<p>Hi. I'll be a senior next year at a small private highschool, and I'm trying to figure out how to go about applying to schools next year.</p>
<p>I got a 32 and a 2240 on the ACT and SAT, have about a 3.6 cumulative GPA, unweighted, and have taken 3 APs so far (Env. Science, US History, Art History), getting 5's on all three tests.</p>
<p>I plan on taking 3 more APs next year. I'm taking Pre-Calc next year.</p>
<p>I have no extra-curriculars, aside from Boy Scouts (got the Eagle), and a summer internship I did last year with a National Park in the area. I haven't done any organized sports since junior high.</p>
<p>I can probably get decent or good letters of recomendation from my teachers, and I'm told that I'm a strong writer, so my essays should hopefully go pretty well. </p>
<p>I got a couple Cs during a semester or two back in the 9th and 10th grades, and I didn't work as hard at math as I could have, so I won't be able to take Calculus this year. I know I could have done much better if I had applied myself, but I can't change the past.</p>
<p>I worry that, with my lackluster academic record, I won't be able to get into the schools I'd like to. Also, I have to pay my own way, and since I don't want to rack up a bunch of student debt, any place I go would have to offer me significant scholarship money, hopefully even a full-ride.</p>
<p>My dream school would be something like Kenyon, Grinnell, or Reed. I think these places will be more than a bit of a reach for me (would you agree?), but I feel that, even if I did get accepted, I couldn't go if I didn't also get really good merit scholarships. I can't afford to pay 40,000+ a year.</p>
<p>How about second-tier schools like Earlham or Whitman? Are my chances of admission and scholarship better with them? How much so?</p>
<p>What about state universities? What are some good ones I should be looking at?</p>
<p>I don't know exactly what I want to do after school, but I've thought about grad school in the social sciences. I'm not fully set on that path, but it's something I'd like to leave open for myself.</p>
<p>My concern, though, is that if I don't go to a really good undergraduate school, my chances of getting into a really good graduate program will be greatly diminished, which would in turn limit my career options. Is this a valid concern? What could I do to make myself attractive to graduate programs even if I attended an unimpressive school?</p>
<p>If I had the opportunity to attend a better school, but had to spend a lot more money, would it be worth it?</p>
<p>Any help or advice I can get would be greatly appreciated.</p>