Big List of Colleges!! Which ones should I eliminate?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am a first generation college student, white, jewish, male, immigrated from Russia in '96.</p>

<p>According to these conversion systems from CollegeBoard and Princeton Review I would have a 4.0 uw gpa. Not sure what it would be for the weighted one, but it is 97/100 on a 100 point scale.</p>

<p>SAT Superscore: 2130----> CR: 690, M:750, W:690
Single-Sitting: 2080-----> CR:690, M: 700, W: 690</p>

<p>SAT II: Math 2: 720 US History: 720 Physics: 730</p>

<p>AP: USH: 4 Calc AB: 5 Spanish: 3 Euro: 3</p>

<p>AP Scholar with Honor, Discus Award Winner</p>

<p>Taking AP Physics B, AP Govt, AP stat senior year in a very rigorous and competitive high school in NYC.</p>

<p>My school doesn't rank but I know I'm def in top 10%. Probably even top 5%.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: co-captain of Vars XC and Track teams (4 years, captain senior year), Sports Editor for School Newspaper (4 years, editor for junior and senior years), Chairperson of NHS (3 years, chairperson senior year), Student Liason to the Alumni Board of directors. Not official, but I'm going to be an Eagle Scout in about a month or two. I am going to have a community health fair with the local hospital and red cross volunteering to help.</p>

<p>Work/ Volunteering: Worked at some summer camps where I personally taught classes to kids ranging in age from 6 to 18. Worked as an assistant chef at a cafe. Worked as an intern for a big real estate company. Worked with famous Med School professor to create visuals for presentations to first year med school students, which included research and finding/ making visual representations of biological processes. 50 hours at a community mural project (Volunteer). Worked in the Parent Coordinator's office during the summer for 175 hours (Volunteer). Around 70 hours from a camp I worked at (volunteer).</p>

<p>Solid recommendations coming from APUSH and AP Calc AB teachers. Principal of school also wrote one. The college professor I worked with worte one as well about the success of the presentations we developed.</p>

<p>I am interested in Engineering and Sciences, but not certain if I would want to go into this field. I live in NYC but wouldn't mind going across the nation for college.</p>

<p>I want a school that isn't completely rural, has really nice facilities (the beauty of an IVY), students are generally happy people, I want to have a life in college, but definitely have great academics.</p>

<p>I have a huge list of colleges to apply to and I really just want to cut it down. Which ones should i def take off? </p>

<p>Boston Univ-
Bowdoin Coll-
UC Los Angeles-
Carnegie Mellon Univ-
Univ of Chicago-
Columbia Univ-
Cooper Union-
Cornell Univ-
Dartmouth Coll-
New York Univ-
Northwestern-
Oberlin Coll-
NYU Poly-
Stanford Univ-
Stevens Inst of Tech-
SUNY Bing-
Syracuse Univ-
Vanderbilt -
Vassar Coll-
Yale Univ -
Emory Univ-</p>

2

<p>Give me the TRUTH!!! I honestly just don’t want to spend my holiday break writing essays for schools I have 0% chance to get into. I want to do Yale b/c I already intervied and they have a fledgling engineering school. I want to do Dartmouth b/c they wrote some email that they are interested in me b/c of my Questbridge Application. I’m interested in Columbia b/c I could stay in NYC.</p>

3

<p>there is no school that u have 0% chance to get in. i think your list is reasonable but add one solid safety school where u like to go.</p>

4

<p>Your lowish SAT and lack of any very special awards means that some schools are probably not going to select you, to be perfectly honest. That said, your have a great gpa and have some good job experience. I also assume you speak fluent Russian, which could be something to talk about (schools love bilingual people). </p>

<p>Unfortunately, I don’t know enough to definitively say what you should do. I don’t want to screw you over. I’ll let someone else help you eliminate colleges. Good luck</p>

5

<p>@kimkim1234 i think SUNY Bing and a CUNY school I’m applying to are solid safety schools.
@huehuehue32 Thanks for the honesty. i am fluent in Russian. The SAT is the one thing that I regret the most in the whole college process. I took it 3 times but never really commited myself to study. I always went in on test day with confidence and left with confidence, and then saw my score when it came out and was depressed for a couple of days. A good joke by Daniel Tosh is," I hate when people say I’m smart, but I’m bad at testing. Oh, so you’re bad doing the thing where we find out how much you know. I think that makes ou stupid." LOL. Unfortunately, i would have to say that I am “bad” at tests.</p>

6

<p>Your list seems realistic but, if you don’t feel too confident in your essay-writing ability, cut U Chicago.</p>

7

<p>Have you determined what you can afford? Going cross country sounds fun but it is an added expense with travel when you don’t seem to have strong feelings about any school. Be sure you have a financial and academic safety. Your SATs are not low, but for very selective schools there are loads of kids with stats that good or better.Maybe too late, but you really need to visit some of your choices.</p>

8

<p>Take off Syracuse (about the ugliest and least Ivy-looking college I’ve seen). Boston U and NYU aren’t at all pretty, either. I don’t think you’ve got much of a chance getting in Stanford. Oberlin and Bowdoin are a little rural for your tastes. I may be wrong, but Vassar doesn’t strike me as the sort of place where people are generally cheerful and happy, like you want. Why Stevens and NYU Poly if you’re not certain about science/engineering?</p>

<p>If you want a college that is you could easily get into, looks BETTER than most Ivies, and offers an excellent education, check out Miami University in Ohio. And how about Union College in NY? It’s pretty and has a full range of majors, including engineering.</p>

9

<p>Thank for all th feedback. I think my writing abilities are quite strong and I’m actuall looking forward to the interesting/challenging prompts that UChicago offers.
@scmom12 You bring up a good point. Financial Aid is definitely going to be a determining factor in my decision. That’s actually why I am pursuing Ivies and the higher ranked schools with great fin aid. I have NYU because there is this local scholarship that I’m hoping to get for NYC Public School students ( a full ride to NYC area school). I’ve visited BU and I actually kinda like it. Already got an interview for Syracuse and I actually like their sports promise (from a fan’s perspective). I have actually seen a lot of the schools. I have not seen Bowdoin, or Vassar but they gave me free apps.</p>

<p>@Oivoiv. Thanks for the advice about the other colleges. I’ll def look into them.</p>

10

<p>Boston Univ-
Bowdoin Coll-
UC Los Angeles-
Carnegie Mellon Univ- X but not certain if I would want to go into this field
Univ of Chicago- ?
Columbia Univ- X
Cooper Union- X but not certain if I would want to go into this field
Cornell Univ- ??
Dartmouth Coll- X
New York Univ-
Northwestern- ?
Oberlin Coll-
NYU Poly- X but not certain if I would want to go into this field
Stanford Univ- X
Stevens Inst of Tech- X but not certain if I would want to go into this field
SUNY Bing-
Syracuse Univ- X
Vanderbilt -
Vassar Coll-
Yale Univ - X
Emory Univ-</p>