help deciding when to apply

College Search & Lists
1

<p>This is my tentative list of schools (I’m a CA resident) :</p>

<p>Reach:

  1. Stanford
  2. Georgetown (legacy)
  3. Duke
  4. Northwestern
  5. Vanderbuilt</p>

<p>Match:
6. USC (legacy)
7. UCLA
8. Boston College
9. Emory
10. Davidson</p>

<p>Safety:
11. UCSD
12. U Alabama</p>

<p>Let me know if you think my list is too reach heavy, I have a 2300 (1600 R + M), 800/790/790 on my subject tests, and 4.0 unweighted and have taken the most rigorous course load at my school (excluding AP Art but I don’t think that really counts against me haha). I have what I consider pretty competitive Extracurriculars (state level/national awards, varsity athlete but not looking to be recruited, 500 community service hours)</p>

<p>Essentially, I’m looking for a school with school spirit, flexible and strong academics (because I’m very undecided as to my major), and in a good city/town. My parents can pay full, and we probably will get little to no financial aid, but merit scholarship opportunities are great so I can save money for later grad school or future expenses. I’m open to ideas of similar schools or other schools that you think match my desired characteristics (I’m thinking about Rice, UVA, UNC Chapel Hill as possibilities). </p>

<p>Also, I’m feeling a little lost about when to apply. I’m pretty sure I do not want to do ED to any of my reach schools (Vandy, Duke, or Northwestern) because I think my two top choices are Stanford and Georgetown. So right now my two options are either apply to Georgetown, Boston College, and perhaps a few other schools early action or apply to only Stanford SCEA. What I’m struggling with is that most schools weight legacy as a larger factor in EA, but I’ve heard that this doesn’t really apply to Georgetown and that Georgetown does not give any boost to early applicants, whereas Stanford does give a slight boost I believe. However, if I applied to Stanford I would be unable to apply to any other “safer” options so I may have no acceptances before RD which would make me a little nervous. Another possible option is to apply to Stanford SCEA and other public colleges (which is allowed believe) early, such as UVA, UNC, etc., to increase my chances of an early acceptance. </p>

<p>Thank you, sorry this is so long, and let me know your thoughts!</p>

2

<p>I’m not certain, but I don’t think that applying SCEA prohibits you from applying RD to rolling admissions schools (or RD to any other school for that matter, even if it is early). I agree that applying early somehow is awesome, and that ED is evil.</p>

3

<p>Does anyone know of any rolling admission schools? And I know I totally don’t feel prepared to make that decision not to mention ED prevents you from comparing merit packages</p>

4

<p>Google is your friend…
[ListAfterList.com</a> - Colleges with Rolling Admissions](<a href=“http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/57/listid/12798/Education++History/Colleges+with+Rolling+Admissions.aspx]ListAfterList.com”>http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/57/listid/12798/Education++History/Colleges+with+Rolling+Admissions.aspx)</p>

5

<p>If you are looking for merit aid you need to expand your list. Try Kiplinger’s to identify schools that are good with merit aid, you should see some that meet your other requirements -
[Kiplinger’s</a> Best Values in Private Colleges-Kiplinger](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php]Kiplinger’s”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php)
Note that this displays universities, there is a button to switch to LACs. There is a separate list for public schools.</p>

6

<p>You can apply to rolling admissions schools and still apply to ED, EA, and SCEA schools. The benefit of doing this is some rolling schools (like Alabama which is your safety) will accept you and award you merit, long before ED/EA/SCEA results are in. You don’t have to decline those Rolling offers UNLESS you decide to accept your ED offer.</p>

<p>So, while you can’t compare many offers if you do ED, you can compare the merit offers that are awarded early from some Rolling Admissions schools.</p>

<p>BTW…Alabama’s app is live already and online. Only takes a couple minutes to complete…no essays, no teacher recs. Also submit the scholarship app; it’s a formality for your stats, but must be done. Bama admits and awards merit by stats…test scores and GPA, so that simplifies the app process significantly.</p>