Advice will be appreciated

<p>I had no luck on the other board and was wondering if anyone had some constructive imput :)</p>

<p>White Male from NJ
93.63 Weighted Average.
1970 SAT (670 CR, 640 M, 660 W)
My rank is in the 40's or low 50's out of 300. In the teens.</p>

<p>Average public high school.</p>

<p>Upward grade trend:
92.88 ---> 91.9 ---> 96.5 (weighted)</p>

<p>5 AP's total
(Comp, Lit, US, World, Chem)
I took college accounting and a college entrep. class.</p>

<p>EC's:
-National Academy of Finance
-Key Club
-NHS
-National Student Leadership Conference in DC.
-3 years X-C.
-History Club
-200~ Hours community service.
-Have held a job all 4 years of high school year-round @ 20 hours/week.
-This summer I'm doing an internship at a real estate office.
-Have held an annual drive to collect items for impoverished children in Antigua.</p>

<p>Schools:
Wake Forest ED
UNC-Chapel Hill
Elon University
UNC-Wilmington
Furman University
Mary Washington U.</p>

<p>Are their any other schools I should be looking at?
Will I receive any sort of financial aid at these schools?
Thanks!</p>

<p>Put your 20 hrs/week job MUCH higher on EC list. IMHO this is a very good thing to emphasize-- an illustration that you can achieve academically with a very large concurrent time demand. You don't want them not to notice this!</p>

<p>Your list looks good!</p>

<p>The best way to figure out financial aid is to take a very close look at the financial aid and scholarship information on the college's web site. You also can contact the scholarship office directly and ask about whether you'd qualify for aid. You also can post on the colleges' forums on CC to see what people who were accepted say about the aid.</p>

<p>Also talk to your parents to find out what they are willing to commit a year. That info is important because colleges may expect your parents to pay more than your parents are willing to pay.</p>

<p>I think that what will hold you back is your GPA. Have you checked into Wake's ED stats to see if it is an advantage to apply ED? Also, if you need a certain amount of financial aid, then ED isn't usually a great option. As an out of state student from NJ UNC Chapel Hill will be a huge reach. THey just take so few out of staters that it's extremely competitive. It seems like you would have a reasonable chance at the other schools, but I don't see any true safeties.</p>

<p>The acceptance rate is about 10% higher. My principal (who is an alumini) is writing me a rec to Wake. I'm a pretty talented writer so my essays should be outstanding.
If I get into Wake Forest my parents and I will find a way to pay for it. If I don't get in then I really don't have a preference out of the other schools. That is why I want suggestions to other schools if I don't get into Wake where I would get some decent aid. I understand my GPA is a bit low, and I regret not working in HS, but it was a 96.5 this year and my class rank will go up.
I have been in every honors class I could possibly be in so far.
Thanks and more suggestions/responses would be appreciated.</p>

<p>bump... ()</p>

<p>If you would like suggestions regarding additional schools to look at it would be helpful to know the reasons why you want to atend Wake Forest. What is it about the school that you like well enough to apply ED? What are some of the overall considerations that led you to choose the schools on your list? You have reasonably good stats but there must have been some method to your selecting these schools. Let us in on that info and I am sure you will get some additional advice.</p>

<p>Wake ED is a good fit and you'll find lots of company from the northeast. I agree that UNC-CH is probably unrealistic; they are limited by state policy on the # of out-of-staters they can take, so for someone from NJ it's the equivalent of applying to an Ivy. Furman has outstanding merit aid. Since you seem to like the South, you may want to know that your SAT and class rank would qualify you for $7500 in merit aid at Hampden-Sydney.</p>

<p>I liked Wake Forest because of the: (in no order)
-beautiful campus
-agreeable weather
-broad course-load
-strong school spirit w/ strong div. 1 athletics
-ideal student body size around 5000
-study abroad opportunities
-close knit campus</p>

<p>So Gadad, with my current stats I stand a solid shot of getting in?
I'm also going for an interview next week. I'm also taking my SAT's in october again and feel I left a lot of points on the board in June, A 2100 isn't out of the question.</p>