A Sophmore starting to look at colleges

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Im a sophmore and had the talk with my guidance consler about college and the such and i want to start doing research on colleges, but im not quite sure what level of colleges i should be looking at (ivies ect.) and which i would probably getting into. I know my ec's arent that great, but im trying to work on them, any suggestions?? all feedback would be appreciated thanx.</p>

<p>I'm a hispanic male form a marginally low income family , bout 35K and im first generation to college </p>

<p>GPA: 3.97
PSAT: 2030
RANK: somewhere in the top 1% of a class of 800 </p>

<p>Soph Sched: APH US 1, H ENGLISH, CHEM, ALG 2 H, Spanish 2, Ceramics
Junior Sched: Pre Calc/Trig, AP Spanish, AP US 2, AP ENG, AP CHEM, Physics</p>

<p>Should have about 8 APS by Senior year</p>

<p>ECS
Mock Trial /Debate Captain
Sciece Club Pres./ Founder
Science League
Future Problem Solving
Summer research internship
Columbia U Science Honors Program
Trying to do some volunteer stuff
YDA
Science Fair
Football JV , V next year ( not gunna be recruited lol)</p>

<p>Seems pretty generic</p>

<p>Political Science/Biology Major, really havent decided
Large or Small, City or Suburb , but not rural </p>

<p>Id appreciate any tips about where i should look, Thanks</p>

2

<p>Great grades, top of class, high test scores, good ec's, low income first generation URM -- you can look at any level college. That doesn't mean you're a shoe in, but it does mean you're in the range for even the most selective colleges. And you may be eligible for excellent financial aid from some of the need only schools. Just make sure your list includes a range of reach, match and safety schools. Biology is great a lot of places and I'm not too familiar with political science programs (except that schools in DC are good for obvious reasons), so which schools you will like will depend on feel and fit. If funds are limited for school visits, be aware that many schools will fly out low income and URM students during the summer before and fall of senior year. This includes: Dartmouth, Amherst, and WUSTL.</p>

<p>Keep up your grades and do the ec's that appeal to you. I'd recommend studying for the PSAT's this next summer and try to qualify for NMS and NHS. Take your first shot at the SAT right after in November of your junior year. Take SAT II's at the same time you take AP tests in May and you shouldn't have to do any extra studying. The summer between junior and senior year you might want to apply for one of the competitive (and free except for travel to the site) programs like MITES, TASP, RSI or the Clark U Summer Science Program.</p>

<p>Keep up the good work!</p>

3

<p>Thanx alot entomom, that really helped.
Any other suggestions guyz? Alot of ppl have to me my ecs are weak but im not sure.</p>

4

<p>Honestly at the top level don't worry so much about "programs" or particular majors, any of the top 20 schools will be excellent. </p>

<p>In terms of schools I think at the top level as reaches look at places like Duke, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Amherst, Columbia. </p>

<p>As slight reaches places like Cornell, Northwestern, WUSTL, Rice, Haverford, and Chicago.</p>

<p>As matches places like Emory, Vanderbilt, Wesleyan, Vassar.</p>

<p>You might also want to check out Michigan as a safe match.</p>

<p>I would take two or three from each of these categories and then add a couple safeties. I agree with entomom, you might want to get some of the free trips out to places she mentioned. I have known these trips to be eye opening and at worst they are a free fun weekend.</p>

5

<p>Thanx again.<br>
Do you guyz think that all ivies would be reaches for me ?
How else could I improve my ECs?
Is being a URM is a really big advantage?</p>

6

<p>definitely check out the Ivies, particularly those and other colleges that provide no loans (all grant $$) for low income families.</p>

7

<p>I think the top ones HYP will be tough, but even they might be worth applying to. The other Ivies are very fair game. They are reaches, but you will get into one or more of them.</p>

8

<p>ditto what slipper said. Do the best you can and submit a great application, after that it will depend on where you stand in the URM pool and on what HYP each are looking for that year. Those are things that you have no control over. The other ivies are more within reach but are still not 100% predictable. Slipper's list of schools gives you a very good idea of reach, match and safety schools. I would add Univ. of Wisconsin as a possible safety, it's a top public university, has rolling admissions and excellent merit scholarships for URM's. One thought about ec's, do you have any activities where you participate in your local hispanic community? Perhaps help with Spanish translations at a clinic or hospital, etc.</p>

9

<p>Thanx a lot guyz this is really helpful,
Anymore suggestions?</p>

10

<p>A good idea might be get like 100 community service hours (They help a lot!)</p>

11

<p>END - congratulations on an excellent record! If you can maintain those grades, raise your SAT to 2200ish (should be doable, you are only a sophomore) and have even "ordinary" ECs, I would think you could have a very successful admissions process.</p>

<p>1) Don't forget SAT IIs</p>

<p>2) Consider taking the ACT - go to your local library and get a prep book for the ACT, it should have some practice tests, take a few and see how you do. At your level of achievement, you probably won't do significantly better on one test vs the other - but you never know, and it would be nice to be done with testing ;).</p>

<p>3) Your biggest problem will probably be finances. Begin discussing this with your family NOW! Target 3 groups of schools - A) famous, rich, private schools, some of these will give someone with your family income very generous FA, making them cheaper than even some state schools (depending on what state you live in), the richer, the better B) Slightly less well heeled merit aid schools, looking for diversity - Emory would be an example of one of these, there are others, particularly in the ranks of smaller schools - the downside to these schools is that the ones that will give you the most money will mostly have the fewest Hispanic students C) your in-state public unis, and some OOS public unis, again, if you can get above 2200, many public schools will give you very generous merit aid.</p>

<p>4) Start looking into outside scholarships now. There are a number that are for URMs and particularly for people who have over come hardships. Others target students with unusual ECs - you may or may not qualify for those, althoug hI think you ECs are fine for admission, but now's the time to research.</p>

<p>If your family's EFC is low - they don't own rental property or a business to complicate matters - you should concentrate your reaches on need-blind/meets full need schools. DOn't be afraid of small loans, you want to avoid large ones.</p>

<p>Good luck, you sound like a fine young man!</p>

12

<p>Thanx a lot. I'm in NJ so my public university would probably be Rutgers and Im gunna start volunteering at the hospital soon so i should get some hours for that. This is really helpful, you guyz have great info so if theres ne more pleez share lol. Thanks.</p>