What universities am I qualified for?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Okay, I’d like to find out the best universities that I can get admitted to. Here are my credentials:</p>

<p>ACT composite: 32
English: 34
Math: 35
Reading: 31
Science: 30
Writing: 10/12</p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 4.3
Unweighted GPA: 3.98</p>

<p>Class rank: 2/300 (at a decent public high school)</p>

<p>Took four AP tests last year, got three 5’s and one 4. Going to take another four AP tests next spring.</p>

<p>Member of track for junior and senior years. Also a member of two student organizations, with a low-key leadership role in one of them. 30 hours of community service in past year.</p>

<p>Now I’d like to know how far up the university rankings I might be able to reach. Here is a non-exhaustive, roughly ranked list:</p>

<p>Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Stanford/MIT
Columbia
UChicago
UPenn
Duke
Northwestern
WashU
Notre Dame
UC Berkeley
UMich
NYU</p>

<p>Given my credentials, what universities are out-of-reach, within reach, and sure shots for me? How far up can I go? Consider the list above, but do reference others if you wish.</p>

2

<p>Is your sole goal to get into the highest-ranked university possible?</p>

<p>You should also take into account what type of college you’d enjoy: large, medium, small; rural, suburban, urban; public or private; conservative- or liberal-leaning; pre-professional or liberal arts emphasis; etc.</p>

<p>You also need to consider finances. How much can your family afford to pay? What is your home state? There is no point in getting admitted to a top university if you can’t foot the $60k/year bill.</p>

<p>Most of the colleges on your list right now fall into the “high reach” category, and I wouldn’t say that any is a sure shot. If you only apply to the colleges on this list, there is a significant possibility that you will have no acceptances. You need to add more safeties and matches, which again depend on how much your family is able to pay. A safety needs to be an almost certain acceptance that is guaranteed to be affordable.</p>

3

<p>All of those would be within reach, but most of them are in the lottery category. So run the Net Price Calculators at each of them with your parents, eliminate the ones that would be unaffordable, and feel free to apply to as many of the survivors as you like.</p>

<p>Then pay a visit to the Financial Aid Forum and read through the threads on automatic merit-based scholarships to find yourself some nice cheap safeties, and the threads on competitive merit-based scholarships for possible matches.</p>

<p>Enjoy the process!</p>

4

<p>An ACT 32 is low for some of those top schools. Many/most of those schools are reaches.</p>

<p>Are you OOS for Berkeley or UMich? If so, then those schools will cost a lot of money. NYU will cost a lot, too. </p>

<p>How much are your parents saying that they’ll pay each year? </p>

<p>Have you had your parents run the Net Price Calculators? Or are they willing to pay all costs?</p>

5

<p>I think the OP has a pretty good idea which schools he or she can get into. Of the ones at the bottom, say, the bottom two, there’s some chance of your getting accepted with strong essays and recs. Your ECs aren’t going to help you, esp. at a school like WashU. Have you considered Tulane, Rhodes, Bard? It would help in making suggestions if we knew where you lived, what your family can afford (perhaps your first search priority), and what you think you’d like to major in.</p>

6

<p>All of these schools are reaches for almost anybody. And they’re certainly reaches for you with a 32 ACT and weaker ECs. Although if you apply to all of them, there’s a good chance you would get into a couple. You’d have to go lower than that list to find any matches.</p>

7

<p>Sure shots? None that I see. Do you have a safety (that you can afford and would like to attend)?</p>