<p>I am a parent trying to help my D. She is not an URM. She is a 3.5 GPA student. Her 1st attempt SAT is 2200 ( 690 CR, 780 M, 730 W). Her EC’s are average. varying from various clubs to chorale to volunteer work. They are not outstanding in relation to the superachievers on this board. </p>
<p>She has not made up her mind about her major ( is wavering from English to Biology to Anthropology). She is considering schools from Top 50 to LAC. I am quite impressed by CC. Since many posters are between 3.9 to 4.0 GPA, I am wondering which school should the 3.5 GPA students be applying to? We are in PA. </p>
<p>Following is the list. Please be brutal with your comments. I want to know the conventional wisdom. The list is in no particular order.</p>
<li>Johns Hopkins </li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>U Of Chicago</li>
<li>Vanderbilt</li>
<li>Emory</li>
<li>CMU</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>U Of MI</li>
<li>Wake Forest</li>
<li>Lehigh</li>
<li>U Of Rochester</li>
<li>NYU</li>
<li>BC</li>
<li>Penn State ( safety?)</li>
<li>GWU ( safety?)</li>
</ol>
<p>A 3.5 is still pretty respectable. What is her rank/class size? That will help a lot, if she's top 10% a 3.5 won't hurt much at all...if she's top 25% it will hurt some, but she's still good. None of those colleges will be out of her range because of a 3.5, especially with a 2200 SAT. If she retakes the SAT and scores around 2300 she will probably have a pretty good shot at all of those schools.</p>
<p>With average gpa and EC's, I'd say your top three choices are reaches. My suggestion is to get shining recommendations and write compelling essays.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies. She does plan to retake the SAT in October. Ranking is not yet available for junior year. A good guess would be top 25%. It may be 20%.</p>
<p>kimfuge, I agree that top 3 are reaches. But then, I have seen scattergrams from her school where kids have gotten in with much less. Admittedly, I only know their GPA/SAT combinations.</p>
<p>I wouldn't call GWU a safety really. Its easier to get into than the top schools, but it still is pretty selective and you can't count on getting into it. Find a school with an acceptance rate above 50%.</p>
<p>very top heavy list. wouldn't consider gwu a safety. would your d really be happy if she had to attend Penn State? if not, she needs other safeties. while 3.5 is respectable, students with far higher gpa's have found themselves surprised to end up at "safeties" they really didn't want to attend.</p>
<p>Like many colleges, Cornell has gotten pickier lately, it seems to me. And I think Johns Hopkins too. This is just the sense I get from reading CC and various statistics. I think that U of Chicago is all about fit. If she's a quirky intellectual sort and does a good job on U of Chicago's offbeat application, she would stand a chance there. </p>
<p>Also, your D's critical reading SAT is a bit low for the top tier schools. My D's stats are almost identical, except that the M and CR scores are reversed. I'm told that most colleges look at the CR more than the M, except for places like MIT, of course. W doesn't count for anything yet, really.</p>
<p>I agree with what previous posters have said, especially about the definition of a safety. Another consideration is financial aid. If you are not applying for financial aid, you will be "free" for the college and that will boost D's chances, even though colleges don't like to say that out loud.</p>
<p>Acceptance to LACs is hard to predict because they're smaller and fewer kids get in. I would say that Haverford, Vassar, Wesleyan, Barnard would be high reaches.</p>
<p>Overall, fit plays a large role for any school. If D is truly right for a particular college and vice versa and she is able to convey a sense of herself in essays and recommendations, she'll have a better chance.</p>
<p>mcvic,
If the 3.5 gpa is based on challenginging courses, I would say you have a good chance at Cornell. Your daughter might raise her CR SAT score by retaking. Your daughter SATs are equivalent to a 1470 on the old SAT which is well within range for Cornell. I would say George Washington is not a good choice for a safety because it is not selective enough to be a good safety for your daughter. It is below her safety range. U Rochester is a good safety for your daughter, and schools of that caliber.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies. I do expect her CR to go up in October. She was literaly "extremely ill" on the day of SAT exam. I think her CR was most impacted. I am just grateful that she was able to finish the test & get the score she got. I agree that W does not count yet. However, I was told that your score in W cannot hurt you a good cannot be ignored.</p>
<p>Would BU be considered a safety? Any other suggestions for safety schools?</p>
<p>mcvik:
No one can give you a decent college list without some idea of finances. </p>
<p>Can you pay full price at a private ($45k/year)? Are you expecting need-based aid (are massive loans OK)? Merit aid? It's just that what schools you look at will be (I presume) partly impacted by their price and/or what you can get from them in the way of aid.</p>
<p>That is a good point. For her, we have saved up for up to 2 years in a good private school / fully for our 4 year state school. The rest we are hoping will be loans/aid. We are thinking of adding Univerity of Pittsburgh and Boston U as her safeties for now. Once she has seen the schools, she can decide the safeties she likes.</p>
<p>You listed GWU and Georgetown... What about American? I personally loved the campus way more than GWU (freshmen dorms are so far away from everything)... Plus American looks at SAT scores for merit aid and your D has pretty impressive scores! My sister went to AU on a full tuition scholarship b/c of her SATs (and loved it).</p>
<p>mcvik:
I would look hard for schools where she is apt to get some merit money. </p>
<p>If you have two years of savings ($80K?) you most likely won't qualify for financial aid (go to the calculator and check though). BUT that savings could really take the sting out of a school where, say, she got half tuition! Look at Denison University (my son goes there - it's great - I have a write up about it under the alphabetical listing of colleges), Loyola College in Baltimore, Case Western Reserve, Wooster College, and any of the other schools that offer good merit money (there is a thread at the top of the Parents Forum). Just keep it all in mind - you wouldn't want her to graduate with over $80,000 in debt.</p>
<p>It would be a shame if you settled on a substantially lesser school because of merit money. Your $80,000 should make Cornell affordable. Cornell will probably give your daughter grant money. The $80,000 should cover most of the gap. You can take out PLUS loans to cover the shortfall. If she gets into Cornell, Cornell will make themselves affordable. Have you calculated your EFC?</p>
<p>collegehelp:
I beg to differ with your assessment of Cornell's financial aid. No school feels compelled to "make themselves affordable." Not only that, but since OP has evidently not done the calculator how can you predict they will get grants? What exactly do you base that on?</p>
<p>By the way, your term "substantially lesser schools" is just way off the mark. To many kids a small LAC is far preferable to Cornell. (My son was one of those kids - we live near Cornell and are not enamored with it at all.)</p>
<p>I made Northwestern with a 3.6 unweighted cum (huge upward grade curve though), 24%ile (uw, our school doesn't weight rank, which is bs), 2240 (m-800 cr-730 w-710), although my ECs were very strong. A lot of schools are really about passion and interest. Although, keep in mind that just because you get in doesn't mean you're going to succeed.</p>
<p>In the inital stages, I feel all schools should be considered on academic merits only. However, we will include schools that have a higher potential for aid also. As it has been rightly pointed out, she must love the safeties also. I do not want to reduce her options because I did not want to pay the application fee. Once all the options are available, the money option is to be dicussed as adults. I would never want her to pick Penn State over Cornell beacuse of money. It is a calculated decision and I agree with collegehelp in this regard.</p>