Any solid match/safety schools?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey guys, here are my stats so far:</p>

<p>ACT:32</p>

<p>GPA: 3.82 Unweighted - 4.772 Weighted</p>

<p>Subject Test Scores:
U.S. History - 720
Literature - 740
Going to take Bio and Math II in October</p>

<p>Extracurricular:
Sports
• Varsity Tennis – 9, 10, 11, 12
• Varsity Basketball – 10,11,12</p>

<p>Clubs/Organizations:</p>

<p>(Relating to Science)
• Juvenile Diabetes Club
o Member: 11, 12
o President: 11, 12
• Visible Memory (Alzheimer’s Club)- A club I created dedicated to Alzheimers and fundraising/promoting awareness
o Member- 11, 12
o President: 2011-2012
• AIDS Club
o Member: 9, 10, 11, 12<br>
o Financial Manager/Public Outreach Leader
• REcycling Club
o Member: 9, 10, 11, 12
o Group Leader: 2008-2012</p>

<p>(Relating to Writing)
• Writing Program at School
o Member: 11, 12
• Polyphony H.S. International Magazine
o National Staff Editor
• School's Literary Magazine
o Staff Editor </p>

<p>(Relating to Music)
• Piano – 2-12
o Piano accompaniment for Choirs inside and outside school, played at numerous competitions, festivals, and recitals, etc.
• Orchestra & Choir </p>

<p>(Miscellaneous)
• Best Buddies
o Member: 10, 11, 12
o President 2011-2012
• Junior Classical League (JCL)
o Member: 9, 10, 11, 12
• National Honor Society
o Member: 10, 11, 12
o President 2011-2012</p>

<p>Honors/Awards/Distinctions:
• National Honor Society – 10, 11, 12
• Latin Honor Society- 9, 10, 11, 12
• Cum Laude Society – 11, 12
• National Creative Writing Competition – 2nd Place - 9
• National Creative Writing Competition 3rd Place – 10
• Presidential Educator’s Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence – 2008
• National Latin Exam
o Silver Medal/Maxima Cum Laude – 9
o Magna Cum Laude – 10, 11
• Classical Literacy Exam
o Silver Medal – 10
o Bronze Medal – 11
• Junior Classical League
o 2nd Place- Grammar Exam, Derivatives Exam, Sight Reading Exam – 9, 10
o 1st Place- Mottos, Quotes, and Abbreviations Poster – 9, 10
- Published in Teen Ink, Cicada Magazine, Inkpop, and school's literary magazine. </p>

<p>(Music)
• Silver State Competition
o Reached All-State Competition every year – 9, 10, 11
o 1st Place in Classical Duet – 10
• Jazz Festival
o Participation from Middle –High School every year
o Received Superior and Excellent Ratings
• Green Valley Music Festival
o Received one Superior and one Excellent Rating</p>

<p>Work Experience:
• Private Tutor for Science/Math/Writing (During School Year) – 10, 11, 12
• Gynecology Center – Administrative/Business Tasks - 11
• Private Musician (played at recitals, dinners, parties, temple, etc.)</p>

<p>AP Classes:
APUSH - 5
AP Psych - 5
AP Bio - 5
AP English - 5</p>

<p>Senior Year:
AP Mircroeconomics and AP Macroeconomics
AP Calculus
AP Government</p>

<p>I've shown consistency with tennis, basketball, my clubs & have 4 years math, 4 years, history, 4 years english, 4 years latin, & 4 years science with a couple art classes (choir and orchestra)</p>

<p>I want to go into the fields of psychology/neuroscience, creative writing, and music. A bunch of my EC's revolve around Creative Writing (literary magazines, publishings, tutoring, awards, etc.) and I've also done a lot with music (competitions, festivals, piano accompaniment, private musician, etc.) and with psychology neuroscience (AP classes and scores, Summer at Brown program, Internship, work at medical clinic, etc.) I'm not a typical Asian with top scores and incredibly strong GPA and all that - but I do have a lot of leadership and passion with my EC's and volunteering. I love writing & I think my college essays will be good & my rec letters should be good too. </p>

<p>So, are there any good match/safety schools I can look into considering my majors/interests?</p>

2

<p>Congratulations on your accomplishments! Check out the University of Rochester, where you could also take music lessons at Eastman. Also, check out Case Western Reserve - some famous writers are faculty there. I believe you can cross register at the Cleveland Institute, but I am not sure. And, consider Oberlin if you feel like you can fit. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>*I want to go into the fields of psychology/neuroscience, creative writing, and music. *</p>

<p>Yes to URoch.</p>

<p>For a school to be a safety, you have to know if it’s affordable. Do you know how much your parents will pay? If not ask them. Most safeties give lousy need-based aid…but some give nice merit scholarships.</p>

<p>What is your career goal with those subject interests? medicine? research? psychologist?</p>

<p>Do you want…</p>

<p>small school?
big?
quiet?
big sports to watch?
rural campus?
city campus?</p>

4

<p>I completely forgot to mention those aspects, mom2collegekids! Thank you - I am looking for medium-large sized schools that are located in cities like L.A., NY, or Chicago. Rural campuses are fine too (like in Michigan or Virginia) but I’d much rather focus on city schools. Also, I would love to go anywhere in California or on the East Coast. I want to major in neuroscience/pschology so in general, medicine. Also, I’m not worried about the price right now because my parents say they can pay, but I need specific schools to look into right now. </p>

<p>How does UCB, UCLA, USC, UCHICAGO, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and WASHU sound??</p>

5

<p>“I’m not worried about the price right now because my parents say they can pay”</p>

<p>You do need to sit your parents down and find out just exactly what they mean by this. Some parents are full able to pay $60k each year, but there are many, many more who tell their children not to worry about the money just yet when they can’t pay anything remotely like that! You need to know the baseline so that you know how deep you are going to have to dig to come up with your financial safeties. Should that be an issue, start here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>*You do need to sit your parents down and find out just exactly what they mean by this. Some parents are full able to pay $60k each year, but there are many, many more who tell their children not to worry about the money just yet when they can’t pay anything remotely like that! *</p>

<p>Happymom is sooooooo right. Every year we see kids post who say that their parents said not to worry about cost, but then in the spring, the parents freak out at the cost ($60k per year) for many privates and then the kid has no choices! :(</p>

<p>So…protect yourself by including 2-3 financial safety schools on your list of schools THAT YOU LIKE…and…you’re POSITIVE that you have all costs covered…thru ASSURED scholarships, small fed student loans, and/or family funds.</p>

<p>After you’ve done that…apply wherever you like!</p>

<p>UCLA and Berkeley will expect you to pay full freight (about $50k per year). NEITHER school is a good idea for pre-med. Both are filled with cut-throat gunners for the limited number of A’s given in the pre-med pre-reqs. The med school acceptance rate at the top UCs is about 50%. The pre-med advising at those UCs…well…suck$</p>

<p>f you’re going got be pre-med…let me give you this advice…</p>

<p>It’s best to pay as little as possible, since med school is sooooooo expensive.</p>

<p>Also…it’s best to go to a “good school” where you can be sure that with hard work, you’ll be an A student. You’ll need a high GPA and MCAT for med school acceptance. Also, look to see how the pre-med advising is and whether they do Committee Letters.</p>