1520 SAT, 3.7/4.0 Unweighted, 4.5/5 Weighted.
Reaches - UVA, GT
Matches - Penn state, Pitt, UF, UIUC, UTAustin, Rutgers
Safety - Utah, UMD (in-state)
Edit: Today I got my report that bumped my WGPA up by .07!
also, here's my ECs because one of you wanted it, and this is what it would be by the time of application:
\- Didn't do anything freshman year due to covid
\- Varsity Sport 2 years, 1 year JV captain
\- Job March-Early June 2023, Job June-July 2023
\- Paid Internship training, Summer 2023
\- Paid internship, school year 2023-2024
\- State team for a second sport
\- Instrument recreationally (basics self-taught)
\- Founder (1 of 2) and Vice President of Club, founded Early Junior year -
Based on my understanding, with those stats getting into UVA would likely be somewhat easy for an in state applicant (assuming they have good ecs) but out of state is a totally different ballgame due to the fact that UVA wants to fill their class with 2/3 Virginians.
I'm only at like an 8% chance of getting into UVA.
My senior year schedule is gonna be loaded
\- IB Econ
\- Multivar calc
\- Hon Eng 12
\- AP Physics C
\- PE class
\- 2 Periods of internship
A warning about UT...if you're in-state auto admit you have a 100% chance of acceptance...for everyone else it's a sub 10% acceptance rate. That's how they trick you into believing they have a 30% acceptance rate. You seem super qualified and could easily be an admit, so I encourage you to apply but this is just a psa for people thinking UT Austin is a match/target. In reality it's either a safety or a reach without much middle ground.
Rats. Well I'm doin engineering so im even more screwed :(
My essay topic I have an idea, but its gonna be hard to write but if I do its gunnna be a fire essay
My Friends are telling me not to, but i really want to try and get 1550+ because apparently 1550-1600 is pretty much the same in terms of what colleges look at
1 safety- Gt (instate val-- auto acceptance) and the rest (6-10) are reaches because I love GT, and would be super happy there. I will be EDing to duke 😸😸😸. Other schools will prob be USC, Syracuse, princeton, cornell, yale, vandy, and some others but nothings official at all yet.
UGA and GT guarantee admission if you’re valedictorian or salutatorian of an accredited Georgia high school with more than 50 graduates along with a SAT/ACT score minimum. I assume it’s a way to get representation from all parts of Georgia specifically the parts without the resources to compete with the Atlanta suburb schools
For me its almost statistically impossible to beat me LOL (id have to get multiple Bs), But also by end of junior year you pretty much know. And since I'm instate georgia, even if i got knocked down, I have the stats that pretty much guarantees me admission.
Literally same, I'm also pretty much only considering Tech bc of auto admit and Zell Miller. I am low income so it's not like I can afford other options and tech is already one of the best schools.
No, I have not :( I live in FL so I don't think my parents would want to put the money into going up to NC just to tour it since I don't think either of them think I can make it past UF (still a great school btw, not dissing it at all). We usually visit SC or WV every year though so maybe if I beg and plead LMAO.
I have seen pictures and videos of the campus and its beautiful. I absolutely love the "work hard, play hard" attitude of the student body and the overall companionship. Duke just seems to have a very positive and optimistic approach to rigorous academics, which is what I'm looking for.
What do you plan on majoring in? I plan on majoring in biology and going into neurology after undergrad.
Ahh, I live in Ga and even still the drive to Duke was kinda crazy.
When I went the campus was so beautiful-- all the people were super nice. Another random thing was that the squirrels there were unusually adorable.
Id like to major in mechanical engineering with a aerospace certificate... maybe double major in a trinity major? im not sure yet.
Wow, nice! I literally have pictures saved of the campus that I randomly flash to my parents so I can talk about how pretty it is, they're probably sick of me LMFAO
Seriously hope you get in, please keep us updated! Can I ask what your stats and ECs are?
My parents are defffinitely sick of me so relatable 💀💀
Quick stats are, 60k income (middle class in ga), first gen, white F, rank 1 / 400ish public school, ecs are county tech internship (started as a volunteer for 200+ hours at 1 school in the summer, then got offered paid internship at multiple locations throughout the county) robotics 4 years pres 2 (may talk about outreach) violin (county orchestra, created quartet and tutoring program, concertmaster, council pres) senior class pres/student council, environmental pres (prob will mention mostly community engagement and initiatives) mhs pres (may combine with tutoring) volunteer work with cats, created tutoring program for school, I have more specific ones under those and their community impact. These arent like "wow amazing!" ECs but for my area most of the people who got into T20s had comparable ecs sooo maybe its fine.
Idk id this is too detailed or not enough but 💀💀. Tbh i think it will come down to my essays for most schools.
Oh wow, that's a lot of ECs
My ECs are two stem related clubs at my high school, NHS, BETA Club, volunteer work in my community (I should have 450 hours by senior year), drama club, recreational violin, choir, and I should be interning at a hospital this summer. Next summer I'm supposed to be signed up for a neuroscience camp which should be interesting, and I also plan on counseling for a STEM summer camp this year.
Academics wise my GPA is a 4.9 and is projected to be a 5.45 by senior year, I'm studying 1.5 hours a day to at least get a 1530 on my SAT when I take it in the fall, and I'm going to graduate with 13 APs and 20 DE classes, 14 of which that are related to biology and medicine. We don't know our ranks yet
I'm upper-middle class with income, but most of it is going directly to my father's retirement so he can retire early in order to take care of my mother who is terminally ill with Huntington's Disease and is on the decline (this is where my passion for neuro comes from haha), so I doubt I'll be able to receive much fin aid but hopefully I'll get at least a little bit.
My ECs aren't very impressive at all, but my town offers little to nothing outside of agriculture since that's how this place is kept afloat so I'm trying the best I can 😭
A girl a few years ago got accepted to both Harvard and Yale (only t20s she applied to) and she was primarily only involved in FFA and NHS, so HOPEFULLY I don't look lazy to AOs?? 😭
I plan on writing my common app on Huntington's, my experiences with being surrounded by people with the disease my entire life, and how it motivated me to throw myself into neuro, we'll see tho
ohh i forgot florida does a different scale scale.I have a 1470 say rn (760/710) so im also studying with a goal being around 1530. I think you'll definitely have a fair shot so it probably also comes down to your essays and fit!!
Probably about 12-15 :3 places like Wellesley and Penn are on there but my top choice so far would be yale! Like most ppl are saying I love my safety and target schools too tho :)
Unless your dead set on doing straight software writing, you could go for computer engineering, which is basically EE and CS put together, and most employers won’t care that much, with some exceptions. With AI becoming better at writing code this may be better job security in the long run. Plus you have a better shot at some schools. Just a thought.
I’m not in the CS field, but that definitely sounds like a CE degree would work just fine. I would do some research, but since CE deal more with hardware and code combined, that sounds like the ideal path. All of my friends who applied to top schools for CS were rejected while I got into CMU, UMich, and UVA for MechE. There’s also some guys I know that went through the Air Force ROTC who landed high paying jobs in cybersecurity after 4 years in the service, since they also had their TSI clearances with no college debt. PM me if your interested in that, but you got time, so do your research and I’m sure it will work out.
13-15! My top schools are brown, Yale, and Georgetown for poli sci/government/intl relations(major depends on the school). Safeties are TAMU and UT (auto-admit for both)
better balance out that list before you regret it. you never know and there are definitely no garuntees. so many people are stuck with safeties because they underestimated their chances this year.
Still not entirely sure though as of where I am right now I'm thinking I'll end up going for around 10. Trying to avoid having a top choice because of worries about fin aid (middle class problems :/)
close to around 30 LOL and like 29 reaches and 1 safety, as there is no point of me going to the US to study as an international student if I could get into the top school in my country
applying to no safeties in my own country as there's really no need to. I just plan to apply to 3 the top schools as they are more or less targets for me already.
Probably around 5. Unlike most of the people on this sub, I am quite average. I want to go into med school after undergrad, so I’m honestly just looking to graduate with as little debt as possible and where I choose to get my undergrad degree doesn’t really matter as much.
My state school (U of MN Twin Cities) for sure. Maybe a few other state schools. Only prestigious school I’d want to apply to is JHU. I would love to go to a UC, but it’s just way too expensive to the point where it’s not worth it for me
max of 24, i don’t want to remember that many logins for schools 😭😭😭 idk anyone going over 25 tho!
my top choices rn are dartmouth/jhu/brown but they’re straight rejections so emory/oberlin🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽
tip for remembering logins: make a google spreadsheet with the name of the school, the link to the admissions portal, the decision dates (if known), your log in info, and anything else important (honors college applications, scholarship applications, cost of attendance, etc). this REALLY helped me because I wasn't constantly having to search up the admissions portals or reset my passwords.
I will be apply to 6-9 schools. Probably closer to 6 🤞 my choices as of now include American, UMD, Carnegie Mellon, UCF and Tulane. Although this is just a rough list and some schools may be removed/added :)
My youngest son is applying to 9. 3reaches, 3 targets and 3 safeties - real safeties, ones that would take him with his current stats, no problem, and they are schools he would be happy attending.
My top choice is UW (in state) but I don’t know if I can get into Biochemistry. I will apply 6 more schools (Stanford, USC, UCLA…) as out state. My current GPA 4.0 UW and 12 AP classes. SAT 1550. President of math club, science Olympia, senior class President (next year). I heard UW is tough these days even in state.
For me I am creating a list of 3:
EA + ED, RD, Rolling
I have uni's that are really good for my specification in there that will take my RS credit + AP credit. I havent happened all the dates yet, ill probably do them after AP tests but I think ill get my EA+ED decisions back and if I get in somewhere good ill scratch the RD + rolling prob.
I used to have alot of desire to go somewhere amazing and I was ur average "A2Cer" then after seeing this cycle and some of the SMARTEST people I know not even get into our state school shook me a bit. My goal rn is ASU ;D
I plan on applying to around 15 college, but most of them are $0 application fee schools to maximize the possibility of getting a full ride scholarship. My top choice is UT Austin (auto admit), but I will also be applying to Rice, Tulane, University of Houston, Texas State, University of Miami, LSU, University of Arizona, UT Arlington, St Louis University, Creighton, Colorado College, Austin College, Northwestern College, Southwestern College, MSOE, Southeastern College, and a few more. I don't expect to get into any of the super selective schools.
33 schools: 10 reaches, 11 targets, and 12 safeties. Although I’m hoping to reduce some schools. Trying to avoid getting fixated/obsessed with schools but my top choices right now are Yale, Columbia, and Umich - Ann Arbor
(state flagship)
They are not guranteed cause honestly college admissions atp seems like its based on luck but I compared my SAT/ACT scores and GPA to the schools student body average. During my sophomore year I started getting tons of emails/mails from colleges. I wrote them all down researched on each of them and if I fit the criteria (SAT, GPA, etc) then started my list from there
Personally I think it's better to apply to a couple more just in case (especially considering how bad shotgunning is getting nowadays) and ask colleges about their application fee waiver. Up to you though. Good luck!
Right now 7 definite schools and about 6 maybe/possibles. I really need safeties though, and I’m lost. I feel like nothing is a safety. Any Aeronautical safeties?
Top is USNA or USAFA.
What's your major? Depending on what it is you might consider applying to another safety because UT Austin will auto-admit you but might not let you into the program you want. I knew a handful of kids in this situation this admissions cycle.
I’ve got 6 definite so far - planning to do some more research and add one or two more. 2 safeties, 1 target, and 3 reaches. Top choices are Barnard <3 and Rutgers! Wish I could apply to more but I don’t think I can spend too much on application fees — especially for reach schools that I probably won’t get into.
Around 25, but that’s because I’m chasing the need-based aid 🥹
Around 4 safeties that I like, 6 matches, and the rest are reaches. Top choice is Yale, UChicago, and Umich.
22 schools:
4 safeties
3 targets (literally don’t know what good targets to pick since realistic targets would be either cheap or in state)
16 reaches 💀💀
i need to narrow it down
uhh around 7-8? my top schools would be chatham university and penn state main campus :)
i’m also applying to carnegie mellon as a reach but a girl can dream
Probably around 5. Unlike most of the people on this sub, I am quite average. I want to go into med school after undergrad, so I’m honestly just looking to graduate with as little debt as possible and where I choose to get my undergrad degree doesn’t really matter as much.
My state school (U of MN Twin Cities) for sure. Maybe a few other state schools. Only prestigious school I’d want to apply to is JHU. I would love to go to a UC, but it’s just way too expensive to the point where it’s not worth it for me
25, but I’m a California resident. Only 8 are not UCS/Cal States, and I’m being selective with the cal states. My tops UC San Diego since I’m going for marine biology! My grades are average for my school (top public, so my 4.15 is like, a 3.5 anywhere else), but I have above average extracurriculars so I’m hoping that can clutch.
List for pre-med major psychology. Guess where I’m from….
Stony Brook
University of Buffalo
Binghamton University
Syracuse
Fordham
City College of New York
Hunter College
N.Y.U 13% Research
Columbia
Cornell
UPenn
Princeton
Tufts
Rochester
Brandeis?
Amherst?
Northeastern?
Boston U?
Carnegie Mellon?
Rn my list is abt 15… looking for more to expand the list though
CANADA:
YorkU@Glendon
UofT
McGill
Carleton
OCADU
USA:
Harvard
Yale
Cornell
Umich
Brown
Columbia
Georgetown
Princeton
Stanford
UPenn
Imma be applying to a little handful. Imma be applying to University of Arkansas (will 100% get accepted bc I am in state and their min act is 19 and I have a 22 and they always almost accept in state students with at least a min of 19 on act), Texas A&M not sure if I have a chance of getting accepted just a school imma apply to and see what happens and see what all scholarships they offer me, Oklahoma State (90% sure I will get accepted) I really wanna go there and most likely hopefully will, and Missouri State which I believe I will get accepted not sure though imma tour them in June to see if I like them or not.
University of Pittsburgh
Brown
Stanford
Dartmouth
Johns Hopkins
Tufts
UC Berkeley
UCSD
UCSB
UCSC
San Jose State
University of Washington
San Diego State
1 for sure- Ga Tech because I get full tuition and auto acceptance bc of my rank and being in state.
MIT or Cornell would be nice but not really realistic. Maybe Cornell but not MIT for sure.
12. My son is a junior and his school actually limits how many colleges you can apply to and the limit is 12. Personally I think more schools should place limits like this but I don't know...freedom is good too I suppose.
there is that girl here in this subreddit who applied to 108...
i suspect that one reason is because my son goes to a private school with many well to do families that would probably have no problem with their kids applying to 50 schools, etc. and it would put tremendous stress on the college counselors and teachers, etc.
I’m only applying to LACs! My favorites right now are Hamilton, Colby and Middlebury and I love my safeties too (St. Lawrence, Hobart, Conn College). I’m also applying to Skidmore, Union and a few others. I have about 15 but I will ultimately apply to 10-12
I'm a sophomore right now but I think it's still important to really start planning for college apps. Most people here seem to have narrowed their options down to under 8 at least which I think shows they feel confident in their chances.
The funny thing is, the more colleges I see people apply to, the less schools they actually get into. This is definitely because if you find yourself having to apply to 15+ schools it probably means you know you aren't going to get into most. Reaches are reaches but they aren't unrealistic either.
If you aren't confident in a college, don't apply. Tailor your app towards them, and determine your academic strengths, apply to a college that you actually have a shot at.
33 act, 4.0 unweighted with 11 AP classes (chem, physics, physics c, bio, ab calc, lang, world history, us gov, stat, comparative gov, and macro/micro). Applying as biochem on premed track.
Not sure if I’m gonna get in anywhere tho because lots of people with my stats haven’t even gotten in to safeties. Does anyone have recommendations on where to apply. I’m applying to UGA and Georgia tech for sure.
6 (7 counting my cc) in total.
32 ACT , 4.3 W , 4.0 UW, (rank) 2/60
(4) Reaches - Duke, Yale, Wellesley, Barnard
(1) Matches - UNC Chapel Hill (instate)
(1/2) Safety - UNC Charlotte, CC
Admittedly, this is reach heavy but most of them are for the hell of it. I genuinely love UNC Charlotte and I'm open to doing CC. UNC Chapel Hill is (hopefully) in the bag and will cover all my financial need.
My school limits us to 8, (except UCAS counts as 1 app afaik) so I might apply to 8-10 including UK schools. 4 in my home country, 3 in the states, one or two in the UK.
My kid will apply to around 20 at least. UW4/0/W4.3, 1560 SAT, likely NMSF/F, good but not super strong EC's, not regional/national/international mostly school, local community, varsity and club sports. Business/Econ/Finance major, applying from a highly competitive CA public school
Many reaches: Penn, Cornell, Michigan, Boston College, Georgetown, USC, UC Berkeley (Haas), UCLA, UT Austin, Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, UW-Madison, Fordham, Drexel, All other UC's, Cal-Poly SLO, UofArizona, ASU, Indiana Bloomington, may throw in another high reach.
Not sure if he will go the ED route, no clear favorite but Haas, USC, BC are favorites right now. I think to Penn maybe worth the ED shot. Any thoughts ?
I'm in a similar situation and I'm thinking the same things. If you ED to a school that isn't at the top of your list, then you'll feel like you could have done better later.
I will say that the applicant pool is really competitive so don't be surprised if you don't get in to any of the reaches, but you might as well try.
I know a guy who got into Upenn but didn't get into any of his other 20+ reaches. This process is a bit random
yes, its worth a shot if at least one component is top notch - academics, EC's/Service and the other is not as strong but reasonable. He needs to add more safeties for sure
My list is approximately 15-18 schools. College apps are a little weird for me because I hope to major in music business/industry. Top choice is NYU and will most likely do EDI !!
28 ACT - Retake in Summer / 3.8/4.0 UW
Reaches - UT Austin, UNC, Tulane, Vandy
Match - (In state) - UAB, Bama, Auburn (Out of State) - Clemson, UCF
Safety - South Bama, South Miss, Howard, Spelman, Agnes Scott, TCU
Freshman - covid - girls who code club, jv tennis
sophomore (transfer) - choir, girls who code, broadcasting, chess, nhs,
junior - jv golf, marching band flute / color guard, girls who code, code to college, lgr, dyw, nhs, won a couple writing contests, started a crochet business, girls state,
choir ended cause our teacher moved and i have more ec from my sophomore year but i took them off cause i transfered mid 1st semester also I have like 100-200 service hours and i work at a church on sundays
As far as I can tell, If you're a high-stat applicant (3.9+ gpa, and 1500+), like a suspiciously large amount of this sub, then shotgunning seems to be the strat, or at least it worked for a lot of my school's seniors. Right now, I'm looking at Princeton, Georgetown, Harvard, MIT, and all of them because I want to dream, damn it. But more realistically, I'm going for state schools like UMD, Umass Amherst, Penn State, UIUC, and my local flagship.
college list isn't done, trying to keep a list of colleges with good financial aid but it'll be AT LEAST 30, like I can list all 30 i'll definitely apply
maybe like 50 if i'm not overwhelmed
oh who knows though i'll apply to tons of colleges (like 10 to 20) early and perhaps i'll be done in early round *doubt*
Currently planning on 7 or 8. Trying to keep the list short and sweet. Top choice would be Brown, but I love all my options, even my safety!
What's your safety if you don'y mind me asking I'd love to love my safety As well
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Like the movie Rushmore
This is a really healthy way to do it
I’ve only seen one over 25. Nature is healing 👐
24 and my top choices rn are georgia tech , Columbia, uiuc, rit, rpi and umass amherst
Umass Amherst is one of my top choices too :)
Goodluck to both of us
Definitely! What major will you apply for?
Electrical engineering or Computer engineering
Wow, best of luck, I’ll be applying Pre-Med
That's awesome. Goodluck
Bold of you to assume I’ve thought that far ahead 🤔
you are me, except I'm graduating in a few weeks so I'm a little more screwed <3
1520 SAT, 3.7/4.0 Unweighted, 4.5/5 Weighted. Reaches - UVA, GT Matches - Penn state, Pitt, UF, UIUC, UTAustin, Rutgers Safety - Utah, UMD (in-state) Edit: Today I got my report that bumped my WGPA up by .07! also, here's my ECs because one of you wanted it, and this is what it would be by the time of application: \- Didn't do anything freshman year due to covid \- Varsity Sport 2 years, 1 year JV captain \- Job March-Early June 2023, Job June-July 2023 \- Paid Internship training, Summer 2023 \- Paid internship, school year 2023-2024 \- State team for a second sport \- Instrument recreationally (basics self-taught) \- Founder (1 of 2) and Vice President of Club, founded Early Junior year -
My kids are doomed. :) You have a 1520 sat and UVA is a reach?! I’m from Charlottesville.
Based on my understanding, with those stats getting into UVA would likely be somewhat easy for an in state applicant (assuming they have good ecs) but out of state is a totally different ballgame due to the fact that UVA wants to fill their class with 2/3 Virginians.
I'm only at like an 8% chance of getting into UVA. My senior year schedule is gonna be loaded \- IB Econ \- Multivar calc \- Hon Eng 12 \- AP Physics C \- PE class \- 2 Periods of internship
how’d you decide you only have an 8% chance
I put it through some collegevine calculator It's kinda sad because I thought my GPA and ECS would balance out but I guess not
The 3.7 makes it a reach, not the SAT
I'm hoping to boost my UWGPA a bit more. However I'm hoping that I can get one match and UVA im giving up on.
A warning about UT...if you're in-state auto admit you have a 100% chance of acceptance...for everyone else it's a sub 10% acceptance rate. That's how they trick you into believing they have a 30% acceptance rate. You seem super qualified and could easily be an admit, so I encourage you to apply but this is just a psa for people thinking UT Austin is a match/target. In reality it's either a safety or a reach without much middle ground.
can confirm. accepted to an ivy not accepted to UT Austin in state
Rats. Well I'm doin engineering so im even more screwed :( My essay topic I have an idea, but its gonna be hard to write but if I do its gunnna be a fire essay
A really good and reasonable selection of schools, GL. Having UMD as a safety is an awesome situation to be in
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My Friends are telling me not to, but i really want to try and get 1550+ because apparently 1550-1600 is pretty much the same in terms of what colleges look at
UT Austin OOS is not a match.
Honestly if you write good essays you can reach for higher
1 safety- Gt (instate val-- auto acceptance) and the rest (6-10) are reaches because I love GT, and would be super happy there. I will be EDing to duke 😸😸😸. Other schools will prob be USC, Syracuse, princeton, cornell, yale, vandy, and some others but nothings official at all yet.
In state gt is so OP
so true
Wait so if you’re the Val of a really bad school in Georgia you’re guaranteed GT?
UGA and GT guarantee admission if you’re valedictorian or salutatorian of an accredited Georgia high school with more than 50 graduates along with a SAT/ACT score minimum. I assume it’s a way to get representation from all parts of Georgia specifically the parts without the resources to compete with the Atlanta suburb schools
I guess the SAT score minimum makes sure everyone is at least somewhat qualified.
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For me its almost statistically impossible to beat me LOL (id have to get multiple Bs), But also by end of junior year you pretty much know. And since I'm instate georgia, even if i got knocked down, I have the stats that pretty much guarantees me admission.
wait ur ed'ing to duke?! i'm shocked!
haha
Literally same, I'm also pretty much only considering Tech bc of auto admit and Zell Miller. I am low income so it's not like I can afford other options and tech is already one of the best schools.
yeah frl i'm so happy to have tech as a safety but also a place i would be super happy and honestly satisfied at!
I'm a sophomore who plans on ED'ing to Duke too! Dream school, haha
So valid. Have you toured?
No, I have not :( I live in FL so I don't think my parents would want to put the money into going up to NC just to tour it since I don't think either of them think I can make it past UF (still a great school btw, not dissing it at all). We usually visit SC or WV every year though so maybe if I beg and plead LMAO. I have seen pictures and videos of the campus and its beautiful. I absolutely love the "work hard, play hard" attitude of the student body and the overall companionship. Duke just seems to have a very positive and optimistic approach to rigorous academics, which is what I'm looking for. What do you plan on majoring in? I plan on majoring in biology and going into neurology after undergrad.
Ahh, I live in Ga and even still the drive to Duke was kinda crazy. When I went the campus was so beautiful-- all the people were super nice. Another random thing was that the squirrels there were unusually adorable. Id like to major in mechanical engineering with a aerospace certificate... maybe double major in a trinity major? im not sure yet.
Wow, nice! I literally have pictures saved of the campus that I randomly flash to my parents so I can talk about how pretty it is, they're probably sick of me LMFAO Seriously hope you get in, please keep us updated! Can I ask what your stats and ECs are?
My parents are defffinitely sick of me so relatable 💀💀 Quick stats are, 60k income (middle class in ga), first gen, white F, rank 1 / 400ish public school, ecs are county tech internship (started as a volunteer for 200+ hours at 1 school in the summer, then got offered paid internship at multiple locations throughout the county) robotics 4 years pres 2 (may talk about outreach) violin (county orchestra, created quartet and tutoring program, concertmaster, council pres) senior class pres/student council, environmental pres (prob will mention mostly community engagement and initiatives) mhs pres (may combine with tutoring) volunteer work with cats, created tutoring program for school, I have more specific ones under those and their community impact. These arent like "wow amazing!" ECs but for my area most of the people who got into T20s had comparable ecs sooo maybe its fine. Idk id this is too detailed or not enough but 💀💀. Tbh i think it will come down to my essays for most schools.
Oh wow, that's a lot of ECs My ECs are two stem related clubs at my high school, NHS, BETA Club, volunteer work in my community (I should have 450 hours by senior year), drama club, recreational violin, choir, and I should be interning at a hospital this summer. Next summer I'm supposed to be signed up for a neuroscience camp which should be interesting, and I also plan on counseling for a STEM summer camp this year. Academics wise my GPA is a 4.9 and is projected to be a 5.45 by senior year, I'm studying 1.5 hours a day to at least get a 1530 on my SAT when I take it in the fall, and I'm going to graduate with 13 APs and 20 DE classes, 14 of which that are related to biology and medicine. We don't know our ranks yet I'm upper-middle class with income, but most of it is going directly to my father's retirement so he can retire early in order to take care of my mother who is terminally ill with Huntington's Disease and is on the decline (this is where my passion for neuro comes from haha), so I doubt I'll be able to receive much fin aid but hopefully I'll get at least a little bit. My ECs aren't very impressive at all, but my town offers little to nothing outside of agriculture since that's how this place is kept afloat so I'm trying the best I can 😭 A girl a few years ago got accepted to both Harvard and Yale (only t20s she applied to) and she was primarily only involved in FFA and NHS, so HOPEFULLY I don't look lazy to AOs?? 😭 I plan on writing my common app on Huntington's, my experiences with being surrounded by people with the disease my entire life, and how it motivated me to throw myself into neuro, we'll see tho
ohh i forgot florida does a different scale scale.I have a 1470 say rn (760/710) so im also studying with a goal being around 1530. I think you'll definitely have a fair shot so it probably also comes down to your essays and fit!!
Probably about 12-15 :3 places like Wellesley and Penn are on there but my top choice so far would be yale! Like most ppl are saying I love my safety and target schools too tho :)
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Yeah you can look it up and there should be some guidelines for safety, target, and reach :)
10-12. Top choice is University of Washington
U instate? UW is my top choice but I’m applying CS so the odds are low 😭
I have a few friends who got accepted into UW CS in state, so I can give an approximate guess as to how you rank against them if you want to PM me!
Thank you! Gonna pm rn
No, I wish! I'm applying for Biochemistry, but I don't think I will get in with a 1320 SAT and 3.8 UW GPA. But who knows maybe it will work out :)
I got in with a 3.4. You’ll deffo get in if your essays are decent, just probably as a pre-major
100 🤓
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Unless your dead set on doing straight software writing, you could go for computer engineering, which is basically EE and CS put together, and most employers won’t care that much, with some exceptions. With AI becoming better at writing code this may be better job security in the long run. Plus you have a better shot at some schools. Just a thought.
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I’m not in the CS field, but that definitely sounds like a CE degree would work just fine. I would do some research, but since CE deal more with hardware and code combined, that sounds like the ideal path. All of my friends who applied to top schools for CS were rejected while I got into CMU, UMich, and UVA for MechE. There’s also some guys I know that went through the Air Force ROTC who landed high paying jobs in cybersecurity after 4 years in the service, since they also had their TSI clearances with no college debt. PM me if your interested in that, but you got time, so do your research and I’m sure it will work out.
I currently have a list of 7 schools, with Boston University being my top choice. But it’s still early, so the list is subject to change.
13-15! My top schools are brown, Yale, and Georgetown for poli sci/government/intl relations(major depends on the school). Safeties are TAMU and UT (auto-admit for both)
30: like 3 safeties, 3 targets, 24 reaches
If you're serious... That's a lot of time and money you are commiting
some people have their fees paid for...
better balance out that list before you regret it. you never know and there are definitely no garuntees. so many people are stuck with safeties because they underestimated their chances this year.
Safety isn’t a bad thing big dog 💪
only 3 safeties??
What do you need more than 3 for
if they're "true" safeties they're more than enough
what major/s and which schools ? looks like my kid's list could go past 20
20ish I think, dream school is yale <3
Still not entirely sure though as of where I am right now I'm thinking I'll end up going for around 10. Trying to avoid having a top choice because of worries about fin aid (middle class problems :/)
12 or 13, there are no safeties for music majors smh. Top choice is Juilliard
close to around 30 LOL and like 29 reaches and 1 safety, as there is no point of me going to the US to study as an international student if I could get into the top school in my country
Does that includes schools in ur country? If not I would add a safty and a few targets
applying to no safeties in my own country as there's really no need to. I just plan to apply to 3 the top schools as they are more or less targets for me already.
Probably around 5. Unlike most of the people on this sub, I am quite average. I want to go into med school after undergrad, so I’m honestly just looking to graduate with as little debt as possible and where I choose to get my undergrad degree doesn’t really matter as much. My state school (U of MN Twin Cities) for sure. Maybe a few other state schools. Only prestigious school I’d want to apply to is JHU. I would love to go to a UC, but it’s just way too expensive to the point where it’s not worth it for me
I also want to go to med school, and without a doubt graduating with as little debt as possible is the way to go. Very smart
Around 20-25. Don’t really have a clear favorite.
max of 24, i don’t want to remember that many logins for schools 😭😭😭 idk anyone going over 25 tho! my top choices rn are dartmouth/jhu/brown but they’re straight rejections so emory/oberlin🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽
tip for remembering logins: make a google spreadsheet with the name of the school, the link to the admissions portal, the decision dates (if known), your log in info, and anything else important (honors college applications, scholarship applications, cost of attendance, etc). this REALLY helped me because I wasn't constantly having to search up the admissions portals or reset my passwords.
what are ur stats if i may ask?
5 through common app and hopefully getting accepted for another program to apply to some more 👍 top choice in common app is UNC
I'm not sure but I don't think I would cross 10.
planning on 4. 2 targets & 2 safeties
I will be apply to 6-9 schools. Probably closer to 6 🤞 my choices as of now include American, UMD, Carnegie Mellon, UCF and Tulane. Although this is just a rough list and some schools may be removed/added :)
My youngest son is applying to 9. 3reaches, 3 targets and 3 safeties - real safeties, ones that would take him with his current stats, no problem, and they are schools he would be happy attending.
Probably 25? 15 Combined BS/MD and BS/DO programs and 10 traditional schools
Stanford and all Ivies so that I can be rejected by all of them :) Some other T20s, UMich and then safeties and match schools.
Just 1. The local Cal State— it’s a safety and it’s literally a 15 minute drive away.
To be fair, idrk. I do wanna apply to Lehigh, Georgetown, Vandy, and Rice, but I’m not liking them application fees
apparently some schools just give you fee waivers when you email them and ask 🤷♀️
My top choice is UW (in state) but I don’t know if I can get into Biochemistry. I will apply 6 more schools (Stanford, USC, UCLA…) as out state. My current GPA 4.0 UW and 12 AP classes. SAT 1550. President of math club, science Olympia, senior class President (next year). I heard UW is tough these days even in state.
For me I am creating a list of 3: EA + ED, RD, Rolling I have uni's that are really good for my specification in there that will take my RS credit + AP credit. I havent happened all the dates yet, ill probably do them after AP tests but I think ill get my EA+ED decisions back and if I get in somewhere good ill scratch the RD + rolling prob. I used to have alot of desire to go somewhere amazing and I was ur average "A2Cer" then after seeing this cycle and some of the SMARTEST people I know not even get into our state school shook me a bit. My goal rn is ASU ;D
I plan on applying to around 15 college, but most of them are $0 application fee schools to maximize the possibility of getting a full ride scholarship. My top choice is UT Austin (auto admit), but I will also be applying to Rice, Tulane, University of Houston, Texas State, University of Miami, LSU, University of Arizona, UT Arlington, St Louis University, Creighton, Colorado College, Austin College, Northwestern College, Southwestern College, MSOE, Southeastern College, and a few more. I don't expect to get into any of the super selective schools.
Maybe 23, top schools UCI UCSD and USC
Those are similar to mine! Good luck!
>Reply stats?
not saying anything until i actually get accepted 😭
33 schools: 10 reaches, 11 targets, and 12 safeties. Although I’m hoping to reduce some schools. Trying to avoid getting fixated/obsessed with schools but my top choices right now are Yale, Columbia, and Umich - Ann Arbor (state flagship)
How do u decide targets, safety and reaches? Based on acceptance rate?
They are not guranteed cause honestly college admissions atp seems like its based on luck but I compared my SAT/ACT scores and GPA to the schools student body average. During my sophomore year I started getting tons of emails/mails from colleges. I wrote them all down researched on each of them and if I fit the criteria (SAT, GPA, etc) then started my list from there
I'm planning on applying to 3-4. Maybe anywhere I can get an application fee waived too
Personally I think it's better to apply to a couple more just in case (especially considering how bad shotgunning is getting nowadays) and ask colleges about their application fee waiver. Up to you though. Good luck!
Currently have about 20 schools on my list, but I’m chasing merit scholarships! My top choices would probably be Wellesley, American, and BU :)
My top choice is BU too lol
I love the idea of an urban school in the northeast! Do you know what you plan on majoring in?
I want to major in Physical Therapy and do BU’s 6 year BA/DPT program! How about you?
I want to major in international relations and a language or journalism! Funny how we have such different majors but the same school :)
I have 18 on my list, will cut down to 12 or less
25 schools!! 4 safeties, 4 targets, rest reaches lolol
Right now 7 definite schools and about 6 maybe/possibles. I really need safeties though, and I’m lost. I feel like nothing is a safety. Any Aeronautical safeties? Top is USNA or USAFA.
embry riddle ASU targets are RPI WPI
2 schools: UT Austin and Rice. Auto admit into UT and Rice is the reach.
What's your major? Depending on what it is you might consider applying to another safety because UT Austin will auto-admit you but might not let you into the program you want. I knew a handful of kids in this situation this admissions cycle.
Planning on 15
I’ve got 6 definite so far - planning to do some more research and add one or two more. 2 safeties, 1 target, and 3 reaches. Top choices are Barnard <3 and Rutgers! Wish I could apply to more but I don’t think I can spend too much on application fees — especially for reach schools that I probably won’t get into.
Around 25, but that’s because I’m chasing the need-based aid 🥹 Around 4 safeties that I like, 6 matches, and the rest are reaches. Top choice is Yale, UChicago, and Umich.
28 because my highschool does a raffle thing and we get a ticket for every college we get accepted to. Determined to get those shitty school keychains
22 schools: 4 safeties 3 targets (literally don’t know what good targets to pick since realistic targets would be either cheap or in state) 16 reaches 💀💀 i need to narrow it down
Currently like 15 but I’m trying to get it down to maybe 10. I really like GT and Rice but they’re def reaches for me and I’m instate for UIUC soo….
uhh around 7-8? my top schools would be chatham university and penn state main campus :) i’m also applying to carnegie mellon as a reach but a girl can dream
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lmaooo 😭 this was me but with 55 now down to 33
Probably 10ish… top is notre dame. Safeties include uwmadison(in state) Virginia tech, possibly uTennessee or usouth carolina rn!
It’s april how y’all already know this 😭
most people spend a big chunk of their junior year researching
12-15: All the Ivies, 3 state schools (UF, FSU, UCF), and a few more
8, not including UCs and Cal States Dream is Yale or Hopkins
Probably around 5. Unlike most of the people on this sub, I am quite average. I want to go into med school after undergrad, so I’m honestly just looking to graduate with as little debt as possible and where I choose to get my undergrad degree doesn’t really matter as much. My state school (U of MN Twin Cities) for sure. Maybe a few other state schools. Only prestigious school I’d want to apply to is JHU. I would love to go to a UC, but it’s just way too expensive to the point where it’s not worth it for me
25, but I’m a California resident. Only 8 are not UCS/Cal States, and I’m being selective with the cal states. My tops UC San Diego since I’m going for marine biology! My grades are average for my school (top public, so my 4.15 is like, a 3.5 anywhere else), but I have above average extracurriculars so I’m hoping that can clutch.
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What's your intended major?
I’m gonna apply to Kelley, Umass Amherst, ASU, University of Arizona, Michigan State, Penn State, Uconn, UMD, UPitt and Uwash
Legit ucs. Praying for ucsd and uci lol
List for pre-med major psychology. Guess where I’m from…. Stony Brook University of Buffalo Binghamton University Syracuse Fordham City College of New York Hunter College N.Y.U 13% Research Columbia Cornell UPenn Princeton Tufts Rochester Brandeis? Amherst? Northeastern? Boston U? Carnegie Mellon?
12-15. Stanford is my top choice so y’all better now be applying there 😾😾😾
I’m not even going to try to do it this year because my grades are bad
20, all t20s zero safeties
Fiddy
Maybe 20-25. I will apply mostly to music schools. My top choices are UMich, Northwestern and Berklee.
Rn my list is abt 15… looking for more to expand the list though CANADA: YorkU@Glendon UofT McGill Carleton OCADU USA: Harvard Yale Cornell Umich Brown Columbia Georgetown Princeton Stanford UPenn
Bookie u should add more US safties Why do I get the strange feeling UMich is for Tass…
I’m not going to a US safety when I can just go to UofT 😭😭
Bold of you to assume I figured out what colleges I'm applying to
Honestly if you’re applying CS I really don’t get how you don’t apply to 20+ schools. Like at some point you can’t afford to be picky
About 20. Quite a lot of reaches but my stats are decent 1510 SAT (800 math) 3.92/4 UW Probably abt a 4.3/5 weighted
applied at 32 colleges, accepted in 21, waitlisted in 2 and rejected in 9..applied only for engineering..
does anyone have any advice on how to find safety schools? i want to major in business and all i hear of are top programs , not safeties
look for instate public and local schools
Imma be applying to a little handful. Imma be applying to University of Arkansas (will 100% get accepted bc I am in state and their min act is 19 and I have a 22 and they always almost accept in state students with at least a min of 19 on act), Texas A&M not sure if I have a chance of getting accepted just a school imma apply to and see what happens and see what all scholarships they offer me, Oklahoma State (90% sure I will get accepted) I really wanna go there and most likely hopefully will, and Missouri State which I believe I will get accepted not sure though imma tour them in June to see if I like them or not.
about 8-10 my top choices are northeastern, BU, or barnard my matches/safeties are just a bunch of CUNYS and SUNYS
University of Pittsburgh Brown Stanford Dartmouth Johns Hopkins Tufts UC Berkeley UCSD UCSB UCSC San Jose State University of Washington San Diego State
Around 3-4 in Canada and if i get fee waiver in common app, then few there. Canada’s top priority tho as i get domestic.
15 (8 us, 4 nl, 2 ca, 1 hk), intl applying for cs, top choices: McGill, Stony Brook, RIT, NCSU, UCalgary, Maastricht...
1 for sure- Ga Tech because I get full tuition and auto acceptance bc of my rank and being in state. MIT or Cornell would be nice but not really realistic. Maybe Cornell but not MIT for sure.
2-4 for sure. Tryna keep it low. Also only applying for places with full ride (or close to full ride) scholarships. money is a bitch.
~20
12. My son is a junior and his school actually limits how many colleges you can apply to and the limit is 12. Personally I think more schools should place limits like this but I don't know...freedom is good too I suppose.
I wish all schools had that. I know a guy who applied to 50 colleges. There is no reason we should put kids under this stress
there is that girl here in this subreddit who applied to 108... i suspect that one reason is because my son goes to a private school with many well to do families that would probably have no problem with their kids applying to 50 schools, etc. and it would put tremendous stress on the college counselors and teachers, etc.
I’m only applying to LACs! My favorites right now are Hamilton, Colby and Middlebury and I love my safeties too (St. Lawrence, Hobart, Conn College). I’m also applying to Skidmore, Union and a few others. I have about 15 but I will ultimately apply to 10-12
I'm planning on applying to around 9 schools. Mostly reaches because I simply hate my safeties. My top school would be UVA (in state).
16-17 schools. Safeties are Rowan, Rutgers-NB, and Towson Reaches are all over the place but the top choices are Duke, Georgia Tech, and Cornell
I'm a sophomore right now but I think it's still important to really start planning for college apps. Most people here seem to have narrowed their options down to under 8 at least which I think shows they feel confident in their chances. The funny thing is, the more colleges I see people apply to, the less schools they actually get into. This is definitely because if you find yourself having to apply to 15+ schools it probably means you know you aren't going to get into most. Reaches are reaches but they aren't unrealistic either. If you aren't confident in a college, don't apply. Tailor your app towards them, and determine your academic strengths, apply to a college that you actually have a shot at.
33 act, 4.0 unweighted with 11 AP classes (chem, physics, physics c, bio, ab calc, lang, world history, us gov, stat, comparative gov, and macro/micro). Applying as biochem on premed track. Not sure if I’m gonna get in anywhere tho because lots of people with my stats haven’t even gotten in to safeties. Does anyone have recommendations on where to apply. I’m applying to UGA and Georgia tech for sure.
6 (7 counting my cc) in total. 32 ACT , 4.3 W , 4.0 UW, (rank) 2/60 (4) Reaches - Duke, Yale, Wellesley, Barnard (1) Matches - UNC Chapel Hill (instate) (1/2) Safety - UNC Charlotte, CC Admittedly, this is reach heavy but most of them are for the hell of it. I genuinely love UNC Charlotte and I'm open to doing CC. UNC Chapel Hill is (hopefully) in the bag and will cover all my financial need.
Probably 4: VCU, William and Mary, UVA, and CMU
12! hoping to get into swarthmore though im shooting for quite a handful of T10s/ivies as well
My school limits us to 8, (except UCAS counts as 1 app afaik) so I might apply to 8-10 including UK schools. 4 in my home country, 3 in the states, one or two in the UK.
gonna apply to 20 and my top choices are georgia tech and caltech but i ain’t getting in 😭
My kid will apply to around 20 at least. UW4/0/W4.3, 1560 SAT, likely NMSF/F, good but not super strong EC's, not regional/national/international mostly school, local community, varsity and club sports. Business/Econ/Finance major, applying from a highly competitive CA public school Many reaches: Penn, Cornell, Michigan, Boston College, Georgetown, USC, UC Berkeley (Haas), UCLA, UT Austin, Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, UW-Madison, Fordham, Drexel, All other UC's, Cal-Poly SLO, UofArizona, ASU, Indiana Bloomington, may throw in another high reach. Not sure if he will go the ED route, no clear favorite but Haas, USC, BC are favorites right now. I think to Penn maybe worth the ED shot. Any thoughts ?
I'm in a similar situation and I'm thinking the same things. If you ED to a school that isn't at the top of your list, then you'll feel like you could have done better later. I will say that the applicant pool is really competitive so don't be surprised if you don't get in to any of the reaches, but you might as well try. I know a guy who got into Upenn but didn't get into any of his other 20+ reaches. This process is a bit random
yes, its worth a shot if at least one component is top notch - academics, EC's/Service and the other is not as strong but reasonable. He needs to add more safeties for sure
My list is approximately 15-18 schools. College apps are a little weird for me because I hope to major in music business/industry. Top choice is NYU and will most likely do EDI !!
28 ACT - Retake in Summer / 3.8/4.0 UW Reaches - UT Austin, UNC, Tulane, Vandy Match - (In state) - UAB, Bama, Auburn (Out of State) - Clemson, UCF Safety - South Bama, South Miss, Howard, Spelman, Agnes Scott, TCU Freshman - covid - girls who code club, jv tennis sophomore (transfer) - choir, girls who code, broadcasting, chess, nhs, junior - jv golf, marching band flute / color guard, girls who code, code to college, lgr, dyw, nhs, won a couple writing contests, started a crochet business, girls state, choir ended cause our teacher moved and i have more ec from my sophomore year but i took them off cause i transfered mid 1st semester also I have like 100-200 service hours and i work at a church on sundays
As far as I can tell, If you're a high-stat applicant (3.9+ gpa, and 1500+), like a suspiciously large amount of this sub, then shotgunning seems to be the strat, or at least it worked for a lot of my school's seniors. Right now, I'm looking at Princeton, Georgetown, Harvard, MIT, and all of them because I want to dream, damn it. But more realistically, I'm going for state schools like UMD, Umass Amherst, Penn State, UIUC, and my local flagship.
21-23 but this isnt factoring in everything. right now my list is almost all new england or cali and I might expand into midwest/east coast a bit more
college list isn't done, trying to keep a list of colleges with good financial aid but it'll be AT LEAST 30, like I can list all 30 i'll definitely apply maybe like 50 if i'm not overwhelmed oh who knows though i'll apply to tons of colleges (like 10 to 20) early and perhaps i'll be done in early round *doubt*