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Ok I know plenty of reach schools I want to apply to but I don't know about safeties. Maybe you guys could help ?

Here are my stats:
White Female from MA

I got a 1400 (800V, 600M) on the PSATs -taking the SATs this saturday hopefully I will do better

I have about an A- average with all honors courses

I am definatly top 5 probably about 3rd in my class but it is a class of only about 120.

As a Junior I take AP English, AP Spanish and AP US History and expect to do well in all but the Spanish

As a Senior I will be taking AP English, AP Spanish, AP Bio and AP Psych. (same as above w/ the Spanish)

About this- do you think it will make a big difference to colleges whether I take AP calc next year or just honors calc?

My EC and Community Service are decent-ish. Mostly Swimming, Debate and Habitat For Humanity

About Recomendations and Essays: I think I can get pretty good recs and I think I can pull off an OK essay

So thats pretty much it where do you guys think I could definatly get in. At this stage at least money doesn't matter and by the way I'm pretty liberal and am trying to avoid really religious or conservative schools

Thank You very very much for reading my boring info!

By Rosarosaef (Rosarosaef) on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 12:38 am: Edit

if you know what you want to study, with a little research you'll find universities that have strong programs in your chosen area but that are not as exclusive to get into as your reach schools. think long and hard about your safety schools. they should be places where you would enjoy attending. don't apply to some place where you don't want to go. good luck.

By Erin (Erin) on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 12:58 am: Edit

What kind of school are you looking for? Big or small, private or public, New England or California?

By Lhomme (Lhomme) on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 09:42 pm: Edit

Tell us a little bit more about yourself if you want specific school suggestions (choice of major, preferences etc).

If all you want is a general guideline then with your stats anything not in the USNews top 25 that you are INTERESTED in would be a good safety (pick 2 or 3). I recommend you visit your guidance counselor and ask for acceptance rates and stats on how YOUR school does on your particular choices. For example, my school releases a factsheet containing all the schools last year's seniors got into, how many applied and were accepted to each, the highest average and SAT rejected and the lowest average and SAT accepted. This won't give you an exact knowledge on whether you will be accepted or not but it will help in deciding what you can consider a safety.

Good luck on those SATs! (Btw - shouldn't you have taken some SAT2s already?)

By Louisa (Louisa) on Thursday, April 03, 2003 - 10:12 am: Edit

U Mass-Amherst and Northeastern

By Movingonup (Movingonup) on Thursday, April 03, 2003 - 05:03 pm: Edit

San Diego State University, University of California Santa Cruz, University of California Santa Barbara, San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, Old Dominion University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Christopher Newport University, Radford University, UNC Asheville, University of Hawaii-Manoa

By Annami (Annami) on Thursday, April 03, 2003 - 06:51 pm: Edit

Thanks for all the replys. My guidance counselor basically says state schools should be everyones safety (this seems like a very overly general statement to me). But anyways I pretty much have the typical UMass, Penn state, UVM, type schools on my list. My problem is they don't really fit what I want. I want to go to a mid sized school, like in the 1000 to 5000 students range, not some massive university. But at the same time I have no clue what I want to major in- so I need options where ever I go.
To answer some other questions: My school does very well with admissions-practically all the top 25 schools are represented in this year's senior class- and every Ivy except UPENN. This is pretty impressive for my TINY school. My guidence counselor must know something. . .

Thanks again for all the comments. I need all the help I can get-I'm so clueless when it comes to the whole college aplication process.
-Anna

By Crackcorn (Crackcorn) on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 04:22 pm: Edit

Those Cal State safeties listed above are too safe for your stats. SDSU, SFSU, SJSU? With an 800 verbal you should aim higher, even for your safeties. How about Cal Poly SLO and UCSD instead? And since you say money doesn't matter, what about USC?

By Ctmom (Ctmom) on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 08:01 am: Edit

Look at the LACs in PA (Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Lafayette,Lehigh, Muhlenburg, etc.). They fit your size preference, and with your stats you'd get merit aid as well.