<p>To get into Harvard? </p>
<p>I don’t think a Harvard legacy will help you enough to get in… Sorry. :/</p>
<p>…and it definitely won’t help you get into another school</p>
<p>ahaha that was just conjecture, I’m not even thinking about Harvard. It was just a question.</p>
<p>Oh, well, in general, yes, having a legacy helps</p>
<p>Ohio State has an excellent language program.</p>
<p>*Let’s just say, my parents are not all to happy about it, considering I am the 3rd kid their paying for. But they have NO say in where I go, especially when they paid the full $50,000 for both other siblings. *</p>
<p>Wait a minute. Are you saying that since your parents paid 50K for other siblings that they then have “no say” in where you go? Really? Even if they are paying for it, you think they have no say?</p>
<p>Legacy? In the words of William Fitzsimmons, the dean of admissions at Harvard, "it’s a feather on the scale . . . " You won’t find legacies in that block of admitteds that are in the 25% on the left side of the SAT 50% range. You will find URMs, special cases, development admits, and athletes that really get special looks. Just being a legacy – not. Think how many hundreds (if not thousands) of legacies apply to Harvard each year. Only if the legacy is every bit the equal of another student who is being considered will legacy come in to play, and even then, as Fitzsimmons suggests, only with a breath.</p>
<p>It’s time to be blunt. Your 3.5 UW is going to be a problem. It doesn’t eliminate you from the schools on your list but it certainly gives them a reason to say no. My assessment:</p>
<p>Big Reach:
Georgetown
Any Ivy (which includes Cornell & UPenn)</p>
<p>Still a Reach but possible:
BC
NYU
Michigan
Berkeley
UCLA
Middlebury</p>
<p>Safety:
UConn
Hawaii
UMass
Penn State</p>
<p>Do you know the difference between Penn State and UPenn? UPenn is an Ivy League school in Philadelphia - very competitive. Penn State is the flagship public university of the state of Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>The only schools you should be comfortable about getting into are your safeties. Your SATs and ACT are almost exactly the 50th%-tile at places like Michigan, Middlebury and NYU. But that 3.5 is going to be below the mid-point (in some cases by a lot) at those schools. You might gets some traction at Michigan, UCLA and Berkeley because they’ll love your out-of-state full tuition.</p>
<p>I agree with the above poster. U Michigan is definitely not a match (it may have been 3 years ago or if you live in Michigan-maybe). You may want to check out the Deferred Students thread on the Michigan forum but my S has a 3.7 GPA, 33 ACT, varsity athletics, student government…etc. and was deferred from Michigan. So far he has been accepted to Northeastern (with an $80,000 scholarship), Likely postcard from William and Mary, accepted to University of Florida, but he was deferred from Michigan. We have been told that Michigan accepted 20% of its EA applicants, rejected 20% and deferred 60%. It is still one of his top choices so he is waiting.</p>
<p>Just be sure that your match and safety schools really are match and safety schools. Also, does a 3.5 at your school put you in the top 5%? How many AP or IB classses do you have? How challenging is your school? My son’s 3.7 puts him in the top 2% but his school does not send many kids out of state (let alone to top 20 universities).</p>
<p>We have learned that college admissions is really a crap-shoot. One school may love you and another (even lower ranked school) may pass…</p>
<p>As long as you would be happy at some of your safety schools…you will be fine.</p>
<p>IMO, vincent is being too charitable. With those numbers, the Ivies (and likely Georgetown & Middlebury) are out of reach. (But, as Gretsky said, ‘you miss every shot that you don’t take’, so might as well apply…)</p>
<p>NYU is likely, particularly ED and full pay. Tufts might be worth a full-pay ED app, but still a big reach.</p>
<p>The three highly selective publics will take a long look (for the money), but are still a big reach as is BC. In particular, the UCs are gpa-focused, and a 3.5 would not be competitive if instate.</p>
<p>Suggest looking down the food chain a bit.</p>
<p>I’m just curious how you became fluent in 4 languages, very unusual for a Caucasian high school student. Depending on the circumstances of your language acquisition, you may be able to make a case for yourself at a reach school with holistic admissions.</p>
<p>I think Vinceh and GClawmom are closer to the truth than others. Even vinceh is being too generous. There is no way you can get into Berkeley, UCLA and Middlebury. NYU and Michigan are definite reaches. Suggest you add some matches - like BU, Northeastern, U of Maryland etc.</p>
<p>University of Maryland has some phenomenal programs for students who are interested in languages.</p>
<p>Those are their words, not mine. Of course, if I can I’ll get financial aid but if it’s between a school I do not want to go to paying 20,000 and my top choice with 50,000 they told me they’d pay the 50 grand. I have to say, I have the best parents.</p>
<p>I grew up learning 3 different languages at one time since my parents immigrated from Eastern Europe as adults. As for the fourth, I have all levels of Rosetta stone as well friends who are fluent in it. For the ones I’m proficient at, I’ve just had all the levels of Rosetta stone for them, though my goal this summer is to travel to those countries (France and Italy) to see how far my language skills go.
As for the holistic admissions, I never thought of that before. It’s something to consider.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt knowing 4 languages will help that much…</p>
<p>3.5 GPA is just too low to recover from…</p>
<p>My gpa of 3.76 is barely enough for ivies; imagine a 3.5.</p>
<p>My school is in the top 10% (its ranked 16th in CT) of public schools in America, and as for class rank we do weight but yes my 3.93 gpa puts we 14th in my class, (about 8%), I have taken a total 5 AP classes, 4’s and 5’s on all of them, the rest are honors (except for my art classes), I’ve also one a few competitions in painting throughout my state, and I’m retaking both SAT and ACT in April to raise my scores (the ones I put up are from Sophomore year), anything else I missed? And once again, thank you everyone for your help! Its greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>
If your parents are fine paying $50K for school the only FA you’ll be eligible for is an unsubsidized Stafford loan.</p>