Chance me for some reaches, help me think of some targets?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>The story is that I'm a current highschool junior at a private Catholic school in the DC area. I've found all these amazing colleges that I want to apply to, but they're all really top-tier and I've having trouble finding ones that are in reach, but are not safeties. My current list of reaches (are they all big reaches?) is:
Rice*
Stanford (Huge Reach!)
Duke*
UVA
Cornell
UNC Chapel Hill
UC San Diego
William and Mary
Johns Hopkins
Columbia
Vanderbilt
Yale (maybe applying)
Emory </p>

<p>I don't think I'm applying to all of those, because that seems a little extreme, but I'll definitely have some tough decisions. *I'd say Rice and Duke are currently my top choices. I'm also applying to Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, which I would probably consider targets, but I wasn't really in love with either one. My brother goes to Georgia Tech...do siblings give you legacy status, or only parents? I have a list of safeties, so I'm fine there.</p>

<p>Race: White
Gender:Female
Graduation Year: 2011
Intended Major: Biology or Ecology, with maybe a minor in English
Scores:
SAT: 2140 total
CR- 740
M- 640
W- 760
SAT 2:
Literature- 700</p>

<p>I think that 640 in math will definitely hurt me, since I'm applying as a science major. I'm taking it again in June, and I've been studying like crazy. I'm taking the Math SAT 2 in October, I think. I plan to study a lot during the summer.</p>

<p>GPA: Around 4.2, Weighted. I don't know what it is unweighted.
Course Load:
-All honors freshman and sophmore year, and one AP, AP European history. I got a 4 on the exam.
-Junior Year: Honors Pre-Calculus, Honors Physics, Art 1, Spanish 4 Honors, AP English Language, AP US History, Theology 3
-Senior Year: Honors Calculus, AP Environmental, AP Biology, AP Literature, AP Gov, Theology 4, Art 2
Extra Curriculars:
-Varsity Cross Country, all 4 years. I'm ranked in the State in the Private league, and possibly in the state as a whole. I think I stand a good change of being captain next year.
-Varsity Outdoor Track, Varsity 3 years. I stand a good chance of being captain next year.
-National Honors Society
-National Spanish Honors Society
-Keyette Club; its an in-school service club where you apply freshman year and are accepted for your sophmore year. I'm an office aide coordinator, which is a leadership position.
Summer Activities:
-Group Workcamps (2008 and 2009)- We go to poorer areas for a week and help repair homes of those who can't afford to. We fundraise all year for it.
-Virginia Governors School at VIMS (Virginia Institute of Marine Science)(2010): VIMS is associated with William and Mary, so maybe that will help me there. I'm basically going and helping a biologist do real research for a month while living in the dorms with other students. From what I understand its pretty prestigious, not to sound arrogant. I don't know how highly states outside of Virginia think of it.
Teacher Recommendations:
I think they'll be excellent, but I guess it depends what my teachers think. I'm getting them from a History and a math teacher. My guidance councilor sort of loves me, also, so i should be good there.<br>
Essays: I'm a good writer, so I think I should be able to come up with something.
Awards:
-Cross Country MVP
-2nd Place in School Science Fair
-Award from the science fair from the Naval Society of Engineers
-Won a regional Essay contest, honorable mention at the state level</p>

<p>I don't know if I've left anything out, but if I did, please let me know. If you just want to chance one school, or just chance my list in general, or suggest a possible target school, any help would be really great. Hopefully I haven't come off as being really full of myself. Thanks! :)</p>

2

<p>With those SATs, Yale and Stanford are huge reaches, and Columbia’s iffy. I’d axe those–your list looks pretty good otherwise.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the input! I was iffy on Yale anyway, and my parents are the ones who like Columbia. Stanford…well, I’d love to go there, but everyone needs a reality check. :slight_smile: Its sort of reassuring to think that my other reaches aren’t impossible, though.</p>

4

<p>If you can afford it, you might as well apply to Stanford anyway - it can’t hurt! Especially if you can get your math score up. I think your list is good - I expect you to be able to get into at least a few of those. If you can get your math score up, I’d say that you can get into Rice, though I’m not positive about Duke since it’s gotten significantly more applications over the past year. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>I agree, I would say those Ivy style schools are pretty big reaches, but you’ve got good to great shots at a lot of the others. and I LOVE Rice, that place is amazing and cheaper than most other private schools too :slight_smile:
the one thing that’s a little hard to tell is ur gpa. there’s so much grade inflation these days that i can’t tell if it’s good or not–try and find out what your class rank or percentile is, because that will be a big indicator of which places are reaches, since colleges look at your application in the context of your school.</p>

6

<p>Some others to possibly check into are Holy Cross, Boston College, Michigan, Lafayette, Lehigh, URochester and RPI. Best of luck!</p>

7

<p>reesezpiecez103- That’s what I was thinking…Maybe the admissions officer will take a liking to me because of my essay or something. Thanks very much for the luck!</p>

<p>inyourfaisgirl- You go to rice? I’m visiting in a couple of weeks…I’m really excited. :slight_smile: My GPA is considered really good at my school, although I know people with higher. I have no idea what my class rank is…I’ll have to check into that.</p>

<p>poi- Oh, thanks! I’ll definitely have a look at those.</p>