Stanford Reject needs school list help!

ezak
Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:20:11 +0000

Top heavy? Yes.
Too top heavy? I don’t know. But I agree that a safety or two could help.

When I read your app, I thought of one school: Carnegie Mellon. CMU sounds like the perfect place for you if you’re in to video games and computers and such. It’s also probably more of a safety / target, which would be good for you.

I’m a big fan of UVA. Arguably the top public university in the country. They have great poli sci, economics (#1 undergrad business school), and computer science. Again, closer to the safety range for you.

A word of caution on the Claremont colleges: they are intensely focused and it’s very hard to change. Only go there if you’re absolutely sure you want to do journalism (or whatever you’re planning on majoring in) and are sure that your mind will not change. I’m just not sure, so that’s why I didn’t apply there.

Just some thoughts on your general application.
After talking to Harvard’s director of admissions, it seems that college are in a sticky area with homeschool kids. I would say make sure to optimize the personal areas of your application to the best of your ability: pour your heart and soul into your essays, reflect your voice everywhere, constantly refer to specifics (don’t make generalizations), send in your application at least a week early. Include some sort of explanation of your home school system so they have something to go by.

Best of luck! God bless!