<p>I've heard a lot about my list. Some say it's too risky because of my weak cumulative GPA, while others say I should apply to some higher reach schools because my trend (both courseload + gpa) is pretty good.</p>
<p>NJ: list is fine in terms of reach/match/safety, but with only 3 privates, your chance for merit $$ could be improved with a few more privates like Tulane or UMiami possibly, especially with your SAT score....</p>
<p>Are you in-state for any of the publics? If you are, then I think your list is great. If not, I'd maybe think about a financial safety if money is an issue.</p>
<p>I can tell you that U Mich will not give you good financial aid unless you are exceptionally bright with good sat/gpa.</p>
<p>UCLA doesn't give much aid to OOS applicants either.</p>
<p>The other schools I don't know, but I think your list is good. Is the gpa the weighted gpa? If it is then I think you will be fine with your list. Also I think you can add maybe two more schools. Nowadays people apply to like 10++ colleges because competition gets stiffer every year.</p>
<p>Just curious, which school do you most want to attend?</p>
<p>There is no list that is too risky as long as you have at least a few safety and match schools on your list, which you do. Maybe apply to a few more reaches. Admissions at the top-level is a crapshoot, thus some top school may really love you. Adding a couple more reaches diversifies the "risk."</p>
<p>colleclassof2013: I don't think financial aid will be be a factor in my college choices. My parents are willing to pay tuition anywhere. The GPA is unweighted. My top choice is NYU, with BC closely following.</p>
<p>birdhouse: My school doesn't rank, but if I were to estimate a rank, it'd probably be right outside of the top 10%. My freshman GPA kills.</p>
<p>Here is what I see based on your stats and these assumptions:
-- Junior year closes out well
-- First semester of senior year goes just as strongly
-- You get good AP scores (mostly 4's and above). These will help to remove concerns about your earlier performance.
-- You have a good story to tell about both your future direction and your fit at your target schools, especially the privates</p>
<p>UCLA - reach
UC's will ignore your freshman grades in their calculations but UCLA has the highest selectivity on your list (23%) and is particularly picky about OOS. If you really want a CA school, you could try below the UCLA-Berkeley-UCSD level.</p>
<p>U of MI, BC, NYU, Lehigh - high matches.
Even though your SAT's are at the high end of their range, they are quite selective and will be looking for more than high scores. Lehigh's stats, in particular, show a fondness for top 10% of class (93% of students) which your GPA, even after improvement, probably will not get you. (For most schools you'd need about about a 3.75+ uw.)</p>
<p>UW, UIUC - matches
Both are relatively open to OOS (especially UW).</p>
<p>All in all a balanced list. You could add more "reaches", but I would advise you do so only if you see something that you really like. You already have many quality schools on your list.</p>
<p>jessiehl - economics or engineering. i'm not totally sure. i do want to avoid tech schools though if i do engineering. i want to avoid LACs because they're smaller than my high school.</p>
<p>I'd say your reaches are Boston College, Lehigh, & UCLA. NYU and UMich would be reaches / high matches. I don't know much about UIUC or Wisconsin. I think Penn State will probably be a match, and Rutgers is probably sure thing. I think that your list is well balanced, but it couldn't hurt to add more schools in any of those categories.</p>
<p>I was this close "||" to putting Lehigh and BC in the reach column, too. But I still think UCLA is qualitatively less likely. At any rate it was because of this that I didn't think you had any great need to add more competitive schools.</p>
<p>i'm a graduate of Lehigh, and your background is a good fit. Lehigh prides itself on an excellent admin system geared to finding people who are trying to grow. you fit that model. </p>
<p>i also attended briefly UMiami, Florida. not the place for someone with your scores.</p>
<p>you said you didn't want a tech school. well that's Lehigh. it has a wide range of choices, but tech is its heart. if you change your mind about engineering you probably will need to change your school as well. also the school is not well known out west (i'm there now and its rare someone recognizes it). finally Lehigh is great for funding and job placement. if you get in, Lehigh will find a way to keep you financially even if they have to pay full way, its a promise and they live up to it.</p>
<p>on par with Lehigh you could add Rice University in TX. Be warned, California schools are impacted (out here that means its hard to get classes, funding and acceptance) due to severe budget crisis. the west coast engineering school would be Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, but its real hard to get in.</p>
<p>if i could make the decision again, i would look at:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>overall school name - its stupid, but its the name that gets your resume read, and allows you to attend with others who can help you later in life. doesn't matter what your gpa was if your resume says Harvard, Yale, Princeton. HR departments see the name and forward the resume.</p></li>
<li><p>specific program - pin down what you dream of, then at least make sure its offered. engineering is broad. Lehigh has unique strengths but they may not be in areas that interest you. check their graduate programs to see if they do any real research in the areas that interest you (if they only have one professor on a topic, then its more a hobby then a program of study)</p></li>
<li><p>lifestyle - attending Univ Cal Santa Cruz for their great mathematical physics program, next to the ocean just outside of Silicon Valley is way different then going to Lehigh and climbing the southern most mountain of the Poconos, in an ex-steel town in a re-growth period. half your time is classes, half your time is meeting people, growing and having some fun. place some value on this as well.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If your rank is in the top 15% by 7th semester, Rutgers will offer you money and the honors program. The honors program overcomes some of the downsides of Rutgers large size.</p>
<p>Also, before you apply sure that you are happy with your matches. This year is weird for some kids and next year may have a similar problem. My son got honors programs from his matches, but didn't get into any reach schools. Waitlisted at 2 and rejected at 3 reach schools.</p>
<p>Definitely keep Rutgers on your list, no matter what else you decide. I think you have a good chance there, and it's one of the better unis in your home state. </p>
<p>Since you're looking for econ or engineering, might I suggest the following schools as possible additional reaches/fits: UC Berkeley, UCLA (already on your list, but I'm seconding that nomination), Johns Hopkins, U Maryland College Park, Boston University, and U Texas Austin. </p>
<p>If you think engineering might be of interest to you, NYU is not a fit. It's very good in econ, but 1) NYU itself doesn't offer engineering and 2) it offers engineering only through NYU Poly, which is the old Brooklyn Poly, and isn't all that great of an engineering school.</p>
