Is my college list balanced and safe?

College Search & Lists
1

I don’t really want to post my complete list of stats, but I can give you guys a quick overview.
4.0 GPA UW, 1/500 rank, 2300 SAT, 800 Math II and Physics
IB Diploma Candidate, taking hardest course load at school
Sem 1: IB Math HL, IB History of the Americas, IB Physics, IB English, IB French, Ordinary Differential Equations
Sem 2: IB ToK (Philosophy, required), IB Math HL, IB History of the Americas, IB Physics, IB English, IB French, Multivariable Calculus

EC’s:
-Captain, President of Debate Team, compete on national circuit, ranked top 20 in country, placed in top 5 at tournaments at UPenn, Stanford, earned bid to TOC (Championship tournament)
-Varsity Football
-Martial Arts (Black belt, senior instructor) since kindergarten
-Research Assistant at Stanford Econ Department (only high schooler on team of 20, in a position meant for an undergrad)
-Robotics (11-12 only)
-USACO Gold competitor

CA resident, 300k+ income, Indian male, parents are paying for college so safety isn’t based off of financial aid.
Looking to major in Economics, Business, Math or CS depending on the school.

My school list:
ED:
University of Michigan
Stanford (also getting a letter of recommendation from a professor high up in the Economics department who I did research with so this might help)
RD:
UCLA, UCB, UCSD
USC
Yale
Harvard
UPenn Wharton
UChicago
Princeton
Northwestern
NYU Stern
Columbia

Also UMichigan is acting as my sort of safety since I’m applying early. If I get rejected which I don’t expect to happen I’ll consider another safety.
Thanks for your help!

2

Agreed, as long as you know you are in to UM by December then it is a safety. If you don’t hear back by December for any reason, then add some schools with higher acceptance rates in to the mix.

3

What you have listed as ED is actually EA (Early Action). You can’t ED to two schools but you can EA to Stanford and a Public U so the choices are OK. Otherwise it looks like you’re all set. I would be surprised if you didn’t make it into UMich, the UCs, and USC.

4

No, your list is not at all balanced. You have a very impressive resume, but at places like the vast majority of the schools on your list, they could fill up their entire freshman class with students who look like you. Michigan has a 32% acceptance rate, which is probably a bit lower for OOS students; it’s not a safety. UCLA’s is 18.6%, Berkeley’s is 18.1%, and UCSD’s is 33%. UCSD is probably the closest thing you have to approximating a safety, given that you are in-state and that your stats are so high - but I’d still say probably more of a match.

The rest of your schools are all reaches. Yes, you definitely have the stats to make Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, Princeton, Wharton, Northwestern, Stern, USC, and Columbia plausible, but like I said, most of those schools have single-digit acceptance rates and get thousands of applications from students just as impressive as you every year. (NYU has an overall 35% acceptance rate, but NYU Stern’s is about 6%.) Thus, they are reaches for everyone. Will you get into one of them? Probably. Probably even more than one.

If you really want your list to be balanced you need to add some more matches and another safety or two. A good safety is another UC campus with a lower acceptance rate - UC-Merced, UC-Davis, UC-Riverside, even UC-Irvine (which is almost as low as UCSD, but given your high stats, I think it would be a safe match if you will). Matches are schools where you have a really good shot, where you will probably be admitted, but there’s still some uncertainty. I would suggest some colleges in the 20-40% acceptance range for a match. Think Notre Dame (excellent for business!) Emory (ditto), Northeastern, Boston U, Boston College, Lehigh, Wake Forest, University of Rochester, Brandeis, Case Western, University of Miami, George Washington, Tulane, Fordham, Southern Methodist. If money’s not a problem, you can consider some of the less competitive - but still excellent - OOS public universities, like Indiana (excellent for business!) Maryland, UF, Penn State (good business school too), UGA, Wisconsin, Minnesota, UWashington, William & Mary, UT-Austin. UVa and UNC are also good, but difficult for OOS students, so I would put them in the match/reach category.

Also, you don’t have any small liberal arts colleges on your list so I didn’t suggest any. But if you are interested in business, consider Babson College - a small business college outside of Boston, and widely considered one of the best undergrad business programs.

5

You’re Indian (asian-american). So, no, your list isn’t safe.

6

@thatswhatitis Your list looks fine. You are instate and have three UC’s.

I would add Notre Dame and Boston College especially if you want to major in business. Maybe take off USC. Notre Dame’s business school is probably the hardest in the country now but as a Catholic school the Indian/Asian population is very low so you have an advantage.

7

@GMTplus7 you do know the UCs aren’t allowed to consider race, right?

8

Thanks for the help so far everyone!

9

even though $$ is not a factor, by applying EARLY to USC , [before Dec 1,their scholarship application deadline] AND by letting them know in your essay and interviews[ I strongly recommend you make the trip to SCal for that purpose] of your real interest in going there, you also have a good chance of hearing back from them in Jan/ Feb with an acceptance letter, and a Merit scholarship.
If your PSAT score is higher than the Calif cut off score, you would be given a 1/2 tuition scholarship, if ,again, USC accepts you.
Applying early to USC does not preclude you from applying SCEA to Stanford or other restrictive early action colleges.

10

Your list shows very little thought on your part. You are letting others decide for you the schools that are best for you. Ditch the USNWR brand names and dig in; you are being lazy.

11

It is easy to pick reach colleges. Picking a balanced list is more difficult. Your list is not balanced, not by a long shot. You have very strong stats. Your success in debate nationally is noteworthy. If you are fairly certain that business or economics is what you want to major in it is easier to pick a list of colleges. You should include some colleges where merit aid is possible. 300k is above the family income where financial aid is likely but does your family have 60k just piling up each year? Probably not. Try to limit your list of reaches to four based not on the most selective school you can get into but the best fit. Penn, u.chicago seem like obvious candidates. What about liberal arts colleges like Swarthmore, Williams or Amherst? As noted above babson has a great business program. So does Indiana. You need to do your homework here. Picking a list of colleges involves more than comparing your stats to those of admitted students. Figure out why you are a good fit for your reach colleges. Do not assume being valedictorian or having strong test scores is enough, by itself, to get into an Ivy League collefe

12

Your list isn’t balanced or safe.

All those schools SEEM like they are almost not good enough for you. And it SEEMS like you can easily get in them based off of your stats and EC’s. The prime issue is that the admissions to these schools are a lottery roll. You might actually have a better chance of winning the lottery.

Right now your list looks like this:

Reach

University of Michigan
Stanford
UCLA
UCB
USC
Yale
Harvard
UPenn Wharton
UChicago
Princeton
NYU Stern
Columbia

Match

UCSD
Northwestern

Safety

You need to find places where you can definitely get in and where you have a realistically GOOD chance of getting in and add them to this list.

13

You are close to a mortal lock for UM and most if not all of the UC schools. Don’t let people scare you with stories of holistic admissions etc… It’s true obviously for the Ivies, who knows what will work there but I would challenge anyone to find a student with a perfect 4, number one in class, 2300 SAT plus two 800s that has been rejected by UM or any UC school. I can tell you that it hasn’t happened once in the last 5 years from our local large CA school.

14

When does UM notify EA applicants? If it’s after November 30th, then you should probably add some more UCs to your list. Their application is only open through the month of November. I can understand not wanting to spend more money than necessary for the early round, but you will not be able to add, say, UCI or UCSB after December 1st if you get worried. Tulane has a free application for Early Action, and you would probably hear by Thanksgiving. They are a very popular near-safety for exceptional students like you, because you could even hold off on some UC applications if you hear from Tulane in November. With so many good public options in CA, and a family that can pay full freight, I don’t think you need to worry about adding more safeties. If you found yourself in panic mode at Christmastime, you could dash off some final applications, but I think your application will look terrific: well-rounded as well as academically accomplished.

15

Just curiously @TheDidactic how is University of Michigan a reach and Northwestern a match? I thought admission rate is lower at Northwestern. It is true, however, that this year, a lot of kids from the NYC area applied to U. Michigan as a safety and they were waitlisted or rejected. OP is a very strong candidate but agree that there are not obvious safeties unless you consider the UC schools safeties for kids with his stats.

16

UMich is not a mortal lock for OOS students, no matter what their stats are. Holistic admissions DOES exist. Take a prowl or two through some threads on this board (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/). There are stories of kids with amazing stats who didn’t get in to a lot of schools that they had a good shot.

@uesmomof2 Technically UMich DOES have a higher admissions rate but I don’t always balance admissions rate with selectivity. UMich is getting extremely picky with its students, especially with OOS students and students going into STEM fields. I personally feel OP has a slightly (by not much) better chance at Northwestern but that’s just my personal opinion.

17

What we’ve been told is that, with those stats, Northwestern is a lock for ED but a crapshoot for RD. They’d rather admit smart kids who dream of going to Northwestern than kids with great credentials who look at it as a safety. Can’t blame them, though it sort of sucks if they’re your second choice and your first choice is a particular HYPS.

18

@TheDidactic could UMich act as my safety since I’m applying EA and getting a decision back by 12/24, giving me a week to finish my app to “traditional” safety schools (less selective) just in case I get rejected? Also I could definitely add UCSB or UCSC to my app since the UC app is just checking a box for other campuses. At that point would my list be balanced?

19

Applying early to Michigan does NOT make it a safety!
Add some of the colleges mentioned, like Boston, CMU, etc etc .
Search hard. Its important. And can you parents afford to pay full fare for OOS publics?

20

Some of you are missing the point about UM being a “safety”. The OP recognizes it is more selective than a typical safety, but if he gets accepted before other apps are due, he can be “safe" in knowing he’s been accepted to 1 excellent school he’d be happy to attend. If he’s deferred or rejected he will apply to a school that meets the traditional definition of a safety.