My College Pool

College Search & Lists
1

Is this a good college pool for me and what safeties should I add based on the schools I have?

Princeton, Cornell, UPenn, (Northwestern or WashU), UMD, NYU, UIUC, NC State, Drexel

Here are my stats:

GPA: 4.4 weighted, 3.9 unweighted (end of junior year)
Class rank: 11/394
SAT: 1470 (790 math, 680 r/w)
SAT Writing: 7/4/7
SAT Subject Tests: 740 math 2, 570 Biology E (not proud of these, only sent to a few schools)
AP Classes: Physics 1, Government, Computer Science Principles, Seminar, English Language, World History, Calculus AB, Spanish Language, Research, Calculus BC, Physics C, Computer Science A, Statistics, English Literature (14 total)

Extracurricular:
Engineering competitions - National champion for one, 4th place at international for another, multiple regional titles for another
Summer internship for Test Pilot School
Key Club (4 years)
National Honor Society (3 years) - Treasurer
Piano (a lot of years)
Swim team (4 years)

Major: Computer Science
In-state: MD
Early Action schools (as of now): Princeton, UMD, UIUC, NC State

Others:
AP Scholar with Distinction
Graduating from a STEM academy

2

Better to just add to your existing thread here, so people can get the whole picture: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2102440-super-worried.html

3

Is UMD a financial safety for you? If you have a strong state flagship that is in safety range for you and you are happy to go sometimes that is all you need. I would remove UIUC. I don’t think the OOS cost is worth it over UMD. Would you ever pick UIUC over UMD? The chances of getting accepted to UIUC and not UMD is nearly zero.

4

You make a really good point but I feel like I have too many reach schools. Do you have any suggestions for safety schools based on the schools I’m interested in?

5

You haven’t mentioned a budget so it is really difficult. You could add schools like Ohio State. I think you would have a good chance of getting a National Buckeye. That would bring you cost down below $30k. Columbus is an up an coming tech hub. On Amazons short list for HQ2. I think you need to apply by Nov 1 for the merit. You could also look at CWRU. If CWRU interests you at all, signup for their mailing list and everything else you can right now. They like demonstrated interest. Neither of these are really safeties. Especially if you need merit.

6

I don’t think I need to worry about budget because my family is not struggling and if the other schools are too hard financially, I can attend UMD. From the way people have been commenting on my two forums, I am really worried that I need more safety schools, though.

7

Do you have Naviance at your school? If so, look at the scattergram for UMD. You should have a good sample size to see if it is a safety or not.

8

Not as far as I know