My stats (current junior)
15 APs, 15 Honors, 4 Dual Credit Classes
4.871 GPA Weighted on 4.0 Scale (Non-Honors A = 4 points, Honors, AP, or Dual Credit A = 5 points, minus one point per letter grade)
Valedictorian, possibly Salutatorian
Marching, Concert, & Jazz Band All Four Years. All-County First Chair all four years on multiple instruments, All-State 3rd Chair Junior Year (maybe next year as well)
I would list my ECs but they won’t matter in the case of the colleges I’m looking for rn. Obviously a Bunch Ivies and Ivy+’s (Duke, MIT, Stanford, Caltech). I need some more safeties, because every chancing I’ve had tells me that I have a 96% of getting into Ohio State, which has a 50 something acceptance rate. I need to find some good safeties.
I prefer the East Coast with Financial Aid opportunities (merit scholarships and all). Live in underrepresented state (that might be a factor).
Big-Medium size school, D1 football, Greek life, social scene, yk-the “college experience”. Close to a lot of people in their 20’s.
If not that, then a smaller college could do.
Internship and research opportunities are great for engineering.
Don’t look at this as a business AND engineering, look at it as OR.
What type of price point are you trying to get to? There are lots of good programs that would be a safety if cost was no issue.
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You are a current sophomore? Are you estimating your stats?
There is nothing wrong with starting a long list at this point so you can research and visit some schools over the next year, but don’t spend too much time on it.
While it is early, for kicks you may want to read about Industrial Engineering, which is the intersection of engineering and business. The major is branded differently at different universities; for example it is known as ISyE (Industrial Systems Engineering) at GaTech. But GaTech is not a safety. 
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No, I’m a Junior and some of my stats are estimated.
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Obviously the cheaper the better, however, ROI matters more to me. An MIT grad would generally make more than a Louisville grad, AP even though it is more expensive.
Not necessarily. Also ROI is an inappropriate measure for picking a college.
You’ll get honors and lots of merit at UMaine. A safety for you and will likely end up being a more affordable option compared to other New England state flagships.
I’d like to add that when it comes to safeties, although I still put a tremendous emphasis on the academic part of college, I’m also give more sway to the social aspect. For my top choices, I’m like 90:10 (academic:social) as we get less competitive, I’m shifting that ratio. For safeties, I’m like 60:40 or a 65:35.
Also, I get it, I’m a nerd, but at less competitive, bigger schools, I won’t be surrounded by other nerds all the time. There is gonna be football, tailgates, Greek life, and parties. I want to enjoy that aspect that I would get at Harvard or yale (if I get in).
I think you sort of know with the MIT Louisville thing.
If you have a 4.0 and you want to be East and I’m cutting the country in half and you’ll need a test for some - but with big merit, Bama is the biggest but Ms State, UK Louisville you noted, UTK, Delaware, U of SC, maybe some Florida schools, likely Umass, Delaware…the list will go on and on.
Come back when you get a test score and near the end of Junior year (you claim Junior ) but says soph in the title.
Merit will depend on test score to get inexpensive.
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Feel free to shoot for elite schools, but I wouldn’t say these are all “obvious” choices. For example, Caltech is a very small, heavily research oriented school. Is that the right fit for you? Similarly, Cornell is with different from Dartmouth. You should research each one and see which ones are a fit. If you shotgun it’ll be very hard to tailor your essays precisely and demonstrate fit for each school.
That’s not very helpful. You should ask your parents to give you a firm budget. They should also run the net price calculators at schools like Princeton to see if you qualify for any financial aid.
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My bad, I just realized that I sound like a stuck up know it all. Sorry
That Ivys currently on my list are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn and Brown. I’m questioning Harvard because of the bad press it’s been getting, but I’ll probably apply.
To most Ivies and Ivy+s, I’m probably going to be paying around 20k a year (all included). The less competitive, the smaller endowment per student, the larger the price. I understand that at less competitive schools I’ll qualify for some stackable merit scholarships, but I don’t want to be paying anything more that 22-23k a year.
The title was edited by a mod
OK - you need a budget. Let’s say you get into MIT and it’s $90K+ a year - are your parents able?
Or do they qualify for need aid? Here is the NPC for them to fill out.
Yes, before even starting a search, you need a firm budget.
What is your test score? Actual - not predicted. You can predict but predict means little as you know.
Welcome | Net Price Calculator (collegeboard.org)
I missed this response. I’ll fix the title. I misread. Apologies.
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My net price for MIT would be around 18k a year as according to MIT’s net price calculator
When I said the cost of the ivies above, I was stating the net price after work study and need based scholarships. If that ends up being ~20k, then that fits my budget of around ~23k a year after scholarships and all that pizzaz.
Thanks, could you send a mod message or something to get people on track with my original question. I’m looking for safeties, not insight on reaches.
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Use your time wisely and create a balanced list.
All of those high reach for all colleges have extra essays that take time and many of the flagship public’s have extra scholarship steps including essays, interviews, and even visits at times.
It sounds like you are merit hunting a little, but may also qualify for done need based aid at colleges that meet full demonstrated need.
Only invest your time and efforts into to schools you can afford and that you would want to go to. Run the net price calculators with your family for the full need highly selective schools. They can come out differently depending on how they define need. Make sure they are in that $20,000 a year ballpark you are looking at. Then pick a few of them, not all of them. It will burn you out writing all that.
It sounds like you may really like a flagship u with an honors college so you get to have great academic and research options along with traditional college events.
For a safety that may actually become a top choice, The Ohio State University or UofSC could fit that bill, as suggested above. UDel as well. The honors colleges are definitely getting pickier based on posts this year. Show some demonstrated interest to help your chances there.
For the colleges to fit that not quite highest reach for all, look at places like Wake Forest. These can still be a reach for all, with quirky admissions and yield protection.
Good luck!
Also, if taking out loans to get that $20,000, run the payment calculators.
$80,000 to $90,000 in parent plus loans will be close to or more than a $1000 a month for 10 years in payments depending on interest rates.
So you need a $20K safety.
Do you have a test score?
Potentially your in state school will work (dependent on the state) - and dependent upon test score, your choices would be for big Alabama, Mississippi State, potentially Florida State and not the big time sports but W Carolina and UAH.
W Carolina is $20K and the other three could be there or even a tad less (Miss State) with a strong test score.
I’ll assume a strong test score because you’ll need it for MIT and others.
That’s a “safety” at budget list - due to auto merit, etc. There’s other schools that you could win a full ride, etc. but those would not be safeties (the schools may be depending on your test but not the cost).
But yes you need a test score or those schools with the exception of W Carolina would be out.
Good luck.
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