College list and ranking schools

missacademy2018
Fri, 28 Jul 2017 03:58:39 +0000

Four days before the 2017-18 Common App opens, I’m trying to finalize my college list. I’ve gotten it down from 20-something schools on my original college list that I made as a sophomore to 13 schools (I’m on my third version of my college considerations database :)) )
I’ve heard about the reach/match/safety ranking system, but I found it hard to categorize schools in this manner. Instead, I gave each school a number from 1-13 based on how much I want to go there regardless of academic rigor or prestige, and I placed the schools in tiers. Tier 1 is “slightly or considerably above” my academic stats (my current GPA+one point or more on a 100-point scale, my highest SAT+40 points or more out of 1600). Tier 2 is “close to” my stats (my current GPA +/- one point, my highest SAT +/- 40 points). Tier 3 is “slightly below” my stats (my current GPA -2 to 5 points, my highest SAT -40 to 200 points). Finally, Tier 4 is “considerably below” my stats (my current GPA -5 points or more, my highest SAT -200 points or more).
First things first, I want to know if this is a good ranking system.

Here are the schools I currently plan to apply to:

Tier 1:
Yale University (2)
Columbia University (3)
University of Pennsylvania (1)*

*UPenn might actually belong in Tier 2; the average admit’s stats are my GPA+1 point and my SAT+10 points.

Tier 2:
George Washington University (4)
Newhouse School @ Syracuse University (5)
Macaulay Honors College @ CUNY Baruch (11)
Macaulay Honors @ CUNY City College (12)
Macaulay Honors @ CUNY John Jay (13)

Tier 3:
Rutgers University (6)
Boston University (7)
SUNY Stony Brook (9)

Tier 4:
Howard University (8)
SUNY New Paltz (10)
Syracuse University general admission’ (5B)
CUNY Baruch general admission (11B)
CUNY City College general admission (12B)
CUNY John Jay general admission (13B)

Questions:

-Is this a good way to rank schools?

-I categorize Tier 1 as reach, Tier 2 as high match, Tier 3 as lower match, and Tier 4 as safety. For someone with a 97 GPA and 1490 SAT (will retake), does this list look accurate, or are my matches actually reaches, etc.

-Do I need any more schools? UConn, W&L, and Duquesne are still being considered. Is it even worth it at this point, or should I settle with these thirteen?