Working on college list

College Search & Selection
1

I really appreciate all of the advice that I’ve gotten from people here in finding colleges for me. I now have a pretty good idea of what kind of college I’m looking for and what schools I like, now I’m trying to work on choosing which schools from my list are the best for me.

Intended major: education
Gpa (uw/w): 3.6/4.2
ACT: 30
SAT: 1370
Ecs: varsity sport, part time job

What I want in a school: high level academics, well known, good sports, located in a city, suburb, or college town (not rural), greek life, medium-large, would prefer southern, and offers an education major.

Top choices (almost definitely applying): Vanderbilt and University of Alabama

Other schools I’m interested in but less sure about:
UIUC, Purdue, FSU, UF, UW, Penn State, UGA, Baylor, UCF, Tulane, LMU, USC, UT, UVA, BU, BC, Wake Forest, Brown, Cornell, UNC, Duke

I don’t want to apply to 20+ schools so I definitely need to narrow that down. A lot of them are really similar and match all of my preferences so I’m not sure which ones I should apply do.

Could anyone give me some advice on my list?

2

Vanderbilt, Brown, Cornell, USC, Virginia, and Duke are long reaches. BC is a reach and has no Greek life. You may want to prune most of these from your list, and check the ACT / SAT ranges for all of the schools.

3

Home state and budget?

4

My home state is Illinois. No specific budget.

5

Have you looked at Clemson - would say a match school with your stats and has all that you mention.

6

@a_masters16 Thanks for the suggestion! I haven’t looked at Clemson in depth yet but I like it!

@inboston should I not apply to any of my reaches?

7

You can apply to your reaches, but you would have a very minimal shot of getting in. UVA, Vanderbilt, Duke, Cornell, and Brown are out of reach.

BC, BU, and Wake are slightly reach, but they are still doable. Still apply to those schools.

Make sure you go to a school that has a teaching certification program within.

8

I was planning on applying early decision to Vanderbilt. Would that help or do I still have no chance?

9

There’s no harm in trying ED at Vanderbilt if you have no other school where you’d consider playing the ED card.

I would recommend making a closer direct comparison of Vandy vs. Wake Forest, though. It seems to me that many of the things you like about Vanderbilt are also true of Wake, and “prestige” wise, Wake is only slightly lower in the USNWR National Universities list - top 30 rather than top 20, but still an elite U. ED admission rate at Wake is 39% (vs 29% RD) whereas Vanderbilt’s ED rate is only 24% (vs. 9% RD). Your stats are very near median for admitted students at Wake, whereas you’re solidly in the bottom quartile for Vandy admits (a quartile that is likely filled primarily with students who have athletic and/or demographic “hooks” that you do not have). From where I sit, Wake is a vastly better fit for your profile, without really sacrificing any of the things you love about Vandy.

If Vandy is THE dream school for you, then it’s definitely better to apply ED than not. But Wake is an example of a school where the ED advantage would tend to tip the odds in your favor, whereas at Vandy it just turns a “no way” into a long shot. Wake is still a prestigious, mid-sized private university in a southern city, with tons of school spirit, D1 sports, active Greek life, and an excellent education program in the context of excellent overall academics. I would take a close look at Wake before making a final decision to go for Vandy as your ED “prestige school.”

10

Thanks! I will definitely look into Wake Forest more. I really love Vanderbilt especially because of its prestige, school spirit, and the fact that it’s education program is the best, but I can see the comparison between that and Wake Forest. I’m not completely sure if I want to give up on Vanderbilt and apply early decision to Wake Forest though.

11

Both Vandy and Wake offer early decision I and II so you can can ED at Vandy and if denied you can still try at Wake.

12

Thanks! I might try that then.

13

Look into University of Richmond. I could see that being a good fit for you. Another good option is University of Miami. If you’re willing to go up north, Syracuse could be good too.

14

Boston College Class of 2022. Mean ACT 33 Mean SAT 1448. 1000 less kids accepted than 2021 and a waitlist that’s seems to be pretty unused again. Only 15 kids last year and this year seems very quiet too. And remember BCs stats include a lot of d1 athletes that are usually lower overall academic strength. Take them out and it’s slightly higher than totals.

Can you get in. Sure I don’t know your full picture or essays. Or ethnic background.

Just for folks who may be using a slightly less recent lens. It’s a bit of more of reach lately.

15

@collegebound7789 Thanks for the suggestions! I never knew about University of Richmond or Syracuse but they both look like really good schools for me!

@privatebanker I probably won’t write super great essays and I’m white, so that wouldn’t help my chances. And honestly, I don’t really think that Boston College is one of my top choices. I think I just won’t even waste my time applying there.

16

Hey you can definitely do it. Just have good options across the board. Realism is important because it can beat you up a bit. Went through it personally his year.

You sound like a great kid and very level headed. I’d put my money on you being super successful.

17

Thanks that means a lot!

18

If I do end up applying to Vanderbilt (because I still think that I want to), how many other reaches should I apply to? Should I just apply to matches after that?

19

Tulane meets all of your criteria. While the stats of this year’s entering class are very similar to what privatebanker described for BC, Tulane really, truly values fit. If you are interested —and why shouldn’t you be, it’s a unique school in a unique city with very high student satisfaction — go down to N’Awlins and check it out. Get a feel for the school and show tons of interest. Write an essay describing what you want to study there, under whom, and why. You never know. People do get into reaches with that strategy often enough to justify trying. Best of luck to you!

20

Thanks! I don’t think I’m going to have the chance to visit any schools before I apply, but Tulane does really sound like a good option for me. So do a lot of the other schools I’m looking at though, which is what’s making this so hard. I’m really not sure how to narrow it down.