Working on college list

My advice is to learn as much as you can about all the schools you are considering, keep track of what you learn in an organized fashion and, when you are done, ask yourself the question “how happy am I” if you imagine you found out you were forced to attend each one of the schools you are considering. Rank your answer on a scale of 1 to 5. Eliminate the 1s and the 2s outright, further investigate the 3s, and apply to the 4s and 5s. And if you don’t have 1-3 true, surefire admits on your list, then go to your guidance counselor or ask around for sure things. Good luck!

@NJDad68 What if all of them would be at least 3s? They’re all so great and I’d love to go to any of them. And the more I learn about a school, the more it makes me want to go to it.

Apply to the rolling admissions that upload their applications early (like UIUC, Alabama, Penn State + Honors colleges). Then add the other rolling admissions schools. Then, focus on Vanderbilt, using the little things that weren’t quite that great, that you noticed right after hitting the “submit” button for the rolling admissions schools. Keep in mind that it’ll be much more demanding to complete an excellent application to Vanderbilt than to Alabama.

Thanks! So should I only apply to rolling admissions schools and Vanderbilt?

Your criteria and list of schools is nearly identical to mine…I would look into Texas Christian. You have a solid shot of getting in with your stats and they meet all of your criteria. I was also seriously looking into Vanderbilt but chose TCU over it because I think TCU has the better sports and their Greek life is phenomenal, they just renovated Greek row and the houses are stunning. Fort Worth is also an awesome city that has all the amenities but none of the draw backs of a big city. The student body is also only 8,000 students which gives it a really cool feel. Which of your schools have you toured?

I haven’t toured any schools yet.

I don’t really know how I’d feel about going to a college with “christian” or any other religion in the name, especially in Texas. It sounds like it’d be pretty conservative and I’d rather go to a more liberal school.

Some thoughts:
-You are fortunate in that it Alabama could be a sure admit with some scholarship money for your stats (someone can correct me if that’s not true). So you might not need much else for safeties, other than maybe another in-state school.
-You should talk to your parents about cost. UIUC may cost $30K and Alabama might be close to that with a scholarship. What other schools would be worth paying $50-70K a year if you had those choices already?
-BU seems like an outlier.
-UT and UNC are hard for out of state, so look at those stats. Maybe only apply if you really like one a lot.
-People have made strong cases for Tulane and Wake Forest!
-Other than high reaches, the remaining schools are Purdue, FSU, UF, UW, Penn State, UGA, Baylor, UCF, and LMU. Maybe only apply to a couple of those where you really like it a lot, you have a good chance of getting in, and the price is reasonable.

Looks like you still have time to go for another round of ACT in early September. Why not prepare for it in the summer for half an hour each day for three months and get yourself familiar with the test questions of the past? It will definitely boost your ACT score to the mid range of your dream school.

Also timing the pace of the ACT in each section is very important during practices. It will help you improve a couple points overall by being able to finish each section.

I’m a little unmoved by a lot of my match schools. I like the idea of going to a school where I can get a good merit scholarship such as Alabama, or one of my high reaches where I can get the experience that I want and the best education like Vanderbilt, the rest I don’t really know.

I might retake the ACT but I don’t know if it’s worth it since I’ll already have started applying to some schools by then.

I don’t think I’ll end up applying to BU, LMU, or Purdue, but the rest I’m still seriously considering. I have also started looking at some more safeties like Auburn.

Can anyone comment on this list? Are there any that I should add or change?

Alabama, Vanderbilt, UF, UGA, Baylor, Penn State, UNC, Duke

I think it’s a good list. I would add two more matches and low reach.

And this is based off of our conversation here and you specifically. None of these schools are safeties for many students. And change safety to likely. Because nothing is guaranteed of course.

Matches - Clemson Auburn, VaTech, Pitt types

Low reach - UT, William and Mary, GW

Current list:

Two/three safeties Alabama Georgia Baylor.
One match - Penn State
One low reach - UF
One reach - UNC
Two high reaches - Vanderbilt Duke

Just raise ur test scores for Vandy. They are SUPER stat heavy.

@privatebanker Thanks! Do you have any other suggestions for matches? I like Clemson and Auburn but I don’t know if I like them enough to apply to them or go there if I was accepted. I could add UT as a low reach.

High match Villanova, Maryland,
Match. Florida State Elon Tennessee

Thanks! If I don’t apply to UNC, should I add another reach?

Safeties- Alabama, Georgia, Baylor
Matches- Penn State, Auburn, FSU
Low Reach- UF
High Reaches- Vanderbilt, Duke

Another reach like UT would be fine. If you are applying to 10 or 11 schools, having 4 reaches is good.

Are you applying to UIUC? Unless you are 100% sure you’d rather go to one of your safeties and your parents would pay for it, there seems to be no reason not to.

I don’t think you should consider Georgia as a safety.

I forgot to add UT.
I’m not sure whether or not I’ll end up applying to UIUC. It’ll probably be around same price as Alabama for me and since I’m pretty set on the idea of going out of state somewhere warm, I don’t really see myself choosing UIUC over Alabama. I can see why it would make sense to apply though.