<p>I am currently a junior from a fairly rural public MA high school.</p>
<p>GPA : 3.6 (expecting it to go up to a 3.7/3.8 this semester)
SAT : 2190 (I want to take it again and hopefully bring it up to at least a 2250 in the Fall)
ACT: Taking Saturday, expecting at least a mid-30's, as my worst section is math and I'm getting 30's on practice sections.</p>
<p>EC's : Mock trial, poetry club, drummer in school jazz band, unified track & field league, Relay for Life. I'll be co-founding my school's model UN for my senior year, I'm running for my class VP position (and I'm fairly certain I'm running un-opposed...) and I intend to get a job and take a college course from a local college over the Summer.</p>
<p>Reaches: UChicago, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Washington U in St. Louis, Rice, Vanderbilt, Emory, Georgetown, USC, Tufts, NYU, Brandeis, BU</p>
<p>Really throwing everything in here because I'm not sure exactly what I can expect with my numbers. I recognize that most of those are unrealistic even as reaches, especially UChicago, but it is kind of my dream school.</p>
<p>My kid got into U of Chicago with a 3.7 last year. But great test scores (2380 SAT and two 800 subject tests in very different subjects). You just need to pick a couple of reaches that appeal to you most and go for it. </p>
<p>But the bulk of your college search time should be spent on finding matches and safeties, because the odds are very high that you will end up at one of those schools. Get a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges if you don’t have one and look through for schools that appeal to you. Find a list where your stats are around the 50% mark and a couple where you are above the 75% in both math & CR if you can. Make sure they are affordable for your family (run the net price calculator). If you must have merit aid, pick more schools where your stats are high and they offer a merit aid (but be sure to look at the whole price, because $15,000 of merit at a $60,000 school doesn’t help too much). Then research the heck out of those schools, visit where you can, and make your applications.</p>
<p>Way too many students end up at match or safety schools they didn’t look very hard at because they were too focused on reaches. You have to really do your work to find schools in those categories that are a good fit for you, so focus on that – not reaches.</p>
<p>Although the essay prompts for U of C are grueling, I think without either a GPA or very high test scores, it isn’t very likely for the OP. The essay is important there, but you gotta have the intellectual chops to start with to be accepted there – if you can’t prove it either in the classroom or when testing, I don’t think a good essay will save you there.</p>
<p>@Catria, I can absolutely write a stellar essay; I have already started writing my UChicago essay, I am an AP English student, and I have spoken with my AP English teacher for next year who is willing to spend significant time helping me to revise and perfect my college essays.</p>
<p>@Goldn654, I want to major in economics and statistics; I want to go to work on Wall Street after college.</p>
<p>Also, for what it’s worth, I am a white Jewish male, and I am relatively low-income (I qualify for free lunch at my public high school).</p>
<p>@gesamtkuntswerk, You have an excellent high school reputation. Based on average school admissions, your SAT’s are outstanding, your EC’s are good, and your GPA is decent. If you want to major in economics and later work on Wall Street, apply to schools in big cities. Lehigh has a great business program, large jewish population, and excellent career services. Boston University is also a good match for you. Apply to UChicago, Penn State, UMichigan, Bentley (amazing for business), NYU, & UConnecticut. Also aim high and apply to UPenn and MIT (two of the best in the US) If your GPA goes up to a 3.8, you have great chances for the previous schools and hope to get into UPenn and MIT. Good Luck!</p>
<p>@husky07, Actually, my dad went to UMichigan for both undergrad and grad school, and persuaded me against applying there - he said he had an absolutely awful undergraduate experience, but he said I should consider it for grad school (or as a junior-year transfer). I think MIT would be a bit of a reach even if I pulled up to a 4.0 to be honest, and I’ve ruled out the Ivy Leagues because of their reputation for having a high population of students who are there because their last name is on the library, as well as excessively competitive admissions. But I am strongly considering both for grad school, believe me.</p>