Define ‘better’. You are sourcing a magazine ranking to note better. Don’t do that.
OP needs to find the best fit for them. A rank doesn’t provide fit.
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Well, the comparison is based on the available data …
There are 8 IVY schools , supposed to have good business/economics programs
then there is MIT/Stanford
Then we have top private schools, Uchicago, Duke, North Western, and l, Cal tech and John Hopkins
Then we have Vandy , Rice and Nordstrom , one thing common among all these school the admission rate is 5% and much difficult to get in
UMICH has better Ross school , Berkekly and LA California universities are rated high
Then we have Emory , George town, Craigie Melon , UNC WASHU and they have acceptance around 12 %
UNC is easiest to get in for instate student and Keenan Flagger , I was told , once admitted they have 50% chance
Most of the private schools have small class size and better support system than UNC with alumni connections etc
Again the Fit I have no Idea, it depends on the students choice …
What I understand is , as UNC is for sure, is there any better option is what the question is
Students at my school are guaranteed admission to UNC, but after that, we’d still have to apply for the specific school we want.
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I was considering NYU for NYU Stern but I’m not entirely sure if I’ll apply there.
There are few kids who will be offered early assurance to Keenan Flagger and Gilling’s public health, few other programs do not need secondary application and only program that I am aware that needs an application and has no assurance is CS. There may be others but I am not aware of
You really need to decide if you want finance or econ. Much of your list doesn’t have finance. They are different.
IMHO, studying what you want outweighs the strength of the name you go to.
Schools like Vandy, Chicago, most Ivies, Duke - no undergrad business. If you want econ (and not finance), that’s different. ECON is a social science. whereas business is a direct training for a specific role/function.
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FWIW, my high stat and strong resume that I presume is at same school did not get assured into business or public health or even honors at UNC yet got into Ivies and other top schools. Just from reading online, I sort of get impression oos candidates are more likely or some institutional priority unknown to me are more likely to get these extras to sweeten the pot. Also sort of wonder if they know tuition grant is enough so don’t ‘waste’ on those students as much? Just pure speculation on my part.
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That makes me wonder if a couple suitable direct-admit Target undergrad business programs might be a good idea. Not obligatory but they could maybe be worth considering in certain circumstances.
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Just in case I’m dead wrong on my assumptions, I’ll also add this tidbit. Aside from rolling options, UNC is such an early deadline and in our experience essays improve substantially over time. I recall their supplementals being very bland and we had a good laugh rereading them months later.
I have heard they lean on essays a lot because they get so many applications, so put a lot of effort in even though you sound like my kid who also wanted to spread wings a bit more. I think mine could have done better, but took it for granted and perhaps that hurt on the extras too.
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Just a brief follow up–I think sometimes people get a little caught up in Reaches and Targets needing to be “better” than their Likelies, but I think sometimes they can just be different. Different state or region, different size or academic focus, and so on. And you don’t necessarily need to decide at the point of applying how you would prioritize all that, and indeed I think a lot of kids experience an evolution of their preferences during the process, including right through the end.
So in that spirit, I wonder if the OP would be interested in applying to some smaller colleges like, say, Richmond or Bucknell. Or maybe Washington and Lee, Colgate, or Hamilton. Are these better than UNC? I would not make that claim. Are they different? For sure.
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We got UNC , and Public health and scholarship money , but no honors and we got waitlisted on 4 t 20’s including Duke, the sad part of this school is if the kids remained in their home school , they might have had a better chance , as the T20 cannot give admissions to only few top candidates from the same school
(*moderator edits)
Yes. Would have loved a crystal ball to determine outcome of each option!
I was being vague to not make it weird. 
Penn has been mentioned in here recently with respect to ED: apparently they aren’t giving much, if any, preference to legacies, and some alumni – whose children were rejected – have expressed their angst.
That being said, these were the stats reported on Penn’s most recent CDS:
Total applicants: 54588
Admitted: 3549 (6.5% overall admit rate)
ED applicants: 7794
ED admits: 1210 (15.5%)
RD apps: 46794
RD admits: 2339 (5%)
Even if unhooked applicants have roughly half the chance of the ED admit rate, 7.75% is still better than 5%.
ETA:
- You have a great safety with UNC, as long as you would be happy to attend and it’s affordable.
- Don’t apply ED anywhere unless it’s your #1 choice.
- Look a bit harder at the rest of your list, and if any don’t feel like a good fit… don’t apply. There’s no need, with UNC in your pocket.
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Yes. Exactly.
This is something that I neglected to say in my first post above. @Skiier1234 you have a long list of reaches. Each application is going to take a significant amount of effort. It is worth the effort to put some thought into each essay that you write for each application.
As such, it is worth taking some time to think about which of your reach schools is a good fit for you, and why. Look at what majors are available at each school, and what classes are required to graduate for the majors that are interesting to you. If you can, visit a few schools, particularly ones that are nearby. Get an tour and if possible talk to a professor (many schools will allow you to sign up to talk to a professor and/or attend a class when you take a tour). Then for schools that are a better fit you will have more relevant things to say in your essays. For schools that are not as good of a fit, you can just drop them from the list.
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I agree this could make sense of OP doesn’t want to take the K-F risk at UNC and/or would prefer to not major in Econ.
Some ideas including some already mentioned: U Miami, Lehigh, Bucknell, Richmond.
IU won’t be a safety because OP attended 2 high schools which requires filing the Kelley petition, even tho they technically meet the direct admit criteria. And it doesn’t sound like publics like IU, Pitt, etc that don’t give huge merit or need based aid would be affordable.
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OP isn’t unhooked as a first gen though.
OP as a high achieving first gen low income you should absolutely consider Quest Bridge but also the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship, the foundation also has a lot of resources that are helpful while still in high school, and especially during the college application process.
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Op has need and is talking about QB. Many schools, like IU, won’t be applicable.
OP, I think I’m aware of your school and situation. You are highly qualified, and with having UNC as a solid affordable safety, I think you could apply to as many reaches as you’d like assuming they’re in budget. I would not be surprised if you got into any of them.
If you’d be happy at UNC, you’re done with safeties.
I think private schools are more likely to be affordable than OOS public given OPs financials.
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I’m hoping that you follow-through with your intention to apply for QuestBridge, as I suspect you’d be accepted and I’d be surprised if you wouldn’t match. If you didn’t match (or weren’t accepted to QB), and you applied to this current list, I suspect you would have more than one acceptance.
That said, however, I would think carefully about why kind of a psychological impact it would have on you if you applied to 17 schools and only had 1 or 2 acceptances (UNC and UMich, the latter of which would be unaffordable), and then had 15-16 waitlists/rejections which is definitely a possibility with an application list with so many highly selective/rejective schools.
For some people, getting that much rejection just feeds their internal fire to prove how wonderful they are with the option(s) they do have. If you’re that kind of person, great.
If, however, you think that it could be emotionally or psychologically damaging, I would strongly urge you to form your college list with that in mind and add additional schools that are likelier for admissions.
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