Hi College Confidential, I’m a HS junior currently. I’ve been trying to come up with a list of colleges I’d like to apply to and would love to know how realistic these are/what I need to work on.
• My test scores are Old SAT: 2130 (770M, 730W, 630CR) and New SAT: 1500 (770M, 730RW).
• My grades before this year have been all A’s with all honors courses as well as AP World History sophomore year. This year I took AP Calc BC (I will possibly receive a C+ or B- ) and two other APs. Next year I’ll take 6 APs.
The colleges I really like are Cornell, Middlebury, Macalester, Hamilton, McGill, and I’ve been looking at Colorado College recently too. If anyone had any suggestions for my college search I’d be so grateful!
What is your GPA, and is it weighted or unweighted? What ECs have you done, and what has your role in them been?
GPA is 3.90 unweighted and 4.58 weighted (this is before my current grades go in). ECs include National Honor Society (Officer), Elected Class Officer (fundrasing, dance organization, etc.), National French Honor Society, Chamber Choir, Cross Country, Theater, Radio Program at school, and maybe more that I’m forgetting.
Thanks for your reply!
I can’t say anything about McGill or Hamilton. My thoughts about the remaining schools are based on how students at our private, college preparatory, day school have done in regards to admissions, and are as follows:
Cornell – decent chance/competitive
Macalester – good chance/very competitive
Colorado College – good chance/very competitive
We have had one or two students get in to Middlebury; they have had pretty high statistics/GPAs, but I don’t know how they compare with yours. You might also look at the Common Data Sets for the schools, as there may be useful statistical information that you can glean from those sources.
With regards to other colleges/universities, what are you looking to study? What size school? What type of location (i.e., urban vs. suburban vs. rural)? What part of the country?
You have a lot of great advice. Thank you so much!
As for what I’m interested in studying, I’m not completely sure yet. I am really passionate about French, which made Middlebury and their stellar language programs appealing to me. I am also very interested in environmental studies. I think that I prefer small colleges and I’d rather not be in a huge city. I’m from PA, which is why I was was gravitating towards colleges in the Northeast, but I’ve been researching a lot about Colorado College and really like it—especially the block system.
If your interests are languages and environmental studies it’s going to be hard to find a better school than Middlebury. They have one of the very best language programs and one of the very best environmental studies programs around. I am sure I don’t have to tell you about the language programs. Bill McKibben (google him) teaches there. 350.org was founded there. It’s the oldest environmental studies program in the country. Good luck.
I’d agree with the above. You have a decent to good shot at all these schools. I’d add some kind of community service if you’re not doing it already.