Are these semi-targets even worth considering?

Hey fellow monkeys!

I know the debate between semi-targets and targets is ongoing on this forum. How much of a disadvantage does attending a semi-target put you at? Does being at an Ivy League school automatically place you above a student from a semi-target and non-target, even if you network your ass off?

Wanted to get your advice on colleges to apply to this fall (Rising high school senior here). I have good test scores (35 ACT), but I have a pretty bad GPA for high school (3.67 UW). My EC's aren't that great either (Freshman Class President, JV Cross Country, Principal for Cello in Orchestra, Treasurer for Stock Market Club). For that reason, I am mainly applying to semi-targets. I know this isn't collegeconfidential.com, but I would love to have your advice on if I could get in, and whether these colleges are good for Finance and have good placement for IB internships.

So here's my list:

Super reach schools
-UPenn- Wharton (I am applying Early Decision 1, but I still probably won't get in)
-Cornell- Cornell School of Hotel Administration (Easier to get in to?)
-Claremont Mckenna College (I would do Econ here)

Reach schools
-UVA (McIntire admit after Sophomore year)
-University of Michigan- Ross (Direct admit, both of my parents and three of my grandparents went here, Legacy status may help my chances)
-NYU-Stern (Direct admit)
-USC - Marshall (Direct admit)
-Amherst College (Econ)

Match schools
-Boston College- Caroll (Direct admit)
-UT Austin-McCombs (Direct admit, also a legacy here)
-UNC Chapel Hill-Kenan Flagler (Admit after Freshman year)

Safe schools
-University of Indiana-Kelley (Direct admit)
-University of Alabama (Good party school!)

What do you all think? Are there any other schools that I should apply to?

Thanks!

 

I probably won't call your ECs "not too great". IMO they are pretty good. If you get into any one of your "Reach schools" you should be fine, in terms of IB preparation and networking. Ivy League is definitely superior than non-targets or some semi targets in a traditional view, and they do get a lot more resources. But if Mark Zuckerberg just plays video games every day at Harvard or partys his ass off every night, would there ever be FB? It's more what you do than where you are.

Persistency is Key
 

I see. If I went to UT Austin, I would be an out of state student. Also, one of my parents has a MBA from McCombs, I don't know if legacy status would help me for admissions there or not.

 

UT doesn't take into account legacy status. Also don't be skewed by the acceptance rate for UT, being an out of state student makes it incredibly difficult to get in. I think you have a decent shot of getting in but the out of state and non auto admit acceptance rate is around 10% I believe.

 

If you had a good GPA (3.9), I would say you should be a shoe in for all those schools listed, minus UPenn and Cornell (which are crap shoots for everyone except athletes).

TBH, your GPA will hurt you - alot.

I guess it depends on what kind of Advanced Placement courses your high school offered. If there were no IB or AP courses available, you might be fine.

But if - like 99% of high schools in America nowadays - your high school offered them, then you may have difficulty getting beyond the "Match school" tier.

Getting a 3.65 in high school is like getting a 3.0 in college. Be ready to explain why you did that poorly through your essays or interviews.

 

Pretty much all of my classes were Honors or AP's and got 5s on all of the AP tests except for one 4. Here's the really bad part though: my junior year GPA is by far my worst year (3.4 UW), so my application would actually show my grades in a downward trajectory. My test scores are good, so hopefully I'm not completely fucked, but we'll see.

 

Yeah, honestly i am rather far removed from the college application process at this point. But if i remember correctly, the state school i went to had a minimum 3.8 gpa required for admittance into the undergrad business program.

Do more research on what standards are set at other schools. the admissions processes are prolly much more holistic at the better schools you have listed, and with a 35 ACT you are clearly smarter than most valedictorians in this nation. Just figure out a way to explain the gpa

 

I think your reach schools are actually match schools given your profile. The "super-reach" schools you actually have a decent shot at. Some other schools you could probably get into and place well into NYC IB could be Vanderbilt, WUSTL, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Villanova, Lehigh.

How does your high school do with college admissions generally and specifically with the schools on your list? A perceived good rep can go a long way in the application process. I had around a 3.2-3.3 UW in high school, 2280 SAT and got into some of the schools on your list probably because of my high school's rep with their admissions office.

 

Long story short, moved across country after Sophomore year, switched schools. I took a really hard schedule, and my fall Junior semester was basically a train-wreck. I think I would have been better off taking an easier schedule, and I honestly really didn't have any time management or study skills before I transferred. If I could go back in time and redo my junior year, I definitely would. The school where I'm at now has zero grade inflation but it still does decently with placement at Ivy/Targets, so I'm really not sure how it stands.

 

Depends entirely on the high school. Some of the top high schools in the country (Trinity, Dalton, Horace Mann, Harvard-Westlake, Ransom Everglades, Boston Latin, etc) send 30%+ of their class to Ivy+MIT/Stanford. I went to one of those schools, and there were plenty of kids in my class with GPAs lower than 3.7 who got into his "super reach" schools. I'm assuming this is a 4.0 scale and an A- is a 3.7.

 
Best Response

Your list seems to be mostly comprised of large schools (>8k undergrads), which leads me to believe you have an affinity for those types of schools. In that case, I would take Amherst and Claremont McKenna off the list....they're both FANTASTIC schools, but if they're not the right fit it's not worth forcing it. I would add Georgetown and Columbia in their places as reach and super reach schools respectively.

Also, what is your in-state school? If you haven't listed it, definitely apply as a cheap safety option. If it's one of the ones you listed, like say UNC-CH, don't bother applying to your other safeties. Chapel Hill is better for IB than IU or Alabama, and if you're in state you'll get in.

Finally, I would agree that Emory, Villanova, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and WUSTL would be good to look into.

 

Thanks for the advice! Definitely have a slight preference for larger schools, but I really, really, liked both Claremont McKenna and Amherst when I visited. My in-state school is one of the safety's actually, I'm pretty sure I would get at least full tuition scholarships at both of them (My PSAT score should be good enough for National Merit Finalist). I'm also applying to Villanova as a safety. Will definitely look into at Emory, Vandy, etc!

 

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