GPA: 3.59 uw 3.84 w
Don’t know rank, but likely top 25%
New SAT score: 1240 (Retook in June, will shoot to get it 1300+)
APs:
AP Human Geo (Sophomore year)
AP Lang (Junior)
APUSH (Junior)
AP Gov (Senior)
AP Stats (Senior)
AP Spanish Lang (Senior)
Also took honors Geometry, Alg 2, and PreCalc
Will also take Physics, Short Story and Sci-fi LA classes, Photography, and business classes senior year in addition to the AP’s
EC’s:
Band 4 years
JV Cross Country 2 years
JV Swimming 3 years
Student Leader in my church youth group. This position includes planning events and mentoring underclassmen.
Have done several mission trips with youth group as well, including 3 to Tijuana (Building Houses) and 1 to LA, as well as some local service work, so I have 150+ hours Community Service hours.
Have made a couple short films, and do a lot of photography on my own.
Essay/LOR’s will likely be great.
Prospective major: Trying to decide between a Film Production, Business, or English Major. I know film majors are very competitive so still trying to decide whether I want to do it that badly.
Prospective Schools:
USC (I know it’s a super reach)
LMU
Chapman
Occidental
SCU
Gonzaga
USD
Redlands
U of Portland
WWU
Willamette
U of Denver
DePaul
How much do your parents make a year? Will you need a lot of financial aid?
@emory323 My parents are both doctors so they make around the $200,000 per year mark.
Based on what you’ve provided, I’m predicting this (assuming you get 1300 SAT):
USC - Rejected (low SAT, low GPA)
LMU - Accepted
Chapman - Accepted
Occidental - Accepted/waitlisted
SCU - Accepted/waitlisted
Gonzaga - Accepted
USD - Accepted
URedlands - Accepted
Willamette - Accepted
UDenver - Accepted
*Not familiar with the other schools, sorry!
Your GPA is a bit low, but the private colleges care more about your test scores. If you bring your SAT up to a 1300, you will have good chances. If you bring it up to a 1400, you will be a shoo-in. I still think you’d get in the privates nonetheless because you don’t need financial aid. They really want students who will pay full tuition. Good luck!
Agreed with above you could take out some of those schools as you’ll get into the vast majority. Add some schools you have a better chance at than USC but are more of a reach than Chapman, Pepperdine?
Where do you guys think I’ll get merit aid? I have Denver, Willamette, and Redlands as my safeties so I know I’m likely to get something from them, but what are my chances at the others (Besides SC)? And @blueguy99 I may consider adding Pepperdine to the list, how religious is it compared with LMU (Which is prob. my top choice of the target schools as of now)?
Pepperdine is much more religious than Loyola Marymount. All students are required to take religion classes and attend convocation 14 times per semester. While it is nothing like Bob Jones or Brigham Young, it still has a rather conservative atmosphere. You may not drink or take drugs at all, or go to the opposite gender’s dorm after 12 AM. Premarital sex is strongly discouraged at the school. For their application, you will be required to write about how religion impacted your life. If you feel uncomfortable about any of this, you really shouldn’t apply there.
Bump. Any more suggestions for schools?
Are you a California resident? SDSU has a strong and highly impacted film/television/media major. It would be a match school for you that’s well within your reach. I personally had no film experience but was accepted into the major, so I think you’d be able to get in fine. Plus the tuition is way lower than the private schools you’re looking that (if you’re in-state, not sure about OOS).
Forgot to add I’m a Washington resident, but thanks for the advice @InamoratiAnon