Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

hi,everyone. Im new here...well, i've been reading entries for awhile but this is my first time posting. i hope im using this the right way. Anyhow, i JUST started looking at colleges and so the only ones i know about are the ivies...i'm having trouble coming up with target and safety schools because ONE, i don't know what range of colleges would be "safety"...would they be, say, around second tier on the US news rankings, or the local communitry college? TWO, unfortunately, i am not familiar with any of the non-ivies so i am having trouble finding ones that have the characteristics i value. plz give me some advice on what colleges i might consider for safety, target, and how much of a chance i have at the ivies. oh. i have yet to narrow down to one specific major, but i am considering either medical research or psychology.

*things i am looking for in a college: not too small # of students (at least 2000+)/ nice campus/ East coast/ not too party-jock/ need-blind (my family is in a financial crunch)/ many musical activites (instrumental, esp.)

*my statistics: -asian, female, junior in NY highschool
-born and lived in US till 2nd grade, moved to S.korea, returned to US in middle of Freshman yr.
-GPA: uw 4.0
-courses: will have 12 APs by end of senior year (2 that i self-studied). so far i only have two scores from my soph yr. AP world history(self study):4 & Music Theory: 5 . My school does not offer IB, but offeres around 20 APs, so i don't know if taking 12 counts as "taking most rigorous curriculum offered", although i don't see how i could possibly fit in 20 APs.
-SATs: 1400 on PSATs, up to 1540 on practice SATs. taking 1st SAT this saturday. plan to retake until i get at least 1520.
-EC: church ygs/MUN/math team/school newspaper editor (some awards for my articles)/qualified for AIME/some academic awards.
many many musical activities (cello): member of a number of orchestras, principal in some. many chamber groups, won awards as a group in several competitions. individual awards in competitions.
-volunteer work: teacher's assistant + substitute teacher at Korean ethnic school/ tutoring middle school students/ volunteering at local psychiatric center/ volunteered at daycare center
-planning to take writing, Math IIC, korean, and chem SAT IIs.

thanks to all who reply!

By Rowan (Rowan) on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 10:56 pm: Edit

As defined by, I believe, Princeton Review (http://www.review.com -- has a neat thing called Counselor-o-Matic I think you should consider during your college search -- a Safety is a school whose GPA and SAT ranges (not to mention other activities, et cetera) fall below your scores, a Good Match where those ranges are about even with your scores, and a Reach where your scores fall below their ranges.

Ranges are generally listed in the 25%-75% field, meaning more or less that the lower ranking quarter of their students had the 25% score and the upper quarter had the score in the 75% spot.

Do note that there are other factors than academics! Consider what the school offers -- obviouslly falling in range at a LAC when you really (really really) want an institute of technology is generally not worth your application. So consider well.

I like Princeton Review's Counselor-o-Matic because it matches fairly well and it has a decent synopsis of the school in terms of academics, admissions, student life, et cetera. Don't take their ratings to heart -- actually go on to research the school through their own websites and especially student perspectives when you can find them.

Good luck in your college search!

By Almostdone (Almostdone) on Thursday, April 03, 2003 - 09:53 pm: Edit

thank you Rowan, and BUMP...anyone have more advice for me?

By Psiknight (Psiknight) on Saturday, April 05, 2003 - 11:43 am: Edit

I'm going to Vassar. It fits most of your standards. Um, Wesleyan does as well...looks like you're gunning for a liberal arts education? Dartmouth would accomodate too, but it's kind of "jocky".

By Lhomme (Lhomme) on Saturday, April 05, 2003 - 12:12 pm: Edit

Psiknight: Dartmouth is an IVY and thus cannot be considered a safety or target by anyone.

Pretty much however, anything not on the top 25 list on USNews (doctoral) can be considered a safety and from approximately 25-10 be considered targets. I would still recommened Counselor-O-Matic however. Just keep it mind that it might not be all that useful in choosing schools and tends to slightly be on the conservative side. (I got into all of the schools I considered targets but COM considered reaches).

At any rate, since I am financially strapped as well, here are a couple of tips that helped me:

1. Get all materials in before the financial aid priority deadline.
2. Realize that top tier private schools have the most to give.
3. Realize that unless you have something they want (academically, ethnically etc) they will only offer a mediocre package.
5. Realize that if the school has 20k+ people, they won't have a lot of funds to go around.
4. Check if the school on average meets a student's financial need.

Hope this helps.

By Almostdone (Almostdone) on Wednesday, April 09, 2003 - 11:29 pm: Edit

thanks for all of ur input. after reading ur comments and going thru college mail + online sites i came up with my list of colleges that i want to apply to. i'll prolly add and subtract to it constantly for the next year or so so the colleges i actually end up applying to may be quite different, but for now i am thinking:

(in order of preference)
*reaches: 1.harvard 2.princeton 3.cornell 4.yale
*targets: 1.U Mich 2.Northwestern 3.U Chicago
*safeties: 1.Brandeis 2.colgate 3.Loyola in Baltimore

what do you think? am i reaching too far, or making any other mistakes?