How to pick safeties?

College Search & Lists
1

I’m a rising senior; I’m applying to three schools I consider to be “reaches” (Northeastern, Boston College, and Tufts), several I consider to be about on par (Boston University, University of Colorado - Boulder, Lewis & Clark, and New York University), and am now looking for three schools that are more “safeties”.

I will be honest in saying I have no idea what kind of schools to pick here.

ACT : 31
WGPA : 4.3
Classes : IB program, AP united states history (4). No other exam results back.
Top 10% of 350, a pretty average school. I have taken every available honors and AP course at my school, as well as doing several classes at adjourning high schools that aren’t offered at mine (mainly medical classes) and at my local community college.
I have taken AP US history, IB psych, IB biology higher level, IB euro higher level, IB lit higher level, and next year am taking IB chemistry, IB calculus, IB spanish 4, and AP government.
I took the ACT again and am awaiting results, as well as the SAT Subject Tests.
I’m hispanic, was invited into the National Hispanic Recognition Program (with almost guaranteed admittance), and got two National Gold Keys through the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. I’ve gone to a selective writing workshop at Bard College, and the rest of my ECs are pretty decent. I have been in marching band since freshman year, president last two years, orchestra all four years, debate junior (and senior) year, I do a lot of volunteering (community gardens, working with new immigrants to Colorado at developing language skills, a local hospital, animal therapy, food banks across the country - every time I travel I volunteer - and the local search and rescue patrol). I was in Cross Country and Ultimate Frisbee freshman and sophomore year, did pit orchestra this past year, and this past year I was a founder of the Science Bowl club and the Greenhouse club. I am the VP of Science Bowl and President of Greenhouse club.

Really I’m just looking for some insight into schools that would be a pretty good chance at admitting me.

Thank you so much for your time!

2

Can you describe the points listed in http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621234-before-you-ask-which-colleges-to-apply-to-please-consider-p1.html so that others can help you better?

3

Sure!

Cost Constraints : we can afford to pay about 45k a year. If a school is over that, I have relatives who can foot the rest of the bill. Money definitely is a factor (I’d rather go to BU for 20k than Cornell for 60k), but I don’t consider it a limiting factor so much as just a nice touch.

Majors : I am either going into pre-med, genetics, or biomedical engineering.

Non-Academic Preferences : I would really prefer to avoid the South as a general geographical area. I really despise the weather there.

UWGPA : My school does not actually give this out, but last time I calculated it, it was a 3.76.

4

If you are Colorado resident, CU Boulder is a safety as are most Colorado schools: CSU, UNC, Mesa, etc.

As an NHRP student, lots of schools will give you automatic full tuition or full ride scholarships. Some are popular ones are U Oklahoma, U Kentucky, Arizona State, Central Florida U.

This thread lists a bunch of them:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1805958-need-recent-info-for-national-hispanic-scholars-2016-graduates.html#latest

5

I am a Colorado resident and at this point I am a great deal banking on CU Boulder letting me in. Thank you so much for that list!

6

The state flagship often belongs on anyone’s short list of safety schools (unless you’re in a state with an especially selective one). Colorado-Boulder does seem to meet your criteria. You could beat Boulder’s in-state pricing by choosing a school that offers full tuition merit scholarships to students with your stats (http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/). That may mean choosing a school that is less selective than Boulder or in a less desirable location.

If small colleges like Lewis & Clark appeal to you, then check out New College of Florida. It offers excellent academics, a beautiful location, and good prices for OOS students; it is not extremely selective.

7

For some pre-med options, this list can be a source of ideas: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs.”

8

<<<
Majors : I am either going into pre-med, genetics, or biomedical engineering
<<<

Pre-med isn’t a major. If you want to go to medical school, and you’re serious about that, then choose a major that you’ll love, do VERY well in, so that you’ll get tippy top grades needed for med school.

If you want to go to med school, and you’re SERIOUS about that, then I would NOT advise BioMedE or any Eng’g as a major. It is extremely difficult to get a high GPA as an eng’g major.

It can be counter-intuitive, but if you’re SERIOUS about med school, then choose a good school, but not a school that is loaded with high stats students. Premeds that attend univs that are loaded with high stats students are going to find it MUCH harder, and maybe impossible, to get the GPAs needed for med school.

for safeties, choose the schools that give big merit for NHRP.

Since med school is very expensive, if you can save money on undergrad, then you’ll need to borrow less for med school.

9

Other full tuition/ full rides that you could consider:

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/

If you want to stay instate - CSU cost less and will give you more merit $$ than CU.

10

Safeties: consider WUE schools that offer discounted tuition to residents of states within the consortium (Colorado is among them). Typically this is 1.5x the in-state rate and sometimes there are restrictions with respect to major, minimum HS GPA/test scores, applying earlier, etc. UC Boulder is a better school than most on the WUE list but it would definitely provide options that are both admissions and financial safeties. U of Montana, U of ID, U of WY, UNM, U of Utah, Washington State, and Arizona State are some of the better picks, and ASU has the highly-rated Barrett Honors College.

http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all