I’m currently lost as to what schools might be right for me, cause there’s just so much to consider. So I need some help getting some ideas 
DEMOGRAPHICS:
Location: suburban Bay Area, CA
HS: Decent-sized public high school
Legacy: Dad went to [UPenn]
Gender: Female
INTENDED MAJOR:
Still not really sure. I do enjoy my science classes (physio, chem and bio. I also liked psych), so I’m thinking something in that realm, I just don’t know what. (maybe Chemistry? I really like physiology though, I don’t know what majors related to that subject would be good? If you guys have idea for me that’d be great, too.) For context, I have thought about doing pre-med… other than that I don’t really have a good idea of what I want to do. I know after college and thinking about things I would want in a career: I would like to travel or at least do something new every once in a while, get to interact with people (and not just with my coworkers but with like “clients”/random normal people). (So I was thinking, with a pre med track the end goal would be something like Doctors Without Borders.) If I want to do pre-med, I also need a plan B and like plan C though in case things don’t work out with getting into med school and all that, but i don’t know what backup majors/careers I’d like.
STATS:
- UW GPA: 4.0
- School weighted GPA: 4.69 (not sure what the calculating system is)
- UC Weighted: 4.57
- Rank: school doesn’t tell us
- AP scores:
- 5 - AP World History, AP Psychology
- Waiting on scores from AP Chemistry (4 or 5) and AP Precalculus (def 5) and AP Literature (probably a 5?)
- PSAT and SAT: 1410 (700 reading, 710 math) and 1530 (750 reading 780 math)
COURSEWORK (school’s AP limit is 8– it was originally 6 but 2 were added in the middle of my hs career and I am planning on taking 7 in total)
- 9th grade: Biology, PE, Intro to 2D Animation, Spanish I, English I, Algebra I (Geometry, Mandarin Chinese I Dual Enrollment over the summer)
- 10th grade: AP World History, Dance II, Honors Chemistry, Algebra II/Trig, AP Psychology, English II (Mandarin Chinese II Dual Enrollment)
- 11th grade: U.S. History, Physiology Honors, Beginning Guitar, AP English Literature, AP Chemistry, AP Precalculus
- 12th grade: Government/Economics, English IV, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, Honors Physics
EXTRACURRICULARS:
- Varsity Wrestling- 3 years and this coming senior year (~24/+ hrs/week practice/competition in-season, ~3 hrs of training during off-season but could be more if there’s a competition)
- Captain as a junior and this coming year
- Started as a freshman, went to sectionals as a 1st year and placed 8th. This year made top 16 in the state of California, 1st in my section and 1st in my league
- Varsity Flag Football- 1 yr + this coming year (7-11 hrs/week in season)
- Track and Field- Varsity junior yr, JV sophomore year 9 (7-11 hrs/week in season)
- JV Water Polo (1 yr), JV lacrosse (1 yr) (10-12 hrs/week)
- Model UN Club member - 2 years (attended two conferences a year)
- Link Crew Leader
- Private Swim Tutor (1-5 hrs/wk)
- Teaching kids ages 5-13 of varying swimming capabilities
- Summer Swim Team - Swimmer and Coaching Staff
- 6 years as a swimmer, 4 years as a coach
- Private Tutor
- Math HW/english essay help
- NSLI-Y Summer 2025 Study-Abroad (National Security Language Initiative for Youth)
AWARDS:
- Model UN: Outstanding Delegate Award at BearMUN, Outstanding Delegate Award and Research Award at BMUN, part of group that won best small delegate award (BearMUN and BMUN both conferences held at UC Berkeley, BMUN is more prestigious)
- Recognized as “Link Leader of the Month” in May 2025 (out of all the link leaders in the school, a couple are recognized each month)
- Sports Awards:
- JV Water Polo Most Improved 2022
- Girls Wrestling Most Promising Freshman Award 2023
- Wrestling Team Scholar Award 2024 & 2025 (teammate embodying the student-athlete)
- Wrestling accolades:
- 8th at NCS (sectionals) 2023
- 2nd in my League 2023
- 1st in League 2025 (i was injured in 2024 for league)
- 1st in NCS 2025, Top 16 in CA 2025
- 2nd team Varsity wrestling 2023, 1st team Varsity wrestling 2025
- Swim Team: Alan Smith Award 2024 (this award honors a dad on the team from the 80s who always showed up even while battling bone cancer. The award recognizes positivity, service to the community, being an inspirational and dedicated mentor to teammates)
COST CONSTRAINTS/BUDGET:
- Ideally looking for merit aid, especially if it’s a safety
- Less than 40k a year all in
SCHOOLS: (this is all like according to collegevine, I kinda just used the filter and picked some)
Safety - University of Alabama Tuscaloosa 98%chance, Miami University 98%, University of Georgia 82%
Target - University of Pittsburgh 79%, Boston University 43%, Case Western Reserve 62%, UCLA 41%
Reach - Columbia University 26%, Yale 25%
OTHER/SCHOOL PREFERENCES:
- Size: I don’t really have a preference, I just want there to be enough people that I don’t run into the same ones a lot.
- Location: Also unsure (i havent lived far from home or my family for longer than a week before, but after these 6 weeks abroad with the nsli-y thing we’ll see how I like it)
- Campus life and extracurriculars:
- I know I don’t want to go to a commuter school. I want people to be there at the school and I want there to be a decent on-campus social environment.
- Clubs like wrestling or rugby or maybe I’ll try jiu-jitsu or archery, I don’t know. Although I’m not sure if I want to wrestle in college, I think I’d definitely want to continue wrestling/something active or pick up a new sport in a recreational manner.
I’d really just like some opinions and suggestions for schools in all three categories of safety, target and reach, but if you could give some tips about deciding on a major and things like that it’d be much appreciated 