<p>I know that my GPA is pretty low but I'm hoping that my SAT can help me get into a top school. Are these good schools for me??
Reaches: Cornell, William and Mary
Matches: Vanderbilt, Bowdoin, Colgate, Wake Forest
Safeties: Wisconsin-Madison, Texas- Austin</p>
<p>3.55 UW GPA at a very competitive high school (avg SAT at my school is close to 1350)
SAT I's: 740 Verbal, 710 Math, 720 Writing
SAT II's: 700 Math IC, 660 Physics
APs: English Composition 5, Physics 4, Biology 5, Chemistry 4, English Literature 5
ECs: Preparatory Program at a music school on weekends 8-12 grade, 3 years varsity Lacrosse, 2 years varsity ski team, National Merit Scholar Honorable Mention for PSAT, Area- All State on my instrument from 10-12 grade, 4 years of Band.
Good Essay and Solid Recommendations (I assume).
However, I finished on a slightly downward trend and junior year was all Bs to B+s.
Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>Based on your GPA and the downward trend in grades, your "matches" are likely "reaches." Moreover, Texas is a reach unless you are a Texas resident in the top 10% of your class (Texas is required to accept every Texas student who applies who is in the the top 10% of his class; thus, that leaves limited availability to others and if you are from out of state you should usually consider it a reach). Wisconsin is a safety if you are a Wisconsin resident, otherwise it is at best a match.</p>
<p>You need some true safeties. One is often your own state's public university. An ideal safety is one that (a) generally accepts 60% or more of its applicants, (b) your GPA (or class rank) and test scores put you at least in the upper 50% of those admitted and better the upper 25%; and (c) it has rolling admissions-- sends out acceptances as applications are received -- and thus you can apply early (like September in senior year of high school) and learn your fate quickly and, if accepted, you will know that you will have a school to go to even if all those who wait till March or April to send out decisions end up rejecting you. In other words, look for some that meet those conditions if you want true safeties on your list.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your input. So Cornell is likely out of the question, even ED? I am uninterested in any SUNY as a safety but maybe the University of Illinois- Urbana. Do you know if that has similar requirements to Texas for out of staters? Thanks again. Also, what would be some more realistic matches?</p>
<p>I think you should get into one of your matches or even reaches given how competitive your high school is if you have good recs and a strong app. A lot of people don't understand that stats are a whole different thing at a school with 1350 average SATs.</p>
<p>Given that music and English are two of your strengths, a school you may want to add to your list is Oberlin, an excellent LAC in Ohio, if you're not familiar with it. It would likely be a match for you.</p>
<p>Wow. I just looked into Oberlin and it seems like a really good fit. I'm definitely gonna consider that. Thank you very much. Any other possibilities?</p>
<p>Not a huge number, but many high schools do have similar SAT averages. All of the top boarding preps, all of the top big city day preps, top magnet schools.</p>
<p>I go to a small school in the suburbs of NYC. I just looked up our average SAT for the class of 2005 and it was actually like 1320, not 1350. And I forgot to mention that all of my classes that aren't AP are honors. Will colleges weight these by themselves since my school has stopped weighting grades?</p>
<p>If you want a true safety which is most likely a guarantee Hofstra University might be good. It's on Long Island, but it's not a state school the campus is really nice and the LAX team is pretty good, should have made the NCAAs. I had a 3.9 weighted and a 3.7 unweighted GPA and a 1230(old SAT, yeah I know it's still abyssmal) , and I got in and got a nice scholarship. I went to a high school in Florida that was recently ranked in the top 200 in the nation though, but Hofstra has a a high acceptance rate so it could be your definite safety if you need one.</p>
<p>In addition to Oberlin, two other Ohio LACs you may wish to consider are Denison and Kenyon. Both have very strong English departments. In addition, if youre interested in playing lacrosse at the collegiate level, Denison has a very good lacrosse program. Both Denison and Kenyon would be safeties for you.</p>
<p>I think you'd be fine for Texas. I know someone with SAT scores lower than yours and grades much lower than yours that was from Washington and the only reason he got in was because he was from out of state. If he was from Texas, he would not likely have gotten in. Good luck and I'm sure Texas would accept you!</p>