Applying to UTexas, OU, OSU, Texas A&M, Baylor, etc. Any reaches I should apply to?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>White male living in the city of Dallas</p>

<p>GPA weighted: 93.75
GPA unweighted: 90.05</p>

<p>Class Rank: 15/79</p>

<p>School is a small competitive private school ranked 11th in the City of Dallas by a 3rd party with respected rankings. Grade deflation is somewhat prevalent.</p>

<p>Curriculum:</p>

<p>Grade 9:</p>

<p>H-English
H-Geometry
American History
New Testament Survery
Biology
Public Speaking
JV Basketball</p>

<p>Grade 10:</p>

<p>H-English II
H-Algebra-II
H-Physics I
H-World History
French I
Old Testament Survey
Theatre Arts I
JV Basketball/Tennis</p>

<p>Grade 11:</p>

<p>AP English III (AP test score: 5)
H-Pre Calculus
H-Chemistry
Human Geography
French II
Computer Applications
Bible Doctrine
Varsity Basketball</p>

<p>Grade 12 (grades not yet factored in GPA)</p>

<p>AP English IV
AP Calculus
Economics/Government
Church History
Journalism
Yearbook
Desktop Publishing</p>

<p>For the years that I don't have Honors in certain academic subjects like Freshman Biology and History, Junior Human Geography, and Senior Economics/Govt, its because they weren't offered, not because I was ducking out of them. The only honors courses the school offers that I haven't taken are Honors Bio-II (because we only have to take a math or a science sr year, and I didnt want an Honors Science and AP calc), Honors Spanish 3 (Because I took french, and they weren't enough students to form an honors french this class this year. While I could have self studied it, I wnated the instruction if I were to take a 3rd year.), and Honors Art III (because thats an elective serie sof classes I would have had to work into my schedule that I didn't)</p>

<p>SAT score: 2030, 1290 between the first 2 sections, 740 on the writing. I'm retaking it again the November hoping to get at least 1350 between the 2 core sections.</p>

<p>Notable Extracurriculars: 5 years job experience as a Dallas Mavericks Ballboy, 2004/2005 NASA High School Aerospace Scholar, 55 hours community service, student ambassador, calculus club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, 3 years of basketball and 1 year of tennis.</p>

<p>Distinctions: National Merit Commendee (96th percentile on PSAT), National Honor Society, Who's Who Among High School Students (not sure if this one means anything), District spelling bee winner at grade level 4 years straight (not sure if its worth mentioning since this was grades 5-8)</p>

<p>I'm anticipating a great essay. I'm not too concerned about getting in to the 5 I applied to so much as I'm trying to get FA from them. Are there any reaches/semi reaches that I should try and apply to?</p>

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<p>Actually, I hate to say it but I would be concerned about getting into some of those if I were you. At least UT and possibly A&M. You're not in top 10% of your class, and your courseload & SAT are nothing unusual. Who's who is a scam. If you were to raise your SAT to the equivalent of a 1300 between Math & Verbal, I think you would be automatically admitted for A&M (not sure on this), and it thus make you suitable for most of the others. </p>

<p>For UT itself...well...people with 1350's at my school who are barely out of top 10% and have tons of awards/currics/community service don't even get in sometimes, so I guess all you can do to make yourself stand out right now is retake the SAT for a much higher score and write good essays. best of luck.</p>

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<p>I'm not applying to UT Honors or anything. UT's average SAT score is 1230, and they're scaling back the 10% rule. It could be a slight reach, but with an average SAT score of 1230, probably not.</p>

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<p>I'm pretty sure they're not getting rid of the top 10% rule, at least not this year. I was just at UT Today and everyone still talked about it as being in effect. And again, people with 1300's + have gotten rejected. What college of UT are you planning to apply to? If it's liberal arts, I think you might be ok.</p>

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<p>Ya, I'm planning on pursuing an English major as a part of the undergraudate program in the school of Liberal Arts. For the purposes of that program, my AP English Language and Composition score, and my SAT Writing score are pretty high.</p>

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<p>I live in Oklahoma and I don't know why you are trying to join us okies over here.. (most people want to GET OUT.. you see) well actually OU's fine.. But I would recommend OU rather than OSU (higher ranking and football team and all that jazz) and most people seem to prefer OU to OSU (sorry for anybody who goes to OSU) but I would rather go for UT schools in my opinion...</p>

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<p>Yeah, I know UT's the most prestigious of the 5, followed by A&M, with baylor and OU on about equal footing, and OSU an easy 5th. I have different reasons for wanting to go to each one though.</p>

<p>UT-Best atmosphere, most prestigious school, most students of any college anywhere. The more alumni from your school on the workforce, the better</p>

<p>A&M-Mainly cause its my safety if I don't get into UT. They're also huge on tradition over there, and its a great school</p>

<p>Baylor-More conservative, I have a lot of HS friends going there, I've been impressed with the campus visits I've made. With another 10 points on my SAT, I'm guaranteed $7500/yr there</p>

<p>OSU-Money. They're already saying I'll likely qualify for a ton of FA. Also if I go somewhere like OSU, I'll get in the Honors College and be one of the top dogs, whereas if I go to UT, it will be much different</p>

<p>OU-If I can get a similar amount of FA from here as I can from OSU, I'd rather go here. Its a great safety with potential for a nice chunk of FA.</p>

<p>Ideally UT or Baylor will both accept, and at UT I can get some need based aid. Its funny that these are mytop 2 choices sinc ethey're almost complete opposites.</p>

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<p>I got some mail from Cornell saying the collegeboard had identified me as a top student, and that I could potentially qualify for $7000 to $20000. I know these are mass mailing and all, but still, I thought Cornell was out of my league. How much harder is it to get into than UT Austin?</p>

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<p>Cornell Is a BUTLOAD harder to get into... unless your going to business, which you are not.</p>

<p>I go to plano so I can say our workload is tougher then your s and people NOT in the top 10% have a REAL hard shot. I think im a reach. Talk about GPA deflation, our school top 10% is around a 3.4 unweighted, 4.1 weighted (yea i know). So ranked 11th school in Dallas... gives you really no advantage.</p>

<p>I would say A&M is a good match but UT is DEFINATELY a reach. The horrible SAT average is due to STUPID people who are in the top 10% of their class in a STUPID school (sorry for the harshness). A 1300 is no way a shoe in or a match. For english it may just be. </p>

<p>Baylor is a good match. OU/OSU both should be extreme safeties.</p>

<p>BTW: "UT I can get some need based aid". UT doesnt provide aid unless your exceptionally excellent being how cheap it is already for in state students.</p>

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<p>I don't do chances, because in my opinion, everyone has a chance if they acutally apply to the school. But, I know this for a fact, because I've seen so many people screwed over by the top ten percent rule who have 1500+, 4.0 GPA, great ECs but are not part of the top ten percent. If you are in-state and not part of the top ten percent, then UT-Austin, Texas A&M, and Baylor are not your safeties at all, no matter how highly ranked your school is. I'm not an expert or anything, but I think you would have more of a chance at OU,OSU, and just maybe Baylor (because of your ECs). </p>

<p>With that said, I fully support the top ten percent plan..because it works in my favor.. :) j/k .By the way, there is talk of taking the top ten percent rule away by 2008 or 2009, but you all know how long it takes to get anything to pass through in Texas.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you, hope you get into the colleges that you want to.</p>

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<p>On average, I can guarantee you that my school owns yours on standardized test scores. My mom used to teach at Plano. Due to the size though, your school can much more easily group the elite students into the higher level AP classes. So yeah, it gives you the opportunity to take a much more highly looked upon schedule. My school needs to grow so that we have more flexibiliy on scheduling and stuff. For the APs that we do have like English tho, just about everybody passes, with the majority getting 4's, and a few like myself getting 5's. My school isn't a "stupid" school, a stupid school is the public High School down the street from me, Bryan Adams, where I'd easily easily be top 10%.</p>

<p>I'm not saying my school is incredible or anything, but the schools ranked ahead of it are. Dallas is one of the biggest cities in the U.S., and these rankings comprise all the private High Schools in the DFW metroplex including schools like Forth Worth Christian and Trinity Christian Addison. With schools like those 2 ahead of us, in addition elite schools like St Mark's and Jesuit, being #11 isn't bad. Its not like we're #11 in the city of Stillwater or anything.</p>

<p>Some of my best HS friends are likely going to Baylor, and I already really like it from the campus visits I've attended. I'd be happy if I ended up there, and with a 10 point increase on either section on my SAT retake, I'll qualify for $7,500/yr in Merit based scholarship money. I still want to keep my options open and apply to UT whether I get in or not. </p>

<p>As far as English departments go, where does Baylor rank in comparison to UT and A&M?</p>

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<p>thesiren72102:</p>

<p>I have friends who were seniors at my HS last year and the year before who got into Baylor, and who's academic records were belwo mine. And according to the Baylor scholarship calculator, I'll get $30000 in merit based aid over 4 undergrade semesters. If they didnt let in people in the top quarter of a private prep school that had 1300+ on the SAT, then they'd have to give just about everyone they DID admit a crapload of scholarship money. The fact that 64% of UT students are top 10% people does discourage me. A&M and especially Baylor, don't worry me at all. </p>

<p>UT really needs to get with the program on this, their retenetion rate after freshman year is on of the lowest in the country. Hmmm, could it possibly be because they let people in who are top 10% in a pathetic HS?</p>

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<p>I'm not saying your school is "stupid", I never said that. But, I know that the top ten percent blinds some of the admissions eyes when looking at an applicant (even if the academics are more rigorous). I know your school owns mine in standardized test scores and the SATs (I go to a public school, but my HS is not pathetic. It is only pathetic if the person doesn't take the initiative to challenge theirselves and seek out the higher level coures (including Honors) or self study for them if it isn't offered). Your stats are good, but you need to get that rank up, so that you can for sure get into those public schools. But, now looking at the collegeboard profile of Baylor, you will most likely get in, because I forgot that it is a private school. Baylor considers other things like competitiveness of school, ECs, and etc. I agree they should look at the overall picture of the applicant instead of just automatically accepting them, but that's the way it works, and it's not going to change anytime soon. By the way, the only Texas public school I'm applying to is University of Houston.</p>

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<p>Plano East or PLano Sr/West. Because I know for a fact Plano East is such a dumb school not even funny anymore. West and Sr totally are much harder then east. Given the small size of your school, it can be easily seen why your school SAT scores would probably own ours. But once you seperate the druggies from the rest of our school (Bottom 50%) then you can see why are still a prestigious public school in texas.</p>

<p>Im pretty sure your bottom 50% does not suck as much as ours does.</p>

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<p>That's true. Other than the few people who only are allowed to stay in school because their daddy is a higher up in the church, nobody is a complete idiot. But due to class sizes and scheduling restraints, its not possible to group all the kids off by intelligence the way a bigger school can. I'm just saying, a non Honors course at my school is still difficult if its an academic subject.</p>

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<p>I just checked the Princeton review guide to all colleges.</p>

<p>UT average Math score: 627 (Mine is 630)
UT average Verbal Score: 603 (mine is 660)
UT average writing score 50 % range between 590 and 670, so about 630. (My score is 740)</p>

<p>You'd think at 170 above the average SAT score I'd be a match. I guess the top 10% rule really does screw up the average.</p>

<p>Class rank breakdown</p>

<p>66% are top 10%
93% are top 25%
99% are top half (I'm guessing the bvery few not top half are students in the bottom half of really elite schools like that boarding military school in Indiana)</p>

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<p>And I'm curious, is Texas one of the only states with the 10% rule. because I have an online friend living in North Carolina who got into UNC with a 1280 SAT, top quarter class rank, and about 5 AP classes, 1 of which he got a 1 on an AP test. Is being top quarter and trying to get into UT harder than being top quarter and trying to get into UNC even tho UNC is a higher ranked school?</p>

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<p>Yeah, the top ten percent rule does screw up the average. I'm not sure about UNC's rule..I'm pretty sure if they do have a rule, it is pretty informal and exceptions could be made without having a big lawsuit slapped in their faces. But, I know that they are required to admit a certain percentage of people in North Carolina.</p>

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<p>I hate UT's top 10 percent rule. The retention rate is sooo HORRIBLE. Why dont they just repeal it all? lol -_-.</p>

<p>Obviously going to a stupid school is to your advantage in Texas.</p>

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<p>I don't go to a stupid school, and I'm in the top ten percent. But, if you didn't take/do well in high school courses in middle school, then it is very hard to get in the top ten percent at my high school. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't taken and did well in those high school courses in middle school that I would not be ranked as high as I am right now. People who enter high school without any high school credits are basically automatically penalized, they have no way of breaking past the top ten percent unless they get straight 98s to 100s in Honors and AP courses. That's impossible for them do that, because they wouldn't have the prerequisite to take the AP courses, and would never get into them at all (unless they decided to stay an extra two years after they graduate from high school) based on all the prerequiste-red-tape BS that my school pulls.</p>