<p>Maybe new format/more info will draw better response.</p>
<p>S a jr. @ very competetive catholic boys school outside DC.</p>
<p>GPA - Through 5 semesters unweighted 3.65
Bad sophomore yr. doing much better as a junior - 3.9 last semester
English - honors 3 yrs/AP lit as sr
Math - Alg. II H/geom/pre-calc/calc
History - honors 2 yrs/AP gov't as jr/AP world hist as sr.
Sci - Bio/chem/physics/AP Bio as sr.
Latin - honors 4 yrs</p>
<p>SAT - 730 cr/550 m/710/w = 1990
retake goal 750/650/750 = 2050 (2100 would be great & maybe possible)</p>
<p>ECs - Editor of paper , completely revamping layout and style for next year
Ethics debate - 2 yrs. (new club this year - asked by teacher to join)
Latin club - 4 yrs.
Lacrosse - 9,10
Track - 11,12
various intramurals all 4 yrs.
2 summers work exp. 25 hrs/wk
one wk service trip to WV this summer
approx 100 hours various sevice hrs</p>
<p>Toughest obviously will be Wake, Bucknell, Nova, Lafayette and Richmond. I am going to say probably yes to Nova depending on your chosen major (better chance if you applied for a non-science major due to your math score). Based on numbers, Nova is a bit of a reach but the private all-boys Catholic school, Latin club and community service will help.
Nova being Augustinian is a place that likes charitable work and a classic-type high school education with Latin.</p>
<p>Wake - probably no. You are not really what they usually look for, at least on paper.<br>
Lafayette - Probably (although I believe their applications are up).
Bucknell - 50/50
Fordham, Loyola and Richmond - yes
(the other two I don’t know anything about).</p>
<p>wake forest may be a little hard to get into but its definatly possible if your SAT scores go up. same with villanova but not sure about the others. make sure you have a good essay and really good recommendations which may give you an edge over other applicants</p>
<p>I think your son has a great chance at all the school listed. I know my daughter’s private school has very little grade inflation so a gpa such as your son’s would be considered awesome at her school and I am assuming that your son’s school is the same. The only blip is his 550 SAT and with everything else being so strong, hopefully the schools will not weigh that one score very negatively. I am most familiar with Bucknell, Lafayette and Villanova and I know that Bucknell and Lafayette pay close attention to “soft” factors like essays and demonstrated interest so keep that in mind. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>I keep hearing about demonstrating interest. Other than visiting the school, meeting the admissions reps on campus, signing up for emails… what are the best ways to show interest? I read a couple of posts that said that in their essays, they made it clear that XYZ Univ. was their top choice. Do you come right our and say that?</p>
<p>Bucco, I can’t say I have any inside info about Wake. What I am saying is that some of the things like 4 yrs of latin, latin club, private catholic school, all boys, shouts, UPPER MIDDLE CLASS, CATHOLIC and CONSERVATIVE Nothing wrong with that at all. It is what makes up much of the student body at places like BC, Notre Dame and Villanova. </p>
<p>I beleive that Wake Forest probably has a much smaller number of students from private catholic highschools. Being a private southern university, there is going to be a larger number of Southerners, less catholics and many with old money. I am not implying that Wake discriminates against Catholics from the Northeast (I know you are mid atlantic but with a NE-type bio) but that they are not necessarily impressed by latin classes and private high schools where students are taught by clergy. I see it as a neutral to a place like Wake but to a place like Nova or BC they would see it as a possitive and infer that you would fit in.</p>
<p>This is more speculation than fact though. My basic point is that Wake and Nova are similar in their selectivity and your scores (particularly math) are on the lower end of what they are looking for. Despite that, I think their are things in your bio that would make you more attractive to the admissions department at Nova than you would be on grades alone. I am not sure that Wake would care about these things one way or the other. </p>