<p>hey my name is sam and i go to a very competitive privates school in northern virginia near dc. i am a junior and i was wondering if someone could help me out with my chances...</p>
<p>my stats:</p>
<p>3.3 gpa
25 act (with a 10/12 on essay)</p>
<p>extracurriculars:</p>
<p>-15 service hours/year (60 in total)
-JV Tennis and Hockey
-Job (cox farms)
-Internship with church
-outdoor club active participent (many trips with) (practically a leader)
-more....(can't think of a the others, but i know there are more)</p>
<p>according to my college counselor:</p>
<p>reaches:
-lehigh
-holy cross</p>
<p>matches:
-dickinson
-franklin and marshall
-union</p>
<p>likely:
-stonehill
-hobart </p>
<p>(Please take into account that my gpa is getting better (3.5 junior year), and will get better to a 3.4 average overall after 1st semester of senior year)</p>
<p>I think Dickinson, F&M and Union or more in the reach category. Drew (NJ), Scranton ¶, Providence and Dayton might be worth a look. Best of luck!</p>
<p>I think a lot depends on the reputation of your high school. Colleges like Lehigh and Holy Cross would typically require people being in the top 10% of the class unless they are a recruited athlete and/or under represented minority. Obviously if you are at a super competitive high school with excellent students, this will have a big positive influence. Colleges will look at the past success of other grads from your high school who went to their college to determine likelihood of success in college. If the counselor specifically mentioned Lehigh and Holy Cross they must have a successful track record of getting their students into those colleges over the years.</p>
<p>The problem with your matches (even though they are all SAT/ACT optional) is that they take ALOT of their freshman classes ED (especially F&M)…you can’t apply ED to all of them…</p>
<p>Lehigh seems very reachy with both your GPA and ACT and it’s not SAT optional…</p>
<p>i heard that holy cross is one of the toughest schools, like once ur in with the work load, like more than boston college, or ivy leagues…dang catholic schools don’t let up haha</p>
<p>Most people that go to competitive schools end up doing well on standardized tests. I’d retake the ACT again after some intensive review. It isn’t hard to do well on the ACT once you master time management.</p>
<p>yeah dude i got a question… since lehigh is my only school that requires act w/ writing, i was wondering since my essay grade was pretty high, but my regular composite score was ok at 25, is it better if i re-took it and pushed it to like a 27, but have a lower essay grade, because i know i won’t get atleast a 10/12 again on the essay? (btw the essay was easy for me because it was about teachers and my dad is one )</p>
<p>bballsam: honestly, you may want to contact the Va rep at Lehigh; I do not know of anyone here in NJ who has EVER been accepted to Lehigh with lower than the equivalent of 28/29 on the ACT and that was early decision…along with close to a 3.5 UW GPA</p>
<p>sorry but im not sure what high school ur talking about, but public school is a joke, i went there, and i would have almost a 4.0 if i went to public school…i know a kid who went to public school last year, he had a 3.8 his first two years, he said he never even tried, this year he goes to my school and he kills himself practically and has a 3.2… so what i have doesn’t necessarily translate in other schools, and someone from my school got in with a 3.4, and this is my reach dude not match</p>
<p>does anyone else have any more input?<br>
I was interested about middlebury a first, because i heard a kid got in with a 3.0, and i was like this is too good to be true… it was!!! his parents had huge connections and pretty much bought a couple of buildings for the school!!.. here’s the crazy part, he ends of getting kicked out (i think drugs), and blowing the oppurtunity of a lifetime… so that makes me a little angry that someone would waste that…</p>
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