syracuse, Hobart & William Smith, Franklin & Marshall, Lehigh? TCNJ is also a good school near home; Rutgers as a match?</p>
<p>If you are male, that could be an edge at Vassar or Sarah Lawrence.</p>
<p>If you are female look at Smith, Bryn Mawr, etc.</p>
<p>If you need merit aid, shoot a bit lower on the list, and your SATs could net you some. </p>
<p>Finally, consider schools where a kid from NJ = geographic diversity (like the South or Midwest.) You are duking it out with a lot of bright northeastern kids for spots at northeastern schools that the whole country is applying to. A school like Lawrence University in WI or Centre or Rhodes in the south might be more interested in a NJ kid. At least consider these areas because the caliber of school you can get into can be higher when you go off the beaten track.</p>
<p>Thanks SB, I'll def be applying to some of those, like Trinity, Rutgers, TCNJ and Syracuse. I have to decide how to balance the fact that I might get into better schools if I look outside my geographic region with my reluctance to be more than five or six hours from home. Considering cost, I was thinking of looking at some of the better southern public schools like UVA, UNC, and William & Mary what do you think of those?</p>
<p>University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin. Although the later is technically "west" of chicago... by an hour.</p>
<p>Boston College is a Top Tier school; Villanova could be something for you to consider. Others include:</p>
<p>Bates, Bucknell, Case Western, Colby, Connecticut College, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Furamn, George Washington, Gettysburg, Hamilton, Holy Cross, Kenyon, Lafayette, Lehigh, NYU, Oberlin, Rochester, St. Lawrence, Skidmore, Trinity, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and William & Mary.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>If money is an issue and you are a NJ resident, then Rutgers-New Brunswick would be a good choice.</p>
<p>i consider wake forest a top tier school. it's certainly not a tier below boston college.</p>
<p>apply to Yale</p>
<p>There are tons of schools you would have no problem getting into in the top tier...the top tier isn't just Ivies.</p>
<p>wait how many schools are in the top tier, like 15?</p>
<p>there are so many schools open to you, I can't even list them all. Don't shut out conv./christian schools before you see what the student body is like, you might be surprised</p>
<p>I think the publics you name are great, but when you apply from out to a public in another area, your out of state status can actually work against you due to restrictions on the # of OOS applicants allowed.</p>
<p>If top tier means Ivys (I kinda disagree, but I'll go with it) + Stanford and MIT, there here are the next:
Duke, WUSTL, UChicago, Rice, Northwestern, Berkeley, UVA, Michigan, Caltech, Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>In US News, top tier was 50 some schools. all depends on definition</p>
<p>The top tier on this site would be HYPSM and then the rest of the Ivies CIT Duke NU JHU Chicago etc.</p>
<p>Top Tier is Top 50; per the "bell curve" posted on a couple of other threads, it's the A+, A and A- schools -- IMHO.</p>
<p>I agree with thethoughtprocess... Also, though SATS are great, the OP has a GPA/class rank problem. OP needs the tier where a 3.7 does not sink you. That's where I was coming from.</p>
<p>Depending on your ECs, you may be a stronger candidate than you think, but I have to agree with some of the other posters that for an out of state applicant UVa and UNC-Chapel Hill are very tough, and Williams and Mary isn't much easier, if at all. They would be in the reach category for you. If southern private universities appeal to you Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and maybe Emory would certainly be realistic though not automatic prospects.</p>
<p>William and Mary will not throw your application into the rejection pile for a "low" GPA. They will look at your whole application. I also know they have a decent sized NY/NJ out of state group (there seem to be a fair amount at least, for some reason they flock to VA schools...) I don't know about UNC, but I know UVA seems to have straight GPA cutoffs.</p>
<p>clearly, "top tier" is subjective.</p>
<p>Colgate, Bucknell,and Holy Cross would be better than both BC and Villanova.</p>
<p>The rank will be a problem, but you have excellent SAT scores. I would look at colleges that dont' have overly high % of people in the top 10% of their class. There are some good colleges in this range, including CMU, Tufts, Bandeis, Tulane, GWU, and Wake Forest.</p>
<p>UNC Chapel is possible, but I think UVA and W&M will be difficult, since both are very tough for out of staters. UVA is more stat based than W&M (I agree).</p>