Rate my list
Reach (lowest percent to highest in each section):
Cal tech
MIT
Duke
Yale
Stanford
Princeton
Harvard
UCLA
UPenn
Columbia
Hard Target:
Brown
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
Vanderbilt
Georgia Tech
Georgetown
UMich
UNC Chapel Hill
Target:
UT Austin
UF
Safety:
Virginia Tech
Ohio State
Penn State
Pitt
Tennessee
WVU
I’m a freshman, so I have time to write all of those essays. I plan on majoring in Biomedical Engineering as my first choice and Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering as my second choice (I might double major, but I can worry about that later). I also plan on minoring in music. All of the schools on this list have at least one of the majors, except for Princeton, so I might apply for Biology.
Obviously these is a lot of colleges and the list is pretty top heavy, but I was wondering if there were any more schools that u could add? My Target and Safety sections are pretty small, so if y’all could give me suggestions I would appreciate it. My only guideline is that the program is nationally recognized, there are undergraduate research opportunities, and that there is a good culture (God forbid my safeties doesn’t have a good D1 football team).
I’d prefer to stay on the East coast, nothing west of the Mississippi.
As a freshman - you really can't figure out your reach,target, safety yet -because you don't have much of a GPA.
Also -your 'Hard Target' list are typically Reaches for everyone -- Brown? Vand, Johns Hopkins, UMichigan, GT are reaches. Honestly, anything with a 10% or less acceptance rate is a REACH for everyone ---including 4.0 GPA students with perfect ACT/SAT scores.
I appreciate your drive (!) but 1) give yourself some time to enjoy High School 2) develop a broader Target list --because otherwise you'll be like the kids on Reddit that are crying because they didn't get in anywhere but their safeties. And honestly -some of those safeties? Probably targets. Safeties should have 80% (85%) or greater admission rate.
Yeah, on one hand I get that, but on the other, I’m at the top of my class in the best school in my state (it’s a low income state), I’m the best freshmen in the state for the instrument that I play, I’m doing cancer research and I’ve created a startup worth over 15k. So I know that what i’m doing is hard, but at the same time, it’s not too hard to manage a social life on top of it.
I would look for some more targets because you only have two.
That is WAYY too many colleges. Aim for 8-12 in your list. You do realize that applications cost money, right? Also most of your targets are reaches. If something is top 20, it is a reach, no matter who you are. I recommend 2-4 reaches, 4 targets (don't just put reaches in there, have 2 hard targets and 2 targets) and 2 safeties (several of your safeties rn are targets)
The list is pretty long, and i’m gonna shrink it later, but I have the narrative as i’m Asian in a VERY white state, i’m at the top of my class, i have connections to a lot of these school through the research that i’m doing, and the startup i’ve started has left me with more than enough money to apply to all of these schools. If you apply to enough schools, you’re bound to get into one of them, right?
Well then go ahead ig. I don't see the point of applying to so many schools. Choose a few you would absolutely love to go to and that follow a good distribution so you'll get into at least a couple if not more. That's how I'd do it
thanks man, i’ll take that into consideration
No problem
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