Can someone give me suggestions on my schools?

College Search & Lists
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Thank you for clicking into this thread, and your help is much appreciated.

-SAT 2080 (630CR+720M+730W) not gonna use this for sure
-ACT C34 E30 R33 M36 S36/superscore C35 E34 R33 M36 S36
-Math II 800, Chem 740
-Calc BC(5) USH(5) Macro(4) Chem(4) All junior year

  • A little bit above 89/100 GPA at a top 10 boarding school in the country. With this GPA you can TECHNICALLY go to any college but I wouldn’t bet my luck on this. Tons of kids in my class have much better GPAs. (Just for reference, in the past few years, kids at my school who got into Uchicago or Columbia, which are my top 2 choices, had an average GPA of approximately 89.8 , and the average SAT was 2120 and 2200, respectively)
    -First-generation immigrant, getting a green card soon. But as of right now, I’m still applying from the international pool, so a huge disadvantage.
    -Asian, greatest unhook ever.
    -Definitely going liberal arts, with Economics/Philosophy/Psychology in mind. So I guess it’s kinda unique from an Asian perspective?
    -Originally from a very rural town, then moved to a major city after dad got a job there, then moved to the states.
    -Extremely poor back then, family was making roughly $150/mo.(no I’m not joking) Dad was getting his degree so only my mom was working.
    -Really struggled academically and spiritually when I first moved to the city, lost my identity, and this is what my essay is going to be about.
    -No major awards really. National Latin Exam silver for 2 years, our robotics team placed 2nd in the state championship, AP scholar with honor
    -VP of the international club, 2 years
    -Self-organized community service in my hometown every winter/summer. 2 years
    -Community service in extremely remote/impoverished areas in Asia every summer for 2 weeks/100 hrs. 4 years, team leader
    -Team leader of WFUNA advanced UN training at Geneva. Every summer, 2 years
    -Climbing, extremely time-consuming, 3 hrs/day for winter and spring, 3 years
  • JV XC 9th/10th grade
    -sporadic translation jobs. Quick cash mostly.
    -Robotics club, 2 years
    -I play guitar, if that really counts for anything. Not part of a band or anything. 5 years

Teacher Recs should be good. I asked my latin teacher and my chem teacher. Both of them had me for 2 years and know me well. Got As in both of their classes.

Not applying for FA so I’m paying full tuition.

So far I have Columbia, UChicago, UMich, UNC Chapel Hill listed as my early schools. They are all really hard to get in (UNC is probably easier) so I need some safeties/suggestions. I’m open to all kinds of schools regardless of location, tuition, size, etc.

I currently have Williams, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Haverford, Davison, UCB, UCLA, Cornell, BC, BU, Emory, WUSL, UMiami, Vandy, Bowdoin.

I’m pretty confident about getting into Miami and BU, everything else is really uncertain. Suggestions? I definitely need to narrow down the list, no way I’m gonna apply to 20 schools.

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bump

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Your financial situation is unclear, as is your age. Can you clarify.

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@fogcity I did say that I’m paying full tuition. Financial situation is pretty stable. Does my age really matter? First year applicant, 18 when I graduate.

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Is there something that sets each of these schools apart for you other than prestige? They all seem very different from one another.

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@lalalema I do believe in the concept of liberal arts and core curriculum, so all good LACs that I visited and liked are automatically on my list. I am particularly fond of Econ/Psyc/Philosophy, so some of the schools have really strong programs in that regard. For the rest, it’s just because I have friends going there.

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Your college list is very broad, this in the sense of including many LACs, large privates and large publics. My understanding is that once you get your green card you’ll be instate for your parent’s resident state. If my understanding is correct your instate public is financially a better choice than the out of state publics on your list (such as the UCs). The college experience at the LACs on your list will be significantly different from that at the large universities. I would encourage you to think objectively about the difference which has an academic, eventual job search, as well as a social dimension. Best is to focus on one category of colleges. Economics, which you list as a possible major, is inherently a quantitative major. Larger colleges will likely have a broader selection of courses in this field than the LACs. Your stats put you in the range of top colleges. Consider identifying one which is a clear top choice and apply ED. Your admission chances, especially at the LACs on your list (assuming that you decide that a LAC environment is the one you want) are significantly better as an ED candidate than a RD one.

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University of Richmond, Wake Forest U would be good choices for you

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@mamag2855 Wake Forest looks like a great choice