Applying to Colleges for Undergraduate

Hi! I am a high school senior in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I want to go into IB and I know how important getting into a good college is. I got a 34 on my ACT, have a 4.0 GPA, take almost all dual-credit classes at a local college. I also play chess and won several state titles in the last 7 years. 

The colleges I am considering are: Tufts, UPenn, Boston College, Williams, Washington and Lee, High Point University, Stevens Institute of Tech., UNC, Wake Forest, Rice, SMU, Emory, Dartmouth, Cornell, Tulane, and Columbia.

I would greatly appreciate any advice about other colleges I should consider or just the overall application process!

 

I am on my 4th year of Mock Trial and every competition I got awarded Best Attorney. I also am the Boatswain's Mate in my Sea Scouts Ship. I have at a local doctor's office in medical billing! I don't know this counts for anything, but I was part of the German Exchange program last year.

 

Just my $0.02, these seem really random. If you're interested in IB, target the eight Ivies/Stanford/Duke/Chicago-type schools (pick a few or even all from these) and the big state schools (UVA/UNC/Michigan/Berkeley/Texas). You should likely get into at least one UVA-tier school given the profile if you apply to enough schools. I'd kill W&L, High Point, Stevens, Wake, SMU and Tulane and make your (high) match schools the more attainable targets/semi-targets in the NE (like NYU, BC, BU type schools).

 

Thank you so much for your advice! Do you think I should apply to about 15 or more schools to make sure I get somewhere good? Or just put more of my effort and time into only like 10?

 

If you think you can do 15+ without sacrificing quality, you should absolutely do 15+, but it's your call if you think you'd be sacrificing quality. In an ideal world, you apply to 15+ plus they're all good apps. College admissions has become such a crapshoot today you never know what'll stick. If you start now and school isn't a burden, I think 15+ is pretty doable. 

 

Outright remove Tufts, W&L, High Point, Stevens, Tulane, and Wake Forest. I'd also remove SMU and Emory unless you specifically want to do Oil & Gas or Energy IB in Texas. That leaves your list with Penn, BC, Williams, UNC, Rice, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Columbia.

Throw in some of the bigger state schools such as UVA and Michigan as the previous posters said. Also look at Duke, Georgetown, Notre Dame. I think ~12 schools is enough but that's your call to make. 

Shoot me a private message if you want some more specific help.

 
Most Helpful

You should get into at least 1-2 of the schools that others have mentioned but just make sure to apply to University of New Mexico and/or New Mexico State as low-cost safeties (worst case, can kill it there for a year and then look to transfer).

Could also look at Northwestern, Vanderbilt, WashU, USC, and Middlebury (generally semi-targets although maybe slightly lesser relative representation from Middlebury). Even IU Kelley could be a viable safety if you were to get a scholarship there.

 

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