Where to apply to? Rough resume provided.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, thank you all in advance! I'm having trouble deciding where to apply to. I'm rather unpicky/indecisive - school size, location, etc. aren't deal-breaking factors for me. I'm just looking for a high quality school that will prepare me for my future. My interest is in science (med, bio, chem, engineering) and a bit in business. I'm an Asian female living in TX. Here's my list:</p>

<p>Safety:
University of Texas - Austin (auto-admission)
Texas A&M (auto-admission)</p>

<p>Achievable:
I don't know if I should apply to these. UT Austin is a great school and much cheaper than other out-of-state schools. I've heard you can get in-state tuition from out-of-state schools somehow, but how? And what are the chances?</p>

<p>Reach:
Honestly, I've considered pretty much all the top 25 schools in this list:
National</a> University | Rankings | Data | US News
It seems like every time I cross one off, I end up adding it back a few days later. Sometimes I add more schools without crossing any off.. I've visited the top 9 schools (except the University of Chicago), Johns Hopkins, Rice, and Emory, but still can't narrow down my list. Any suggestions would be appreciated.</p>

<p>I don't know how many schools I should apply to - I have friends applying to anywhere between 5 and 20 - but hopefully my "resume" can help narrow it down. Don't be afraid to give me the facts. If I'm not qualified/over-qualified for a school, let me know. It will help!</p>

<p>These are the approximate stats I will have when I apply to colleges:</p>

<p>GPA/Rank:
GPA - 4.74/4.00 (straight "A"s, most rigorous course load possible)
Class Rank - 10-20 out of ~1000</p>

<p>Testing:
PSAT - 230 (70/80/80)
SAT (highest single-sitting) - 2260 (670/790/800)
SAT (superscore) - 2280 (690/790/800)
ACT - 34 (35/33/31/36) and 8 on essay
SAT Subject Tests - 720 (chem - 11th) and 730 (math 1 - 10th)</p>

<p>Piano:
- 11 years.
- All-State Winner at the Texas Federation of Music Clubs State Festival (10th).
- "Outstanding" (2nd highest rating - All-State Winner is top) at the Texas Federation of Music Clubs State Festival (6 times).
- "Superior" (top rating) at the Bayou City Federation of Music Clubs Gold Cup Competition (7 times).</p>

<p>Band:
- Top band in a program with nearly 300 kids.
- 7 years of oboe (concert band).
- 4 years of alto sax (marching band).
- Section leader/D.I. of alto saxes and historian (11th).
- Backfield drum major (12th).
- Marching band placed 3rd at Area and qualified for UIL State (11th).
- Received a 1 on a class one solo at Solo and Ensemble (9th, 10th, and 11th).
- Qualified for the State Solo and Ensemble Convention and received 2s both times (10th and 11th)
- Made the District Band for oboe (11th).</p>

<p>Mu Alpha Theta:
- Over 200 members. Second largest club in the school.
- Alpha Representative (9th).
- Historian (10th).
- President (11th and 12th).
- Inducted all years of membership.
- Applied for and received the National Convention Grant (Does this matter?)</p>

<p>Future Business Leaders of America:
- Over 200 members. Largest club in the school.
- Tested for Districts and State and qualified for Nationals (9th and 10th).</p>

<p>Debate:
- 3 years of experience.
- Qualified for the State Speech and Debate Competition in Championship Lincoln-Douglas Debate (11th).
- Received Degrees of Merit, Honor, Excellence, and Distinction from the National Forensics League.</p>

<p>Science Olympiad:
- On the team (9th and 10th).
- Medalled in 5+ different events.
- My school has gone to State and Nationals every year since my freshman year.</p>

<p>Volunteering:
- Around 100 hours volunteering for various causes and organizations.
- Around 200 hours volunteering as a counselor at Camp CAMP, a camp for children with disabilities, whether intellectual or physical.</p>

<p>Work:
- I work as a tutor and teacher in my neighborhood. I currently tutor in Chinese and Algebra 1 and teach piano.
- I only work about 3 hours a week. I've been working for half a year now.</p>

<p>Teacher Recs:
- I plan on asking my debate coach to write my additional rec. He is one of the nation's "Top Five Coaches" and has known me for 3 years.
- Hopefully, my other recs will be good. I go to a big school (~4000 students), so it's hard to form an extremely close connection with your teachers, but I don't think my recs will bring the rest of my application down or anything.</p>

2

<p>University of Texas at Dallas and University of Alabama will throw a lot of money at you. (full ride probably). So, they are your safety colleges.</p>

3

<p>Did you make National Merit Finalist? If so, Texas A&M has a good scholarship for you.</p>

<p>More potentially low cost options:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-18.html#post15895768[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-18.html#post15895768&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But if UT Austin and Texas A&M are safeties and you like them, you may not need to have much else on your list. Only schools that you might possibly choose over those two (either because you like them better, or because you like them similarly but they would be less expensive) would need to be on your application list.</p>

4

<p>You definitely have an impressive r</p>

5

<p>@XtremePower: I’m more worried about quality than money when it comes to college. As long as it’s worth paying for, tuition won’t be a huge problem. Do you think the money saved is worth the quality of education sacrificed at those schools? My dream is to become a doctor, if that has any weight on the decision.</p>

<p>@ucbalumnus: I don’t think NMSF cutoffs have even come out yet. September, isn’t it? I do hope to make NMF though. You make a good point about only applying to schools I would choose over UT Austin and Texas A&M. However, that’s my problem precisely - There are many safety/achievable schools I would attend (but only if they are better quality schools than UT) over my current safeties if I received a sizeable scholarship or in-state tuition. There’s no way to know if I would though, especially for schools ranked higher than UT. For reach schools, I would most likely attend if I got in, but I’m not sure exactly where to apply in the first place. Any suggestions?</p>

<p>@Mbirmingham: Thank you! As to the schools you suggested, I would most likely attend UT over those. It seems to be a high quality school, and would only be $10k, as opposed to $40k for the other schools. I don’t know if I’m missing something here and that’s why UT seems so much better to me, so please let me know if I’m just being ignorant or something!</p>