Stanford University
Harvard University
Princeton University
Yale University
Columbia University
Pomona College
Claremont McKenna College
University of Pennsylvania
Duke University
Swarthmore College
Amherst College
Cornell University
Rice University
Wesleyan University
University of Southern California
Washington University in St. Louis
Williams College
University of North Carolina
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Northeastern University
University of Washington - Seattle
Yes, I am well aware that it is a large list (please refrain from commenting on that below). I am simply curious if this is a reasonable list given my stats.
GPA - 4.0 UW (8 APs)
ACT - 35 (36E 31M 35R 36S)
Subject tests - waiting on score (took math ii and us history and hoping for 700+ in each)
ECs - I have some unique, some generic, overall a decent list (not gonna get into it), but nothing INSANELY good.
I am a WA state resident.
Intended major - Biz (or econ at the liberal arts schools)
With the exception of University of Washington - Seattle, your list is comprised entirely of reach schools. So the answer to your question is, yes, your list is too top heavy.
An appropriate applicant to a tippy top knows it’s always more than stats and some ECs you think are good enough. That’s a central fact in holistic reviews by TT colleges. Sounds lke you need to do more to learn what matters to each of those schools, in choosing admits. Otherwise, you can be just crapshooting, throwing darts, hoping one hits. (Because, after all, you have the stats/some ECs and think that’s all they look at.) Not the sort of thinking those schools look for. Not at all.
Not just top heavy…reads like you just looked at some ranking lists. Miles to go.
ps. you need better than 700+ and the 31M can be a problem if you’re aiming for stem.
And check how competitive your intended major is at University of Washington. Also, have you checked affordability (net price calculators) for each school?
This list looks like you just took a ranking and went down the list. You need to take a deeper dive and look at the specifics for each school. No way that the same student would be a good fit for both Cornell and Columbia. This list is all over the map - big, little, public, private, LAC, research, city, rural. Really think about what you want from your college experience and narrow it down. This list screams of prestige hunting which is a recipe for disaster come the spring.
I think that your stats are competitive even at the most selective schools on your list (Stanford and Harvard). It also looks to me as if you could handle the rigor at these schools. Of course Stanford and Harvard are high reaches and lacking a “hook” your chances are lower than the overall acceptance rate at these schools.
One thing that you need to do is to make sure that the University of Washington really is a safety for you. Given your stats and the fact that you are in-state I hope that it is a safety, but I am not sure and it might depend upon your major. You should add a second safety, such as Washington State (or less likely something to the north of you in BC, or a WUE school if Washington counts for WUE).
Given how strong the University of Washington is, I can see having your other applications go to reaches. There is little point in applying to a school that you would turn down and attend UW instead.
Would you really want to fly across the country to attend Northeastern (which is also very good), or don a very warm winter coat and boots to pay out of state prices at Michigan? Is UNC worth the out of state cost of attendance versus U.Washington in-state? Living pretty far away from you in the northeast corner of the country, I see UNC and UW as both really good schools, but I don’t see why I would pay out of state costs at either if I were in-state for the other.
Would you rather live for four years in the middle of a big city (Columbia), or a beautiful but isolated small town in the snow zone (Cornell, Williams)? Do you want a big school or a small school? I think that you should think about these issues before sending in 21 applications to roughly 17 or 18 reaches, perhaps 2 or 3 matches, and a very good safety.
Are you sure that you and your parents could afford to attend any university on the list? Are you fine with full pay with no debt, or have you run the NPCs?
I am concerned that if you try to write 21 applications, then your essays are going to start to suffer before you get to the end of the applications.
Here is the problem with UW as a safety. You don’t know until March if you are accepted. If anything goes wrong with the process and there are no seats left. you don’t have a sure seat, and that’s it . THat’s why Ihate UCs as safety schools. Sometimes things get fouled up through no fault of anyone but with state schools, often , full is full. Try again next year. I’ve seen it happen. UW does not have Early or Rolling admissions. Find another safety school that will let you know by year end if you are accepted so you have somewhere to go if all of your other schools reject you and something goes astray with UW and you get nothing in March.
Ordinarily, a rolling admissions to a state flagship or other school that is an easy in for a top student is a great safety. In my area, EA SUNY Binghamton and maybe another less selective SUNY are top choices for that, though top kids pretty much know that Bing is an in for them and they’ll know otherwise before year end. The rest of their choices are similiar to OP’s A lot of them end up at a school like NEU , which has become increasingly selective these days, or Binghamton, or they start looking for another safety when they have an ED or EA reach or Target that defers them as a reality check. I’d apply early to NEU (early action) as a match school, though with its accept % this last year, its becoming a bit of a reach to anyone, and another school, one that will certainly take you, has the courses you want and that you feel you can live with if the lottery tickets and NEU don’t pan out.
I’m assuming you can afford all of these schools. If not, there is a whole other issue here.
Wow. Pause. I honestly think you are going to have trouble standing out in that pool. A “unique EC” like unicycle riding and an internationally ranked kid in math are going to have very different outcomes. There are too many high stats kids without high level EC’s to compete in some places. Look on the CC threads of just 1-3 schools in which you have interest. Look at the kids who got in and their EC’s/approach. You alone will have to determine if you are in that likely bunch.
IF you have excellent essays and approach the process with more focus, you might have better results. Do your homework. If you know what you want, a school will respond better than if you have a generic approach. If I were your coach or parent, I’d tell you to get more realistic, have choices in multiple categories and do research.
The list isn’t realistic. For the exception of UW, your list is all hyper-competive expensive private schools or OOS schools. What you’re going to end up with is a long list of rejections, or worse, acceptances to schools you can’t afford to go to. Even UW’s business program is extremely difficult to get into.
Your precondition before you even start applying is money. Have you considered scholarships? That’s a far better deal, because someone is GIVING you 200k to go to school. Everyone else is giving you NOTHING except the privilege of paying $300k for a bachelors degree, which, by the way, has the same accreditation as every other university.
The odds are, with thoughtful applications, you’ll get into at least 1 of those schools. The thing is, you shouldn’t simply have good odds, you should have a sure thing (or pretty darn close to it.) And every year, there are kids who think they are telling AOs what they want to hear yet somehow miss the mark.
For your own sanity, add some schools that are matches/safeties.
Hard for kids to produce a thoughtful app if they haven’t sufficiently explored what their targets are about, considered why they want them, what makes you a match to what THEY want, and more… Yup, it takes a good measure of work to figure out. Harder than just picking by some media rep.
The schools are reasonable, but the list isn’t. A good list has reach, match, and safety schools. The very basics you provided say you’re at least in the ballpark for most of them, but that only gets you to a 10% acceptance rate for many. Just matching the admitted class statistics doesn’t mean you get in. The average admitted student may have a 35 ACT, but more 35s didn’t get in.
Find some schools where you are above the 75th percentile and they have a reasonable acceptance rate. These can be match/safety schools.
As has been noted, do some research and narrow it down. No way these all meet what you want in a school, unless the meaningless “high ranking” is all you care about. (And that’s a recipe for an unhappy outcome).
A school with under a 20% acceptance rate is a “reach” for any student. If you are applying to freshman admission to STEM or business programs at outstanding state schools, it can be almost as much of a reach – ie, CS at UWash.