am i being insanely unrealistic?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I'm a caucasian female from Florida's very lousy public school system, but I was curious is anyone could please give me an honest evaluation of my stats regarding where I'd like to apply this fall.</p>

<p>SAT I: Math (660), Critical Reading (670), Writing (740)
I've only taken the March one though, and I'll be retaking this in October. I think I could get the Math and Reading sections up closer to 1400 pretty easily.</p>

<p>SAT II: US History (730), Literature (660), but retaking the latter in November.</p>

<p>GPA Unweighted is 3.9130 and weighted is 4.3682. I'm currently ranked 9th out of 336, though my freshman class had around 760. Everyone drops out, what can I say?</p>

<p>EC's: Charter member and current President of MUN (10,11,12)
President of French Club (9,10,11,12)
Founder of Foreign Film Club (12)
Charter member and Secretary of Homeless Helpers (10)
Editor of School Newspaper (11,12)
National Honor Society (11,12)
Key Club (Community Service) (9,10)
(Also will be in National Art Honor Society this year)
French Summer Study Program in Nice, France (summer before 10)
French Summer Study Program in Montreal, Canada (summer before 12)</p>

<p>I've taken AP World History (4), AP English Language and Comp. (4), AP US History (3) (Still don't know how.), and this year am taking AP English Literature, AP European History, and AP Gov. My other classes this year are French IV (Honors), Journalism V (Honors), Econ. (Honors), and Physics (Honors). Couldn't fit Calculus into my schedule.</p>

<p>I'm going to be applying only regular decision because I really need financial aid in order in go.</p>

<p>I'd like to apply to the following:
Colby
Tufts
Middlebury
Wesleyan
Vassar
Barnard
NYU
Macalester
Carleton
Nothwestern
and University of Florida </p>

<p>I realize that some of these are big reaches and most of them are probably at least slight reaches, but do I have a realistic shot at any of them? Please be brutally honest. Thanks for any advice! :-)</p>

2

<p>ur being too harsh on urself. alot of them are matches for u, except for maybe northwestern. ur GPA is good enough as are your SAT scores. u have a great shot at all of em.</p>

3

<p>thanks for the encouragement, huckit. looking at this forum always makes me feel like a huge underachiever, to be completely honest. do you think i should add some more safeties and maybe take out carleton, middlebury, and northwestern though (since those are probably the biggest reaches)? anyone else have any opinions they'd be willing to share? please do.</p>

4

<p>Colby = match
Tufts = huge reach
Middlebury =huge reach
Wesleyan =huge reach
Vassar = match
Barnard = match
NYU = match
Macalester = dont know enough about
Carleton =dont know enough about
Nothwestern = huge reach
and University of Florida = safety</p>

5

<p>agree w/ huskem55</p>

6

<p>^ No, Vassar is definitely harder to get into than Tufts. No one seems to realize they have like a 21% acceptance rate.</p>

7

<p>Really? Definately? I don't see much of a difference at all.</p>

<p>Tufts: 27% acceptance rate, 1290-1470 SAT range, 74 % in top 10% of class.
Vassar: 29% acceptance rate (where did you get 21%?) 1310-1460 SAT range, 68% in top 10% of class.</p>

8

<p>I don't think UF is a safety, more of a solid match. It's not definite that the OP will get in there, which means it's not a safety.</p>

9

<p><side note=""> : its just amazing to me how much things have changed in the 6 years that have passed since i was applying to college- back then, vassar was my safety school- many people who didnt get into conn coll and wesleyan ended up there- and tufts was a slight reach. i would hate to be applying to schools now.</side></p>

10

<p>Thanks for the replies everyone. I appreciate your input and please keep the comments coming if you have anything else to add (like any other safties in the Northeast you guys could tell me about, etc.). Cheers, everyone.</p>

11

<p>You seem really strong in everything but your SAT scores. Luckily for you, Middlebury doesn't require them -- you can submit SAT IIs and APs instead (which I would recommend). You also might want to consider taking the ACT to see if you do better, retaking the SAT, or applying to schools such as Bates, which have dropped the testing requirement. It doesn't help that it seems you went to a below-average school (50% drop-out rate?!), but perhaps you can comment on that on your essay to make sure they don't think you're thus unprepared for college.</p>

<p>I'd stress the languages -- you seem to be missing a passion (aka, you're not a violin prodigy and you haven't been taking rhythmic gymnastics since you were 2), so you need to narrow in on something that is "you." </p>

<p>My opinion:
Colby = match
Tufts = reach
Middlebury = big reach (really stress the languages in an interview here -- they're very proud of their language programs)
Wesleyan = reach (I know someone with SATs lower than you who got in, but they had amazing grades and ECs)
Vassar = reach
Barnard = reach
NYU = big reach
Macalester = match/reach
Carleton = match
Nothwestern = match/reach
and University of Florida = safety/match</p>

<p>Other than that, what are you interested in in a college? Honestly, your list doesn't seem to make a lot of sense -- NYU and Middlebury/Carleton/Macalster are complete opposites. Do you want a small liberal arts school (you'd have a better shot at these, since they tend to weigh essays a lot)? Do you want a big city (NYU) or do you want the middle of nowhere (Middlebury)? You need to define what you're looking for.</p>

12

<p>Yeah, I know what you mean about defining what I'm looking for. The reason why my list of schools seems so contradictory is that when I first started to really look at colleges I had this vision of a small New England liberal arts college. I found several that I was just very taken with and knew I wanted to apply, but then started to wonder if some of the small towns they were in would make it too easy for me to get bored in. Then some schools that I'd discounted, like NYU and Barnard, I added back in because I started to wonder if I might really enjoy a big city. I realize that that sounds ridiculous, at least it does to me, but that was just kind of how the list came about.
As far as SAT scores go, I know that they're definitely on the low end for most of the schools. I'm signed up to take them again though, so do you think that if I could raise them up to the upper 1300s or lower 1400s that that would have the potential to make a significant difference?
You also said that it reflects poorly that I've gone to a school with such a high drop out rate, but what can I really do about that? Schools in Florida are largely chaotic messes where they randomly have to make a football coach who went to a community college into an AP teacher. No exageration, that's how it is. Another instance, two years ago our Vice Principal was arrested for selling drugs. (I could make quite a list if I were so inclined.) I know that in terms of the education I've actually received thus far, I've probably been kind of short-changed compared to so many of the people on this site who've said they go to boarding schools, private schools, etc., but you deal with what you get, right? ;-)</p>

13

<p>NYU is a "big reach" while Northwestern is "match/reach"? Stats show it's the other way around. It's not that hard to get into NYU unless you apply for the biz program. NYU stats: SAT verbal scores over 700 32%, SAT math scores over 700 30%, ACT scores over 30 56%. Northwestern stats: SAT verbal scores over 700 51%, SAT math scores over 700 63%, ACT scores over 30 68%</p>

14

<p>Those are great stats, but its too abd you can't fit calculus into your schedule, it'd make it look much stronger.</p>

15

<p>There isn't anything you can do about your school. It's not in any way your fault, but the truth is, if the stats are basically the same, colleges are going to take the kid from the better school. I would address this is in your recs/interviews -- discuss how you've overcome your school system, challenging yourself outside the curriculum, etc.</p>

16

<p>University of Florida IS a safety for you. Dont listen to A2wolves6. Because you are in the top 5% of your Florida Public High School you are AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPTED into UF.</p>

17

<p>I've heard rumors that they were getting rid of the top 5% rule for this year, but I don't know if that's true or not. Do you know if they are officially keeping it?</p>

18

<p>^ Even if they get rid of the rule, it's pretty much a lock....and I live here, so my advice actually has merit, since I just saw ~15 of my senior friends go there this year.</p>

19

<p>yeah, a lot of my friends went there this year too, plus my older sister.</p>

20

<p>I think there's a lot of bad advice here. These schools ar mostly huge reaches. You need a much more balanced list.</p>